VIEWPOINTS – A pair of moving, surprisingly well-crafted WWI musicals brighten the Off-Broadway scene: THE HELLO GIRLS & ALL IS CALM

This weekend, I caught,  purely by coincidence in back-to-back viewings, a pair of new Off-Broadway musicals based on World War I events (the war’s end celebrates its centennial this year) – The … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – A new immersive pop musical breathes decadent disco life into the legend of CLEOPATRA

Last weekend at Chelsea Music Hall – a new venue located in the bowels of Chelsea Market – I caught Cleopatra, the new immersive pop musical by Jeff Daye and Laura … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Alesha Harris’s electric WHAT TO SEND UP WHEN IT COMES DOWN is a rageful prayer from a bruised community

This past weekend at A.R.T./New York Theatres, I caught Movement Theatre Company’s What to Send Up When It Comes Down by Aleshea Harris. The performance piece is a powerful response … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Lauren Gunderson’s sly, uneven new play NATURAL SHOCKS features a game, likeable Pascale Armand

Last night, I caught the final Off-Broadway performance of Lauren Gunderson’s sly, uneven new play Natural Shocks at WP Theater. The one-woman play – which stars a game Pascale Armand … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Alexi Kaye Campbell’s pungent APOLOGIA features a magnificent Stockard Channing as both hero and monster

I recently had a chance to catch the New York premiere of Alexi Kaye Campbell’s 2009 play Apologia at the Laura Pels Theatre, courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company. The raison d’être for … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Kerry Washington and Steven Pasquale combust in AMERICAN SON, Christopher Demos-Brown’s timely and agenda-driven new play

There’s no denying the intensity that drives American Son, the timely and agenda-driven new play by Christopher Demos-Brown which recently opened on Broadway at the Booth Theatre. Set in the middle of … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Two hugely entertaining productions return for encore runs: Mike Birbiglia’s THE NEW ONE and Jocelyn Bioh’s SCHOOL GIRLS

This fall, two hugely entertaining and rewarding productions returned to New York for encore runs – Mike Birbiglia’s The New One and Jocelyn Bioh’s School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play. Mr. Birbiglia’s The New … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The 2018 edition of INNER VOICES remains a unique and worthwhile musical theater sub-genre, despite being a mixed bag

It’s always a fascinating treat to watch the biennial Off-Broadway mounting of Inner Voices at TBG’s Mainstage Theatre. These one-act solo musicals function like soliloquies set to music, a format … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Samuel D. Hunter’s masterpiece LEWISTON/CLARKSTON is intimate theater on epic themes

Last night at Off-Broadway’s Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, I caught what may well be the best new American play of the year, Samuel D. Hunter’s Lewiston/Clarkston. The piece is actually comprised … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – TWO BY FRIEL: A pair of one-act plays about the potency and fragility of love from the Irish master quietly beguiles

It’s been a while since I’ve caught a Brian Friel play. The late great Irish playwright (he passed away in 2015 and is strongly missed), one of the indisputable masters … Continue Reading →