THE HANGOVER REPORT – Messieurs Levine and Domingo revive the Met of old in this season’s SIMON BOCCANEGRA

This past weekend, I attended the final performance of this season’s run of Simon Boccanegra at the Metropolitan Opera. In all my years of going to the opera, I had … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Unsurprisingly, Frank Langella rules the stage in Florian Zeller’s THE FATHER

Last night marked the opening of Florian Zeller’s much-hyped new play The Father on Broadway at the Samuel J. Friedman, courtesy of Manhattan Theatre Club. The play – which depicts … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Back at BAM, André Campra’s rarely-performed LES FÊTES VÉNITIENNES is stunning in the hands of William Christie and Robert Carsen

Last night, I caught a rare staging of André Campra’s episodic opera-ballet Les Fêtes Vénitiennes at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The much-loved conductor William Christie and his influential early-music … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – The magisterial KING AND COUNTRY cycle at BAM showcases the RSC in tip-top form

After last season’s epic Wolf Hall on Broadway, the venerated Royal Shakespeare Company returns to New York to present some more juicy tales of the triumphs and woes of English … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Mike Birbiglia and Neal Brennan’s stand-up comedy acts at the Lynn Redgrave prove the legitimacy and potency of the form

Currently playing in repertory down at the Lynn Redgrave Theater is an outstanding pair of solo shows in the guise of stand-up comedy acts: Mike Birbiglia’s Thank God for Jokes … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – In DC, two literary adaptations take to the stage, to varying results

Putting together stage adaptations of literary works is tricky business. By its very nature, literature is an introspective genre, being unmoored, really, from time and space. On the other hand, … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Lucy Prebble’s THE EFFECT asks provocative questions in David Cromer’s incisive production at the Barrow Street Theatre

This past weekend, I caught the North American premiere of Lucy Prebble’s The Effect at the Barrow Street Theatre. The play, which was originally staged by the London’s prolific and … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – A trio of Off-Broadway plays discusses what it means to be poor in our capitalist society

Currently on the boards of our Off-Broadway theaters are a trio of plays (one a revival of a rarely-seen Shaw play and two new plays) that explore what it means … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The ravishing 10th anniversary reunion concert of THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA was a night to cherish

Last night I was lucky enough to be in the audience of the ravising 10th anniversary reunion concert of Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas’s The Light in the Piazza at … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Chekhov and art: Theater-makers’ endless fascination with THE SEAGULL

During the last month, New Yorkers were privy to a rare occurrence. Concurrently in the city, theatergoers were able to take in two adventurous riffs on Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull. … Continue Reading →