VIEWPOINTS: Hall of Mirrors – Chronicling Drag Culture on Broadway

For decades before Jared Leto won acclaim for his Oscar-winning performance in the film “Dallas Buyers Club”, drag has been prevalent on Broadway.  Drag’s presence in mainstream Broadway owes much … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS: Theater in the Third Person

I’ve been spending an hour or two each day over the last week watching the recording of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s nine-hour adaptation of Charles Dickens’ sprawling “The Life and … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS: Exploring the Intersection of Visual and Performing Arts (Part III)

In this final installment, I celebrate stage designers whose works have transcended conventional stage designs to establish themselves as standalone works of visual art. Many of these stage designers are … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS: Exploring the Intersection of Visual and Performing Arts (Part II)

In the first installment, I explored some instances in which established visual artists have themselves created scenic landscapes for the stage. This second installment further explores the intersection of the … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS: Exploring the Intersection of Visual and Performing Arts (Part I)

The stage. What grander canvas can a visual artist ask for? Over the years, its death and rebirth “burning man” allure has intrigued many a visual artist. Unlike the permanence … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS: When Performing Opera, Is Less More?

After attending Saturday night’s exhilarating account of Richard Strauss’s voluptuous “Salome” by the Vienna Philharmonic and Vienna State Opera (led powerfully by young Latvian conductor Andris Nelsons) at Carnegie Hall, … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS: Dissecting Immersive Theater

New York these days is agog with “immersive theater”. Experiences like Punchdrunk’s “Sleep No More” and Third Rail Project’s “Then She Fell” have captured New Yorkers’ imaginations, particularly the young, … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS: Transcending Ice Dancing

I’ve always found ice dancing to be an interesting beast, albeit an interesting beast with an identity crisis.  It doesn’t quite have the famous bells and whistles of the other … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS: 10 Years On, Revisiting “Wicked” and “Avenue Q”

Has it already been 10 years since that memorable David and Goliath showdown between the naughty but spirited “Avenue Q” and that behemoth of a musical “Wicked”? Indeed, it has. … Continue Reading →

REPORT CARD: January Experimental Performing Arts Festivals

January has become theater heaven for lovers of experimental theater in New York. This January (bleeding into February in some cases), there were no less than six substantive avant-garde performing … Continue Reading →