VIEWPOINTS – Deeply internalized trauma through a surreal lens: Renae Simone Jarrett’s DAPHNE and Gisèle Vienne’s L’ÉTANG

In recent days, I was was able to take in a pair of fascinating shows, both of which depicted deeply internalized trauma through a surreal lens. Read on for my … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Sondheim’s final musical HERE WE ARE finds the late master still questing to stretch the limits of the form

Last night, Stephen Sondheim’s final musical Here We Are opened at the Griffin Theater at The Shed. Co-written with playwright David Ives — who provided the musical’s substantial book — … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – For its fall season at Lincoln Center, AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE puts its best foot forward

Last week, American Ballet Theatre took up residence at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center for its fall season. Judging from the season’s first two programs — descriptively … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Looking to the past and present: Dance Reflections gets underway strikingly with LA(HORDE)’s ROOM WITH A VIEW and Lucinda Childs’ DANCE

This past week, the New York iteration of Van Cleef & Arpels’ Dance Reflections – a sweeping and ambitious contemporary dance festival presented in conjunction with some of the city’s … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Laurie Anderson’s upbeat LET X = X and Gregory Maqoma’s transcendent BROKEN CHORD kick off BAM’S Next Wave 2023 with a bang

This week, the 2023 version of the Brooklyn Academy of Music‘s Next Wave Festival kicked off with a bang with a pair of memorable offerings (see below for my further … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – More than two decades onwards, Heggie and McNally’s DEAD MAN WALKING arrives at the Met in a new, clear-eyed staging

This week, I was also able to catch up with the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Dead Man Walking, American composer Jake Heggie and the late playwright Terrence McNally’s opera adaptation … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Basking in Black joy and rage via rip-roaring satire: Ossie Davis’s PURLIE VICTORIOUS returns to Broadway

Earlier this week at the Music Box Theatre, I had the chance to catch up with the Broadway revival of Ossie Davis’s Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Observing Western classics through specifically feminist lenses: Jeremy Tiang’s SALESMAN之死 and Caitlin George’s HELEN.

Opening last night were a pair of new Off-Broadway plays, both of which happen to investigate Western classic through specifically feminist lenses – to fascinating (albeit at times uneven) results. … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Superb specimens of downtown theater this fall: Dmitry Krymov’s BIG TRIP at La MaMa and Max Wolf Friedlich’s JOB at SoHo Playhouse

This autumn, I had the great pleasure taking in superb specimens of downtown theater that had me reeling with their exceptional quality. Here are my thoughts on them. BIG TRIPLa … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – In her exceptional NY PHILHARMONIC debut, conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla firmly leads a program comprised of Schumann, Sibelius, and Šerkšnytė

This past week at the David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla made an exceptional debut conducting the New York Philharmonic. Before stepping onto the podium to commence … Continue Reading →