Thursday, August 8, 2013

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum by Burt Shevelove & Larry Gelbart, inspired by a play by Plautus, starring Peter Scolari, music and by Yvonne Korshak

Set in ancient Rome as its appealing title suggests (that title being one of the best things it has going for it) A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forumis a zany comedy with music. A…

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 01:13PM
Thursday, July 4, 2013

OFF-BROADWAY IN SAG HARBOR, LONG ISLAND – The Mystery of Irma Vep by Charles Ludlam, directed by Kenneth Elliott, starring David Greenspan and Tom A by Yvonne Korshak

This play is hilarious -- one laugh after another, and done with style and vivacity. I enjoyed every moment -- and smile thinking back to it. It’s a spooky take-off on Gothic melodrama, Sh…

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 04:12PM
Saturday, June 15, 2013

Boxer at Rest, Greek bronze sculpture of the Hellenistic period, late 4th-2nd century B.C.,loan exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, June 1 by Yvonne Korshak

... humanity ... This is a rare opportunity to see one of the finest and most compelling works of art ever made. The bronze Boxer* is somewhat over life-size but so immediate it’s hard to …

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 07:43PM
Sunday, June 2, 2013

The Civil War and American Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, May 27 – September 2, 2013 by Yvonne Korshak

... the storm of war ... This outstanding exhibition moves ones thoughts between intimate experience and vast philosophical and artistic vision, all combining to give a vivid sense of the Ci…

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 01:13PM
Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Madame Bovary a musical based on the novel by Gustave Flaubert, adaptation, music and lyrics Paul Dick, direction and choreography Marlene Thorn Tabe by Yvonne Korshak

This musical adaptation conveys to a remarkable extent the epic scope and compelling narrative force of Flaubert’s novel. One is intent, watching the musical, on catching every word and th…

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 07:35PM
Thursday, May 16, 2013

Old-Fashioned Prostitutes (A True Romance), written, directed and designed by Richard Foreman, presented in association with Ontological-Hysteric Thea by Yvonne Korshak

Richard Foreman and the Ontological-Hysteric Theater that he founded in New York City in 1968 have been icons of avant garde theater. He’s made a number of statements about his philosophic…

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 05:01PM
Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Roof Garden Installation by Imran Qureshi, Metropolitan Museum of Art May 14 – November 3, 2013 (weather permitting) by Yvonne Korshak

Raising awareness of difficult and agonizing aspects of existence has a powerful place among the purposes of art. Qureshi’s roof garden installation certainly does that. The installation r…

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 03:53PM
Sunday, May 12, 2013

The Notebook of Trigorin by Tennessee Williams, a Free Adaptation of The Seagull by Anton Chekhov translated by Ann Dunnigan, directed by Laura Braza, by Yvonne Korshak

Whatever Williams may have worked out for himself in this 1981 exercise of adaptation, he didn’t do any good for Chekhov, much as he admired the Russian playwright. Evidently it was import…

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 10:56AM
Monday, April 29, 2013

FILM NOTE: Kon-Tiki, directed by Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg, with Pal Sverre Valheim Hagen as Thor Heyerdahl, from Norway by Yvonne Korshak

Kon-Tiki is one of the world’s great stories -- not so well told in this movie BUT the story is SO good it’s worth seeing the movie anyhow. It's an astonishingly audacious adventure. The…

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 11:12AM
Monday, April 22, 2013

This Side of Neverland, Rosalind and The Twelve Pound Look , two one-act plays by J. M. Barrie, The Pearl Theatre Company by Yvonne Korshak

... beyond Peter Pan ... Best known now for Peter Pan, J. M. Barrie was a popular playwright in early 20th-century London and here’s a chance to see two of his witty and enjoyable comedies…

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 04:36PM
Friday, April 5, 2013

Kafka’s Monkey, based on “A Report to an Academy” by Franz Kafka, adapted by Colin Teevan, starring Kathyrn Hunter, directed by Walter Meierjoha by Yvonne Korshak

Kathryn Hunter in Kafka's Monkey. Photo: Keith Pattison Kafka’s Monkey is original, creative and one of the great theater experiences. It brings together a great author, a talented playwri…

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 09:18PM
Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Photography and the American Civil War, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, April 2 – September 2, 2013 by Yvonne Korshak

This exhibition is very interesting and also somewhat disappointing. Inevitably, among the over 200 photographs relating to a vast defining event, the American Civil War, some are powerful i…

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 06:20PM
Sunday, March 31, 2013

Eurydice’s Dream, directed and choreographed by Jessica Burr, text by Teddy Jefferson and Matt Opatrny, created by the ensemble, a blessed unrest pr by Yvonne Korshak

Sonia Villani as Eurydice and Marco De Ornella as Orpheus. Photo Alan Roche This is a vibrant, imaginative and creative play, formed in part from the myths of Echo and Narcissus and Orpheus …

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 07:19PM
Sunday, March 24, 2013

The Tragedy of King Arthur by Arthur Phillips, directed by Jordan Reeves, The Guerilla Shakespeare Project by Yvonne Korshak

L-R Jordan Kaplan as Lawyer, Eric Emil Oleson as Father, Jacques Roy as Arthur, and Tom Schwans as Professor. Photo: Debby Goldman Taking as its starting point that “Nobody really likes Sh…

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 04:20PM
Thursday, March 21, 2013

Good News! Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC will be open 7 days a week starting July 1, 2013 by Yvonne Korshak

Good News! Metropolitan Museum of Art to Open 7 Days a Week Starting July 1 Will Open Mondays throughout Year for First Time in 42 Years As of July 1, 2013, The Metropolitan Museum of Art wi…

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 04:34PM
Monday, March 18, 2013

The Mound Builders by Lanford Wilson, directed by Jo Bonney, Signature Theatre, The Pershing Square Signature Center by Yvonne Korshak

A group of archaeologists and others attached to them are holed up in and around what’s referred to as a modest, rustic cabin -- but the set presents us with a vast lodge -- engaged in exc…

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 03:13PM
Thursday, March 14, 2013

The Old Boy by A. R. Gurney, directed by Jonathan Silverstein, Keen Company, at the Clurman Theatre on Theatre Row by Yvonne Korshak

This is a middling play -- if you see it you’re not sorry but you don’t need to see it. Gurney is very talented at engaging the viewer with recognizable character types involved in conte…

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 05:30PM
Friday, March 8, 2013

Henry IV Part 1 by William Shakespeare, directed by Davis McCallum, The Pearl Theatre Company by Yvonne Korshak

If you’ve never seen Henry IV Part 1, the Pearl's production will bring you close to it and if you’ve seen it before you’ll love it all over again. This last assumes you’ve loved it …

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 10:08PM
Friday, February 22, 2013

Doonybrook! The musical of the movie The Quiet Man, music and lyrics by Johnny Burke, book by Robert E, Mcenroe, directed by Charlotte Moore, based on by Yvonne Korshak

The world doesn’t need this musical. Set in a fictional Irish village, Innisfree, in the 1920’s, it’s about the “cute Irish,” and their quaint ways including the great fun of settl…

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 10:13AM
Thursday, February 14, 2013

Isaac’s Eye by Lucas Hnath, directed by Linsay Firman, The Ensemble Studio Theatre and The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation by Yvonne Korshak

Isaac’s Eye takes as starting points what it asserts are a few “truths,” (e.g., Newton stuck a needle into his eye as a scientific experiment, Newton was engaged once but never married…

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 10:39PM
Wednesday, February 6, 2013

The Vandal by Hamish Linklater, directed by Jim Simpson, The Flea Theater by Yvonne Korshak

Bleak bleak bleak -- a bold way to start a play, but it works wonderfully. Strangers, a woman and a boy, on a cold, road at night, next to a cemetery, waiting for a bus, but the vivid charac…

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 05:05PM
Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Picnic by William Inge, directed by Sam Gold, Roundabout Theatre Company by Yvonne Korshak

Picnic is a huge delicious ice cream of a fantasy you don’t even have to feel guilty about giving in to it because it comes in the guise of hard bitten realism. I loved it. The action take…

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 08:43PM
Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Clive by Jonathan Marc Sherman, based on Bertolt Brecht's Baal, directed by Ethan Hawke, The New Group by Yvonne Korshak

What a disappointment! I went to Clive because of two actors, Ethan Hawke, who was outstanding recently in Ivanov at Classic Stage, and Vincent D’Onofrio whose superb acting I watch with f…

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 04:13PM
Friday, December 14, 2012

Working A Musical, from the book by Studs Terkel, adapted by Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso, with contributions by Gordo Greenberg, Prospect Theater by Yvonne Korshak

… singing about work … People talked about working in Studs Terkel’s oral history book of 1974, Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do -- …

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 05:29PM
Sunday, December 9, 2012

Restoration Comedy by Amy Freed, directed by Ed Sylvanus Iskander, featuring The Bats, The Flea Theater by Yvonne Korshak

Watch out for that that telescope! ... Allison Buck as Amanda, Seth Moore as Worthy. Photo Aaron Zebrock ...elixir of joy … Winter doldrums? …. Let Restoration Comedy completely restore …

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 10:28PM
Thursday, December 6, 2012

Golden Boy by Clifford Odets, directed by Bartlett Sher, Lincoln Center Theater at the Belasco Theatre by Yvonne Korshak

After great success with his plays Waiting for Left and Awake and Sing! in 1935 -- and a stint of movie writing in Hollywood -- Odets returned to Broadway with Golden Boy in 1937. Being fami…

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 09:54PM
Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Matisse: In Search of True Painting, Metropolitan Museum of Art, December 4 2012 – March 17, 2013 by Yvonne Korshak

… translations … Le Luxe I, 1907 * (*full captioins below) Le Luxe II, 1907-8 Although this large exhibit covers most of Matisse's painting career, it has a specific focus: to bring toge…

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 07:00PM
Saturday, November 17, 2012

George Bellows, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, November 15, 2012 – February 18, 2013 by Yvonne Korshak

Stag at Sharkey’s, 1909, oil on canvas, 36 1/4x48 1/4 in (92x122.6 cm), The Cleveland Museum of Art, Hinman B. Hurlbut Collections, c. The Cleveland Museum of Art As I began to walk throug…

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 07:15PM
Friday, November 16, 2012

***WIN TWO FREE TICKETS TO Clifford Odets' Golden Boy on Broadway HERE! *** FREE TICKETS ON THIS BLOG! by Yvonne Korshak

*** WIN TWO FREE TICKETS FOR CLIFFORD ODETS' GOLDEN BOY! *** AT LINCOLN CENTER THEATER AT THE BELASCO THEATER ON BROADWAY Here's how to win: • 1. Write in comment box of this blog your answ…

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 03:53PM
Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Ivanov by Anton Chekhov, translated by Carol Rocamora, directed by Austin Pendleton, with Ethan Hawk as Ivanov, Classic Stage Company by Yvonne Korshak

Ivanov is not as perfect a play as Chekhov’s Three Sisters or The Cherry Orchard, which came later, but I enjoyed it even more -- filled with fascinating and amusing characters, it spills …

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 06:25PM
Tuesday, November 6, 2012

FILM NOTE – Simon and the Oaks, with Bill Skarsgard, Helen Sjoholm, Jan Josef Liefers, Stefan Godicke, directed by Lisa Ohlin, in Swedish with Engli by Yvonne Korshak

. . . not a dragon tattoo but a . . . Simon and the Oaks is about two families with characters so vivid, attractive and complex that one becomes totally absorbed in them, worries for the obs…

SOURCE: Let's Talk Off-Broadway at 07:38PM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards