Tuesday, May 9, 2017
All the acting is sharp, from the upper-crusters taken in by Paul (Lisa Emery, Michael Countryman and Ned Eisenberg) to their kids (Colby Minifie, Keenan Jolliff, Ned Riseley, and Cody Kostr…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 04:03PMWednesday, May 3, 2017
The original film is brazen in its guerilla-style filmmaking, a good deal of which was surreptitiously produced right under the noses of the Institution’s officials. To anyone who knows …
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 01:12PMThursday, April 27, 2017
The company is in great shape. It’s a difficult task to combine ethnic themes with ballet and modern dance, but somehow Eduardo Vilaro has been succeeding terrifically. His troupe entert…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 04:13PMTuesday, April 25, 2017
"Indecent" is, on the surface, the history of Yiddish writer Sholem Asch’s brave Yiddish play "God of Vengeance" which was—incredibly, considering its wise understanding of the Jewish de…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:02AMThursday, April 13, 2017
It is fascinating to watch Lowell Byers face his unfounded, country boy optimism as he is confronted with the brutal realities of his situation. That Byers’ Lou never completely succumbs,…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:55PMMonday, April 10, 2017
"Amélie" is frustrating. The characters exist as two-dimensional cartoons that a talented cast almost brings to life. The uneven rhythms and poor timing of the show bog it down. An inabi…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:52PMSaturday, April 8, 2017
This production was a co-effort with Fondazione Teatro Lirico di Cagliari whose orchestra joined forces with the New York City Opera Orchestra under the baton of Ira Levin who brought out ev…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:00PMTuesday, April 4, 2017
"Diva: Live From Hell," an energetic, campy variation on the “All About Eve” theme, is performed with manic glee by Sean Patrick Monahan who also wrote the book and created all the color…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:46PMSunday, April 2, 2017
Varone employs movements loosely flung out from the body’s core; sudden, inexplicable pauses; (painful looking) drops to the floor (usually onto a knee!); contrasting chaotic activities wi…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 01:01AMFriday, March 31, 2017
Now named Paul Taylor American Modern Dance, Taylor has included ballets by other choreographers which allows for some healthy comparisons and a hope for the future of this legendary company…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:24PMTuesday, March 28, 2017
Directed by Ciarán O’Reilly as a feverish nightmare, this "Emperor," in just over an hour, exposes the inner reaches of the mind of the title character, Brutus Jones (played with a boomin…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:10AMSaturday, March 25, 2017
Jason Slavick’s direction keeps the cast rollicking along, taking advantage of every inch of Ars Nova. He is helped by an energetic cast, all on the same wavelength, giving their physical…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:55AMThursday, March 16, 2017
The songs push the plot along, ranging from numbers about the locals’ dealing with valuable resources (“Blankets and Bedding”) to the quiet awe the visitors express at the local scener…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:57PMTuesday, March 14, 2017
"Wakey, Wakey" is Will Eno at his surreal, troubling, beautiful best, a play both challenging and easily absorbed. He truly approaches the unapproachable: the meaning of life.
The post Wak…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:07PMThe acting isn’t detailed or expansive enough to make Leaf’s words come alive or give the slightest notion of the intelligence of these three. Ms. Dobbins’ McCarthy is far too girlish…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:27PMMonday, March 6, 2017
Three musical pieces displayed the instruments on which the music is made. “Nagare (Flow)” was played on two shamisen (stringed instruments) by Touon Minamidani Mai and Touon Sakata Mai…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 09:17PMFriday, March 3, 2017
The original was aimed at an audience that most certainly was illiterate, so that the clever creators used cartoonish, unsubtle characters who spoke in popular jargon, even spouting profanit…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 09:55PMSunday, February 19, 2017
Although "Ring Twice" is filled to the brim with socio-political symbolism, it’s not likely that the author was trying for any direct reference to the current maddening political scene sin…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:06PMThe playwrights have a keen understanding of this place and time, helped by the simple, but telling scenery of Stephen C. Jones, who also lit the small performing space to give the illusion …
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:33AMWednesday, February 15, 2017
“Star Dust,” Rhoden’s tribute to rock original David Bowie forced Rhoden to study and use each of the nine chosen songs as vignettes to comment on Bowie’s magic, the superb quirkines…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:42AMSaturday, February 11, 2017
The centerpiece of “Last Work” was the image of a single dancer, in a blue costume, jogging on a treadmill far upstage while the rest of the troupe, dressed in chic practice outfits by E…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:30PMThursday, January 26, 2017
The concept of Love for Sale, though not particularly original, is not a bad one, except for one very important factor: Ms. Burke is not up to either the singing or acting demands of Love f…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:41AMSunday, January 22, 2017
What Evett delivers—using ample quotes from the poem and robust contributions from himself and Spangler—is a terrifying inside look of the Mariner’s experiences, beginning with being h…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:06AMTuesday, January 10, 2017
Linda Lavin, padded and badly bewigged, comes across more like a Jewish yenta than the victim of the vagaries of Eastern European warfare. She has only one song, “Easily Assimilated,” a…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 04:56PMMonday, January 9, 2017
All the choreographers displayed over-intellectualization and overuse of gimmicks, avoiding dealing directly and honestly with their subjects. Homosexuality raised its head in two of the wo…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:18PMFriday, January 6, 2017
This dance/theater piece is subtitled “Teacher, philosopher, man who shaped a nation,” a rather big theme to dramatize effectively, especially when the mandate is spectacle. Mr. Liu’s…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 05:28PMMonday, December 26, 2016
“r-Evolution, Dream.” was a jaunty new ballet by Ailey member Hope Boykin to music by Ali Jackson plus narration spoken by Leslie Odom, Jr. which included a Shakespeare sonnet, “A Negr…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 10:39PMMonday, December 19, 2016
Aaron Port (Josh Radnor), a down on his luck writer, is reduced to teaching Adult Ed classes in middle class/middle brow 1960’s Levittown, Long Island. Richard Greenberg ("Take Me Out," "…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 01:21PMWednesday, December 14, 2016
On Beowulf Boritt’s set of three apartment towers of fire escapes and store fronts, the musical begins with a doo-wop group singing a cappella in close harmony under a Belmont Avenue sign,…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 10:02PMThursday, December 8, 2016
The title means “sea view,” a metaphor for the fact that his mother’s happiest memories involved being mesmerized by large bodies of water. All the places she felt happiest were by th…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 01:17PMThe final sections of this theater/dance work were more effective than the earlier scenes and they included a game show knockoff call “The Price is Right to Be a Queen,” a rigged quiz sh…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:00PM 
