Yearning for Neverland in ‘For Peter Pan on her 70th birthday’
The 90-minute meditation on aging and maturity — in other words, “growing up” — is obviously near and dear to the playwright’s heart. Perhaps a little too near.
Curtains Up on Feuding Cosmetics Queens in ‘War Paint’
When it comes to makeup, experts always say that less is more. Though the new musical War Paint chronicles the rivalry between the groundbreaking cosmetics titans Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein, it doesn’t abide by this essential rule of beauty.
Joan of Arc: Into the Fire
Joan of Arc: Into the Fire presents is a portrait of opportunistic men profiting off of hard work completed by a woman-and the woman being permitted no reaction at all.
The Emperor Jones
Directed by Ciarán O’Reilly and starring the compelling Obi Abili in the title role, Eugene O’Neill’s play from 1920 possesses a timeless resonance, much like the tom-toms that sound persistently throughout the production.
How to Transcend a Happy Marriage
As directed by Rebecca Taichman for Lincoln Center’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, the play is a subversive examination of monogamy and lust that blends realism and magical realism.
Sunset Boulevard
Twenty-three years after since her original, Tony-winning performance as Norma Desmond, Glenn Close has returned to the role of the fading film star clinging desperately to the past.
The Object Lesson
This cluttered and confusing performance art/installation piece at New York Theatre Workshop did not inspire anxiety in me throughout its 100-minute performance. Instead, I merely felt bored.
‘Sunday in the Park With George’: Jake Gyllenhaal brings the tortured artist to Broadway
Jake Gyllenhaal, who wowed audiences with his vocal talents in the 2015 summer concert production of ‘Little Shop of Horrors,’ stepped into the dual tortured artist role in October.
Escaped Alone
This 50-minute production from London’s Royal Court Theater unsettlingly juxtaposes a cosy conversation in an English garden with an end-of-the-world scenario.
‘The Tempest’ Turned Upside Down In Brooklyn
The third Shakespeare play directed by Phyllida Lloyd and performed with an entirely female cast is now at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Dumbo, Brooklyn.
The Front Page
Written by former newspapermen Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, this unapologetically vulgar comedy was first produced in 1928, and its age is showing. Directed by Jack O’Brien, the star-studded cast is all white, mostly men and incredibly misogynistic.
Dead Poets Society
When stripped of cinematic close-ups and intimate camera work to heighten the experience of this simple and bittersweet story, it is lessened rather than heightened.
Dear Evan Hansen
This new musical, with a score by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, and a book by Steven Levenson, follows the titular character, a painfully shy and anxious teenager who finds himself skyrocketing to popularity and online fame.
The Hard Nut
The set is cartoonish but the emotions are anything but in The Hard Nut. Mark Morris’ adaptation of The Nutcracker remains timeless in its appeal to outsiders longing for a special place where they belong.
Heisenberg
A one-act, bare-bones look at the baffling interactions between two underwritten characters, Heisenberg offers a pretentiously philosophical take on the myth of the maniac pixie dream girl.
Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn, which was written by Chad Hodge and Gordon Greenberg, follows a song-and-dance team who part ways when Jim, determined to escape showbiz, buys a farm in Connecticut.
Stuffed
First loves are often the subject of works of drama, but the first loves reminisced about in Stuffed differ greatly from those of a Shakespearean tragedy. Instead of a next-door neighbor or a classmate in school, these loves are food. Sugary, fatty, deep-fried and almost always forbidden.
