The 92nd St. Y's Lyrics & Lyricists, one of New York's leading propagators of the Great American Songbook, featured the witty and sardonic songs of E.Y. "Yip" Harburg in its most recent …
Smiling Faces, Skull, Princess, Pile of Poo and other notable emojis cavorting around might have made for a peppy contained sophisticated children's show. The creators of "Emojiland: The Mus…
Laura Linney is never one to avoid a challenge. When she last appeared at Manhattan Theatre Club's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre she was alternating in the roles of "Regina" and "Birdie" in the…
The show was conceived, directed and designed by Theodora Skipitares. Her treatment of these biographical details is that of a fanciful saga with the awestruck tone of a children's book. The…
When a playwright adapts a famous, well-known story for the stage the problem becomes how to tell it in a new way that makes it seem unfamiliar and fresh. Otherwise, why bother retelling it …
"Romeo & Bernadette," a fresh take on Shakespeare's oft-adapted tale of love, is an unabashed valentine to inter-era romance. Shakespeare's Romeo (cutie-pie Nikita Burshteyn, perfect…
An essay more than a play, with players as opposed to characters, "How to Load a Musket" is a racist diatribe that fails to make its points coherently. The costumes and appointments on the w…
Fog wafting, an empty rocking chair moving by itself, blackouts, ghostly apparitions and crashing music are all part of the spooky fun in "The Woman In Black." Scary moments, intriguing hoku…
On paper the concept should not work: scenes and characters have been cut, a Shakespeare sonnet has been added set to music, as well as a Greek song, and four characters originally written f…
The play succeeds in large part because it begins in the aftermath of a school shooting. There are a few bits of dialogue describing the terror of the incident itself, but there is no onstag…
It is not difficult to see what attracted Metropolitan Playhouse to Ardrey's drama: its message that one cannot shut one's self off from the problems of the world as the America First moveme…
Employing an impressive array of voices and mannerisms, and only sometimes augmented with a wig or article of clothing, Miller as "Narrator" impersonates numerous performers, personalities, …
A recent iteration of the classic ballet "Swan Lake" was staged by Derek Deane and danced by the Shanghai Ballet and presented by the Shanghai Ballet with China Arts and Entertainment Group …
With her richly expressive character voice, alternating between appealing deepness and wonderfully hitting high notes, she beautifully does justice to each song. We see every hallowed surrea…
More in the spirit of Carrie Fisher than Christina Crawford, performer Barra Grant chronicles her life and that of her famous mother in her engaging and smartly presented self-written solo s…
Created and first performed during the run-up to the 2018 national referendum that eventually led to the amendment's repeal, Maz and Bricks, a part of the Origin Theater Company's 1st Irish …
Rennie Harris Puremovement American Street Dance Theater exploded onto the stage with raw vitality. Harris, who choreographed most of the works, combined various styles of street dancing (mo…
The production is unapologetically irreverent. At the beginning, we see a masked Greek chorus wearing long robes, shuffling ever-so-slowly around the stage of the Center at West Park (the sa…
Wataru Kitao in Suguru Yamamoto's "The Unknown Dancer in the Neighborhood" at The Japan Society (Photo credit" Ayumi Sakamoto) Joel Benjamin, Critic Suguru Yamamoto's solo dance/theater work…
As a seasoned New York theatergoer, I experienced her immense talents many times and today is cause to recall a few of her unheralded performances. The post In Praise of Frances Sternhagen …
The festival has given birth to musicals that have gone on to Broadway ("Next to Normal," "Chaplin," "[title of show]," "In Transit") and Off-Broadway ("Altar Boyz," "The Other Josh Cohen…
Speaking alternately, the six women talk of food, traditions, love, family, beliefs, ethics, dreams, abuse and New Zealand men. They speak of their dreams of a future and a better life. The …
A lively cast comprised of Harrison Unger, Caturah Brown, Tay Bass and Jonathan Cruz not only deliver exceptional performances during the inconsequential "Or, An Astronaut Play," they …
Composer/lyricist Jerry Herman was, of course, a Broadway legend.  He gave us such unforgettable shows as "Hello, Dolly!," "Mame," and "La Cage Aux Folles." These musicals were all…
David Cassidy's autobiography "C'Mon Get Happy""which I ghost-wrote for him at his request"has now come out as a Kindle E-book, with a brand new afterword by me. (It's available for purchase…