Veteran actors of screen, stage, and television Harry Hamlin and Stefanie Powers do their best to bring Joshua Ravetch’s “One November Yankee” to the stage at 59E59 Theaters on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Despite their heroic efforts, Ravitch’s script lacks the sophistication and strength to match the formidable skills of the cast. The three stories that make up “One November…
Loss looms large over four Texas residents in Stephen Brown’s “Everything Is Super Great” currently running at 59E59 Theaters. Nineteen-year-old Tommy (a sullen and hapless Will Sarratt) has lost his father, his brother, and he’s “not really allowed inside of an Applebee’s ever again.” Tommy’s mother Anne (a bellicose and overwhelmed Marcia Debonis) has lost her friends, her husband, one…
New York City has several options of entertainment that certainly succeed in spreading some holiday cheer, but there happens to be something special happening at the Lyceum Theatre that might capture your heart, make you smile, and possibly shed a tear, all in the spirit of Christmas. It is the Old Vic Production of the Dickens classic, “A Christmas Carol”…
Successful entrepreneurs like Harry (an overzealous but hypersensitive Raúl Esparza) typically attempt to guard their “art” from “commerce” for as long as possible. They feel frightened by the prospect of commercial success overwhelming their sense of artistic integrity. At least that is Harry’s point of view in Theresa Rebeck’s “Seared” currently running in the Susan & Ronald Frankel Theater at…
There are times during Harvey Fierstein’s performance in his “Bella Bella,” currently playing at Manhattan Theatre Club’s New York City Center Stage I, that the audience is convinced – sans dress, sans hat, sans props – that he is the iconic social activist “Battling Bella.” When Mr. Fierstein channels Bella’s admonitions about the “voice of the people” superseding the importance…
Once again playwright Richard Nelson has gathered another family around the colloquial table to observe their trials and tribulations as they conquer another day of survival in Rhinebeck, New York. This time around it is “The Michaels” who are the subjects of this intimate study of human behavior. The revelations evolve almost in real time as friends and family convene…
A three-month-old infant named Chris looks up from his stroller at his thirty-something mother (Hannah Cabell) as she makes an appointment with his pediatrician for the next day at 11:15. Chris has twisted himself and possibly hurt his back after his big stuffed toy carrot hits him in the eye. Chris’s back injury isn’t the worst of his or his…
There is no denying that a retrospect on of the life of Albert Einstein and the development of his renowned Theory of Relativity would be compelling and extremely interesting. To present this study in the form of musical theatre is a challenging and difficult task that requires a keen intellectual and creative perspective. The discerning approach to this undertaking used…
Layers of discord populate the story line of Anthony Black’s adaptation of Yann Martel’s short story “The Time I Heard the Private Donald J. Rankin String Concerto with One Discordant Violin, by the American Composer John Morton.” The short story appeared in Martel’s 2004 “The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios.” Reviewer Christopher Priest in the “The Guardian” called it “the…
Kean University continues to offer exciting and eclectic performances to the public, adding four new shows to its lineup for spring 2020 in Wilkins Theatre and the intimate Enlow Recital Hall. Taylor 2 Dance Company will perform at Wilkins Theatre at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 21. Renowned choreographer Paul Taylor has been hailed as one of the creators of…