In Nancy Harris’s “The Beacon,” currently on at the Irish Repertory Theatre, four characters navigate through life’s rough waters. Three make it. One is still lost at sea. The back wall of Beiv’s (Kate Mulgrew) cottage on an island off the coast of West Cork is made almost entirely of glass and looks out onto the Atlantic Ocean. Angst and…
The main problem with “Tammy Faye,” currently on at the Palace Theatre is not the vapid lyrics by Jake Shears or the bland book by James Graham. Unfortunately, the “New Broadway Musical” has nothing to do with the iconic PTL Club televangelist Tammy Faye. Not even the two-time Laurence Olivier Award winning Katie Brayben’s performance as Tammy Faye, or the…
In a recent “New York Times” guest essay, Drew Lichtenberg writes that although “the American theater’s relationship to the Bard might be fraying” with “a long history of theaters running from Shakespeare during times of political division or uncertainty, we need Shakespeare, especially in moments of conflict and unrest.” Currently running at Circle in the Square, Sam Gold’s production of…
At first glance, Manhattan Theatre Club’s “Vladimir,” currently at New York City Center Stage I, might receive a “what’s new” reaction from the audience. But the importance Erika Sheffer’s well-constructed play takes us far beyond the boundaries of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin’s Russia. “Vladimir” focuses on the enduring themes of love and relationships, the dichotomy of freedom and oppression, and the…
Strings McCrane (a complex, unsettled, and conflicted Adam Driver) did not need to be overly mindful when he was a world-famous country and western singer and a movie star: he had teams deciding what was best for his present and future career, thus unburdening him from the pressure and uncertainty of being mindful about anything. After his mother’s untimely death…
Life secrets and surprises are somewhere on the menu at the way-upstate New York diner where Paul (a quiet, thoughtful, and intense Anthony Edwards) has “good coffee made with a bad machine” nearly every morning except Sunday. Paul and server Katie (a perceptive and secretive Susannah Flood) have exchanged what might be described as casual conversations for the past two…
“McNeal,” currently on at the Vivan Beaumont Theater, is playwright Ayad Akhtar’s exploration into the unexpected confluence of plagiarism, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the canon of western literature through the life and writing of renowned playwright Jacob McNeal (a cantankerous but magnetic Robert Downing Jr) who is, at the play’s onset, “badgering” Chat GPT on his iPhone to predict whether…
New York: Outer Critics’ Circle award-nominated Royal Family Productions, a non-profit theatre company known for its innovative productions and development of new original work, will present Chris Henry’s two-part adaptation in full of LM Montgomery’s classic novel, Anne of Green Gables. The first part, Anne of Green Gables: Finding Home, was presented in a substantially different version in 2019, and…
In Jez Butterworth’s “The Hills of California,” the four Webb sisters gather in the summer of 1976 at Seaview the guesthouse on the outskirts of Blackpool, an English seaside resort on the Irish Sea, where their mother Veronica (a once demanding and selfish Laura Donnelly) lies dying upstairs in what was their childhood home. Jill (an angst-ridden and spinsterish Helena…
The timing of the opening of Stephen Sachs “Fatherland” at New York City Center Stage II could not be more auspicious. Based on the true story of the 18-year-old high school senior from the Wylie part of Dallas (the conflicted but committed Patrick Keleher) who turned his father (the fiery and grieving Ron Bottitta) over to the FBI because of his militant role in the January…