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…
Around the Sun, the award-winning, anthology audio drama series created by Brad Forenza and presented via the Broadway Podcast Network, has announced its season four cast. The announcement comes via an embedded slice-of-life profile of the new season’s voice acting cast members. They include: Gretchen Cryer, Joe Gilford, and Sarah Saltzberg, all celebrated writer-performers. In their slice-of-life profile, Gretchen Cryer…
Jakob Karr’s “Ain’t Done Bad,” currently running at the Irene Diamond Stage, portrays the familiar story of a young LGBTQ man (Jakob Karr) attempting to grapple with his sexual identity in an abusive home atmosphere. His mother (Megumi Iwama) is supportive but his father (Adrian Lee), who is verbally and psychologically abusive to the son’s brother (Ian Spring), mostly keeps…
PS CLASSICS, the label dedicated to the heritage of Broadway and American Popular Song, will release the original cast recording of Ricky Ian Gordon’s acclaimed autobiographical musical Sycamore Trees at all digital and streaming sites on Friday, August 30. A special limited edition of 250 CDs will follow on Friday, September 20. Released on the heels of Gordon’s acclaimed memoirs,…
At the beginning of “Job” which is currently running at the Helen Hayes Theater, Jane (a frenetic yet oddly focused Sydney Lemmon) enters Lloyd’s (a seemingly focused yet not fully at ease Peter Friedman) office holding a gun, confident she knows “who he is.” Although she then briefly experiences some temporary doubt about her well-researched hypothesis, she is willing to…
Twenty-one-year-old Sally Poppy (a powerful yet broken Haley Wong) is convicted of murdering young Alice Wax and sentenced to hang in March of 1759 on the border of Norfolk and Suffolk, in England. Sally claims she is pregnant and if that is true, she cannot be hanged. To determine the truth of Sally’s claim, the Justice “calls for a jury…
Dave Malloy’s “Three Houses currently running at Signature Theatre’s Linney Theater is a retelling/interpretation of the classic fairy tales “The Three Little Pigs” and “Red Riding Hood” (among other cautionary folklore narratives) in which The Big Bad Wolf appears. Stand-ins for Little Red Riding Hood and those Three Little Pigs are Susan (a manic and hedonistic Margo Seibert), Sadie (a…
When does “life” begin? Depending upon one’s religious beliefs, or scientific beliefs, or social media threads, the answer to the question is different. Does “life” begin at conception; in utero; at birth; in childhood; in adolescence; in old age; in death; or after death? Seen through the eyes of his older self in “Water for Elephants” (currently on at the…
Adapted by Eddie Izzard’s sibling Mark Izzard, this “Hamlet” is among the best “Hamlets” on stage, screen, or stream. From the first scene of the iconic tragedy on the battlements of the royal castle at Elsinore when Marcellus relieves Francisco from his watch and where he, Horatio, and Bernardo encounter the Ghost of Hamlet’s father, to the closing scene where…