Joan Marcus

Broadway Review: “Caroline, or Change” at Roundabout’s Studio 54 (Closed Sunday January 9, 2022)

Racism, sexism, economic disparity, and stagnation roil beneath the surface Caroline Thibodeaux’s (an embattled yet resilient Sharon B Clarke) deep unhappiness, disappointment, and resistance to change in Tony Kushner’s “Caroline, or Change.” Currently enjoying a successful revival at Roundabout’s Studio 54, the Kushner/Tesori musical focuses on Caroline’s long days in the Louisiana “under water” basement of the Gellman family. “Sixteen…

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Off-Broadway Review: “The Visitor” at the Public’s Newman Theater (Closed Sunday, December 5, 2021)

November 22, 2021 | a man of, Off-Broadway, public, public theater, the old man, the visitor, visitor > | "The Visitor", Ahmad Maksoud, Albert Guerzon, Alysha Deslorieux, Anthony Chan, Brandon Espinoza, Brian Yorkey, C.K. Edwards, Claire M. Kavanah, Crystal Joy, Daniel Sullivan, David Bengali, David Hyde Pierce, David Zinn, Delius Doherty, Dimitri Joseph Moïse, Groundswell Productions and Participant Media Motion Picture Written by Thomas McCarthy, Hana S. Kim, Jacqueline Antaramian, James Latus, Jamshied Sharifi, Japhy Weideman, Jessica Paz, Joan Marcus, Katie Terza, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Lorin Latarro, Marla Louissaint, Matthew Armentrout, Meg Zervoulis, Paul Pontrelli, Rick Edinger, Robert Ariza, Sahar Milani, Sean Ewing, Sun Hee Kil, Takafumi Nikaido, The Newman Theater, The Public Theater, Thomas Schall, Tom Kitt, Tomoko Akaboshi, Toni-Leslie James, Will Erat

The new musical “The Visitor,” now playing at the Public’s Newman Theater, is based on the 2007 film sharing the same title, with a book by Kwame Kwei-Armah and Brian Yorkey, music by Tom Kitt and lyrics also by Mr. Yorkey. The story is the same but somehow confining it to the stage provides a better focus on the characters…

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Off-Broadway Review: New York Theatre Workshop’s “Sanctuary City” at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (Closed Sunday October 10, 2021)

October 7, 2021 | Off-Broadway, pass over, sanctuary city > | "Sanctuary City", Austin Smith, Caitlin Sullivan, Isabella Byrd, Jasai Chase-Owens, Joan Marcus, Lucille Lortel Theatre, Martyna Majok, Merrick A.B. Williams, Mikaal Sulaiman, New York Theatre Workshop, Rebecca Frecknall, Sharlene Cruz, Tom Scutt

Since the controversy started about the destiny of so called “dreamers” and immigration moved to the forefront of the political spectrum, theatre has become a formidable platform, revealing the many obstacles that face these innocent victims. What has also developed is the now familiar phrase “sanctuary city.” A city that limits its cooperation with federal immigration enforcement agents, to protect…

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Broadway Review: “Pass Over” at the August Wilson Theatre (Closed Sunday October 10, 2021)

September 16, 2021 | Broadway, pass over, transl, trapped > | "Pass Over", "Waiting for Godot", Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu, August Wilson Theatre, Camille Hickman, Daniel Swee, Danya Taymor, Erica A. Hart, Gabriel Ebert, Joan Marcus, Jon Michael Hill, Justin Ellington, Marcus Doshi, Namir Smallwood, Samuel Beckett, Sarafina Bush, Wilson Chin

In Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu’s most recent iteration of “Pass Over,” two “brothers” Moses (Jon Michael Hill) and Kitch (Namir Smallwood) engage in an interminable exchange of escapist fantasy-dialogue in which they ask one another, “What kind of plans you got?” Moses’ His Promised Land Top 10 list includes “reaching his full potential,” “getting his ass off this block,” “a penthouse…

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Off-Broadway Review: “Miss America’s Ugly Daughter: Bess Myerson & Me” at The Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater

February 26, 2020 | i am, i will, i do, i love you so, Off-Broadway, Uncategorized > | “Miss America’s Ugly Daughter: Bess Myerson & Me”, Anna Holbrook, Barra Grant, Elisha Shaefer, Eve Brandstein, Florence Kemper-Bunzel, Joan Marcus, The Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater, Tom Jones, Yael Lubetzky

The audience seemed to enjoy the production now playing at the Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater entitled “Miss America’s Ugly Daughter” written and performed by Bess Myerson’s daughter Barra Grant. This comes to the New York stage after a successful year long run in Los Angeles. It is basically a solo show except for the voice of Bess Myerson provided…

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Broadway Review: “Grand Horizons” at Second Stage’s Hayes Theater

February 10, 2020 | Broadway > | "Grand Horizons", Ashley Park, Ben McKenzie, Bess Wohl, Bryce Cutler, Clint Ramos, Helen Hayes Theater, James Cromwell, Jane Alexander, Jen Schriever, Joan Marcus, Leigh Silverman, Linda Cho, Michael Urie, Palmer Hefferan, Priscilla Lopez, Second Stage, Telsey + Company

Plays parsing the viability of monogamy are nothing new. The “sacred” tie that binds “one man and one woman” have been under scrutiny since the mythic Adam and Eve stumbled out of the garden shortly after their creation and subsequent fall from grace. The current hype about the sanctity of heteronormative coupling makes the issue even more relevant despite the…

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Off-Broadway Review: “A Bright Room Called Day” at The Public’s Anspacher Theater

Tony Kushner’s dystopian vision has a firm grounding in the history of the rise of fascism in Germany in the early 1930s and in the methodical and somewhat meteoric rise of Adolf Hitler to Chancellor of the German Reich. This vision is embodied in “A Bright Room Called Day” currently running at The Public’s Anspacher Theater. Mr. Kushner places himself…

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Broadway Review: “A Christmas Carol” at the Lyceum Theatre

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”…

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Off-Broadway Review: “Seared” in the Susan & Ronald Frankel Theater at the Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space

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…

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Off-Broadway Review: “The Michaels” at The Public’s LuEsther Hall

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…

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