Gay-themed plays have been a staple of the New York theater scene for decades, including the Fringe Festival, which offers over forty shows this year alluding to all aspects of gay life and history. Through the years, the content, impact and impression of these plays has changed considerably as has the struggle, acceptance and civil rights of the LGBTQ community….
At some point on “Off Track,” – it might have been in a phone conversation with his ex-boyfriend just before his phone died – Ian (Matthew Trumbull) says, “It’s too late to fix it.” This phrase could easily describe James Comtois’s “Off Track” several scenes earlier when it was already too late to fix his FringeNYC 2016 play currently running…
Falling somewhere between a cheap Penny Dreadful and a horrific Sci-Fi B-movie, Michael Paul Wirsch’s “The Curse of the Babywoman” (hereafter “The Curse”) has found its way onto the stage of the Lower East Side’s Teatro SEA as part of FringeNYC 2016. The residents of Shrubtown live in fear of the hoard of shapeless, formless babies who haunt the woods…
There is really nothing fresh in the new play “Pucker Up and Blow” by Daniel Reitz, being presented as part of the N.Y. International Fringe Festival. It is vulgar, exploitive, offensive, contains full frontal nudity and is a play within a play, mirroring the play being performed. So what’s new? It has certainly all been seen and done before, on…
The rapid fire repartee that bounces back and forth faster than the ping pong balls that fly through the air is the source of energy in “ChipandGus, the remarkable two-hander one act play presented as part of the N.Y. International Fringe Festival. It is a sort of a contemporary Gin Game on steroids with two unlikely characters in an unusual,…
One of the many solo shows being presented as part of the N.Y. International Fringe Festival is “Naked Brazilian,” written and performed by Gustavo Pace. The script follows his life from childhood in Rio de Janeiro to the streets of New York City and beyond elaborating on copious experiences that contribute to his engaging journey to the present day. The…
“I was not born for death and yet I have died a thousand times, he thought. And now I am born again for these hard times.” – Kathryn Lasky, “Frost Wolf” In forty powerfully engaging minutes, the cast of “Black Magic” explores the lives of seven slain black men “in the era of Orlando, Ferguson, and Black Lives Matter.” These…
The Homeless Man (David Pendleton) sums up Nelson’s (Anthony Ruiz) dilemma in a simple phrase, “You should know there are implications to cohabitation.” Nelson is the husband and father of two families and he has not fulfilled either of those roles with any distinction from their beginnings. After the death of his wife Caitlin, Nelson wants to “make nice” with…
The new musical “Insomnia” played as part of the Midtown International Theater Festival. It is complicated, enjoyable and derivative, some of which might contribute to a possible successful future. The music and lyrics by Charles Bloom are like a collision between Sondheim and Finn, a beneficial “marriage” contributing to the progress of the production at this developmental stage. Screenwriter Brad…
“By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.” Genesis 3:19 On its first return to New York City since it was featured in FringeNYC 2014, “Dust Can’t Kill Me” is a powerful and delightfully complicated trope…