“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…
“On the 24th of May, 1869, we started down the Green River with provisions for eight or ten months, according to Major Powell. Our provisions got wet and were lost in different ways, and finally the largest boatload was lost in Diamond Falls on the Green River. All this reduced our rations. Though we had plenty of fish on Green…
Brett Sullivan’s “The Last Word” is a delightful new musical with a great deal to offer. Mr. Sullivan and his creative team have carefully thought through a musical that features an outstanding cast, a fully developed story with a clear dramatic arc, and an engaging theme that readily connects to the audience. “The Last Word” is one of the few…
Never has a musical been so at war with itself than is “Lisa and Leonardo,” the new musical that finished its run at the New York Musical Festival on Thursday July 28, 2016. It is difficult to know how a talented and experienced creative team could create a musical that in almost two and a half hours’ time fails to…
“Do I dare/Disturb the universe?/In a minute there is time/For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.” T. S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” After a successful run at the Huntington Theatre in Boston, “A Confederacy of Dunces” is possibly heading to Broadway. John Kennedy Toole’s picaresque novel was published in 1980 eleven years after his…
Jaime Lozano’s and Lauren Epsenhart’s new musical from Mexico follows successful entrepreneur Raul’s (Mauricio Martinez) return to his childhood seaside home to visit his ailing grandmother Marina (April Ortiz). The musical begins in the present and, through a series of flashbacks introduces the characters, their conflicts, and how those conflicts brought them and Raul to the present. After seeing his…