Asaf and the members of the audience are the unwitting protagonists of Itamar Moses’s “The Ally” which is currently running at the Public’s Anspacher Theater. Asaf Sternheim (a well-meaning but uncommitted Josh Radnor) is Jewish, a writer, and an adjunct professor of writing at a prestigious American University in a struggling American city where his Korean American wife Gwen Kim…
According to the dictionary, there are several definitions of the word ‘appropriate,’ but there may possibly be one that could be added, that being “a brilliant play by Brandon Jacob-Jenkins.” which is now having a stunning production mounted on Broadway by Second Stage Theater. Aptly titled “Appropriate” follows the ultra-dysfunctional Lafayette clan back to their family plantation home in Southeast…
Microsoft’s Text to Speech Voice read’s Mona Pirnot’s script aloud (scored with sequences of punctuation to create pauses and silences) as the playwright sits with her back to the audience at a small desk adorned by her laptop and a small lamp. Pirnot’s non-fictional narrative is the personal yet “Everyman” story of loneliness, love, loss, death, bereavement, acceptance, confession, forgiveness,…
The world premiere musical “The Connector” with a book by Jonathon Marc Sherman and music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown now playing at MCC Theater certainly has a suitable title on many different levels. Although each character is pivotal in connecting the pieces of the puzzle to create the story, they are also connected by the same personality trait…
The time “Jonah,” currently running at Roundabout Theatre Company’s Laura Pels Theatre, takes place is described in the program as “The past and the present. But everything is slippery.” ‘Slippery’ is the operative word here. Everything is slippery in “Jonah” in addition to the time: the series of bedrooms in Wilson Chin’s cerebral and surreal design; the changeability and moodiness…
Since the Atlantic Theater Company first announced that Brian d’Arcy James and Kelli O’Hara would lead the cast of the new musical “Days of Wine and Roses” based on the book by JP Miller, it was evident why theater goers would rush to buy tickets. Add to that fact, the music and lyrics were written by Adam Guettel, who once…
Award-winning Malaysian director and performer, Shafeeq Shajahan, invites you to “Satyam Shivam Sundaram”, a cabaret odyssey that peels back the layers of his queer, Muslim heritage. Presented at the Soho Theatre, the show is part of Soho Rising, a celebration of new work created by comedians, writers and performers who have taken part in the Soho Theatre’s Lab programmes. An…
Immediately after the first number in the new musical “Hell’s Kitchen” which is a loosely based auto biographical story about musician Alicia Keys growing up and coming of age during the late nineties in the New York City neighborhood which the show is named after, you get the feeling this might be headed to Broadway. That assumption would be right…
Language and translation serve as powerful tropes for colonial ownership in Brian Friel’s “Translations” currently playing at Irish Repertory Company through Sunday. December 31, 2023. Headmaster Hugh (Sean McGinley) of the hedge-school in the townland of Baile Beag/Balleybeg the Irish-speaking community in County Donegal and his eldest son Manus (Owen Campbell) teach Irish, Latin and Greek to the local students….
Mischief Theatre, responsible for “The Play That Goes Wrong” and “Peter Pan Goes Wrong” is at it again, bringing yet another production to the New York stage billed as “Mind Mangler, A Night of Tragic Illusion.” If you happened to view either of the two previous shows you might find yourself a bit disappointed with this newest endeavor, which might…