Reviewing the Drama: Broadway, Off-Broadway, Ballet, Movies, and TV Reviews

A brief note about the world premiere of Martin Sherman 's play, Gently Down the Stream , directed by Sean Mathias , and starring Harvey Fierstein, Gabriel Ebert, and Christopher Sears: Gently Down the Stream brings us yet another history of the gays. I know that sounds dismissive and insensitive; I mean to be dismissive and insensitive toward the play, not the subject matter. As the play began, and Ebert's Rufus asked Fierstein's Beau questions about his past, I thought it was just DJ Exposition, but then Beau proceeded to directly addressed the audience (ostensibly in a testimonial), and the play turned into a prolonged history lesson. What was it all for? Apparently the purpose of slogging through the first 90 minutes of the 100–minute play was to get to the ending: row, row, row your boat gently down the stream / [sometimes not so] merrily you get to a point where you realize your life's dreams. Frankly, I found it trite, and like a poor adaptation of The He...

Moonlight is a coming of age tale in three acts. With a story* by acclaimed playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney ( Choir Boy , Head of Passes ), Moonlight is written and directed by Barry Jenkins , and focuses on Chiron, a gay black boy becoming a man in an urban and drug-riddled community. Act One: Little We are introduced to "Little," Chiron's moniker as a young boy. (In this act, Alex Hibbert plays Chiron.) He's teased by his classmates, who taunt him by calling him gay. A latchkey kid whose mother, Paula ( Naomie Harris ), is a drug addict, nine-year-old Little often has to fend for himself. One afternoon, he escapes the bullies by running to an abandoned flop house, where he's discovered by a local drug dealer, Juan ( Mahershala Ali ( House of Cards , Smart People ), making a brief but impressive appearance). Juan takes a shine to Little, who doesn't say much, and, though Juan is not exactly the perfect role model, becomes a positive male influence...

Taylor Mac 's Hir  (pronounced "here"), finds Isaac ( Cameron Scoggins ( Pocatello )) returning home from war to a family and home he doesn't recognize. His first clue that things aren't the way he left them is that he can't get in the front door; it's blocked. When he enters through the back door, he sees the place in disarray. Clothes, clean and dirty, are strewn about; furniture is wherever it was last used; cupboards are empty, with food and dishes anywhere but where they are "supposed" to be. His father, Arnold ( Daniel Oreskes ) has been dressed up in a dress, make up and a clown wig. Paige ( Tony nominee Kristine Nielsen ( Vanya... , You Can't... ), Isaac's mother, appears carefree and possessed by a manic energy, and, oh, Isaac's sister is now his brother, Max ( Tom Phelan ). It's a little disorienting, especially for a veteran who had been with Mortuary Affairs, meaning his job was to literally pick up the pieces o...