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

There's a lot of publicity surrounding the Public's production of Privacy , a modern morality tale created by James Graham and Josie Rourke . (This is a co-production with London's Donmar Warehouse.) Much attention has been paid to Privacy 's leading man, Daniel Radcliffe , someone who's grown up in the public eye; to the fact that audience members will be encouraged to use their phones during the performance; and to the taped appearance by Edward Snowden . Publicity is great, but the play's the thing, and this play, written by Graham and directed by Rourke, is more like a theatricalized TED talk than a play. Plot or character motivation is used as a device to explore and demonstrate how little privacy we have. (One thing that connects this to theatre history is social media being a stand in, of sorts, for the Greek chorus, or the townspeople who are constantly on stage in Our Town —someone is always watching and commenting.) Radcliffe ( The Cripple of I...

A quick note about David Lindasy-Abaire 's latest, Ripcord . The play, directed by David Hyde Pierce ( La Bete ), finds two senior citizens, Marilyn ( Marylouise Burke ( Fish in the Dark )) and Abby ( Holland Taylor ( Ann )), sharing a room at an assisted living facility. The are most certainly an odd couple, with Marilyn being upbeat and continually nattering on about something or other, trying to get to know her roommate, and Abby the buttoned-up woman of manners, cool and collected throughout. After a trip to a haunted house (seriously), the ladies make a bet: If Marilyn can scare Abby, Marilyn gets the better bed. If Abby can anger Marilyn, Marilyn moves out. And so the stakes are set and all sorts of silly shenanigans ensue, including a sky diving sequence (again, seriously). It's fun to watch the two ladies needle each other. They are sometimes visited by Scotty ( Nate Miller ( Of Good Stock )), who works at the facility, as well as Marilyn's daughter and son...