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

The Wild West is an iconic American place and time, and the tall tale is a uniquely American storytelling device so, naturally, playwright Kirsten Childs uses both to tell an American story that is conspicuously absent from American lore. Bella: An American Tall Tale  was inspired by some street gawking Childs witnessed. As she describes in the program notes, she was walking down the street behind an African-American couple, and every man that passed took time to look (stare? leer?) at the woman's ample behind. (She notes that the men were "so spellbound they'd even forgotten to catcall.) Rather than seeing this as blatant street harassment or objectification of women, Childs saw an African beauty ideal being worshiped. A Euro-centric beauty ideal pervades society. Pretty much since Twiggy, magazines have been covered with white (often blonde) women who have waif-like bodies: skinny, straight, and with "normal" size features (noses, lips, etc.). In recent...

Encores! Off-Center The Encores! Off-Center season, which celebrates rarely produced or under appreciated off-Broadway fare, has been announced. First up, July 12-15, is a production of Assassins , the Stephen Sondheim – John Weidman musical about the people who have attempted to assassinate US presidents. That will be directed by Anne Kauffman ( Marjorie Prime ). Next, Robert O'Hara ( Barbecue ) will direct Kirsten Childs 's Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin , which runs July 26 and 27. Closing out the season is the whimsical Really Rosie , written by Maurice Sendak (book and lyrics) and Carole King (music). The musical in which kids play pretend will run August 2-5. Theater Mania has more. Playwrights Horizons 2017-2018 Season The venerable off-Broadway company, which has produced works like the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Flick , has announced its 2017-2018 season, and it includes five world premieres, three plays by women, and one play by a person of c...

Sometimes, you really need an intermission. An intermission gives the audience an opportunity to reflect on what they've just watched, to think about what certain things mean, to wonder about what might happen next. In the subsequent act(s), they can build upon their intermission musings, connecting the dots and truly figuring out what's going on. But sometimes you don't get that chance. Sometimes, in theatre, there's no intermission, and sometimes, in a life, there's no second act. Playwright Adam Bock presents an examined life from the perspective of Nate Martin ( David Hyde Pierce ), a middle-aged gay man who is keen to make sense of his life via astrological charts. (He's not a wack-a-doo, I promise.) The play begins with Nate directly addressing the audience, as if we're a psychiatrist to whom he's proving his mental health. I was unexpectedly moved by Pierce's performance. Maybe it's leftover (petty) resentment that he won the Tony ...

I come from a family that talks about food. A lot. Whenever we eat, we talk about what we're having for the next meal, making dinner plans during lunch, talking about the next day's breakfast menu at dinner. So many of my memories are tied to food, to the meals I've had, and the pomp and circumstance surrounding them. So I was instantly captivated when the lights came up and Aubergine began. The play begins with Diane ( Jessica Love ) directly addressing the audience, recounting the best thing she ever ate. (These direct addresses season the play, serving as little noshes in between scenes.) She takes great care to get the specifics of the meal (a pastrami sandwich) right, including a vivid description of browning the butter so as to properly toast/fry the bread. As Diane continues, it becomes clear that this sandwich is not the best thing she ever ate because it tasted amazing, because the umami was wonderfully overwhelming her senses. It's the best thing becaus...

You walk into the theatre, and the stage looks large. It's dimly lit, and there are few set pieces. An over-sized butcher-block island sits at the center. Cookbooks line one of its sides. There's a built in sink, but it's small enough that there's still a great, big work surface. The wooden beams lingering over the island suggest a roof, and the stage right beams are adorned with leafy tree branches, suggesting the outdoors. The walls are all black; you can barely discern the two cutouts on the back wall that serve as entry and exit points. It's like a vacuum, both sucking you in (maybe back to something) and leaving room for your imagination (or memory) to run wild. This scenic design, by Rachel Hauck ( Dry Powder ), wonderfully sets the stage for Anne Washburn 's Antlia Pneumatica , a play that works better on stage than I think did on the page. It's essentially a memory play, and what are memories if not feelings, recollections of some sensory exp...

The new Danai Gurira play, Familiar , is a bit, well, familiar, what with its exploration of family dynamics. That is also what makes it easy to relate to, and even a bit comforting. To be sure, the family in Familiar does not look like mine. The parents, Donald ( Harold Surratt ) and Marvelous ( Tamara Tunie ), emigrated from Zimbabwe, and made a life in Minnesota, where their children were born. (By contrast, my family is Caucasian, and we've been New York natives since my great-grandparents' generation.) Their younger daughter, Nyasha ( Ito Aghayere ), has just returned from a trip to "Zim," as the character call it. Her older sister, Tendi ( Roslyn Ruff ), is about to get married—to a white Christian, Chris ( Joby Earle ). The family, including Marvelous's sisters, Margaret ( Melanie Nicholls-King ) and Anne ( Myra Lucretia Taylor ), and Chris's brother, Brad ( Joe Tippett ), is gathered for the wedding. We all have families, both the one we're...

Add Jordan Harrison 's Marjorie Prime to the pantheon of plays/movies/TV shows exploring the quickly evolving world of artificial intelligence. (Recent works that are also in there, in my opinion, The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence and Ex Machina .) At rise, we see Marjorie (the wonderful Lois Smith ) talking to Walter ( Noah Bean ), her husband. Or, rather, Walter Prime, an AI robot version of her husband, as he looked when he was 30. Marjorie is elderly, and lost her husband about ten years ago. (The action of the play takes place in an unspecified time in the future; if you pay attention, though, you can pick up the little clues Harrison leaves, and guess that we're somewhere in the 2055-2060 range. Kudos to Laura Jellinek for her sparse and spacious natural futuristic set.) The fashionable thing to do in response to loss is, apparently, create a Prime, an AI version of your loved one, in order to provide companionship. You (and anyone else you choose) c...

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...

Hamilton News The Hamilton original Broadway cast recording was released digitally this week. (CDs will be released October 16, and vinyls will be released in January 2016.) You can visit your favorite digital music retailer to purchase the album, and then head to the Atlantic Records website , where you can download the full lyrics and album credits. In addition, it was announced that the Hamilton book, which will feature annotated lyrics and many other goodies, is now available for pre-order. The title will be released on April 12, 2016. Visit Amazon or your favorite retailer to place your order. Lincoln Center Theater Announces Three New Productions Lincoln Center Theater has announced three show that will be part of its 2015-2016 season: The Royale , written by Marco Ramirez and directed by Rachel Chavkin , beginning February 11, 2016; Her Requiem , written by Greg Pierce and directed by Kate Whoriskey ( Tales from Red Vienna ), beginning February 6; and War , writte...

"I have a powerful urge to communicate, but I find the distance between us insurmountable." Pastor Paul tells his congregation that this is what he wrote on a note he passed to a woman on a plane in an attempt to woo her. (It worked, as the woman, Elizabeth ( Linda Powell ), later became his wife.) It's also a fitting epigraph to The Christians , Lucas Hnath 's new play, succinctly explaining the Christians' struggles. Paul ( Andrew Garman ) is the leader of a megachurch, and on this particular Sunday, the pastor is telling his flock about his new understanding of God's word, and what that means for his church. This new interpretation of the Holy Scripture doesn't sit well with others in the congregation, including the associate pastor, Joshua ( Larry Powell ). As the schism shows itself, Paul invites Joshua to leave the congregation. We later hear from the church elder, Jay ( Philip Kerr ), who expresses the board's concerns with the division. (...

Bruce Norris likes to write characters who stir the pot, and Jeremy Shamos is terrific at playing them. Re-teaming with their Clybourne Park director, Tony winner Pam MacKinnon  ( Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? ), they bring us The Qualms , Norris's new play about sexual politics. Shamos plays Chris, a sort of everyman, he seems like an average, middle-aged white guy. Chris is married to Kristy ( Sarah Goldberg ), a sweet-looking blonde with alabaster skin, and the newlyweds are at Gary ( John Procaccino ) and Teri ( Kate Arrington ( Grace ))'s beach condo. The couples met recently while on vacation in Mexico, and Chris and Kristy have decided to accept Gary and Teri's invitation to join their swingers club. Playing out in real time, the other members of the club begin to arrive: There's Deb (Donna Lynne Champlin), an overweight, average looking woman, and her boyfriend, Ken ( Andy Lucien ), a black man who is cut like an Adonis and carries himself in an...

You might recall that Laura Eason's Sex with Strangers  began and ended with the question, "Who are you?" That question begat other questions, like, do we ever really know our sexual partners? Melissa James Gibson (who, like Eason, is on the House of Cards  writing staff) explores a similar question in her terrific new play, Placebo . Whereas Eason used writers to tell her story, Gibson uses a doctoral candidate, Louise, and sets her story against a backdrop of medical experimentation. Louise (Carrie Coon) is a research assistant for a doctor who is doing a double blind study of a drug that aims to boost women's libidos. Through Louise's interactions with one of the patients, Mary (Florencia Lozano), another researcher, Tom (Alex Hurt), and her boyfriend, Jonathan (William Jackson Harper), we come to see that all relationships are really double blind studies; you never quite know your partner or how s/he will affect you. (As the show art suggests, perhaps al...

"Maybe we just don't get to be happy," a despondent Tammy says toward the end of Samuel D. Hunter 's new play, Pocatello , now playing at Playwrights Horizons. It's a realization that hangs over the characters and just might find its way into your head, leaving you depressed as you walk out of the theatre and back into the rain, broken umbrella in hand. (Was that just me?) Hunter sets his play (directed by Davis McCallum ) in a foundering chain restaurant (akin to Olive Garden) in Pocatello, Idaho. Eddie ( T.R. Knight ) is the restaurant's manager, and he's struggling to connect with...anyone, really. There's his mother, Doris (an aloof Brenda Wehle ); his visiting brother and sister-in-law, Nick and Kelly ( Brian Hutchison and Crystal Finn , respectively); and his staff, Max ( Cameron Scoggins ), Isabelle ( Elvy Yost ) and Troy ( Danny Wolohan ). Trying to make a connection—any connection—with his own family, Eddie organizes "Famiglia Week...

Running or working in a soup kitchen isn't a glamorous way of life, but that doesn't mean it's uninteresting. Actor/playwright Heidi Schreck presents a character study of four people connected by the soup kitchen. (Schreck does not act in Grand Concourse , but I did get to see her a few years ago in Circle Mirror Transformation . ) Said soup kitchen is located in a church in the Bronx, and is more or less run by Sister Shelley ( Quincy Tyler Bernstine , who previously appeared at Playwrights Horizons in Mr. Burns: A Post-Electirc Play ). Shelley is patient but struggling because she's having trouble praying. Oscar (an appealing Bobby Moreno ) is a handy man/security guard/whatever else you need; he's playful but hard working. Frog ( Lee Wilkof ) is one of the homeless men who counts on the soup kitchen for food and comfort. Their routine is interrupted when Emma ( Ismenia Mendes , who appeared in Playwrights Horizons recent Your Mother's Copy of the Kama Su...

"It's not the things you do in life, it's who you do them with." So says a character in the dreamy original musical, Fly by Night . Conceived by Kim Rosenstock ( Tigers Be Still ) and written by Rosenstock, Will Connolly ( Once ) and Michael Mitnick ( Sex Lives of Our Parents ), this ambitious musical tells the story of a triangle between one boy, Harold ( Adam Chanler-Berat ), and two girls, sisters Miriam ( Allison Case ) and Daphne ( Patti Murin ). A Narrator ( Henry Stram ) helps us make our way through the starstuff that is woven into our lives and the lives of the earnest, romantic characters on stage (which also include Harold's father, Mr. McClam ( Peter Friedman ), a playwright, Joey Storms ( Bryce Ryness ), and a crotchety deli owner, Crabble ( Michael McCormick )). The story, which takes place over the course of exactly one year, November 9, 1964, to November 9, 1965, is not told in a linear manner, and I like that. Having a narrator allows us...

There’s nothing like a provocative title to titillate the senses, and Your Mother’s Copy of the Kama Sutra certainly provokes a reaction. The play itself, however, didn’t provoke in me a palpably strong reaction, making the experience not as good for me as it was for playwright Kirk Lynn. The two-act play opens with a couple, Reggie (Chris Stack) and Carla (Zoe Sophia Garcia), in the midst of foreplay: Reggie is blindfolded and Carla is teasing him, directing him around the room, commanding him to remove different articles of clothing. Reggie becomes impatient, rips off the blindfold and asks Carla to marry him. She agrees, but on one condition: in the year leading up to their wedding, they will not only tell each other about every sexual encounter they have had but also reenact them. Prudes needn’t worry. There’s little sexual simulation on stage. The play, set both in the mid-1990s and early 2010s, is ultimately about trust within relationships, and what role complete self...

Original Broadway Cast Recordings Galore! The original Broadway cast recording of The Bridges of Madison County will be released digitally on April 15 and will be in stores on May 20. You can pre-order now at sh-k-boom.com . The Bridges of Madison features a score by Jason Robert Brown ( The Last Five Years ), and it's one of the most glorious scores I've heard in years. You'll definitely want to pick up a copy so you can swoon over Kelli O'Hara and Steven Pasquale singing songs like "One Second and a Million Miles" and "It All Fades Away." To learn more about The Bridges of Madison County and to purchase tickets, visit bridgesofmadisoncountymusical.com . There will be an If/Then cast album, and it will be released on June 3!!!!!!! Playbill has more. (In other news: Idina Menzel will perform on the Today show on April 3.) If/Then is the original Broadway musical from Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt . The pair have reteamed with their Next...