Ohio State Murders
Written by Adrienne Kennedy
Directed by Jenny Leon
James Earl Jones Theatre
December 29, 2022
Production website
💉💉💉 out of 5.
I could watch Audra McDonald read the phone book and likely be moved by the whole experience. Everything she touches is full of humanity and such care. There is no wonder that she has racked up so many Tony awards. She really is that good. This play is tailored for emotional depth and vocal powers. The story is fictional and placed on the segregated campus of Ohio State University in the late 1940s. Adrienne Kennedy, the gifted playwright attended the school then, and her use of detail, from campus geography, the dorm-life racism, the day-in-day-out bias and outright hate experience makes this play one of the richest explorations of racism that Broadway has seen for awhile.
The Stakeout
Written by Martin Dockery
Directed by Vanessa Quesnelle
Fringe Encore Series
Soho Playhouse
December 23, 2022
Production website
💉💉 out of 5.
I adore Fringe Festivals. No matter the city or the country they pop-up in, they are always the best and worst of theatre – often in the same evening. The Stakeout was really sharp. I was worried at the beginning with the cliche “actors sitting on the stage already in character before we arrive but that can be overlooked. The play was a most clever blending of Waiting for Godot and a family drama about an estranged father and son.
A Christmas Carol
From Charles Dickens
Adapted by Jefferson Mays, Susan Lyons, and Michael Arden
Directed by Michael Arden
Nederlander Theatre
December 23, 2022
Production website
💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
There is no better prep for the holidays than a good ‘ol go with Christmas Carol – and this is the best you will see in a good long time. Jefferson Mays rules the stage as the only actor for this 90 minute tour de forte. It is no wonder that he can hold the story and all of its moments and all of its characters. He proved that previously in his Tony awarded I Am My Own Wife. What was great here was to see Jefferson’s ability to snap and slide into all of the characters – – often holding conversations with himself – – each with a different vocal and physical choice.
the guy who sees everything
