Lunar Eclipse Written by Donald Margulies Directed by Kate Whoriskey Irene Diamond Stage/The Pershing Square Signature Center May 21, 2025 Production website 💉💉💉 out of 5.
Lunar Eclipse is essentially a 90-minute one act play in which two actors bring out the lawn chairs and spend the night watching a lunar eclipse and reflecting on their long-married relationship. As the moon goes through its various stages the characters go through their hopes losses and lives together. This is a world premiere of Donald Margulies’ most recent play and captures themes of both optimism and despair.
Glass. Kill. What If If Only. IMP. Written by Caryl Churchill Directed by James Macdonald Martinson Stage – Public Theatre May 20, 2025 Production website 💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
The above are the names of four very short plays written by Caryl Churchill that are woven together with a bit of acrobatic interludes to create a wonderful evening in the theatre. Actually, the first three: Glass. Kill. What If If Only are very short and play out as the first act and Imp. stands alone as the second act. They all are tied together very loosely by themes of faith and our need for myth juxtaposed against the violence we live with. And, of course what we get with any Caryl Churchill play is a seductive, playful, dangerous use of language that you just don’t find that often in the theatre.
John Proctor is the Villain Written by Kimberly Belflower Directed by Danya Taymor Booth Theatre May 18, 2025 Productionwebsite 💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
John Proctor is the Villain tells the story of a high school English classroom in the spring semester of the junior year in 2018 in a one-stoplight town in northeast Georgia. Mr. Smith, a very attractive, popular English teacher is quickly and awkwardly working his way through the state required sex-ed curriculum so that he can get to the highly anticipated study of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. It is when this study of the characters and themes of the Crucible collides with the realities of the classroom and the world of the 2018 (the height of the #MeToo movement) that this play erupts into one of the most explosive and oddly cathartic dramas currently on Broadway.
Floyd Collins Book, Additional Lyrics & Direction by Tina Landau Music and Lyrics by Adam Guettel Lincoln Center Theatre May 17, 2025 Production website 💉💉💉 out of 5.
Floyd Collins is a musical inspired by the true life experience of Floyd Collins who in 1925, while chasing fame and fortune by turning a Kentucky cave into a tourist attraction became the attraction himself as he became trapped 200 feet underground. The haunting and glorious folk and bluegrass-inspired music of Floyd Collins is exceptionally beautiful. Jeremy Jordan and Lizzy McAlpine sing some of the most beautiful music that I can remember on the musical theatre stage in a good long time. Plus, the orchestrations that move us from moment to moment in the story are truly magical. I would have been so happy if evening had just been a concert version of the musical.
Purpose Written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins Directed by Phylicia Rashad Hayes Theatre May 16, 2025 Production website 💉💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
Purpose begins the evening with its protagonist waning the audience to, “Buckle up,” and he is not kidding. On stage we are about to experience three hours lacerating, biting and totally unforgettable family drama. At first, you believe you are going to go down the well-worn path of a conventional family reunion. The snow is falling, roads are closed, and the wayward son has returned. But it is here that playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins takes a most distinct point of view: he introduces black history and his peerless use of language to plumet this funny, deep and provocative work. Purpose is a dramatic vivisection of the Jasper family and so much more.
