Category Archives: 4 πŸ’‰πŸ’‰πŸ’‰πŸ’‰ Rating

The Play That Goes Wrong

The Play That Goes Wrong
Written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields
Directed by Matt Dicarlo
New World Stages
April 19, 2019
Production website
πŸ’‰πŸ’‰πŸ’‰πŸ’‰ out of 5.

The Play That Goes Wrong just keeps on going strong. Β This zany, wonderful farce had a long full life on Broadway and has recently been planted at New World Stage for one last blast of life before heading out on the road to tour. Β I was fortunate to see the production in the first few weeks on Broadway and was eager to see what had happened to it – with the necessity of greatly shrinking everything about the show. Β Here is my take on seeing the show on Broadway: The Play That Goes WrongΒ 

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Choir Boy

Choir Boy
Written by Tarell Alvin McCraney
Directed by Trip Cullman
Manhattan Theatre Club
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
January 1, 2019
Production website
πŸ’‰πŸ’‰πŸ’‰πŸ’‰ out of 5.

I loved this play, and I NEVER realized the power of gospel music in igniting passion and brining an audience in.Β  Choir Boy centers on the tensions in a prestigious prep school for African American boys when a flamboyantly gay youth is named leader of their celebrated gospel choir.Β  Essentially is a coming-of-age story for a gay student surviving and thriving in a mostly straight prep school with the strongest and most stringent of values to create β€œethical black men.”  Continue reading Choir Boy

The Slave Play

The Slave Play
Written by Jeremy O. Harris
Directed by Robert O’Hara
New York Theatre Workshop
December 26, 2018
Production website
πŸ’‰πŸ’‰πŸ’‰πŸ’‰ out of 5.

β€œWhite people still have the whip” claims Jeremy O’Harris in his crazy, rollarcoaster of a work, Slave Play.Β  It is perhaps the kinkiest and most unapologetic play I have seen in years.Β The crux of the play is a montage of three interracial couples (1. a young slave girl and her master; 2. An older plantation mistress with a biracial house slave; and 3. A white indentured laborer and the black male slave who oversees his work.Β  At the beginning of the play, these three couples are caught in the throughs of their erotic fantasy of domination and submission.Β  Continue reading The Slave Play

Mike Birbiglia’s The New One

Mike Birbiglia’s The New One
Written and performed by Mike Birbiglia
Directed by Seth Barrish
Cort Theatre
December 23, 2018
Production website
πŸ’‰πŸ’‰πŸ’‰πŸ’‰ out of 5.

How does a successful stand-up comedian who has spent a life traveling through the midwest in town’s where β€œeverything centers on the action at the local Applebees” translate to the Great White Way?Β  How can one man fill he stage when he is used to filling a few square yards of staging shoved in the corner of some bar pushing a two drink minimum? Β Β Mike Birbiglia is how you do it!

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Thom Pain (based on nothing)

Thom Pain (based on nothing)
Starring Michael C. Hall
Written by Will Eno
Directed by Oliver Butler
Signature Theatre
November 24, 2018
Production website
πŸ’‰πŸ’‰πŸ’‰πŸ’‰ out of 5.

Watching Thom Paine (based on nothing), with Michael C. Hall is a 70 minute romp round the existential racetrack that feels very much like Beckett brought back to life.Β  In fact, as I was sitting there, I began to see this play and imagining what it would be like to have seen Waiting for Godot– now told in the 21st century and now played out after the death of Estragon.Β  What would Godot be like after the death of one member of its infamous couple?Β  How would Vladimire hold forth on a world when there was no one to verbally spar with him?Β  Can you imagine the pain of all those jokes and pondering landing on ears that were no longer there to answer.Β  Existential on steroids for sure . . . Continue reading Thom Pain (based on nothing)