Be More Chill
Music and Lyrics by Joe Iconis
Book by Joe Tracz
Directed by Stephen Brackett
Lyceum Theatre
June 7,  2019
Production website
💉💉💉 out of 5.

I made a big mistake in planning this trip with teenagers.  I had thought that the most obvious of shows to take them to – the one that they are obviously jamming to on YouTube would be Be More Chill.  I had thought that there wouldn’t be much for me in this production – but I was happy to “take one for the team.” Continue reading Be More Chill →

Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune
Written by Terrence McNally
Directed by Rain Arbus
Broadhurst Theatre
June 6, 2019
Production website
💉💉💉💉💉 out of 5.

It is an accomplishment to make a two-handed play like Frankie and Johnny work on the big stage on Broadway.  But of course, when you have the rough, masculine and unique Michael Shannon, who can do anything, and Audra McDonald, who can do anything while looking gorgeous – – anything is possible.  Continue reading Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune →

King Lear
Starring Glenda Jackson
Written by William Shakespeare
Music by Philip Glass
Directed by Sam Gold
Cort Theatre
March 11, 2019
Production website
💉💉💉 out of 5.

This is a major chew for an audience.  For a crowd that is going to the theatre expecting all to be would up in a 90 minute intermission-less night, Lear coming in at almost three hours and thirty minutes is a test.  Of course to see the incandescent Glenda Jackson take on this role of lifetime at the age of 82 is worth the wait!

I wanted to adore this show . .  Continue reading King Lear →

American Son
Written by Christopher Demos-Brown
Directed by Kenny Leon
Starring Kerry Washington and Steven Pasquale
Booth Theatre
January 3, 2019
Production website
💉💉💉💉💉 out of 5.

This was by FAR the best play that I have seen in many months.  In only about 75 tight moments on stage this play prepares you for a kick in the gut that my entire row in the theatre AUDIBLE recoiled at the play’s conclusion.  It started with a slow wind-up as the mother (Kerry Washington) paces around the stage in complete agitated silence checking her cell phone again and again.  It seems like forever.  The lady next to me actually thought someone had forgotten to enter.  But the pain of the wait was oh so necessary. Continue reading American Son →

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

I loved this play, and I NEVER realized the power of gospel music in igniting passion and brining an audience in.  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.  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 “ethical black men.”  Continue reading Choir Boy →