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.
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.
KPOP Book by Jason Kim Music and Lyrics by Helen Park and Max Vernon Choreography by Jennifer Weber Directed by Teddy Bergman Circle in the Square Theatre October 21, 2022 Production website 💉💉💉 out of 5.
I really did like this musical. You really had to appreciate all of the earnest commitment from everyone on stage. It did feel a bit that they were a bit nervous about their audience- – doubting a long run for this show – and were going to give it their all until the doors are closed. KPOP is truly a wonderful, fun, sexy dance style that energizes the audience like few other dance styles. The show had some incredible dance sets. I wished, in fact, that they had just stuck to the dances and not tried so hard to make it a piece of musical theatre with a “book” behind it.
American Buffalo Written by Eugene O’Neill Directed by Ciarán O’Reilly Irish Repertory Theatre April 1, 2022 Production website 💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
It is always magical to see a David Mamet play done well. It is great to see the very specific, graphic and course language of David Mamet be delivered as street poetry and not just a string of expletives. The ugliness of the language takes on a certain beauty in gifted hands – and these hands were gifted! Laurence Fishburne as Donny and Sam Rockwell as Teach were perfect in their roles. They played a mad, intense game of tennis batting their lines and intent back and forth in perfect form. I had a little trouble with Darren Criss as Bobby – perhaps because he is so indelibly connected to this role in Glee – or perhaps it was just the character of Bobby. He just looked like he was in another play.
How I Learned to Drive Written by Paula Vogel Directed by Mark Vogel Manhattan Theatre Club March 31, 2022 Production website 💉💉 out of 5.
I just didn’t get this play. I just didn’t get it. I know that this is Paula Vogel’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play and I know that the dream team of Mary-Louise Parker (Proof) and Tony nominee David Morse (The Iceman Cometh) were the perfect performers for the story but I just didn’t get it. I appreciated the skill of the playwright in building this sexual assault from its small simple beginning to its conclusion. The creepiness of the relationship between this adult man and girl was palpable. I appreciated the effects of a family that has no boundaries – how it abandons every member and opens the door to all kinds of demons. BUT what was the girl after?
