Safeword
Written by S. Asher Gelman
Directed by S. Asher Gelman
American Theatre of Actors
April 20, 2019 Production website
💉💉 out of 5.
If only this play needed a “safe word”But it clearly doesn’tThe play here is strictly vanilla and actually not very interesting vanilla.I do believe that our playwrights intention here was to introduce the average audience member to the world of bandage, domination, and sadomasochism – but what we get is more housewife with a cute whip.
The play starts out with a most provocative scene at the top of a set where a leather clad “dom” is abusing his willing victim.That got everyone’s attention – but it never back to that powerful first image.Sad when your best moment is the very first one of the show. Continue reading Safeword→
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
💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
The Play That Goes Wrong just keeps on going strong. 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. 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. Here is my take on seeing the show on Broadway: The Play That Goes Wrong
Hurricane Diane
Written by Madeleine George
Directed by Leigh Silverman
New York Theatre Workshop
March 12, 2019 Production website
💉💉 out of 5.
You are not going to expect this one!Part homage to HGTV and part send up on Greek mythology, you just don’t know what you are getting.A god, Dionysus, now named Diane and described in the text as a “butch charm factor”is a very lively trans performer who is a bit all over the place.She has lots of energy but I am just not sure to what point. Continue reading Hurricane Diane→
Fiercely Independent
Written and Directed by Kathleen K. Johnson
Soho Playhouse
March 10, 2019 Production website
☠ out of 5.
This is total crap! God help you if you find yourself sitting here for 80 too long minutes. I did think the premise had promise. Take a married couple that is having trouble and put them in a hotel and go completely off the grid, off the booze and off the insults for 24 hours and see why comes of it. A day without technology – totally loving it from just this idea.
BUT, this couple had so little to say above the cliche’s that you “don’t hear me” and “I need your attention” and “where did we go wrong” and “I think it went bad long ago” and and and and. Continue reading Fiercely Independent→
Blue Ridge
Written by Abby Rosebrock
Directed by Taibi Magar
Atlantic Theatre Company – Linda Gross Theatre
January 4, 2019 Production website
💉💉 out of 5.
Tell me this isn’t a provocative blurb offered about the play – – “A progressive high-school teacher with a rage problem retaliates against her unscrupulous boss and is sentenced to six months at a church-sponsored halfway house, where she attends to everyone’s recovery but her own.”
I love to see new work and Atlantic Theater is a home to some of the best in the city.Blue Ridge is one of those new plays written by Abby Rosebrock and nurtured by the Atlantic Theatre Company.I am not the biggest fan of realism on stage.Sometimes I feel like I am watching a television show on stage. Continue reading Blue Ridge→
Safeword
