Edward Albee’s At Home at the Zoo
Written by Edward Albee
Directed by Lila Neugebauer
Signature Theatre
March 21, 2018
Production website
💉💉💉💉 out of 5

It is so great to back in New York and back in the theatre.  After a break of a few months it was so wonderful to curl up on a snowy Tuesday evening to watch essentially two characters tear through some language to create some beautiful Albee-esque existentialism.  The play was a combination of two one acts – the later being the classic “Zoo Story” that EVERYONE reads in college and debates for hours and EVERY young male actor gnashes their teeth (literally) to tell the infamous “dog story”.  What was new for me – was to see the play, “At Home” that was written as a precursor to the “Zoo Story” and gives us a bit of character background to the rather flat and enigmatic Peter. Continue reading Edward Albee’s At Home at the Zoo →

Cardinal
Written by Greg Pierce
Directed by Kate Whoriskey
2nd Stage
January 14, 2018
Production website
💉 out of 5.

In all the plays in all the world – why would anyone chose to do this play?  I just don’t get it  I am not sure what someone in authority was about when they read this play and said, “This is what I need to commit valuable time and resources to.”  Why?  Why?  Why?  This was one of those plays that I sat in the middle of a full house and peeked out to my fellow audience members to see if anyone was getting more out of this play then I was – cause I wasn’t getting anything.  I was not interested in any of the characters or their struggles.  I didn’t believe them and certainly didn’t believe the “development” of the story. There wasn’t an ending moment (much less a climax) where everything came together except a gun shot that no one on stage seemed to care about and the concern on the freshness of hospital muffins. Continue reading Cardinal →

Party Face
Written by Isobel Mahon
Directed by Amanda Bearse
New York City Center Stage 2
January 13, 2018
Production website
💉 out of 5.

Before you judge – let me explain – I had an open slot – and this was a new play – and the tickets were $132 but only $28 on TDF so that was a seemingly good deal – and it was in previews, which is fun – and it did star Hayley Mills who was in Parent Trap so that’s good.  Right?

I walked in the small theatre of Stage 2 at City Center – and the set looked great – close, intimate, elegant – but almost too good looking like they were hiding something.  Then clue #2, I overheard the house manager talking to a friend saying “I hope you are okay with this – but she is so lovely to work with.” Continue reading Party Face →

Disco Pigs
Written by Edna Walsh
Directed by John Haidar
Booth Theatre
January 13, 2018
Production website
💉💉💉💉 out of 5.

What the hell were they saying?  From the moment Disco Pigs began and two captivating young actors pulled apart flaps in the back wall essentially narrating their birth at the same time in the same hospital – you just couldn’t understand what they were saying.  I thought, at first it was because it was an Irish play – set in Cork – and they were just taking this dialect thing a BIT too far.  Then I realized Continue reading Disco Pigs →

Mankind
Written by Robert O’Hara
Directed by Robert O’Hara
Playwrights Horizons
December 30, 2017
Production website
💉💉💉💉 out of 5.

Mankind was a most unexpected treat.  The advert for it mentioned that it was a satire about a world in which there were no more women, and men were left to give birth to babies without them.  Ouch!  I thought this was going to be a cheap – woman hating – even gay celebration play – but I was wrong!  Nothing in this play was gay and nothing in this play was about hating women – far, far from that. Continue reading Mankind →