John
by Annie Baker
directed by Sam Gold
Signature Theatre
July 25, 2015
Production website

NO 💉. I would rather go into rehab. Thank you very much.

I have broken a personal record: I have see the very WORST PLAY I have ever seen in NYC. The only reason that I stayed beyond the first hour and the first of two intermissions is that I wanted to see if, in some way, a play could take me from totally numb to comotose. I am one to NEVER nod off in a play – – but, oh what a relieve that would be here. AND the ironic thing is that this play (loosely used term) is by Annie Baker, the author of my favorite play of the summer, The Flick. Continue reading John →

Kafka on the Shore
based on the book by Haruki Murakami
adapted for the stage by Frank Galati
Ninagawa Company
Lincoln Center Festival
July 23, 2015
Production website   💉💉💉💉 out of 5.

Only in New York after a quiet cappuccino do you get a chance to see a play with talking cats, transgender librarians, truck drivers, a man named Johnnie Walker that cuts off he heads of cats and refrigerates them, and Colonial Sanders (yes, the one from chicken fame) hustling to get you laid for the night. All of this in an elaborate Peer Gynt-like story of finding yourself by taking the greatest journey. Crazy right? Continue reading Kafka at the Beach →

Ubu Roi
prestented by Cheek by Jowl
by Alfred Jarry
directed by Declan Donnellan
Lincoln Center Festival
Gerald W. Lynch Theatre
July 22, 2015

Production website    💉💉 out of 5
When a play begins with a live camera on stage projecting itself on the back wall – – I grow a bit afraid. How many times I have seen this gimmick and saw actors more worried about the image they are projecting on the back wall then making something happen between the people on the stage. Follow me for just the first few minutes of the play and you will see what I am talking about. The very monochromatic, beige stage features one man lounging on the couch playing with a live camera – – just looking into the lens and playing with the buttons. Cheerful French radio plays from the onstage radio. Then the play begins. Continue reading Ubo Roi →

Happy Days
written by Samuel Beckett
directed by Andrei Belgrader
starring Brooke Adams and Tony Shalhoub
The Flea Theatre
July 13, 2015

Production website     💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
You walk into the theatre of seventy-five seats and see nothing on stage but a large mount of dirt and an obviously painted scrim with clouds and sky. The lights go down and up and then we see our protagonist, Winnie (Brooke Adams) “planted” in the ground with only her head and torso above ground.  A theatre shaking alarm blares off, Winnie opens her eyes and it’s “just another day.” Winnie spends all of act one  trapped in this dirt mound with only a capacious bag full of toiletries, and a gun – – Brownie – – a gun – just in case . .
Continue reading Happy Days →

The Twentieth Century Way
written by Tom Jacobson
directed by Michael Michette
Rattlestick Theatre
July 9, 2015
Production website     💉💉 out of 5.

The premise of the The Twentieth Century Way holds incredible promise – HELD incredible promise.  Based on a fascinating piece of history of 1914, The Twentieth Century Way tells the true story of two actors, Warren and Brown, who where were hired in 1914 by the Long Beach Police Department to entrap gay men in the public bathrooms.  Brown, a young man with markedly sweet looks and Warren, an older man with classic ruggedness set about to flirt with men that were giving them the eye.  They would lead them into the stalls of the men’s rooms and silently encourage them to to place their penis through a small hole  – “glory hole” between the stalls.  Once the “pervert” inserted his penis.  The actors, now vice detectives, would mark their penis with indelible ink and thus secure their arrest. Continue reading The Twentieth Century Way →