Ta-Da! Written by Josh Sharp Directed by Sam Pinkerton Greenwich House Theater August 11, 2025 Production website 💉💉💉 out of 5.
Sam Pinkleton has been very busy this giving a career boost to three burgeoning gay actors. He began with Cole Escola and won a Tony for directing him in Oh, Mary! And – tonight I watched his next collaboration with Josh Sharp and his Off-Broadway solo show, Ta-Da. The title makes you feel like you are going to be watching a magic show but there is no rabbit to be pulled out of a hat. Instead, we get a bit of a TED Talk-like personal monologue lasting some 80 minutes that is driven and defined by exactly 2,000 rapid fire projects – for the most part displaying his script or a few clever asides to the script. It felt like a standup comedy routine where every moment was scripted – and that was the very source of its humor. 2,000 slides – – in 80 minutes he had to hit the PowerPoint button every 2.4 seconds to get us to the finish line!
well, I’ll let you go Written by Bubba Weiler Directed by Jack Serio The Space at Irondale August 5, 2025 Production website 💉💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
Set in a small Midwestern town well I’ll let you go is a portrait of a woman and a community in crisis. Alternately vast and personal in scope, shifting backwards and forwards in time, this expansive, yet incredibly intimate, debut play sifts through the rubble of a town, marriage and a life built on an American dream that’s crumbled period.
Entering the “space” above a beautiful church in Brooklyn I was met with a very long court of a floor all in nailed down in plywood and a handful of metal folding chairs. I knew this was going to be a terrible show or something really special. AND it turned out to be something very, very special. It is impossible to believe that this is playwright Bubba Weiler’s playwriting debut – – It is so clean and clear with beautiful language and the perfect blending of kitchen-sink American realism with touches of theatrical magic. I was interested and invested in each character and wanted to see how each of their story lines played out.
The Weir Written by Conor McPherson Directed by Ciaran O’Reilly Irish Repertory Theatre August 3, 2025 Production website 💉💉💉 out of 5.
The Weir is not the type of play that you want to watch after spending a few hours of walking energetically through the streets of New York – only to find a dim well air-conditioned theatre – the play is so quiet that you can hear a pin drop. The Weir is a very quiet, very still and very much a show to be attentive and present to.
Beau The Musical Concept, Book and Lyrics by Douglas Lyons Director/Choreographer: Josh Rhodes Out of the Box Theatrics August 2, 2025 Production website 💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
Beau featured eight actor-musicians telling the story of Ace Baker – a young queer man whose life is forever changed when he discovers his deceased grandfather is actually still alive. Family secrets unravel as Ace rushes to make up for lost time with a man who changes his life by putting a guitar in his hand. I had a simply wonderful night of theatre at the Out of the Box / Theatre 154.
Trophy Boys Written by Emmanuelle Mattana Directed by Danya Taymor MCC Theater July 31, 2025 Production website 💉💉💉 out of 5.
Trophy Boys was a most novel, explosive, concentrated 70 minutes of classroom drama. Staged by Danya Taymor of both The Outsiders and John Proctor is the Villain, the play is amplified with dance moves, blaring music and flashing lights – here – not as successfully as in the previous two works. According to the playwright’s non-negotiable terms, her drama’s four 17-something male characters must be enacted by female, gender non-conforming and/or non-binary performers wearing schoolboy drag. The play is set inside the classroom at a private school for girls – all the classroom walls were covered with historical female icons.
