Sabbath’s Theater adapted from the novel by Philip Roth by Ariel Levy and John Turturro Directed by Jo Bonney The New Group December 9, 2023 Production website 💉💉 out of 5.
I was told that I was going to be offended by the content of Sabbath’s Theatre. The press said this – even signs outside the theatre said this – so I was ready- – and I have been offended many a time in the theatre. And most of the time, I was perfectly fine with it. But this was just too much even for me! It was a super uncomfortable afternoon in the theatre.
The Night of the Iguana Written by Tennessee Williams Directed by Emily Mann James Earl Jones Theatre December 8, 2023 Production website 💉💉 out of 5.
The Night of the iguana is one of Tennessee Williams’s later and less successful plays. It takes a haphazard group of people and really just spends too much time with them going repeatedly over the same themes. The story focuses in on Shannon who is struggling with his sanity as he leads a travel group of prim Baptist ladies from America through the backroads of Mexico. Having committed an act of statutory rape on the youngest member of the group he is losing his mind, and, it this is not helped by a group of obnoxious Germans staying at a hotel. The only possible lifeline is Hannah, a well-spoken penniless artist from Nantucket traveling with her 97-year-old frail old poet grandfather.
Stereophonic Written by David Adjmi Songs by Will Butler Directed by Daniel Aukin Playwrights Horizons December 5, 2023 Production website 💉💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
I was really NOT looking forward to seeing Stereophonic. It was one of those shows that was offering a good price at the right time in my schedule. But boy was I wrong. This turned out to be the best show out of the 10 that I saw for this particular trip – – In fact, this show had one magical aspect that I’ve had with so few shows in New York – – There was a span of time in the show, when I truly, truly forgot that I was watching a play; I believed that I was in a recording studio, watching singers, actually working on an album struggling to find the right way to present it. I was not in the theater. I was not watching a play. I was watching real life unfold in front of me. That happens almost never for me in the theater. It was magical.
Waiting for Godot Written by Samuel Beckett Directed by Erin Arbus Theatre for a New Audience December 3, 2023 Production website 💉💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
Waiting for Godot is my absolute favorite play. When asked by my students for all my years of teaching, what was my favorite play? I was always proud to answer, waiting for Godot. I think it is the most perfect play that illustrates the most central core of human experience: waiting. Waiting is something that we all do and actually spend most of our life doing. Waiting for Godot illustrates that perfectly. I must have seen this production over 20 times – – sometimes good – – sometimes bad – – sometimes ugly – – but each time I’ve learned something new about the play . Here in the hands of Michael Shannon and Paul Sparks. I felt I really saw the quintessential version.
Poor Yella Rednecks Written by Qui Nguyen Directed by May Adrales Manhattan Theatre Club December 2, 2023 Production website 💉💉💉 out of 5.
Poor Yella Rednecks was best captured by a review that summarized it by calling it a “merry mashup of hip-hop, pop culture, cursing and kung fu.’ Yep, that just about sums it up – and really it was little more – and it could have been SO much more. Basically, it tells the story of a Vietnamese family that has been transplanted to the deep south of the United States to eke out a life in a world that doesn’t understand them and clearly dislikes them. Inside this insular family, there is a marriage that is in trouble due to the man being still in a marriage to a woman with two of his children back in Vietnam and pursuing a current love interest with a Vietnamese woman in the States. Most importantly, the Vietnamese woman in the deep south must decide if she is going to spend time with the man who has such a past. Add to this projections and rap music and comic kung fu scenes with puppetry, and lots of other added fun things and you pretty much got the whole play. Metaphorically the play seemed to be a lot of frosting without much attention to the cake.
