Three Houses Music, Lyrics, Book and Orchestrations by Dave Malloy Directed and Choreographed by Annie Tippe Signature Theatre May 29, 2024 Production website 💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
“My heart broke and then the world broke and then my brain broke too, and I don’t know which one to blame.” Three Houses is the first piece of musical theatre that I’ve seen that explores the psychological trauma experienced at the peak of the COVID pandemic as its theme: the isolation and separation and fear. The audience is cozily set in the round in a run down smoky over-stuffed cocktail bar for an open mic night as three guests are called forward to share
Here There are Blueberries Tectonic Theatre Project by Moises Kaufman and Amanda Gronich conceived and directed by Moises Kaufman New York Theatre Workshop April 19, 2024 Production website 💉💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
Based on real events, Here There are Blueberries tells the story of a mysterious collection of photographs that was set to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2007. The shocking discovery in these photographs taken at Auschwitz was that not a single picture was of a prisoner or a corpse. Every picture was of a soldier or a person employed at the camp. There, picture after picture – – was of office meetings, retreats, and even holiday celebrations. They showed groups of young, giggling women all working as switchboard operators manning the phones and communication channels for the camp. In short it presented the human, day-to-day side of the Germans in Auschwitz.
Titanique book by Marla Mindelle, Constantine Rousouli, and Tye Blue Music Supervision, Orchestrations & Arrangements by Nicholas Connell Directed by Tye Blue Daryl Roth Theatre April 9, 2024 Production website 💉 out of 5.
This piece was a TRUE let down! I came to the piece with high expectations and a handful of excellent recommendations from theatre friends and critics. Basically, Titanique is a spoof of the James Cameron movie in which Celine Dion re-writes the story with her as a participant and she sets out to poke fun at all of the classic scenes from the movie. It really could have been a workable premise for a fun evening but . . .
The White Chip by Sean Daniels Directed by Sheryl Kaller MCC Theatre Space February 14, 2024 Production website 💉💉💉 out of 5.
Addiction plays are very popular these days. Broadway is very busy with the musical Days of Wine and Roses (which I saw and didn’t like for all its preachiness and datedness) and Off-Broadway has The White Chip. As The White Chip started with its minimal set in a sort of AA meeting space with 3 actors taking on a multitude of roles, I thought it was going to be a corny comedic take on the whole drinking thing – but I was happily surprised. The White Chip was really a rather remarkable ride taking an alcoholic from those early days of Mormon Church challenges and teen drinking to full blown, toxic drunk, to recovering alcoholic.
The Apiary by Kate Douglas Directed by Kate Whoriskey 2nd Stage/Tony Kiser Theater February 11, 2024 Production website 💉💉 out of 5.
The Apiary just didn’t do it for me. I am glad that it didn’t take more than 80 minutes to explore its one note look into science vs. morality. For me, the play harkened to theme and variation of Little Shop of Horrors – – here, in a laboratory charged with keeping bees alive – bees are found to have a taste for dead humans and if you want to keep the bees alive and multiplying, then you need to supply them with bodies – lots and lots of bodies. So, just like Little Shop, the task is easy at the start, but soon becomes grizzly and overwhelming at the end. Worse than overwhelming, it just got predicable.
