Duke and Roya Written by Charles Randolph-Wright Directed by Warren Adams Lucille Lortel Theatre July 30, 2025 Production website 💉💉💉 out of 5.
Playwright Charles Randolph-Wright claims that he was inspired to write this play from a story that he read that spoke of a practice in Aphghanistan known as bacha posh – – a practice in which young girls dress up as boys to see out education and further to simply survive, “It stunned me (Charles Randolph-Wright). I thought, ‘I have to tell this story.’ I couldn’t get it out of my head.”
The Imaginary Invalid Written by Moliere Directed by Jeffrey Hatcher Red Bull Theater at New World Stages May 31, 2025 Production website 💉💉 out of 5.
Imaginary Invalid, as produced by the Red Bull Theatre, is an 80 minute “take” on the classic Moliere farce. It felt like the production thought the audience did not have the attention span to enjoy the full 2+ hours so they set out to give you this “Las Vegas edited” production that will get you back out in the streets in no time. It was not a good thing. At its heart, the play lacked the necessary timing of a farce. It limped by and didn’t have the motivation and passion to fly by your eyes.
Prince Faggot Written by Jordan Tannahill Directed by Shayok Misha Chowdhury Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Playwrights Horizons May 30, 2025 Production website 💉💉💉 out of 5.
First off, this play really has a P.R. challenge with its name. Even the users at the theatre were reluctant to incant the word Faggot. Perhaps that was the goal of the production. BUT it is going to make it more challenging for the public. The premise of the story is based on the pre-adolescent pictures of the gay/transexual cast of Prince Faggot. They project these pictures at the top of the show and note that even in those very young pictures it was clear that they were gay. Then they quickly bring up a very cute, effeminate photo of Prince George. This leads them to speculate – only speculate – “what if we had a gay king”. How would that change things?
The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse book, music and lyrics by Michael Breslin book, additional music and lyrics by Patrick Foley vocal arrangements by Michael Breslin & Dan Schlosberg music direction and orchestrations by Dan Schlosberg choreographed by Jack Ferver directed by and developed with Rory Pelsue Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center May 27, 2025 Production website 💉💉 out of 5.
The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse is inspired by a photo that ran on the cover of the November 29, 2006 issue of The New York Post. The headline blared “Bimbo Summit” over a picture of much-maligned party girls Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, and Paris Hilton driving away from an L.A. nightclub. The cover was accompanied by an article titled “3 Bimbos of the Apocalypse” and featured classy upskirt photos. It was the perfect distillation of early-2000s rabid paparazzi overreach and the vicious culture of gossip that pervaded the media then and still exists today. It is here that the play poses the imaginary dramatic question – –
Irishtown Written by Ciara Elizabeth Smyth Directed by Nicola Murphy Dubey Irish Repertory Theatre May 24, 2025 Production website 💉💉💉 out of 5.
The premise of Irishtown is built on a company of actors charged with putting on a play that is “Irish” enough for a theater company from Dublin to take to the New York stage. This new play by Ciara Elizabeth Smyth takes us behind the scenes (ala Noises Off) of a company preparing as they struggle with a new script that no one likes – – let alone understands – – let alone finds the least bit Irish – – and finally abandons – – –
