Shame or the Doomsday Machine
Written by Crystal Field
Directed by Mark Marcante
Theatre for the New City
August 5, 2018 Production website
💉 out of 5.
Here is where we are with this production. We entered the Theatre for the New City on 10th Street, and then were directed out back to the street where all was blocked off and a portable stage was erected. Music was blaring, sun barreling down, kids were running around screaming – my ideal theatre setting. This was not going to be a good show, I get it, by almost any standard. The performers were lost – some seem totally unprepared as they were just offstage discussing their lines, movements, exits/entrances and on and on. Performers were spending more time socializing with the audience then focusing on the stage. Non-professional, community generated, we’ll-take-everyone-who-shows-up kind of theatre. Continue reading Shame or the Doomsday Machine→
The Pattern at Pendarvis
Written by Dean Gray
Directed by Joseph Megel
New Dog Theatre Company
August 3, 2018 Production website
💉💉 out of 5.
New York is full of gay theatre! That’s for sure. Gay men of the city love to hear themselves talk and talk! These stories are mainly set in Greenwich Village or Castro Street, in Fire Island or Provincetown. They are set in Boys Town in Chicago or on the beaches of Miami – but were there any gay folk outside of major cities? Were there any gay people in Rust Belt, Corn Belt, middle of America? Pattern at Pendarvis answers that question with a resounding or, perhaps, more quiet, “yes.” Continue reading The Pattern at Pendarvis→
The Boys in the Band
Written by Mart Crowley
Directed by Joe Mantello
BoothTheatre
August 1, 2018 Production website
💉💉💉 out of 5.
I have always had a morbid fascination with cutters.Who in their right mind would pick up a sharp object and stab themself in the arm or leg over and over?Crazy.I mean seriously crazy.As best I can tell the cutter wants to FEEL something and to be the one in charge as to why and when it will be felt.The ORIGINAL Boys in the Band that I saw decades ago felt like that.Why would gay men put themself in such places of self-hatred and why would they continue to remind themselves how ugly and unloved they are- – – or at least were in this revival of the classic from the gay theatre of the 1970’s. Continue reading The Boys in the Band→
Mean Girls
Book by Tina Fey
Music by Jeff Richmond
Lyrics by Neil Benjamin
Directed and Choreographed by Case Nicholaw
August Wilson Theatre
June 14, 2018 Production website
💉💉 out of 5.
Mean Girls was a very loud show.That is my professional opinion.Done.Imean seriously folkshow loud do you have to mic a belt? This is going way beyond trying to balance the singer with the orchestra.This is bringing the concert experience into the very small, intimate world of the theatre.I thought it might be my age showing, but even the teenagers I was with claimed it was getting a bit painful. Continue reading Mean Girls→
Carousel
Music by Richard Rodgers
Book and Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Choreographed by Justin Peck
Directed by Jack O’Brien
Imperial Theatre
June 13, 2018 Production website
💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
Carousel is such a wonderful, full meal of a musical.What is wonderful about this production is that it both works to explore and embrace the darker side of this bad-boy-learning-his-lesson musical.The director, Jack O’Brien is not afraid to go down a bit of a dangerous road with this musical.Choreographer, Justin Peck fresh from the New York City Ballet, is truly remarkable – he creates a a blending of classical ballet and harsh, sharp masculine dancing. Continue reading Carousel→
Shame or the Doomsday Machine
