Thom Pain (based on nothing)
Starring Michael C. Hall
Written by Will Eno
Directed by Oliver Butler
Signature Theatre
November 24, 2018 Production website
💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
Watching Thom Paine (based on nothing), with Michael C. Hall is a 70 minute romp round the existential racetrack that feels very much like Beckett brought back to life.In fact, as I was sitting there, I began to see this play and imagining what it would be like to have seen Waiting for Godot– now told in the 21st century and now played out after the death of Estragon.What would Godot be like after the death of one member of its infamous couple?How would Vladimire hold forth on a world when there was no one to verbally spar with him?Can you imagine the pain of all those jokes and pondering landing on ears that were no longer there to answer.Existential on steroids for sure . . . Continue reading Thom Pain (based on nothing)→
Head Over Heels
Songs by the Go-Go’s
Based on The Arcadia by Sir Philip Sidney
Conceived & Original Book by Jeff Whitty
Adapted by James Magruder
Music Supervision, Orchestration & Arrangements by Tom Kitt
Choreographed by Spencer Liff
Directed by Michael Mayer
Hudson Theatre
November 21, 2018 Production website
💉💉💉 out of 5.
Sometimes I get the urge to be a total tourist I’m New York.I want to walk around Times Square and run into people by taking pictures of all the tall buildings. I want to do that avoidance dance as all of those poorly masked cartoon characters waddle to you to take the pictures with mandatory tips. I want to read each of the jumbo-trons and plan a meal in one of the oversized restaurants.And to this perfect tourist day, I would get tickets to see Head Over Heels.This musical, struggling at the box office, is an odd fairy tale like adventure of a kingdom held bound by a curse and threatened to “loose their beat.”For an out-of-towner this really could be the perfect show. Continue reading Head Over Heels→
The Waverly Gallery
Written by Kenneth Lonergan
Directed by Lila Neugebauer
Golden Theatre
October 27, 2018 Production website
💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
From its start, I did not think I was going to like this experience at all.The beginning of the play was so such of an obvious, relentless set of jokes about having a mother that is VERY hard of hearing and goes about repeating herself time after time.It was funny for a few minutes then it just became relentless.I thought I was going to be in for entire afternoon of cheap jokes on aging.But then the play changed. Continue reading The Waverly Gallery→
What the Constitution Means to Me
Written by and starring Heidi Schreck
Directed by Oliver Butler
New York Theatre Workshop
October 26, 2018 Production website
💉💉💉 out of 5.
Great things come in the most unexpected of places.I am not sure what attracted me to spend a night in New York watching a one woman show about the U.S. Constitution – but that is how I chose to spend the night and boy, was I grateful for the choice.It is a mighty odd show to put down in simple terms.Essentially it is set in the meeting room of every American Legion in the middleof anywhere America as they are holding one of their annual oratorical contests for high school students to compete with their knowledge of the U.S. Constitution.Continue reading What the Constitution Means to Me→
The Hard Problem
Written by Tom Stoppard
Directed by Jack O’Brien
Lincoln Center Theatre Company
October 25, 2018 Production website
💉💉 out of 5.
In all my theatre going days, I don’t think I have ever been to the FIRST preview of any play.The very first time a New York audience was going to see the play – pretty cool!I was surprised to see the imperfections I did see a few.Light cues were bringing up lights on audience members when the audience was not involved in the story.It certainly made a few people last night very self conscious as they were pointed out in plain view for several minutes.Set pieces got spun around to face the wrong direction and there were a few traffic jams with all the cast moving too much furniture around this thrust stage. Continue reading The Hard Problem→
Thom Pain (based on nothing)
