Torch Song Trilogy
Written by Harvey Fierstein
Directed by Moises Kaufman
2nd Stage
June 23, 2017 Production website 💉💉💉 out of 5.
This Torch Song needed to have its torch lit! I saw the original Torch Song back in the Eighties with a younger Harvey Fierstein and his unmissable, low, rumbling voice. I remember as a young man in my twenties – I was blown away by every single scene. I had never seen a drag queen – much less the preparation that drag queens go through to complete the transformation. I had never been to a gay bar (sheltered, I know) much less a gay bar with a “back room.” I couldn’t imagine an entire scene of a straight couple and a gay couple shacking up together and swapping partners – all played out in a scene that takes place on a stage-filling bed. And then that big coming out scene with (in the original, Estelle Getty) It changed my world – and clearly it opened the door for Will and Grace, Modern Family and the inclusion of gays in a hundred stories, movies and TV shows to come. It changed the world for gay men in the entertainment world – for sure! Continue reading Torch Song Trilogy→
It is a very, very long time from August’s start of school to November’s Thanksgiving. I finally directed my long-anticipated production of Steven Dietz’s Lonely Planet – a most fulfilling experience for me – – and now I am back to fill my spirit with a little bit of New York theatre lovin’!
Now it is back to school and back to teaching and making theatre myself. As always I leave NYC inspired, energized and oh, so humble. New York I will see you in a few months. I heard secretly that my birthday plans include Hello Dolly – – but that is just a rumor. You didn’t hear it from me.
The Pipeline
Written by Dominique Morisseau
Directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz
Lincoln Center Theater at the Mitzi E. Newhouse
June 26, 2017 Production website 💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
I go from the wonderment and colossal budget of Groundhog Day to the basement of Lincoln Center to a play that has a teachers desk, a lunch table and a couch, a VERY white wall and some very harsh florescent lighting. And I will take the second play over the first any day. Pipeline was another play that I knew very little about before the show. I knew it was about a teacher (familiar ground) and about a black student trying to navigate life in a ROUGH urban school – or survive a very preppy private school (certainly much less familiar ground.) Continue reading The Pipeline→
Groundhog Day
Book by Danny Rubin
Music and lyrics by Tim Minchin
Directed by Matthew Morris
August Wilson Theatre
June 26, 2017 Production website
💉 💉💉out of 5.
There was more stuff in this show then one could possibly imagine. Circle upon circle was spinning throughout the show. The actors literally did laps for the two and a half hours all the while singing and dancing around in parkas in NYC in July! Groundhog Day was so beautiful and magical to watch. I thought to myself that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory would have really benefitted from this set designer! Continue reading Groundhog Day→
Torch Song Trilogy
