Waiting for Godot Written by Samuel Beckett Directed by Erin Arbus Theatre for a New Audience December 3, 2023 Production website 💉💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
Waiting for Godot is my absolute favorite play. When asked by my students for all my years of teaching, what was my favorite play? I was always proud to answer, waiting for Godot. I think it is the most perfect play that illustrates the most central core of human experience: waiting. Waiting is something that we all do and actually spend most of our life doing. Waiting for Godot illustrates that perfectly. I must have seen this production over 20 times – – sometimes good – – sometimes bad – – sometimes ugly – – but each time I’ve learned something new about the play . Here in the hands of Michael Shannon and Paul Sparks. I felt I really saw the quintessential version.
Poor Yella Rednecks Written by Qui Nguyen Directed by May Adrales Manhattan Theatre Club December 2, 2023 Production website 💉💉💉 out of 5.
Poor Yella Rednecks was best captured by a review that summarized it by calling it a “merry mashup of hip-hop, pop culture, cursing and kung fu.’ Yep, that just about sums it up – and really it was little more – and it could have been SO much more. Basically, it tells the story of a Vietnamese family that has been transplanted to the deep south of the United States to eke out a life in a world that doesn’t understand them and clearly dislikes them. Inside this insular family, there is a marriage that is in trouble due to the man being still in a marriage to a woman with two of his children back in Vietnam and pursuing a current love interest with a Vietnamese woman in the States. Most importantly, the Vietnamese woman in the deep south must decide if she is going to spend time with the man who has such a past. Add to this projections and rap music and comic kung fu scenes with puppetry, and lots of other added fun things and you pretty much got the whole play. Metaphorically the play seemed to be a lot of frosting without much attention to the cake.
The Gardens of Anuncia A New Musical by Michael John LaChiusa Directed and Co-Choreographed by Graciela Daniele Lincoln Center Theater at the Mitzi E. Newhouse December 1, 2023 Production website 💉💉💉 out of 5.
The Gardens of Anuncia is an ode and celebration of the brilliant choreographer and director Graciela Daniela. It is perfectly staged at Lincoln Center – in that she was, at one time, the Director in Residence for the Lincoln Center Theater. Danielle has directed in choreographed eight shows on the stage – – this being her ninth. Her career is that of a theater legend. From her childhood as a baby ballerina in Buenos Aires to working as Bob Fosse dance, captain and Michael Bennett’s assistant to a collection numerous awards, and Tony Award nominations.
Manahatta Written by Mary Kathryn Nagle Directed by Laurie Woolery Public Theatre November 30, 2023 Production website 💉💉 out of 5.
Manahatta written by Mary Kathryn Nagle takes place in present day Oklahoma as well as present day Manhatta known today as Manhattan. The show follows Jane Snake as she rises to the top ranks of Wall Street, while her family back in Oklahoma struggles to keep their home. The family struggles as they are paying for a mortgage with an ARM – a loan repayment feature that brought down so many families during the housing crash of the 1980s. The show tries to draw a connection between what was happening for this Indian family in the 17th century Manhatta and the current time. The play depicts the arrival of the Dutch settlers representing the Dutch East India Company, who subsequently take the land of and massacre the Delaware Lenape people, driving them out of Manahatta and Lenapehoking.
Life and Times of Michael K Adapted & Directed by Lara Foot In collaboration with Handspring Puppet Company St. Ann’s Warehouse November 29, 2023 Production website 💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
This was simply a magnificent and near perfect production. The first half of the show was particularly very moving. I knew that I was going to be in a for a real treat when I read that the show was going to use puppets as designed by Handspring Puppet Company, who is known for their puppets used in Warhorse. This production of Life and Times of Michael K used dance, film, music and breathtaking puppetry, to tell the story of JM Coetzee’s Booker prize-winning novel from 1983, which gives dignity to a humble man. Born with a cleft lip, institutionalized and treated with contempt throughout his life, Michael gets swept up in a dystopian civil war in South Africa as he attempts to bring his ailing mother back to her childhood home on a farm.
