To see Take Me Out – is to meet the Yondr pouches (which I’d never heard of). Basically, it’s a thick case locker for your phone that you keep with you. The phone is locked up and inaccessible to you for the duration of your time in the theater, however is still on your person. I asked why this rather extreme and time intensive solution to having cell phones going off during the production – then I was told that that was only a side benefit. The reason that they are doing it in this show is because the actors in their contract wanted it to be impossible for the audience to take pictures of them especially since they are nude a good portion of the play. Makes sense! But, boy was it funny to watch the audience do without cell phones waiting for the curtain. That Playbill program never got read as much as it got read at Take Me Out. As soon as the intermission came you could see how desperately they wanted to spend time with their cell phone. Their texting thumbs had nothing to do. Then, right after the curtain call, they raced to get their phones removed from the security pockets. Never has a reunion meant so much.
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Birthday Candles
Birthday Candles
Written by Noah Haidle
Directed by Vivienne Beseech
American Airlines Theatre/Roundabout Theatre Company
March 29, 2022
Production website
💉💉💉 out of 5.
This play really had an affect on me and took me on quite an emotional rollercoaster. The premise of the play is clear: we are going to show the passage of a woman’s life from being 18 to 91 in the very same kitchen. Characters are going to play children and then they are magically going to age step by step to their grave.
At first I just hated this play. To see Debra Messing wiggling her way playing an 18 year old girl talking about how bored she is with live – – I thought that this was going to be the LONGEST two hours in the theatre. I was ready to tune out and focus on my watch. BUT then I began to get invested in the transition from teenage years to adult years.
To My Girls
To My Girls
Written by JC Lee
Directed by Stephen Brackett
Second Stage – Tony Kiser Theater
March 27, 2022
Production website
💉💉💉 out of 5.
Much of this play’s story I have seen before. There is that vacation spot – nine times out of ten it is Palm Springs where a group of estranged friends gather for a bit of a reunion. There is always the hunk who runs a bit short on smarts, the smart one who is unlucky at love, the innocuous best friend, someone who love dressing up in drag and lots and lots of liquor. You know that there is going to be a “hook-up” that nearly destroys a friendship, talk of AIDS, and lots of discussion of the “good ol’ days.”
A Touch of the Poet
A Touch of the Poet
Written by Eugene O’Neill
Directed by Ciarán O’Reilly
Irish Repertory Theatre
March 26, 2022
Production website
💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
Irish Repertory Theatre is one of my favorite theatres in NYC. The space is so small and in-your-face. No other theatre in the City puts you right on stage with the performers like the Irish Rep. Irish literature also is a favorite of mine. No other plays seem to have as much humanity – so much fighting, suffering and passion as the Irish plays.
Touch of the Poet started out very predictably for me. Two Irish bar goes were sitting around a bottle of whiskey providing us with the exposition needed for the night, and yes, one had an obviously makeup/manufactured scar and the other a bit too forced of a brogue. I was willing to accept these small bumps and settled down into one of Eugene O’Neill’s classics – only performed professionally after O’Neill died. I thought I had this play figured out. BUT THEN,
This Space Between us
This Space Between Us
Written by Peter Gil-Sheridan
Directed by Jonathan Silverstein
Keen Company – Theatre Row
March 26, 2022
Production website
💉💉 out of 5.
This play was exactly what I expected – – in fact it was a bit too much of what I expected. This Space Between Us tells the story of a corporate lawyer who is connected to his parents, aunt, neighbor and boyfriend, who one day wakes up to realize that his corporate law job – although lucrative – is not making the change in the world that he feels necessary. He wants to ditch it all and head to Africa to help others.