Life Sucks
Written by Aaron Posner
Directed by Jeff Wise
Theatre Row – Acorn Theatre
June 23, 2019 Production website
💉💉💉 out of 5.
Life Sucks – totally sucked in the first 10 minutes but then moment by moment totally become one of my most memorable plays of the summer.Life Sucks is “sort of adapted from ‘Uncle Vanya,’” as playwright, Mr. Posner puts it. (He had already gone to the Chekhov well three years ago with his well-received “Stupid _____ Bird,” based loosely on The Seagull. Here in Uncle Vanya land, the forlorn Vanya still shares a home with the plain Sonia but now we appear to be in the United States since there is talk of student loans and American money.Both Vanya and the brooding Dr. Aster still pine for Sonia’s stepmother, Ella. Continue reading Life Sucks→
Ink
Written by James Graham
Directed by Rupert Goold
Manhattan Theatre Club
June 21, 2019 Production website
💉💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
Ink is an explosion and of far more than just ink.I have never found a play that winds up so hard and so fast.The punch that it delivers at the end of Act 1 truly hit me viscerally and left me limping back to the lounge for the men’s room. It is one fast furious roller coaster.I had thought that I was going to see one of those comparatively gentle, sentimental plays such as “The Front Page” that explores the backstory of what it takes to put out a daily newspaper in the American 40’s.Well, this is London and this is nothing but brutal.Continue reading Ink→
Long Lost
Written by Donald Margulies
Directed by Daniel Sullivan
Manhattan Theatre Club
June 19, 2019 Production website
💉💉 out of 5.
I so felt like I was in a theatre, watching acting, experiencing a play and sitting next to a most aging audience – and that ain’t good folks. I was never transported away. It looked like a play, moved like a play, and made me question my love of plays. Continue reading Long Lost→
Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
Written by Taylor Mac
Directed by George C. Wolfe
Booth Theatre
June 12, 2019 Production website
💉💉💉 out of 5.
I love this short gross, over-the-top mess of a play.The idea of tacking on a coda to Titus Andronicus, one of Shakespeare’s bloodiest plays is really novel and compelling.When the curtain comes up and you see a pile of life-size puppet bodies piled up to the top of the proscenium arch, you know that you are not going to be in for a subtle evening at the theatre! Continue reading Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus→
Oklahoma
Music by Richard Rogers
Book and Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Directed by Daniel Fish
Circle in the Square
June 12, 2019 Production website
💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
I have never seen a golden age musical go down this plywood covered path before!Wow!When I first entered the stage I thought that Oklahoma was going to be more gimmick than art.The thrust stage was all boarded up in raw plywood – the floor and all the walls.Crockpots of chili were cooking away on long picnic tables where front row audience members were seated.Audience lights were going to be kept up for the majority of the production.I thought this was going to be a long night. Continue reading Oklahoma!→
Life Sucks
