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
To Kill a Mockingbird
Written by Aaron Sorkin
Directed by Bartlett Sher
Sam S. Shubert Theatre
June 11, 2019
Production website
💉💉 out of 5.
I am not sure why I went to the theatre to experience this story. It was such a warm, wonderful read, but such a flat, lifeless play. Why did they need to use the stage for this? Isn’t the book enough? I really don’t think that this show would have made any sense to someone who hadn’t read the book (which, gratefully, I am sure is not many). I know it must be difficult to condense something so rich to the stage – but as I said before – then why would you? Continue reading To Kill a Mockingbird
Safeword
Written by S. Asher Gelman
Directed by S. Asher Gelman
American Theatre of Actors
April 20, 2019
Production website
💉💉 out of 5.
If only this play needed a “safe word” But it clearly doesn’t The play here is strictly vanilla and actually not very interesting vanilla. I do believe that our playwrights intention here was to introduce the average audience member to the world of bandage, domination, and sadomasochism – but what we get is more housewife with a cute whip.
The play starts out with a most provocative scene at the top of a set where a leather clad “dom” is abusing his willing victim. That got everyone’s attention – but it never back to that powerful first image. Sad when your best moment is the very first one of the show. Continue reading Safeword
Hurricane Diane
Written by Madeleine George
Directed by Leigh Silverman
New York Theatre Workshop
March 12, 2019
Production website
💉💉 out of 5.
You are not going to expect this one! Part homage to HGTV and part send up on Greek mythology, you just don’t know what you are getting. A god, Dionysus, now named Diane and described in the text as a “butch charm factor” is a very lively trans performer who is a bit all over the place. She has lots of energy but I am just not sure to what point. Continue reading Hurricane Diane
Blue Ridge
Written by Abby Rosebrock
Directed by Taibi Magar
Atlantic Theatre Company – Linda Gross Theatre
January 4, 2019
Production website
💉💉 out of 5.
Tell me this isn’t a provocative blurb offered about the play – – “A progressive high-school teacher with a rage problem retaliates against her unscrupulous boss and is sentenced to six months at a church-sponsored halfway house, where she attends to everyone’s recovery but her own.”
I love to see new work and Atlantic Theater is a home to some of the best in the city. Blue Ridge is one of those new plays written by Abby Rosebrock and nurtured by the Atlantic Theatre Company. I am not the biggest fan of realism on stage. Sometimes I feel like I am watching a television show on stage. Continue reading Blue Ridge