"All the Ways to Say I Love You" is refreshingly free of this formula. The incidents are straightforwardly depicted and the circular conclusion is simple. LaBute palatably sets up the situation by establishing that the male student is a senior who has had to repeat a year of school, so he is clearly a young adult. It is implied that he is African-American and it is stated that Mrs. Johnson’s emotionally distant husband is of mixed race. Despite these intriguing elements, the play narratively peaks halfway through and then grinds on. [more]
Writer and director Peter Darney’s script is based on and intertwines over 50 hours of interviews with gay men contacted through the gay social media site Grindr. From this real life material, Mr. Darney has skillfully fashioned an engaging five-person, unflinching character study. There’s no plot and no resolution but it is still a compelling take on this phenomenon. [more]
The single disadvantage of director Patricia McGregor’s approach is that in cutting so much text, the events of the play seem to occur one on top of each other, making the play a bit melodramatic, and a good deal of character development is sacrificed by the way. However, with dangerous-looking fight direction by Lisa Kopitsky and intriguing movement by Paloma McGregor, this is a "Hamlet" that lives up to its mission to be accessible and entertaining to all, those who know the play well and those seeing it for the first time. [more]
Director Austin Pendleton made some choices which don’t help the now creaky play. Although Peter is described as ten years younger than Helen, Pendleton has cast the ever reliable Bradford Cover who unaccountably looks to be Helen’s age or older. This changes the dynamic of the play as with a younger man it would be obvious why Helen doesn’t think she has much hold over him. While the apartment is described as dirty with junk all over it, Harry Feiner’s set is spotlessly clean. This changes the environment a good deal and makes Jo’s life much less intolerable than described. In addition to the on-stage jazz combo which was also part of the original 1958 London production, Pendleton has several of the characters occasionally speak directly to the audience which makes this play more surreal than the kitchen sink milieu would imply. All of this makes the revival much less affecting than it might have been. [more]
"Safe" is crammed with so much dysfunction and adolescent angst that if its adult language were excised it would make a perfect "ABC Afterschool Special," if those were still being produced. Instead, it’s an earnest but flat social drama. [more]
Like his "Apple Family Plays," Nelson’s "The Gabriel" cycle all take place in a kitchen on a specific day in almost real time using the same six actors to play the family members. These are occasional plays which define a moment in time, as well as being chamber plays, small cast plays set in one place. Not much happens but much gets said and discussed. Described as “Chekhovian” by Oskar Eustis, artistic director of the Public, "What Did You Expect?" is less so as there really is no dramatic event as in such Chekov plays as "The Cherry Orchard" or "The Sea Gull." However, leisurely told and extremely detailed, "What Did You Expect?" offers its own rewards but may not be for all theatergoers. It is an evening of excellent talk which defines a family of have nots in our own time. [more]
Playwright Ana Nogueira has a facility for often arch dialogue but not much else. The play’s potentially promising sci-fi premise is undermined by its bizarre vagueness. Not only do the leading characters not have names, there is no biographical data about them imparted. Their professions and life details are never described. Most crucially HIM’s thesis is mentioned several times but what the subject of it was is not stated. Ms. Nogueira basically presents two ciphers that are difficult to truly care about. Ultimately, it’s all a hollow and smug exercise. [more]
While proud of how she is portrayed in the press, as a woman who couldn’t be broken, McPhee delves beneath the surface to illustrate how Shanley really felt once she returned to an empty apartment at the end of the day -- with her beloved dog as her only real company. Like everyone else, she experiences confusion, loneliness, and pain and only can hope that her good choices and desire to help mankind outweigh the mistakes that she has made. [more]
During the three and a half hours of "Phaedra(s)," Huppert masturbates, menstruates, throws up, fellates several versions of Hippolytus, flails about with masochistic glee, and screams so loudly and continuously as to cause fears for her vocal health, all in the service of getting to the core of the title character as imagined by Sarah Kane, Wajdi Mouawad and J.M. Coetzee (with dramaturgy by Piotr Gruszczynski.) Director Krzysztof Warlikowski did little more than keep the over-the-top emoting and sexuality from exploding out to Fulton Street. [more]
Unlike the original short story which was set on a rural farm in Cornwall, England, and the film which was reset in Bodega Bay, California, the play takes place entirely in the main room of an isolated house in New England. Stefan Dzeparoski’s production which puts the audience in the same room with the characters has its strengths and weaknesses making this an evening of mixed success. [more]
This comedy revival of Leslye Headland’s 2010 play, that was adapted for the 2012 film of the same name, "Bachelorette," is as caustic and outrageous as ever. While looking ahead to a wedding day is supposed to generate feelings of excitement and bliss as women band together to stand by their girlfriend as she prepares to say “I Do,” this is often times not the case with several different personalities in the same room. It can be a very stressful time as emotions heighten and feelings get hurt, and "Bachelorette" humorously and dramatically represents this experience as three girls meet up to celebrate the night before their friend’s wedding in a swanky hotel suite. [more]
Playwright Julia Cho has crafted an engaging and universal work that unevenly blends reality with mysticism. The characters are all very well delineated and the dialogue is flavorful and realistic. It’s structured as a series of short scenes that include monologues, flashbacks and fantasies. The play’s two-act form diminishes its momentum, running two hours and fifteen minutes with an intermission. Repetitiveness and a preoccupation with profundity sidetrack its effectiveness at times. [more]
Director Kira Simring’s superior staging theatrically presents the play’s complicated situations with clarity and surrealistic flourishes. Characters often enter and exit through unlikely places such as through the audience or from a side door. Though the play lasts only 75 minutes, Ms. Simring’s physical realization of it makes it seem lengthier with the depth she has brought to it. Her results with the cast, some of who play dual roles is superb. [more]
Following "Bachelorette" and "Assistance," Leslye Headland’s latest play, The Layover, is a taut psychological thriller told in an updated film noir style. Trip Cullman, who has directed all of her New York productions, has made the play a tour de force of tension and unease. As acted by Annie Parisse, Adam Rothenberg, Amelia Workman, John Procaccino and Quincy Dunn-Baker, the tone is marvelously sustained. The only fly in the ointment is the ending which will take you entirely by surprise and may feel unmotivated. [more]
To call "About Clarence and Me" simply a play is misleading, as the project features an entirely original score by co-writer Scott Hiltzik. A classical musician, Hiltzik’s music is technically striking but carries a modern flare. In additional to their finely tuned performances, both DeMone and Roll impress as musicians as well. Roll proves himself to be quite the accomplished classical pianist, demonstrating mastery of the keys by way of precision and constraint. DeMone, ever his opposite, produces from the piano a sound descendent of a ragtime piano roll, at times accompanied by the veteran singer’s sonorous growl. Directed by Hiltzik’s co-writer Jones, the duo’s intimacy with the material is plain to see in the final product. Full of nuanced moments both thematically and in performance, the writing team’s hands-on approach is responsible for this well-rounded and solid production. [more]
Written in 415 B.C. as a criticism of the Athenian capture of Melos and the subjugation of its population earlier that year, "The Trojan Women" has remained relevant throughout the last 2,500 years due to mankind’s penchant for war. Although Ellen McLaughlin’s new adaptation makes some changes to the Euripides original, it retains its power pertinent for our own time in the wake of the refugee crisis. While at times callow, Anne Cecelia Haney’s production for The Bats is persuasive, potent and poignant. It also provides an excellent introduction to the plays that make up Greek tragedy for those who have not experienced them on stage. [more]
Besides achieving sensitive and strong performances from the cast, director David Drake masterfully fulfills the playwright’s intentions with his lively and brisk staging. The collaborative group UnkleDave's Fight-House’s fight direction is thrillingly realistic for several physical conflicts. [more]
The beauty of Chen’s technique lies in engaging the audience in a guessing game that they don’t immediately know they are a part of – presenting them with certain messages that appear to be true, but challenge them to think about it from a different perception. One of the main themes is examining the different viewpoints between the Chinese and American cultures and how perceptions can be skewed. The result is a clever and eye-opening puzzle that teaches important lessons around the human experience in a shocking way by offering extremes. [more]
Now that we have been through all the angry play movements, literate writers like N.C. Hunter and Terence Rattigan are once again ripe for revival. While in his own time, Hunter was criticized for being too much like Chekhov that now seems a plus in the days of sloppy craftsmanship and plays that are really movie scenarios staged in the theater. "A Picture of Autumn" was obviously a post-war British variation on Chekhov’s "The Cherry Orchard," while Waters of the Moon resembles "The Sea Gull." "A Day by the Sea" owes a great deal to Chekhov’s "Uncle Vanya" and includes the same basic cast of characters. [more]
Toni Press-Coffman’s "Touch" is a rather challenging play both in that a great deal of it is narrated in recollection and also that it deals with much naked emotion. The cast led by Peter McElligott who is onstage almost throughout the evening could not be bettered. Director Nathaniel Shaw has made this under-dramatized play into a more theatrical experience. While Touch will not be for everyone, it is an impressive document of the workings of the human heart. [more]
"To Protect the Poets" shows how readily lines can be crossed when “street justice” is employed, instead of the judicial system. This first-rate, timely and intelligent play is a just representation of how two people who love each other deal with violent crimes against women and police brutality. [more]
While "LUNT AND FONTANNE: The Celestials of Broadway" is a fine and concise review of their careers for people who have never heard of them, Murphy and Lang make them seem more superficial than necessary. It is true that Fontanne was born in England, but Murphy and Lang play both of them as very English and exceedingly refined and proper, not backed up by their performances as themselves in "Stage Door Canteen." The Lunts’ famous use of overlapping dialogue which was years ahead of its time can be seen in the video of their film of "The Guardsman." Murphy and Lang often use it to talk over each other’s lines making them unintelligible, while the Lunts came in on the last syllable of their cues which is much more realistic. The Lunts may have appeared in many light drawing room comedies, but to portray them as delivering their lines on the same level all time would not have made them as famous as they were. [more]
Laden with jokes, sight gags and flamboyant characters, Mr. Free’s well-constructed and startling work combines the outrageous sensibilities of John Waters’ films with the social consciousness of Norman Lear’s television sitcoms. Free’s giddily convoluted scenario is dense with flashbacks, fantasies and surprises. Just when a thread is exhausted he is seamlessly on to another. The classic horror film "Night of the Living Dead" is emulated for the deadly serious dénouement. [more]
Directed by Leni Mendez, "Implications of Cohabitation" is a smooth running machine, albeit some undeveloped moments in the script. The staging is fluid and the story is clear, but some exchanges between characters are borderline inauthentic. The set design by Anna Grigo is effective, but slightly repetitive. The main set piece is an empty apartment, and the decorum of the apartment is changed to reflect the change in location. Unfortunately, these changes are minimal and don’t do much to enhance or differentiate one scene from the next. [more]
Richard Alfredo’s 'The Dark Clothes of Night," a brilliant parody/homage to film noir and hardboiled fiction, the third play of Summer Shorts – Series B, is so good it alone is worth the price of admission. The other two plays which precede it in this year’s 10th Festival of New American Short Plays have interesting but undeveloped premises. But "The Dark Clothes of Night" is an instant classic, a humorous satire that is also a brilliantly theatrical study in paranoia, fear and evil and the elements that made film noir irresistible. Directed by playwright Alexander Dinelaris, the three actors in this memorable short work play multiple roles with assurance and aplomb. [more]
Writer Gustavo Pace is the handsome, youthful and animated performer of this autobiographical exploration. He loudly rattles on in Portuguese and English while adequately portraying himself and several characters. These include his father, brother, a female therapist working on turning him straight, and various others he encounters. It’s an amiable and passable performance that’s heavy on volume and shaky on intelligibility. [more]
While "Troilus and Cressida" is rarely staged, Daniel Sullivan’s production full of bombs and smoke suggests that in our time of endless wars it speaks to us again, and the play’s cynicism also seems to capture the current zeitgeist. It also features memorable performances from John Glover, John Douglas Thompson, Max Casella, Sanjit de Silva, and Alex Breaux, among others. [more]
The August Strindberg Repertory Theatre presents this production. Since 2012, they have produced a number of the author’s works in New York City and for this one it was decided to condense and update it in order bring out its humor. The result is pretty much laugh-free. [more]
"Alice in Black and White" is a play-within-a-play. Two parallel stories are told: one of Austen’s life and relationship with Gertrude Tate, her companion for over 40 years; and one in the early 1950’s involving a Staten Island Historical Society receptionist and journalist Oliver Jensen, who later published "The Revolt of the American Woman" (which included Austen photographs) and a Life magazine article on Austen. [more]
A new media and sophisticated ticket booking system is brought into play even before the play begins. In order to buy tickets, a theatergoer has to give out his/her cell phone number for text follow-up information as to confirmation of time and the Midtown location. The immersive theater is kept secret until the day of booking the event. The address of where "Paradiso: Chapter 1" is being held is texted only four hours before the participant’s allotted time. [more]
Thomas G. Waites has a long list of major credits that go back to the film "The Warriors" in 1979. As Austin, he gives one of the strangest performances in memory. It’s a monotonously upbeat steamroller turn that recalls the hyper enthusiasm of the young Donald O’Connor combined with the cloying seriousness of the older Mickey Rooney at his most lachrymose. Watching Mr. Waites is exhausting and bewildering. [more]
In this swashbuckling comedic play, 'Men on Boats" takes an innovative approach by casting ten women in the roles of the first “white” discovers of the Grand Canyon. However, this was not a nod to the current trend of casting cisgender or transgender actors. The use of “on boats,” instead of “in boats,” indicates the state of being in which the actresses find themselves — a history panorama where gender and race play little part. [more]
As might be expected LaBute’s new one act, "After the Wedding," contains a shocker. However, when it arrives in Maria Mileaf’s production, it is so matter-of-fact that it has little or no impact. Elizabeth Masucci and Frank Harts play a married couple of six years. Named simply “Him” and “Her,” they alternate telling (different) versions of their years together without interacting. However, both of them recall an event that occurred on their way to their honeymoon which should have been a game-changer. For these self-absorbed people millennials, it was simply another incident along the way. Sitting in chairs facing the audience, Masucci and Harts are rather charming as the amoral couple but the play seems like a scene from a longer play not yet written. [more]
