Victor Gluck was a drama critic and arts journalist with Back Stage from 1980 – 2006. He started reviewing for TheaterScene.net in 2006, where he was also Associate Editor from 2011-2013, and has been Editor-in-Chief since 2014. He is a voting member of The Drama Desk, the Outer Critics Circle, the American Theatre Critics Association, and the Dramatists Guild of America. His plays have been performed at the Quaigh Theatre, Ryan Repertory Company, St. Clements Church, Nuyorican Poets Café and The Gene Frankel Playwrights/Directors Lab.
Part of the problem with the play is that it attempts to cover too many topics in the form of a domestic tragedy: pollution, industrial waste, climate change, toxic chemicals, poverty, red-lining, foreclosures, destruction of animals, etc. It also cannot make up its mind whether its style is realism, surrealism, expressionism, symbolism or even magic realism. Many of the elements seem extraneous, tangential or not fully unified to the plot such as the talking animals. There is an interesting play hiding in this material but the playwright does not seem to know how to shape his ideas and wants to cover everything in this one play. [more]
Kevin Zak’s 'Ginger Twinsies" now at the Orpheum Theatre is an outrageous, campy gay stage parody of the 1998 Lindsay Lohan (a true redhead) remake of "The Parent Trap" in which she played fraternal twins, directed by rom-com specialist Nancy Meyers. Much of the humor is based on name dropping of pop culture, film, stage and television lore with “appearances” by Vanessa Redgrave, Demi Moore, Shirley MacLaine, Julianne Moore and Jessica Lee Curtis as well as Ms. Meyers herself. A great many gags come from the Harry Potter movies as well as Curtis in "Freaky Friday" and a plug for her new "Freakier Friday" opening on August 1. You don’t have to know "The Parent Trap" to enjoy the jokes as much of the humor is visual but it helps set up the premise. The laughs come once a minute but not all of them land as successfully as they are meant to. [more]
Under Lorin Latarro’s direction, there is little or no character development in Davenport’s book, with all of the characters remaining the same throughout, and the only thing that propels the show are the surprising events that happen. Joy’s family remains negative and dismissive about her inventing career (while eventually helping out in the marketing) until almost the very end. Davenport fudges the last scene by not telling us how the biased Texas judge ends up ruling in Joy’s favor so that the ending leaves us hanging. When the judge demeans Joy as a one-time inventor, we know that she has one of her clever inventions in her pocket (a reflective dog flea collar) but she never takes it out in her own defense. The songs are more like window dressing than adding much to the show and Milazzo’s generic lyrics tend to be very repetitious and give away their message in their titles. The show might have been more powerful as a straight play without the musical score. [more]
As directed by Avra-Fox Lerner and written by Curtis Fox, the production has many problems, the first being its leisurely slow pace which makes the play seem longer and less dramatic than it is. Written in 19 scenes and taking place on the same Soho loft set throughout, the play is more of a teleplay than a stage play, minus the camera angles and the set changes. Each scene only reveals one new piece of information, a dramaturgically dull way to tell a stage story. In spite of all this, the play might have worked if the acting was passionate and intense but the cool, unemotional style undercuts much of the tension. [more]
Andy Fickman’s polished production with its highly effective choreography by Gary Lloyd (additional choreography by Stephanie Klemons) is a Broadway-style production in a smaller house. If "Heathers the Musical" seemed too cynical in 2014 when it also played at New World Stages, time or events have caught up with it and it now seems a reflection of the life we live. With Broadway stars Lorna Courtney and Casey Likes leading the high-powered cast, "Heathers the Musical" should be a hit of the summer and beyond – and not just for teens and twenty-somethings who were in full evidence at the performance under review. [more]
How far would you go to be famous on social media? Julia Randall’s "Dilaria" is a stunning exposé of Gen Z 20-year olds, brought up on and addicted to TikTok and Instagram, who spend all their free time on their smart phones trolling the Internet. Making their Off Broadway debuts, rising stars Ella Stiller, Chiara Aurelia and Christopher Briney play very superficial college grads relocated to New York, but Randall gets a tremendous amount of satire from their interactions. The language is raw and sexy, not for senior citizens, but there is much humor in the way these twenty-somethings use words, particularly the latest urban slang. [more]
John Krasinski, best known for his role as the charming and amiable Jim Halpert on NBC’s sitcom The Office, is inspired casting for Penelope Skinner’s Angry Alan, a perfect showcase for his talents now the opening show at Studio Seaview, the renovated Tony Kiser Theater. In Skinner’s monologue co-created with actor Donald Sage Mackay who first played the part at the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Krasinski is Roger, a three-years divorced man, who also lost his executive position job at AT&T and now works as the dairy manager at his local Kroger, a job he hates. Surfing the net, he finds a website called “Angry Alan” which seems to explain his midlife crisis: it is all the result of the “Gynocracy: a female dominated political regime which took over decades ago.” Roger who addresses us directly is still smarting from the fact that his live-in girlfriend Courtney has recently discovered feminism from a community college life class she is attending. [more]
"Machinal" makes use of all of these Expressionistic techniques. However, the current production has added tap dancing, practical foley and heightened movement created by choreographer Hilligoss in all of the scenes which both drowns out much of the dialogue and becomes very distracting. Obviously it is meant to emphasize the mechanical aspects of modern life but it also works as a sledge hammer repeatedly hitting the audience over the head with what is perfectly clear in the text itself. It is as though the director and choreographer do not trust the audience to get the message of the play. [more]
"Lowcountry" by Abby Rosebrock, author of 'Blue Ridge" seen at Atlantic Theater Company in 2019, has a great deal going for it: a fine cast, a play told in real time, scenic design in keeping with the milieu and the plot, and characters quirky enough to keep us interested. However, this talky play doesn’t get where it is going until the last ten minutes and has a great many unanswered questions that perplex as one watches the play. While Jo Bonney’s production is strong on the characterizations, it is weak on pace so the plot seems to go on longer than it needs to and lacks tension until the very end. Ultimately, except for those last surprising minutes, the play eventually becomes tedious and in need of a few cuts – or new devices. [more]
'Duke & Roya" is an engrossing rom-com with a geo-political background, the sort of story that Hollywood specialized in during World War II. Charles Randolph-Wright’s new play makes use of the war in Afghanistan in 2017 before the American pull out in 2020. The cast is led by television stars Jay Ellis (James in "Insecure") and Stephanie Nur (Aalyiyah in "Lioness") who prove to be engaging company. The cast is filled out by veteran stage performers Dariush Kashani ("The Kite Runner," "The Band’s Visit," "Oslo") and Noma Dumezweni who created the part of Hermione in both the London and Broadway versions of "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," winning the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress. [more]
"Mike and Mindy’s Wild Weekend Jam," the musical returning Off Broadway in a bigger version than before, has a sophisticated score and unsophisticated book. The title is a bit of a misnomer as there is nothing “wild” about it and the “jam” part leads to unfilled expectations. However, the cast makes the most of the impressive musical portions of the show from Bucky Heard and Timothy D. Lee of the Righteous Brothers, salvaging Mark Corallo and Eileen Nelson’s book which resembles those Afterschool Specials of the past. [more]
Already seen at 200 venues across North America, "Bear Grease," the all Indigenous musical, arrives in New York for a three-month residency. While its subtitle declares that it is a “reimagining of the musical Grease by Jim Jacobs and Warren Carey told through an Indigenous lens,” it is more of a variety show with songs, dances, and video while including iconc scenes and songs from "Grease" paying tribute to Native American culture. Written and created by LightningCloud (Crystle Lightning and Henry Cloud Andrade,) the exuberant cast made up of members of the Enoch Cree Nation, Beaver First Nation, Big Stone Cree Nation, Frog Lake, Muskeg Lake, Gift Lake, Mvskoke and Navajo Nation makes this an entertaining evening in the theater. [more]
"Beau The Musical" is not only absorbing as a story, the songs help to move the story along, something few musicals accomplish these days. The multi-talented cast is splendid, while the story hits on a great many hot button topics: bullying, intolerance, self-identity, single parenting, finding one’s identity. Best of all Beau The Musical is extremely satisfying, sending you out pleased by what you have seen. [more]
Montréal’s physical theater troupe The 7 Fingers has made their third visit to New York with Passengers and the wait has been worth it. Using circus events, music, dance and monologues, "Passengers" follows nine travelers who perform as their train travels across the country. Like Cirque du Soleil, the varied acts are all unified by a theme, but The 7 Fingers is more intimate in scale and eschews clowns, giving the nine acrobats, gymnasts and circus artistes more and more daring acts to do. As the journey continues, the performances become more breathtaking and demonstrate the versatility of the cast. [more]
"Prosperous Fools" is like those 1960s and 70s East Village happenings where one never knew what was coming next. Taylor Mac’s tremendous imagination could use some reining in but his satire is pungent and on target. Like happenings, this is a show that must be experienced to feel the import of the event. And one admires Theatre for a New Audience for risking their funding to offer to stage it. Moliere would be pleased that his 18th century comedy gave rise to this 21st century free-for-all. [more]
A farming couple who have been married 50 years go out into their western Kentucky field to watch a lunar eclipse. Nothing much happens but, on the other hand, they review their entire lives. There is little we don’t know about them by the end of the eclipse. Under the direction of Kate Whoriskey, Pulitzer Prize-winner Donald Margulies’ latest play, "Lunar Eclipse," with veteran actors Reed Birney and Lisa Emery is extremely poetic and sensitive about people and their feelings. If you are looking for action, this will not be for you. However, if you think plays should reveal the human condition, then you will be caught up in this very human story of lives lived with regrets but always to the best of their abilities. [more]
Conducted expertly by Tiffany Chang in a new chamber orchestration by Roland Freisitzer, this three-character opera is inspired by the lush romantic sound of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss. As the libretto is based on a German prose translation of the Wilde play by Max Meyerfeld, there are no arias per se but the leading character Simone, a Florentine fabric merchant, has many long passages. Artistic director Philip Shneidman who staged the evening has chosen to set it in turn-of-the-last-century Vienna, home to Zemlinsky, rather than Florence in the 16th century as Oscar Wilde’s play is set. This takes a bit of getting used to considering the plot and the subject matter. However, Kylee Loera’s projection design of historical photographs of Vienna city streets and then an art nouveau wallpapered room sets the proper mood for pre-W.W. I Vienna. [more]
Creating his third outstanding and needed adaptation in conjunction with director Jesse Berger ("The Government Inspector," 2017; "The Alchemist," 2021), Jeffrey Hatcher has salvaged yet another comedy from the classic world theater which has been sorely neglected in the United States. All of these are large cast plays with lengthy speeches that have long needed pruning and updating for contemporary audiences. With Berger’s light touch and swift-paced production, this Molière is not only a delicious treat but a timely satire. [more]
Although Cobb makes references to Iago, Othello’s, second-in-command, and Barbary, the maid to Desdemona’s late mother who brought her up, Nine Moons does not tell us anything we don’t already know from Shakespeare’s play. Since the one thing we are waiting for is Othello’s wooing of Desdemona which will result in their elopement, this does not begin until one hour and five minutes into this 115 minute play. What transpires before that is chit chat about the state of Venice and Cyprus, Othello’s unease in this new city, and Cassio’s army ambitions at odds with his drinking problem, all of which is covered in Shakespeare’s later tragedy. [more]
In the title role, Amber Iman makes a sensational return to Off Broadway after her Tony Award and Drama League-nominated performance in "Lempicka" last season. This beautiful statuesque actress brings poise and elegance to the role of the goddess who comes down to earth in human form. Her magnificent singing brings the audience to its feet for her final solo. Austin Scott is a stalwart Omari both in his singing and saxophone playing which also impresses. As the excitable Rashida and Ahmed, Arica Jackson and Nick Rashad Burroughs make a terrific team playing off of each other. [more]
And what does it all mean? The new musical takes on pop fandom, celebrity, the Internet, MTV, pop culture, influencers, Gen Z and everything in between. "The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse" is not only cutting edge but it may presage the dawning of the next kind of musical – which may not be to all tastes. It may also take you by surprise as to how much it pulls you into to its story and investigation of a period a little less than two decades old. [more]
Unfortunately, The Fire Weeds’ production directed by Jaclyn Bethany (who appears in both plays) is very uneven. An attempt at expressionism handled differently in each does not work for these Tennessee Williams’ plays. While “The Pretty Trap” eschews props for pantomiming, in “Interior: Panic” lighting designer Zoe Griffith has taken the stage direction “the light is normal” and literally bathed the stage in pink-red light periodically to suggest Blanche’s hallucinations. However, this is both distracting and intrusive. Of course, theatergoers are likely to know the longer more famous versions which are more fleshed out and have pertinent information not in the one act versions. [more]
The show at The Players Theatre is not exactly the same show that played in London's West End with book by Shaun McKenna and Steven Dexter which like the original novel was set in San Francisco. Now the show has been reset in New York’s East Village. Unfortunately, this also means Finney’s tribute to silent film stars is entirely missing which is one of the original novel’s strong suits. Additionally, the authors do not make use of the new setting except for a scene under the Queensboro Bridge. [more]
Not only is the show authentically written with Spanish sprinkled throughout, (much of it perfectly obvious as to its meaning,) but Sergio Trujillo’s superb production which he has both directed and choreographed, has been cast with an almost entirely Hispanic cast who are utterly engaging. Best is Justina Machado, a Broadway veteran of "In the Heights" and "A Free Man of Color," as the indomitable Carmen who can only imagine one path – though she herself left everything behind in Mexico to come to the United States. Following a close second are Broadway debuting Tatianna Córboda as the feisty Ana who has learned how to run rings around her elders and also debuting Florencia Cuenca as her weary sister Estela who has the weight of everyone’s aspirations on her shoulders. [more]
Not seen on Broadway since 1982 but racking up 26 productions up to that time since its New York premiere in 1879, the Roundabout Theatre Company’s new version of the Gilbert and Sullivan classic operetta, "The Pirates of Penzance," has been given a delightful facelift: retitled "Pirates! The Penzance Musical" is has now been Americanized and reset in a jazzy 1880 New Orleans by the team of director Scott Ellis, adapter Rupert Holmes, choreographer Warren Carlyle and music director and co-orchestrator Joseph Joubert. The energetic cast is led by Ramin Karimloo as the Pirate King, Jinkx Monsoon as Ruth and two-time Tony Award-winner David Hyde Pierce as Major-General Stanley, backed by a lusty crew of singers and dancers. [more]
At this vantage point 55 years after its premiere, like the Wilson plays which intentionally cover the previous 100 years, "Ceremonies in Dark Old Men" feels like an historical play wedded to its own time period. Its story and characters are a combination of a Black version of "Death of a Salesman" and a Harlem version of "A Raisin the Sun." Like the story of Willy Loman and his hapless family, the tale of Russell Parker and his two wastrel sons could only have a tragic ending, as their values are so hollow. And like "A Raisin the Sun," the Parker family is so desperate to succeed as Black people in Pre-Civil Rights Era America that they put their hopes in a man that even a child would not have trusted. [more]
Unfortunately, while the carnival atmosphere in the field above the cave increases, the musical is mostly a waiting game: if and when Floyd Collins will be brought up from the deteriorating cave. The emotions that you would expect as time begins to run out as passageways become either waterlogged or impassible are not in evidence except for Floyd’s father who is more concerned with finances that his son’s life. Floyd himself is often depicted as delirious or depressed so that we don’t get much of an arc of his emotions. [more]
At times the show directed by Stroman seems to be a satire or a parody, while the choreography by Bergasse mostly looks like ersatz Bob Fosse which seems inappropriate for the Marilyn Monroe story. As star Ivy Lynn playing Marilyn, Hurder seems to be doing a Megan Hilty impersonation from the TV series, rather than bringing anything new to the role. (Of course, Hilty is appearing around the corner in Death Becomes Her.) Bowman’s Karen is fine as far as she is allowed to go but the role seems underwritten. Nielsen ass The Actors Studio coach, (compared to Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West) is so unpleasant that you wonder why her character isn’t fired long before it happens in the story line. [more]
The cumulative effect of the four plays is greater than the sum of its parts. The quartet of plays seems to demonstrate Caryl Churchill in a new mode. While the plots are slight, the themes are of major importance and suggest new ways of thinking about them. James Macdonald’s production and the acting of his cast are quite assured even though the plays are mainly non-realistic and require their own kind of suspension of disbelief. [more]
While Belflower’s play is clever and insightful, it is also contrived and manipulative attempting to shoehorn almost every feminist hot button topic into one story overlaying "The Crucible": date rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment on the job, toxic masculinity, patriarch dominance. It makes all of the male characters look like idiots and all of the women victims which is not exactly a reflection of real life. It also overloads the deck while at the same time copping out in the end. While New York teens are probably much more liberated than those in rural Georgia, the language of the play is incredibly devoid of swear or curse words which usually pepper the speech of adolescents. Finally, it borrows from Ivo van Hove’s 2016 staging of "The Crucible" in which a modern classroom also turns into a telling of Miller’s play. [more]
However, it is not just the remarkable video design which uses sometimes up to six screens to convey the action of the story plus live action, but we get inside of the head of protagonist Dorian Gray in ways not possible before. Also seeing or hearing Snook as all the characters in different voices is quite a remarkable feat. Andrew Scott only plays eight in his Vanya one-man show, but here Snook also changes costumes repeatedly before our eyes and emerges as someone else. Beginning as the narrator, she slowly becomes Dorian Gray who eventually takes over completely. We also see her as Lord Henry Wotton, painter Basil Hallward, actress Sibyl Vane and later her brother James, the Duchess of Harley, and former friend and Oxford classmate Alan Campbell. [more]
The Steppenwolf Theatre Company production of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ "Purpose" follows on the heels of their magnificently staged "August: Osage County," but unlike that dysfunctional family drama, this play has a great deal to say as well as major themes. Like the title of the author’s "Appropriate," "Purpose" has many meaning all used here at the same time. And never forget how much fun it is to have a private look in at the private lives of a rich and famous (but fictional) family when they are on their worst behavior. Do not be surprised if this play wins this year’s Tony Award followed by next year’s Pulitzer Prize. You can say you heard it here first. While the play is quite long, it is tremendously rewarding as great plays should be. [more]
Except for a couple of main characters, the people in his life seem to come and go making it a little bit difficult to follow. While the opening of each act is in the form of a Technicolor musical, the limited budget and the staged reading format does not allow for this. Actor Michael Halling is tall enough to represent the 6’4” Hughes but he does not portray his undoubted charisma to have taken the world by storm. There are also many anachronisms as well as at least one scene which is out of order and facts that are inaccurate. [more]
