The name Dracula always evokes iconic images of the fang-baring scary creature dressed in black. Think Bela Lugosi. Or the Count. Or even the incredibly sensual heartthrob portrayal by Frank Langella. In the most recent take-off, “Dracula, a Comedy o …Read more

The Off-Broadway show Pay The Writer at The Pershing Square Signature Center asks what it costs a writer to pursue his art. It focuses on Cyrus Holt (Ron Canada,) a celebrated author coming to terms with the end of his life. Holt has sacrificed all h …Read more

Photo by Hugo Glendinning Broadway tickets can be expensive, especially for musicals. But you really get your money’s worth when you attend “Back to the Future:The Musical.” It’s got glitter, bubbles, dancing girls and even a flying car! Yet sometime …Read more

It’s been almost 50 years since the release of the movie Jaws. Directed by Steven Spielberg in 1975, it was based on the 1974 novel by Peter Benchley and starred Roy Scheider as a police chief who, with a marine biologist (played by Richard Dreyfuss) …Read more

In hindsight, a show about a group of friends in NYC slowly breaking up may not have been the best thing for me to watch just a couple weeks before moving away from the city. I left David Rosenberg’s funny, thoughtful play What Else Is True? with pow …Read more

photo by Joan Marcus If you don’t keep your eyes fixed on the stage at The Hayes Theater at all times during “The Cottage,” you are likely to miss some of the show’s most humorous moments. That was my problem as I glanced down to take some quick note …Read more

Once upon a time, children were raised on fairy tales where the beautiful princess waited to be rescued by the valiant handsome prince. Today those stories have been changed to reflect a different attitude about gender and relationships. No more the …Read more

I’m a sucker for a good ghost story. When that ghost story happens to include gorgeous folk harmonies, graceful black box intimacy, and an elusive yet inescapable meaning, consider me sold. Beth Golison’s here i fall up, directed by Annabel Heacock a …Read more

Ever heard of Alan Freed? If so, then you might enjoy Rock & Roll Man, the musical at New World Stages. Freed was the risk-taking disc jockey who coined the term “Rock and Roll” but his influence was far greater than that. He introduced Black music t …Read more

It’s no secret that many of the fairytales we know and love today are pretty sexist. Take Sleeping Beauty or Little Red Riding Hood: helpless heroines who need men to save them. In other stories, the women can only redeem the men through their own sa …Read more

photo by Ahron R. Foster Based upon the 1962 movie starring Jack Lemon and Lee Remick, Days of Wine and Roses is now a musical at Atlantic Theater Company, starring the divine Kelli O’Hara and talented Brian d’Arcy James. Generally, I would encourage …Read more

A world devastated by pollution and climate change. A soulless corporation with mindless employees. A girl from the outside with dangerous ideas. Welcome to In Corpo: a new musical by Ben Beckley and Nate Weida (Jess Chayes directs) presented by The …Read more

How far would you go to secure a date for high school prom? For Madison, Stella, and Grace—three high school seniors who have dreamed of this moment their entire lives—the answer is a resounding: “too far.” They’re prepared to raise the dead. Literal …Read more

Alan Freed didn’t invent Rock & Roll—in fact, he wasn’t even the first to call it that. What he did, which was arguably more challenging and more important, was to make it mainstream. Before Freed began playing “colored music” on mainstream radio …Read more

From its inception four years ago at The Kraine Theater, New Ambassadors Theatre Company’s Blurring Boundaries—comprising a lineup of short one-act plays written, performed, and directed by diverse artists—has come to be a stalwart part of the Off-Of …Read more

The 2023 Tony Awards was, as they say, one for the books… and despite the ongoing WGA strike threatening to stifle the sanctity of our ceremony, it all went off without a hitch. (No, really!!!)  No doubt because there was certainly much to celebrate, …Read more

Magician Steve Cuiffo has a problem: his wife hates magic. He doesn’t know it’s a problem until his friend Lucas Hnath (the playwright behind Broadway’s radical Dana H.) asks him to create a magic trick his wife will love. It’s part of a theatrical e …Read more

The world is so chaotic that sometimes all a viewer wants is a slice-of-life story with a happy ending. Primary Trust, the new play by Eboni Booth, a Roundabout Theatre Company production at Laura Pels Theatre offers just that. It’s a play that lets …Read more

Having seen (read “been positively blown away by”) several of Edward Einhorn’s previous shows produced through Untitled Theater Company No. 61, and being a long-time lover of Shakespeare, I was all in for his company’s latest production at the New Oh …Read more

Kelli O’Hara, as everyone knows, is a gift to the world of theatre. Her voice is otherworldly, her acting immaculate. Now, she can add to her resume the triumph of largely carrying Days of Wine and Roses: the new musical by Craig Lucas and Adam Guett …Read more

Ironically, though New York City is home to more than 8 million people, it’s been called “the lonely city,” and it’s easy to see why. You could easily pass hundreds of people on your morning commute alone, but you likely won’t speak to a single one o …Read more

By definition, the legal term prima facie means the first impression, accepted as correct until proven otherwise. The theatrical term Prima Facie refers to an exciting one-woman play starring the gifted Jodie Comer (from TV’s Killing Eve) and directe …Read more

Shakespeare is canceled. Don’t ask why—he just is. It might have something to do with the tremors that keep jarring the college diversity office, or then again, it might not. We’ll never really know.  Ted Zurkowski’s College Fun, directed by Lynnea B …Read more

Despite its seemingly unsophisticated vibe, Shucked is an extremely polished, well-crafted musical. After all, the show is directed by Jack O’Brien (Hairspray, Full Monty, Porgy and Bess, Invention of Love.) Most importantly, it is loads of fun. Audi …Read more

I’ve seen my fair share of plays about racism, but I’ve never seen the struggle between a facist government and its oppressed citizens dramatized as a puppet show. In We, Puppets, presented by Associazione Campania Danza at the Casa Italiana Zerilli- …Read more

Shakespeare is the indisputable dominating figure on stages around the world—delivered in many languages.  But, no where does he seem to get more nuanced interpretations than in hometown New York City.  This more recent example is a move from The Pub …Read more

I am a native New Yorker, and I honestly love NYC. Although I know the city has its many flaws, I will defend it against all comers. Yet I cringed at the rosy ‘melting-pot’ version of the city painted in the new musical “New York, New York” in the 19 …Read more

There’s a fine line between satire and silliness, and “The Thanksgiving Play” crosses that line too often. Playwright Larisa Fasthorse takes shots at well-meaning, naive white people trying to be ‘woke.’ When her aim is true, she makes her point, hol …Read more

Sometimes performers are so good at their roles that they become forever identified with that part. For many, Sean Hayes will always be Jack on television’s “Will and Grace,” kooky, egocentric, and outrageously flamboyant. Those people would be surpr …Read more

The last time I saw “Sweeney Todd,” it was as a barebones production of 10 performers, including Patty Lupone and Michael Cerveris. Each performer even played an instrument, and the show was wonderful. The most recent revival, featuring a 26 piece or …Read more