What? Another show about a moody, overweight, young Black man with family issues? Like “A Strange Loop,” “Fat Ham” hasan endearing young main character. But “Fat Ham” delivers much more. Preparing for a family barbecue celebrating the marriage of his …Read more

Classics remain classics because they speak to us-no matter when they were written or where they are set. In a newly-imagined version of Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard,” a family remains stuck in the past. Soon their beloved home and cherry orchard wi …Read more

10-year-old Sarah Silverman has one big, big problem. Well, to be honest, she has more than one problem. Her parents are newly divorced, her mother hasn’t left her bed in weeks, and her older sister won’t even acknowledge her at school. But Sarah, a …Read more

by Joan Marcus There’s something to be said for star power filling theater seats. Despite some tepid reviews for the latest version of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the Longacre Theatre was filled. And why not? It stars Daniel Craig (the most recent James B …Read more

I’ve seen some weird stuff lately, but I’m very glad I took a chance on French playwright/director David Lescot’s Dough. A Compagnie du Kairos production presented by Villa Albertine and the New Ohio Theatre (which is where it’s staged), it’s a smart …Read more

In the name of liberty, four robbers are hatching a plot to steal everyone’s phones. They’re dressed in gray uniforms that sort of resemble pajamas, and black felt bandit masks that seem to not quite fit over their eyes. One robber has his mask on up …Read more

Mr. Saturday Night I’m a staunch Billy Crystal fan, and judging from the audience’s reaction at the Nederlander Theatre the other night, I’m not alone. I love Crystal’s quick wit, easy laugh and perpetual grin, even as he delivers a barb. Yet, sadly, …Read more

Maya Angelou’s 1969 memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings has already been adapted for both film and stage, but New York City Children’s Theater’s world-premiere production at Theatre Row is the first stage adaptation for young audiences. And it’s p …Read more

What does it mean to be a Jew today? That’s the main question asked in Michael Takiff’s clever if convoluted solo show Jews, God, and History (Not Necessarily in That Order), currently playing The Siggy Theater at The Flea. In a series of dizzyingly …Read more

“Poetry is what gets lost in translation,” said Robert Frost. And after watching Anchuli Felicia King’s engrossing and poetic Golden Shield, I’m inclined to add “as is love.” Directed by May Adrales at New York City Center, the Manhattan Theatre Club …Read more

Once upon a time there was a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan called The Five Points. For over 70 years, it was a crowded slum, populated mostly by newly -freed slaves and ethnic Irish. Although there was much tension, historically the area is conside …Read more

A female press secretary, a female chief of staff, a first lady and several female assistants but even all of them together can’t keep the hapless president from occasionally opening his mouth and putting his foot in it or insulting foreign dignitari …Read more

“I want to write something so Black that God can’t ignore me.” Playwright and performer Kareem M. Lucas speaks these words while standing on a huge wooden cross enshrined in a massive gold frame. The play is iNegro, a rhapsody, directed by Zoey Marti …Read more

From time to time, to quote my favorite song from Dear Evan Hansen, “words fail.” At the moment, words fail as I search for a way to describe (and adequately praise) a show whose gentle beauty and emotional force defy description, and which, ironical …Read more

Black comedy, or gallows humor, is a style of story telling that makes light of subject matter usually considered somewhat taboo, like death, suicide and disease. Either term applies to Martin McDonagh’s latest play, “Hangmen.” Harry, the main charac …Read more

“Whether on stage in front of an audience, or over the phone to a friend – we need to tell our stories. When we tell our stories, we give others permission to do the same. This is how we break the stigma.” So says Adina Taubman in the program note fo …Read more

Mary Todd Lincoln: misunderstood First Lady, bereft mother, obsessive widow–and now, the unlikely subject of a trippy piece of experimental theatre. In american vicarious’ new work Shooting Celebrities, written by John Ransom Phillips and directed b …Read more

Playwright Adam Kraar is interested in cross-cultural, cross-generational stories. His latest work, The Karpovsky Variations, follows one young woman’s search for her scattered, elusive family. Set in airport lounges over two decades, it’s a play abo …Read more

“The Minutes” Playwright Tracy Letts possesses the extraordinary ability to lull an audience into expecting something dry and ordinary but then making it explosive. Teaming up again with Anna D. Shapiro, his director for “August: Osage County,” Letts …Read more

Food is often the centerpiece of family holidays and celebrations. In “Birthday Candles”, the new play presented by the Roundabout Theatre Company at the American Airlines Theatre, the special food is a traditional birthday cake. It’s recipe has been …Read more

Photo by Julieta Cervantes When TV’s Murphy Brown was mocking singer Barry Manilow, I was buying his albums and attending his concerts. I was unabashedly a Fanilow. So I looked forward to “Harmony,” the musical that Manilow wrote with Barry Sussman, …Read more

I was hooked from the title. As someone who loves folk music and was largely raised on “songs about trains,” I was pretty sure I was going to love it before I even stepped into the theatre: a darkened auditorium with hanging lights, antique-looking c …Read more

As the late, great Gypsy Rose Lee once said, “If you beg for more, I’ll give it to you!” Well, we begged… and they obliged: Broadway’s Masked Singer is back to entertain us for another night! Following last week’s untimely unmasking of the boozy bunn …Read more

What a quandary! There was a new show to review, but it was opening night for my favorite baseball team. Which one should I choose? The theater won this time. A timely revival of Richard Geenberg’s insightful play, Take Me Out deals with all the curr …Read more

When we see married actor couples working together on stage, we feel a special connection. It’s as if we are in on the joke. We expect chemistry and smile when they kiss and caress because we believe the gestures are honest. It’s even more satisfying …Read more

Much has been written (and, especially lately, staged) about marginalized people’s troubled relationships with the non-marginalized. But what about the relationships of different marginalized groups with each other? When a young Chinese immigrant fal …Read more

Take Shape, Broken Box Mime Theater’s newest devised show, explores ten stories about emergence and transformation. It’s the company’s first Mainstage show in three years, and to celebrate this momentous occasion, we spoke with Artistic Director Beck …Read more

Women have really been getting screwed over from the beginning. That was one of my takeaways from #SoSadSoSexy, presented by Tapestry Collective at The Tank. Written and created by Emily Cordes, Alison Leaf, and Kendra Augustin, and directed by Simha …Read more

Looks like the whale was good on his word! Just as the melodious mammal indicated in his crown-clinching showstopper, the smash-hit Broadway guessing game that constantly kept us on our toes last Spring is finally back in all its glitzy glory for ano …Read more

If you’re a Shakespeare aficionado who wants to laugh out loud for two hours straight and doesn’t mind a touch of bawdy humor, then Jane Anger is for you. The Jennifer Campos Production, currently playing at the New Ohio Theatre, reimagines what migh …Read more