The playbill for Bertolt Brecht’s play The Mother suggests immediately that the drama at The Performing Garage will be unique. Brecht himself noted that the aim of the play is not to entertain, but rather to “teach certain forms of political struggle …Read more
On September 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. It was the climax of the subprime mortgage crisis, the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history, involving more than US $600 billion in assets. Before there was Lehman Brothers, the financ …Read more
Ruben Santiago-Hudson was raised by his grandmother. So he did what any talented theater person would do-he wrote a play about her! “Lackawanna Blues” is Santiago-Hudson’s paean to his grandmother, Rachel Crosby. She was Nanny to him but to the many …Read more
To many,“Six the Musical” was the show that was mere hours away from opening night when Broadway shut down in March 2020. A smash hit in London’s West End, the show had already created buzz and excitement and was sure to win fans in the US. But then …Read more
Language plays a significant role in “Pass Over,” the play by Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu, whether through repetition, ambiguity or cultural references. It begins with the title referring to Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt. Most of the actio …Read more
“I don’t remember Christopher Lloyd,” said the woman sitting behind us in the outdoor theater. “Jim from the TV show Taxi,” we reminded her. “Oh, the crazy one.” For some, Lloyd might seem like a strange choice to portray the tragic leading character …Read more
It almost felt normal. Although we had to wear masks to enter the theater and show proof of vaccination to get our seats, we were actually in an Off-Broadway theater sitting next to other patrons. Suddenly the house went dark and Fruma-Sarah (Waiting …Read more
In the 1970’s, Harvey Milk, a gay charismatic politican, was assassinated for being openly homosexual. Using him as a pivotal character, Jerry James, Laura I. Kramer, Ellen M. Schwartz, and Cheryl Stern created a musical entitled “A Letter To Harvey …Read more
Full disclaimer: I am a John Cullum fan, so when I read that he was doing a one-man show tracing his long career, I looked forward to it. Filmed earlier this year and recorded with pianist Julie McBride, the 80 – minute show featured the 91 year old …Read more
In her landmark book On Death and Dying, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross details the five stages of grief. Approaching it on a personal level in The Year of Magical Thinking, writer Joan Didion shares her painful description of denial at the sudden death of he …Read more
