Headlines recently trumpeted that 2015 has been the world’s hottest summer on record, so it is a little uncanny to hear characters in Harold Chapin’s 1911-12 comedy, The New Morality (at the Mint Theater Company), also speaking about record-breaking …Read more

After a decade’s absence, Heather Villaescusa returns to the New York cabaret scene with “What I Did for Love” at Don’t Tell Mama. The show—no big surprise—focuses on matters of the heart. (Isn’t a cabaret performance that doesn’t deal with love-rela …Read more

For a dramatist to write credibly on the subject of the genocide in Rwanda is a staggering task. It might be possible to write a play that gives audiences a grasp rather than a glimpse of the enormity of the events that took place in that African cou …Read more

Publicity material for The God Gaffe (at the New York International Fringe Festival) notes that this John William Schiffbauer two-acter (directed by the playwright) was “inspired by Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s departure from The View.” Schiffbauer’s play …Read more

Karen Oberlin comes on stage for “His Aim Is True: The Singular Songs of Elvis Costello” at Stage 72 wearing what looks to be an elaborate choir robe, fit for an early-20th-Century celebrity evangelist. But there’s one difference: her outfit is not a …Read more

In a one-nighter at Jazz at Kitano recently, Marlene VerPlanck reminded audiences of why she’s so greatly respected as a musician. Her singing has a kind of matter-of-factness, and yet it seems to befit a special occasion. There’s an effervescent qua …Read more

Charles Busch’s current show at 54 Below is called “That Girl/That Boy”—a title that points to something essential about his longtime approach to drag performance. Unlike some drag guys, Busch has retained his male identity when it comes to billing. …Read more

Rashid and Leila, a young Egyptian-American couple, sit propped up in bed together. They smoke fake cigarettes while they analyze their own psyches and behavior. (It’s something one imagines them doing on a regular basis.) “I think we can be too clev …Read more

The title of Charlotte Patton’s Metropolitan Room show, “Celebrating Men (Bless Their Hearts),” captures the tone of the evening perfectly. Patton’s program takes a partly bemused but mostly amused look at the male animal. There are no songs about ho …Read more

Film composer Henry Mancini (1924-94) was able to adapt nimbly to whatever professional assignment was at hand. He could write music with a hip, cool sound—for instance, the themes from TV’s Peter Gunn (1958-61) and the big screen’s Pink Panther film …Read more