American musical theater has frequently had a political bent, from the satirical Gershwins-scored Of Thee I Sing (1931) through to Off-Broadway’s current revue Me the People, which skewers the Trump presidency. But few if any of the major creators in …Read more

If you leave Tiny Beautiful Things, which opened last night at The Public’s Newman Theater, without having wept along with the rest of the audience for at least a few moments, you make up the small minority. In a time when large-scale horrors seem to …Read more

Blood Boundary, a play set in 1920s Oklahoma right before the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot, depicts a family with Cherokee roots but different skin tones, and what that means to themselves and each other, and their safety, as they move around an ever-unsafe …Read more

Sex is up front and in your face in Danish choreographer Mette Ingvartsen’s orgiastic experimental dance performance 7 Pleasures at NYU Skirball. More of an experience than a passive performance, 7 Pleasures creates a visceral momentum that involves …Read more

“What’s it gonna be then, eh?” Well well well, one scenario could be a Hi-NRG music video featuring the dancing droogs. Another, the once seen never forgotten Pacino movie Cruising. Such associations spring to mind while watching Liverpudlian directo …Read more

In this day and age, writing a musical in rhyming iambic pentameter is a little gutsy. To pull it off, you’re going to need a good playwright and a darn good cast. Happily, The York Theatre Company has both of those, and as a result, their Shakespear …Read more

Wicked Clone or how to deal with the evil, the cinema musical at St. Luke’s Theatre penned and performed by the Indiggo Twins, has a lot going for it. For one thing, the twins themselves (Mihaela and Gabriela Modorcea) are natural performers and a pl …Read more

I shouldn’t be surprised that an offering at New York Theatre Workshop would be an exceptional piece of theater, but Amy Herzog’s Mary Jane directed by Anne Kauffman, transcends even the highest of my expectations. Before I begin, I should admit that …Read more

Laura Osnes has much in common with Cinderella. Setting aside the fact that she actually played her in the recent 2013 revival, to Tony-nominated effect, her journey to the Great White Way says it all: in 2007, then-21-year-old Osnes was plucked out …Read more

It’s tempting to want to distance yourself from the main character of Max Posner’s new play, The Treasurer. Referred to only as the Son, he’s a hardworking geologist, a loving husband, and a supportive father who has assembled the trappings of a norm …Read more