At the “Mind Mangler: A Night of Tragic Illusion,” I hoped to be amused as well as amazed. After all, the show at New World Stages is a Mischief Production, the group that produced “The Play That Goes Wrong,” “Magic Goes Wrong,” and “Peter Pan Goes W …Read more

It ‘s hard to enjoy a musical when you can’t root for the main character. Although he is attractive and good to his mother, Harry Bogen (well-played by Santino Fonana,) is an opportunist, a heel and an embezzler. The protagonist in the CSC revival of …Read more

So much has been written about Shakespeare over the years that it’s a challenge to find a novel approach to discuss his work. Yet actor Patrick Page (“Hadestown,” “Spider-man Turn Off the Dark”) has done just that by examining the bard’s work through …Read more

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

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

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

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

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