The latest musical by Jason Robert Brown about working and fact-checking is set at a famous New York magazine in the late 1990’s before the term “fake news” became so popular. Those of us who have worked in newspapers and magazines will feel an immed …Read more
There’s a scene in a dark version of Cinderella where the stepsisters, anxious to make the glass slipper fit, cut off their own toes. They will do anything they can to cram their feet in – whether the shoe fits or not. That’s a problem with many juke …Read more
Who is Jonah? Is he the awkward, bumbling sweet young man infatuated with Ana (Gabby Beans) or is he symbolic of something more? During the first part of the Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of “Jonah,” I was charmed by him (newcomer Hagan Oli …Read more
It’s the 1950’s, and the Cuban revolution is heating up outside, but the music inside the Buena Vista Social Club is even hotter. While the social club is defunct, the Cuban music remains. The performance of Buena Vista Social Club at the Linda Gross …Read more
Should you talk to your plants? Science shows that the sound of a human voice helps them grow. It’s also therapeutic for the gardener. In “The Gardens of Anuncia” at Lincoln Center Theater, the gardener is the Older Anuncia (award-winning performer P …Read more
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