Let’s face it, on entering the New York Theatre Workshop to see Dennis O’Hare’s adaptation of Homer’s Iliad, I was unprepared.  All I remembered of my long ago quick read of a summary of the original was that it was an epic poem about the Trojan War. I had trouble remembering whether it was Athena who stabbed her brother, whether  Hector was husband to Andromache or Hecuba, and  whatever happened toParis, who kidnapped Helen, thus starting the catastrophic war that lasted ten years.   [Read more...]

Edward Albee has a lot of explaining to do. In the lobby of the newly opened Pershing Square Signature Center way out west on 42nd Street, there is a wall devoted to photos and quotes from the life of this prize winning playwright.  They indicate his state of mind as his play The Lady From Dubuque returns to New York for the first time since its very short run in 1980.  Here are some samples.   [Read more...]

Jonathan Bank, the Producing Artistic Director of the tiny Mint Theatre in New York, has been offering us little remembered gems from the past for many seasons now. And he serves a dual purpose in doing so.  Not only does he mount these once popular hits with impeccable taste and style, he also gives us a vivid glimpse into just what theatre audiences of a bygone age were paying attention to at the time of their original productions. [Read more...]

Even the lower standards set for success in today’s musical theatre are hardly met by the currently reconceived revival of the musical Carrie.  It’s always a pleasure to welcome back to the New York stage the golden throated Marin Mazzie, and in the character of “Margaret White”, the demon mother from hell, she has found herself a challenge and a half. [Read more...]

I caught a matinee of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying this week, and as I watched young Nick Jonas prancing about as J. Pierrepont Finch in the current Broadway revival of  the Frank Loesser-Abe Burrows master work, I suddenly had a revelation about the recent and current  Broadway scene. [Read more...]

Margaret Edson is that rare bird, a playwright whose first play, Wit, earned a Pulitzer Prize for Drama.  That alone makes her unique, but she becomes more so when we realize that she has never had another play produced and is “committed to teaching, now”, but unlike the heroine of her play, who as teacher specializes in the Holy Sonnets of John Donne,  she confines her work to exposing  kindergarten children to the joys of  reading and the written word.

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The battle has begun.

I’ve been reading followup columns from the critics of the New York Times and other prominent commentators admitting that some of their nitpicking reviews of the current revival of Porgy and Bess are not consistent with the reaction they have been receiving from their readers.  [Read more...]

Athol Fugard, South African playwright, had been writing plays for 20 years when The Road to Mecca was first mounted in 1988. Clearly a personal diatribe against the platitudes inherent in so much of organized religion, he should have known by the time he wrote this play that a debate between two opponents a play does not make. [Read more...]

I don’t usually take you along with me when I go trouping off/off Broadway, but I’m making an exception because last evening I stumbled on a special treat and as it will run through January 7th, you might just catch it if you plan to be in New York during this next week. [Read more...]

David Hyde Pierce clearly likes to keep working, for which we are grateful. Ever since his long run as Frasier’s brother Niles on the sitcom “Frasier,”  he has returned to his stage roots by appearing seasonally, showing us the range of his talents. For though the basic Pierce shines through in each of his characterizations, there is just enough bonus material to make a new visit with him fun and very worth while. [Read more...]