“It’s crazy”, says Michael Urie as Arnold, that “after all these years I’m still trying to justify my life.” Arnold means his life as a gay man, and though he is talking specifically to his mother (Mercedes Ruehl), the comment lands with force in Torch Song, the Off-Broadway revival of the 1982 Broadway play that […]
Archives for October 19, 2017
Creating the intimate Antony and Cleopatra at Folger Theatre
Prior to my review of the Folger’s production of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, I spoke with director Robert Richmond and set designer Tony Cisek about the dramatic transformation of the theatre space, and with Cleopatra herself, Shirine Babb, about what this intimate relationship with the audience means for her performance.
Emilie—La Marquise du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight (review)
Emilie is like a perfectly icy glass of champagne laced with bitters. Avant Bard’s scintillating production of Lauren Gunderson’s play about Enlightenment-era scientific genius and mistress of Voltaire (usually, the order is reversed so her affiliation with a famous man comes first) La Marquise du Chatelet—the Emilie of the title—sparkles with wit, intelligence and passion […]
Mariinsky Ballet’s La Bayadère: stunning and thrilling (review)
Love is tragic and sumptuous in the Mariinsky Ballet’s La Bayadère. At the Kennedy Center this week, under director Valery Gergiev and acting ballet director Yuri Fateev, the production – its sets (by Mikhail Shishliannikov) vast, its costumes (by Yevgeny Ponomarev) sensual and splendid – has a remarkable grandeur. The very size of the company […]