Were there magical moments on New York stages in 2020? The question is debatable – just like the definition of “theater” is being debated – since nobody has been performing on any actual stages on Broadway, or Off-Broadway, or (with rare exception) Off-Off Broadway, for the last nine months. It was clearer the first year […]

“Being Alive”and “Losing My Mind” – are there any better Sondheim songs to sing at the close of a year full of loss, unrequited yearning and obsession? That they are sung by performers who have moved me for years– Telly Leung and Natalie Douglas – makes me happy that Sondheim Unplugged is back. After shutting […]

What kind of weird holiday show is this?  That was my initial reaction – not my usual reaction to a show by Taylor Mac, which is more  often: Wow ( to Hir, and A 24 Decade History of Popular Music certainly, with more mixed feelings about The Fre, and Gary A Sequel to Titus Andronicus). More […]

Joel Grey sings “Give My Regards to Broadway” – in Yiddish. And he’s not alone among the 50 performers of the Folksbiene Chanukah Spectacular, a fast-moving, entertaining 80 minutes that is ostensibly a celebration of the Festival of Lights. It is available for free online through December 12th, which is the third day of Hanukkah […]

The credits at the end of this A Christmas Carol list a cast of 51 characters – 50 of them portrayed by Jefferson Mays. He’s the narrator, as well as Ebenezer Scrooge, Scrooge’s clerk Bob Cratchit, Mrs. Cratchit and all the Cratchit children, the ghost of Scrooge’s former business partner Jacob Marley…even Marley’s Door Knocker,  […]

About 15 minutes into the HBO film adaptation of “Between The World and Me,” Ta-Nehisi Coates best-selling 2015 book framed as a letter to his son about what it means to be Black in America,   Susan Kelechi Watson, who portrays Beth Pearson in “This Is Us,” walks across the campus of Howard University, describing […]

“Existentialism; that word puts us to sleep,” master clown Bill Irwin was saying on my computer screen, “even though true questions of existence…keep us awake at night.” The word “Existentialism” did not put me to sleep;  I was riveted whenever, in this 75-minute solo piece, Irwin offered his own words – his insights, his explanations […]

“I think what we do is evil but I still want to do a good job at it,” says Nikolai, one of the Russian trolls trying to sway the American Presidential election in Sarah Gancher’s funny and frightening new play. “Speak for yourself,” his colleague Steve bellows. “I think we’re saving the f—ing world.” The […]

Spike Lee filmed David Byrne’s American Utopia on the stage of Broadway’s Hudson Theater earlier this year; it is arriving on HBO on Saturday, October 17,  in a completely different era. Taking evident advantage of the publicity surrounding the HBO film,  the producers have just announced  the rescheduling of a four-month return engagement of the […]

“When is the last time you went to live theater like this”? I asked one of the seven other audience members waiting for Voyeur  to begin, an hour-long play that takes place in the streets and landmarks of Greenwich Village. He shouted angrily at me through his face mask. I couldn’t make out what he […]

Joshua Henry, who is the theater world’s most unlikely Annie, sang “Tomorrow” (“The sun will come out tomorrow…”) at Miscast, followed by Heather Headley singing “Endless Night” from the Lion King (“Know that the night must end And that the sun will rise…”) The hope for future sunshine seemed a fitting conclusion to MCC Theater’s […]