“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 […]
The Boys in the Band Netflix review: “vivid and scorching”
Mart Crowley’s 1968 Off Broadway play The Boys in the Band was provocative and trailblazing in its knives-out portrayal of a group of gay friends celebrating a birthday in the West Village that is crashed by the straight college roommate of one of the gang. A play about a group of gay men doesn’t seem […]
In game show American Dreams, hopeful immigrants vie for one golden ticket to American citizenship
Working Theater’s production of American Dreams, hosted in our area by Round House Theatre, is a zany, interactive “game show” sponsored by a fictitious arm of the American government (combining pharmaceuticals, transportation and immigration), where the grand prize is the ultimate golden ticket – citizenship in the “greatest nation on earth!” That’s right folks, three […]
Solas Nua gives us a play we can show but not say
Above a certain age, there is a community of smart phone, computer and digital technology users who can remember the first time they used an emoji or a gif. And, it stands to reason in this era of a decreasing digital divide that there are people who may not know how to use gifs or […]
Review: Telephonic Literary Union’s Human Resources. One help line you’ll be happy you called
Usually, the phone tree process for any corporate call-in help line is either migraine-inducing or so frustrating you find yourself spewing rancid obscenities at the robotic prompts until your throat gets raw. With the Telephonic Literary Union’s Human Resources, getting lost in a phone tree is a new-found pleasure. The first offering of Woolly Mammoth’s […]
Opera Review: Miranda: A Steam Punk VR Experience, LUMA’s bold experiment
Steam Punk as a style launches viewers into a futuristic universe while it casts a glance backwards nostalgically to a simpler, more elegant world. Miranda: A Steam Punk VR Experience creates the alternative-futuristic setting through animation and virtual reality technology to deliver a short opera by Kamala Sankaram, and it’s one of the freshest, most […]
DC citizens speak through Arena Stage’s new film The 51st State
Statehood for the District of Columbia has always been a fraught enterprise. It wasn’t until 1961 that Washington residents could vote for President; and before 1973, Congress appointed DC government’s overseers. The District now has its own Mayor and Council, a non-voting representative in Congress and a “Shadow Senator”, and the right to send electors […]
Review: Stories I May Not Tell from Best Medicine Rep
John Morogiello yearns, lives and breathes theater. Stories I May Not Tell is a sneak peek in the mind of a playwright so stuffed with story ideas that characters and scenes cascade out of him in waves of exuberant expressions. Talking to the audience presentation style, Morogiello provides one of the most effective enactments of […]
Review: The Humans, streamed. Olney cast excels in closeup of Stephen Karam’s American family
Public health officials are recommending Zoom Thanksgiving festivities this year, but you can celebrate early with a boisterous and bittersweet sit-down with the Blake family, the proud and careworn family in Stephen Karam’s play The Humans. The Humans was in rehearsal at Olney Theatre Company when the Coronavirus upended the theater industry, among many others. […]
Actors and politicians in STC’s Will on the Hill. Can The Bard guide us in these tempestuous times?
If you are inclined to self-righteousness – and, really, who isn’t? – you might be prepared to look down your nose at the various Senators, House Members and other political high rollers who gathered together to produce 2020’s Will on the Hill – or Won’t They? After all, what are they doing pretending to be […]
Miscast Review. A Dozen Broadway Stars Sing Inappropriately
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 […]
The Best Theater in Six Months of No Theater
I went to the theater in New York for the last time the day after they shut down Broadway on March 12th, six months ago today. My theatergoing on Friday the 13th Off-Off Broadway (which was shut down a few days later) turned out to be a harrowing experience, – one that was so absurdly […]