Shlemiel the First Based on the story by Isaac Bashevis Singer Conceived & adapted by Robert Brustein Music by Hankus Netsky & Zalman Mlotek Lyrics by Arnold Weinstein Directed by Nick Olcott & Michael Russotto Produced by Theater J Reviewed by Gary McMillan Shlemiel the First is a triple threat: a “ho hum” score, a […]
Speed the Plow
Speed-the-Plow By David Mamet Directed by Jerry Whiddon Produced by Theater J Reviewed by Janice Cane Theater J is kicking off its 2007-08 season with a play about movies. And I’m glad it is. David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow is as funny today as I’m sure it was 20 years ago when it premiered on Broadway, even […]
Accident
Accident Written and performed by Amy Ziff Produced by Theater J at Studio Theatre 2ndStage Reviewed by Ronnie Ruff. Ok…. sorry to say but DC Favorite Amy Ziff is dead. The poor gal slipped in the tub and had a run in with a very sharp straight razor. Smoothly shaved legs have never cost so […]
Pangs of the Messiah
By Motti Lerner Directed by Sinai Peter Produced by Theater J Reviewed by Ronnie Ruff The view from the bright, sun-washed living room in this middle eastern village is unlike any you see on CNN every night. No smoke from exploded car bombs and the carnage that ensues, no images of children with tears rolling […]
Picasso’s Closet at Theater J
The lives of artists, truly great artists, are fascinating to us all. Apparently, so are the lives they never led. Ariel Dorfman’s new play, Picasso’s Closet, examines the 1944 murder of Picasso in Nazi-occupied Paris—despite the fact that Picasso died in Mougins, France, on April 8th, 1973. Dorfman offers a startling and brilliant portrait of […]
Bal Masque at Theater J
There was a time, in the nineteen sixties, where it seemed we had come to the end of the world. The muscular optimism of the Kennedy years had closed, literally, with a bang. Hemmingway, who represented all that was swagger in the literary arts, had come to a similar end a few years earlier. Justice […]