Review: Spicy Witch Productions presents “The Virtuous Fall of The Girls From Our Lady of Sorrows”
Gina Femia’s extraordinary new high school-set play “The Virtuous Fall of The Girls From Our Lady of Sorrows” utilizes a simple premise to dive headfirst into the complex, all-too disheartening vortex known as the patriarchy. Set in the not-so-distant past immediately following 9/11, the play follows an adolescent group of girls trying to stage an original adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Measure For Measure” at their all-girls Catholic school.
Review: “Carcass” at Shetler Studios
“Carcass” is a new play by Eddie Vernovsky that chronicles the story of Eric (Vernovsky), a depressed young man who is struggling to find his purpose in life. This is made all the more difficult by a girlfriend he doesn’t really like and a family that pushes every button and crosses every line. “Carcass” had the potential to be a great family/relationship drama about a broken man searching to be whole, but unfortunately, very few of the characters felt fleshed out enough to where I wanted to know what happened to them, and the spiritual journey of Eric felt very simplified.
Review: “Welcome to My World” at the Sheen Center For Thought and Culture
“Welcome to My World” is the newest original musical created by the Inclusive Actionplay Chorus, “a neuro-inclusive improvisational music and theatre residency for teens and adults on the autism spectrum and with related conditions” founded by Aaron Feinstein. Together this group of nineteen artists collaborating together to create a truly unique production that came straight from the heart.
Off-Broadway Review: “The Pink Unicorn”
The LGBTQ+ communities have undergone significant and healthy upheaval since Elise Forier Edie developed “The Pink Unicorn” in 2011 at The Blue Mountain Center in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State. Although the playwright has attempted to update the script, its present incarnation currently running at the Episcopal Actors’ Guild falls short of reflecting the rich complexities of gender identity and gender expression, choosing instead a barrage of stereotypes and sometimes offensive diction. This despite an impressive performance by Alice Ripley as a conservative Texas mom who daughter announces she is ‘gender queer.’
Review: “The Floor is Lava” at LaMama Experimental Theatre Club
As we get closer to the point where Millennials and Generation Z makes up a solid majority of the voting age population, there has been an increased desire not just for younger people to see perspectives like their own represented in the world of theatre and film, but also for content that helps Baby Boomers and Generation X better understand the unique struggles that today’s young adults – born in the 1980s and 1990s – continue to face in life. Judging by the way it’s been advertised, it’s clear that the main goal of The Floor is Lava is to become the latest creative effort to try and fill that role
Off-Broadway Review: “Original Sound” at Cherry Lane Studio Theatre
What a pleasant surprise to walk into the Studio space at Cherry Lane Theatre and see a fresh, new look developed for the exciting new production “Original Sound” by Adam Seidel. Scenic designer, Justin Townsend has transformed the space into a multi-purpose set used for several different locations but always having the lingering aura of a contemporary, professional recording studio. Lighting by Kate McGee supports specific locations and has created a multi-colored neon tube installation as a focal point that pulsates during scene changes adding to the highly charged production and sleek design.
Review: “Xanadu” Presented by MainStage Irving-Las Colinas
The eclectic musical comedy, “Xanadu,” rolled in under the sparkling disco lights on the MainStage Irving-Las Colinas stage and delivered a passionate, upbeat and entertaining performance. Based off the lackluster 1980 film of the same name, the comedic musical, “Xanadu,” spins the tale of a talented Venice Beach, California artist, “Sonny Malone,” who, in the midst of a creative slump, inadvertently garners the attention of the Nine Greek Muses of Olympus.
Off-Broadway Review: “Happy Talk”
Happy talk – the type of verbal communication, replete with counterfeit smiles, that too often serves as a replacement for authentic connection between individuals – cascades across the stage at the New Group’s world premiere of Jesse Eisenberg’s “Happy Talk” at the New Group at Pershing Square Signature Center’s Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre.
Review: Vanguard Theater Company presents “A Little Princess”
Vanguard Theater Company’s “A Little Princess” bursts with the earnest vivacity of a small child at Christmas—or make that rather, twenty small children shining on stage currently in this valiant tale of a girl whose spirit can’t be squashed. Based on the classic novel by Frances Hodson Burnett, this “A Little Princess” by composer Andrew Lippa and book and lyric writer Brian Crawley hops, skips, and jumps it’s way around the dark Victorian undercurrents of racism and classism, preferring instead to bask in the warm glow of youthful optimism and defiant “keep your chin up” songs.
Review: "Guys & Dolls" at The Wilton Playshop
This past Friday, I entered the fun, colorful, sinful world of Guys and Dolls at The Wilton Playshop in Wilton, Connecticut. It was a thoughtful and well-presented production of one of Broadway’s most classic musicals.
“Antigone” at the In Scena! Italian Theatre Festival NY
Telling the classic story of the doomed daughter of Oedipus, Debora Benincasa’s one-woman adaptation of “Antigone” is incredibly refreshing. Beginning with an acknowledgement that we are about to watch a play, this version of “Antigone” sets the tone of the piece right away. Benincasa brings great humor and thoughtfulness to a piece that is typically tragic and free of much laughter. She knows this too, even encouraging you to recall sad things like your spouse leaving you or your mother yelling at you in order to get you in the right frame of mind, because, as she says, it’s a tragedy, afterall.
Review: “Friendly’s Fire” at Theater at the 14th Street Y
“Friendly’s Fire” is a new play by John Patrick Bray, following Gulf War veteran, Guy Friendly (Matthew Weitz), as he struggles to maintain control of his mind and emotions as a drug attack from a recent lover brings out his, already prominent, PTSD. He creates visions and a whole cast of characters that help guide him to a deeper understanding of himself. Along for the ride is his friend Todd (Adeyinka Adebola), who, not seeing any of what Friendly is seeing, goes along in the hopes that, while they wait for help, he can understand his friend just a little better. What follows is a play incredibly moving in story and almost psychedelic in atmosphere.
Review: "The Brothers Size" at Soulpepper Theatre
A compelling drama, The Brothers Size, opened last Friday as a Canadian premiere at Soulpepper Theatre in Toronto. Written by academy award winning American playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney, it follows the lives of young black brothers in a small bayou town of Louisiana. Although the plot is relatively uncomplicated, the great depth of this play comes from the often searing relationships among the men, the embracing of the difficult themes of race, poverty, and misguided male identity, and a unique and astounding style born from the African religion and culture of Yoruba.
Review: "8000M" - Climbing a Mountain in a Midtown Black Box Theater
A show that catapults you into the extremities of climbing one of the highest summits on earth, 8000M is a testament to how good storytelling doesn’t require expensive bells and whistles.
Review: “Daddy’s Dyin’...Who’s Got the Will?” at Richardson Theatre Centre
Richardson Theatre Centre’s production of Del Shores’ play “Daddy’s Dyin’...Who’s Got the Will?” delivered an intimate, well-rounded and entertaining performance. The Dallas-FortWorth-area audience in attendance quickly connected with the cast’s portrayal of a 1980s-era family from the small town of Lowake, Texas. Here, siblings reunite for the first time in years to spend a few last days with their ailing father who recently suffered a debilitating stroke.
Review: "Tchaikovsky: Pro et Contra- A ballet by Boris Eifman"
So, how would I describe my first visit to the ballet? Gorgeous and vibrant pictures are created all the time as the music lends to the unfolding of the story. The costumes and sets are a wondrous sight to behold and I wanted to marvel for a few minutes longer looking at them, but I had to focus on the story and the choreography.
Review: “The Buffalo Play” at The Tank
Taking place entirely in a jail cell near Yellowstone National Park, “The Buffalo Play” tells the story of a Woman (Ciara Griffin) as she is visited by the vision of a buffalo (Kendra Potter), after having just taken a baby buffalo and put it in her car because she thought it looked cold. This eventually leads to the baby being rejected by the heard and having to be euthanized. The Woman and the Buffalo discuss life and nature and the morality of human interference. Combing realistic and abstract elements, this new play by Ciara Griffin and Kendra Potter, explores human’s relationship with wildlife and our internal connections to the nature around us.
Review: “Evil Clowns Have Feelings Too” at the Producer’s Club
Clowns!
Some people find them entertaining, or at the very least amusing. Others might find them creepy, perhaps to the point where they appear in their nightmares. For a select few, it may be a combination of all of the above. In IRTE’s latest show – which, as the title suggests, is all about evil clowns – that combination is exactly what is shown to theatergoers…although thankfully, it leans far more toward the silly and whimsical side of these characters.
Review: ‘Welcome to My Underworld’ at the Tankhouse Theatre
The Tankhouse Theatre in the Young Centre for the Performing Arts, the Distillery District, is home to Rare Theatre Company’s ‘Welcome to My Underworld’, a collection of voices of individuals of varying abilities wanting our attention to several modern-day social justice issues, each of them relevant and pertinent. These are performers and writers who travel to the underworld to discover and find their true voices.
Off-Broadway Review: “BLKS”
Poet-playwright Aziza Barnes puts many ingredients into their script blender to whip up a “comedic look” at the lives of Octavia (Paige Gilbert), Imani (Alfie Fuller), and June (Antoinette Crowe-Legacy, three twenty something black women living in New York City – a city where black lives seem not to matter and where, for that reason, it has become difficult for the trio to navigate the bumpy road to finding intimacy and purpose.