Past reviews, recommendations, profiles, and posts about arts and culture in New York City.
Set in a smartphone factory where suicides and unions are forbidden, the dystopian play Ex Machina follows Mason, a despondent veteran worker, and his new roommate, the idealist newcomer, Loomis. The two men must learn to get along, while Mason’s anarchist ex-girlfriend encourages them to finally rebel against the system. Ex Machina[…]
The premise behind The Spider is a bold one: Martin and Martha are conjoined twins and it’s the night before their scheduled separation surgery. Martha is dreaming of her independence, while Martin is consumed by fear of the expected change and the possible risks. This Bulgarian production from Theatre B+ (performed[…]
Like Poetry tells the story of Stagger, a young man struggling with his homosexuality. His eccentric therapist gives him a prescription: read a Walt Whitman poem every night before bed. Soon, childhood memories, delusions about bugs, and the spirit of Walt Whitman flood Stagger as he is trying to come to terms[…]
An adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s influential novel Slaughterhouse-Five, about a timid World War 2 veteran who is abducted by aliens and travels through time. This satirical and philosophical story is retold with the help of several multimedia devices: video projections, visual art, and audio recordings. The quick transitions between the micro-scenes[…]
A Maxamoo recommendation Set in shack near Soweto, South Africa, this searing production examines two lives cut down in their prime by disease and poverty. It also questions the well-intentioned but failing attempts by government to address modern social concerns. While these are lofty issues, the performances are personal, intimate,[…]
Adam & Steve and the Empty Sea revisits the struggle between the gay community and religious conservatives, in this case Mormons. Far from offering a political or theological lesson, this play looks at what happens when two friends with opposing views actually sit down and talk. The outcome is a lot of[…]
History and music meet in TRUTH, An American Opera about Sojourner Truth, a riveting and touching opera rendition of the life and work of Sojourner Truth, an escaped slave who became a prominent abolitionist and feminist. Opera lovers, history lovers, or lovers of both would be pleased. The progression of[…]
Ghetto Babylon is a classic coming-of-age story: Charlie, a smart Latino kid in the South Bronx in 1982 puts his relationship with his two best friends in jeopardy by hiding a secret. The play alternates between a Baseball field, where the trio hopes to win the Bronx-wide championship, and Charlie’s rooftop, where he stacks his[…]
FringeNYC 2013 starts today, August 9th. This year the Festival boasts more than 200 companies, 20 venues, and 1200 performances. If you’re having a hard deciding what to see, we gathered all of the preview articles in one spot. BackstageTop 10 shows to see at the NY Fringe Festival Martin[…]
The bizarre love triangle between Tom Cruise, Katy Holmes and the Church of Scientology may have come to an end, but that’s no reason to stop making fun of it. The TomKat Project is composed of seven actors playing 54 celebrities in total, in a comedy based on real interviews as well[…]
Earlier this year there was a raft of comic book-y plays in New York City. Several were excellent. When done well we very much enjoy this genre. Manic Pixie Dream Girl at this year’s Fringe is similarly styled and we have high hopes for it. The play is a dark[…]
Jody and Michael (both the actual people and their characters in the play The Skype Show, or See You in August) are a musical duo called Greencard Wedding. Their music is “indie-folk-beatbox-rock” but, really, whose isn’t these days? In December 2012, Michael’s visa expired and he was forced to return[…]
We’re nearing the point that when Nat Cassidy is in something or writes something or produces something, we just show up without needing any further information. His show at the NYC Fringe sounds especially intriguing: a heartbreaking, time-jumping drama about four lives, bound by obsession, rocked by madness, saved by[…]
From Debbie Andrews and Mike Blaxill of the indie-rock-pop-folk quartet Gladshot, comes Barcode, a rock musical about a dystopian future, in which a single giant corporation dominates the earth. The Huffington Post called an earlier workshop of the show “bubbly” and “fun” and compared it to Green Day’s American Idiot, a vote of confidence by[…]
The one-person show is a staple of any Fringe Festival. Of the 40 solo shows at this year’s NYC Fringe, we found the description of Naked in Alaska to be the most compelling. Performed by Valerie Hager, it is the autobiographical story of her 10-year career as an exotic dancer, which followed[…]
Of the many dark comedies debuting at this year’s Fringe Festival, The Dead Hooker Play stands out to us for the simple reason that the playwright’s bio reports he spent ten years as a bouncer and celebrity bodyguard. He must’ve sees some crazy sh!t that found its way into this[…]
Writing a play about abortion takes guts, a comedy about abortion is even more daring. The A-is-for-Abortion Play is a Vagina Monologues-esque production, in which 5 actresses play 15 different characters and tell personal stories about their abortions in a series of funny, touching, and candid monologues. An all-women cast, bold subject matter,[…]
We don’t fancy ourselves musical anthropologists at Maxamoo but it strikes us as odd that the intersection of musical theater and country western music is largely unexplored territory. One would think a dying medium would be eager to attach itself to the most popular genre of music in the U.S. Cowboys[…]
KINEMATIK is a multimedia dance production composed of two pieces by the Kinematik Dance Theater. Maxamoo caught a brief preview performance and we were impressed. We added it to this list as a result. The performance includes pounding music, light projections, and mannequin parts, all incorporated into mesmerizing dance routines. For a sense[…]
SummerStage Theater is back! This series is part of the City Parks Foundation effort to make art more diverse and accessible throughout New York City’s five boroughs. All productions are free and aim to present a unique voice. This season’s theatrical events are two musicals: King Kong and Diablo Love. King Kong is a 1970’s[…]