Past reviews, recommendations, profiles, and posts about arts and culture in New York City.
Inspired by John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera from 1728 (also the source material for Brecht and Weill’s 1928 The Threepenny Opera), Little Mac, Little Mac, You’re the Very Man! is a musical comedy presented by Less Than Rent theater company at the Kraine Theater in the East Village. The satirical Little Mac, Little[…]
Act One is a stage adaptation of the memoir, Act One, by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Moss Hart (known for writing You Can’t Take It With You and The Man Who Came to Dinner). Tracing Hart’s rags-to-riches life story, from his Bronx beginnings to his legendary collaboration with George S. Kaufman, Act One is a[…]
IRT, formerly known as the Interborough Repertory Theater, established in 1986, describes its mission as supporting independent theater artists and building community through facilities, programs, and education. IRT programs include: The 3B Development Series, established in 2007, which provides development residences to artists (past residents include Young Jean Lee, Reggie Watts,[…]
The double bill at Brits Off Broadway of Clean and A Respectable Widow Takes to Vulgarity comes from the celebrated Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. Orla O’Loughlin, the artistic director at the Traverse, directs both plays. Clean, by Sabrina Mahfouz, follows three independent, average, criminals on a joint caper. The[…]
Official openings, first performances, closings, and other news this week beyond Broadway in New York City theater.[metaslider id=10076]
Denzel Washington returns to the New York stage for a revival of the 1959 drama A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, the cast also includes Sophie Okonedo (film: Hotel Rwanda), Anika Noni Rose (Stage: Caroline, or Change), Stephen McKinley Henderson (Stage: Fences), and David Cromer (best known as a[…]
New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) is the fancy theater on the Fourth Arts Block (the patch of East Fourth Street between Bowery Street and Second Avenue, which includes La MaMa and the Kraine Theater, theaters that we love but that are not fancy). NYTW is known as the birthplace of Jonathan[…]
Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill wrote the satirical The Threepenny Opera in 1928 as a socialist critique of corruption and capitalism. It’s set in a world filled with misery and destitution and centers on a charismatic thief nicknamed Mack the Knife (played by Michael Park). He marries Polly Peachum (Laura Osnes) but Polly’s[…]
After making its world premiere to positive reviews at the Yale Repertory Theater in 2012, Will Eno’s The Realistic Joneses, directed by Sam Gold, recently opened at New York City’s Lyceum Theater. Set in a small, countryside town, this dark comedy follows two suburban couples who share many things, including a[…]
If you failed to follow our advice back in November and have not purchased tickets to A Raisin in the Sun, you are out of luck. Tickets to this production starring Denzel Washington are in short supply. Instead of or in addition to A Raisin in the Sun, we recommend the beautiful production of Red[…]
In January we started the Maxamoo New York City Theater Podcast, a weekly discussion with super smart theater people about the shows we are seeing and what we’re looking forward to seeing. We also touch on the latest news in theater, comedy, cabaret, and other performing arts. In the process[…]
Potion: A Play in Three Cocktails is an amalgam of immersive theater, site-specific performance, multimedia presentation, and spoken word opera performed at People Lounge, a bar on the Lower East Side, by Stolen Chair theater company. During the performance, audience members receive three custom-made cocktails (titled: Curiosity, Pins and Needles, and[…]
The Brothers Booth is the second immersive theatrical adventure mounted in the Speakeasy Dollhouse series by Cynthia von Buhler. The first in the series, The Bloody Beginning, continues most Saturdays at a secret location on the Lower East Side. The historic Players Club, a members-only club for artists located on[…]
Official openings, first performances, closings, and other news this week beyond Broadway in New York City theater.[metaslider id=9900]
Wild by Crystal Skillman (Geek!) is a searing look at relationships in the contemporary world, where sex, love, family, marriage, and infidelity come in many shapes, sizes, and varieties. It refreshingly does not dwell on definitions, a gay man cheats on his boyfriend with a woman, and there’s little handwringing[…]
John Van Druten wrote London Wall in 1931. At the time, it had a successful run on London’s West End but never made it to the U.S. Now, thanks to the Mint Theater Company, a company dedicated to the production of forgotten plays, London Wall is having a long overdue[…]
Red Velvet is based on the true story of Ira Aldridge, a young, black, American, actor who stepped into the role of Othello at London’s Theatre Royal in 1833 after the lead actor collapsed. Red Velvet imagines the behind-the-scenes drama and significant resistance that attended Aldridge taking the stage. Lolita[…]
After a popular run at this year’s FRIGID New York Festival, STEVE: A Docu-Musical returns for a single performance at Joe’s Pub on April 19, 2014. STEVE: A Docu-Musical is a solo show performed by Colin Summers. It traces the real and strange relationship he developed with Steve, an eccentric[…]
Stage17 is a new online video channel targeting theater fans. It is now live at Stage17.tv. Using Broadway as its starting point, Stage17 features original web series and theater-related videos that touch on show business, Broadway celebrities, and behind the curtain stories. Stage17 was launched by Chairman David Stoller and President[…]
Maxamoo’s Hot List, a preview of what we’re looking forward to seeing beyond Broadway in New York City theater this April. Brits Off-Broadway is an annual festival of British theater in New York City presented by 59E59 Theaters. It has a reputation for bringing over strong work by emerging and veteran British artists.[…]