Past reviews, recommendations, profiles, and posts about arts and culture in New York City.
The Public Theater presents the New York premiere of A Second Chance, a musical written by Ted Shen (book, lyrics, and music). It is Shen’s musical debut after a 30-year business career. A Second Chance is directed by Jonathan Butterell, and stars real-life husband and wife Brian and Diane Sutherland. Based on the story of how[…]
Official openings, first performances, closings, and other news this week beyond Broadway in New York City theater.[metaslider id=9733]
Hellman v. McCarthy is a world premiere play at Abingdon Theatre Company by Brian Richard Mori. It is based on real events. In 1980, literary critic Mary McCarthy appeared on The Dick Cavett Show. In a pivotal moment she criticized notable writer Lillian Hellman, saying “every word she writes is a[…]
If you know the movies you like, but can’t find your way in the vast world of New York theater, may we suggest: If you like the imaginative and surreal world of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland in any of its film adaptations, Then She Fell by Third Rail Projects is the next step[…]
Fly by Night is a new musical written by Kim Rosenstock, Will Connolly, and Michael Mitnick. It begins performances at Playwrights Horizons in May. It premiered at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, CA in 2011, where the San Francisco Chronicle called it a “breathtakingly good new musical.” Fly By Night takes place during the[…]
Signature Theatre announced eight new productions for its 2014-2015 season, including two plays by A.R. Gurney and two plays by Naomi Wallace, as well as plays by Charles Mee, Sam Shepard, Athol Fugard, and Katori Hall. Wallace and Gurney’s plays will be produced as part of the theater’s Residency One program,[…]
Many time award-winning playwright Samuel D. Hunter (The Whale, A Bright New Boise) reunites with his frequent collaborator Davis McCallum (The Whale, A Bright New Boise) on The Few this Spring at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. McCallum also directed the San Diego world premiere of The Few last year. The play’s central character, Bryan (Michael Laurence,[…]
Acclaimed Lebanese artists Rabih Mroué and Lina Saneh created 33 RPM and a Few Seconds as an experimental theatrical piece about the moments immediately following death. It comes to New York for three performances only, on April 29-30. It is presented by the Asia Society, Performance Space 122, and PEN World Voices[…]
The Civilians (Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Show), one of our favorite New York City-based theater companies, will present The Great Immensity, a New York premiere at The Public Theater in April as part of the Public Lab, meaning it is a work-in-progress and the tickets are only $20. The Civilians[…]
59E59 Theaters announced a new series of five plays to be present at Theater A, the largest venue at the theater complex. The series is thusly titled the 5A Season. As part of the new season, 59E59 announced a new membership plan, the 5A Season Bundle, which includes tickets to all[…]
Hounds of War by Bill Holland is the inaugural production by Wee Man Productions, a New York City based theater company. In the play, Jim, a military veteran and recovering alcoholic, relocates with his wife and two sons from New York City to the country. The new setting, however, is not enough to quell[…]
Fast Company by Carla Ching is a comedic play about a group of con artists and a heist gone awry. Rather than rely on their usual “bag of tricks” they employ game theory to engage in a psychological battle of wits with the ever-shifting target of their con. Maxamoo Fast[…]
News of official openings, first performances, closings, and other news this week beyond Broadway in New York City theater.[metaslider id=9520]
Playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (whose play Appropriate, which we loved, recently ended an extended run at Signature Theater) has another play opening in New York City this Spring. An Octoroon is a world premiere opening at the Soho Rep in May. It’s a contemporary adaption of The Octoroon, a play from 1859 by Irish playwright Dion Boucicault. The[…]
The politics of America’s past are litigated in two separate and very different plays running in New York City right now. Branden Jenkins-Jacobs’ Appropriate at the Signature Theatre is a raucous, bold drama in which family secrets, entangled with historical tragedies, slowly ooze from the crumbling walls of the family’s estate on a[…]
Concrete Temple Theater presents the world premiere of Alone in Triptych, a dark drama composed of three intertwining monologues with the shared themes of abuse, isolation, and violence. “Monologues” may not be the most apt description: the three characters don’t talk directly to the audience or to themselves, but rather[…]
Labyrinth Theater Company is hosting a new festival of staged readings of Pulitzer Prize winning plays, Pulitzer Fest 2014. Academy Award winning actress Ellen Burstyn and Obie Award winning actor Eric Bogosian as well as members of Labyrinth will participate in the reading series. The line-up includes (descriptions provided by[…]
Playwright Marcus Gardley is having a moment, four plays by Gardley will celebrate world premieres in early 2014 at four different prestigious institutions, including the Berkeley Rep and Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago. The final of the four plays to premiere is The Box: A Black Comedy presented by The[…]
Manhattan Theatre Works and the Theater Series at the 14th Street Y present the world premiere of Dark Water, an a cappella musical written by David Stallings and directed by Heather Cohn. It’s an allegory inspired by the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 and tells the perilous journey of[…]
Clubbed Thumb, a theater group dedicated to “funny, strange, and provocative new plays by living American writers,” announced the lineup for the 19th season of Summerworks — an annual festival of new plays. Each play will run for nine performances between May 30, 2014 and July 5, 2014. The productions[…]