OFF-BROADWAY THEATER REVIEWS

59E59 Theaters is now presenting 'Mr. Toole,' a production that will appeal to literature and drama lovers alike. The Off-Broadway premiere of this play is superbly written by Vivian Neuwirth, finely directed by Cat Parker, and features an outstanding cast....

It seems every four years, as political primaries come upon us, Americans start thinking more about those far off people in drastically different communities we share this country with. If New Yorkers have had many thoughts about the coal industry recently, they probably had to do with President Tru...

Family secrets, political history, moral dilemmas in the face of genocide and loud, kick-ass rock tunes mix terrifically in Lauren Yee's gripping and (for this reviewer) informative new drama Cambodian Rock Band, an often horrifying, but ultimately exhilarating reminder that if there's one thing tot...

'I'm tired of Negro dreams. All they ever do is break your heart,' contemplates an unemployed nightclub singer after an audition that turned out to be for a mistress rather than for an entertainer in Pearl Cleage's ravishingly written post-Harlem Renaissance portrait, Blues for an Alabama Sky....

'Revitalized' is the new euphemism for 'about 80% rewritten', or at least it appears that way in regards to the new musical that carries the name The Unsinkable Molly Brown....

It's been said that movies are made in the editing room. To some extent, the same might be said of Lucas Hnath's unconventional, and very personal docudrama, Dana H....

'The text has been 'scored',' states the script for British playwright Alice Birch's Susan Smith Blackburn Prize-winning Anatomy of a Suicide, a fascinating, tragic piece about a neurological legacy shared by three generations of women, now receiving a fine American premiere at the Atlantic's Linda ...

Count this reviewer among those who, contrary to conventional musical theatre wisdom, never thought there was anything horribly wrong with Michael Stewart's original book for MACK & MABEL, the big, splashy 1974 musical about silent movie director Mack Sennett and the star he discovered, Mabel Norman...

'Welcome to our meeting,' greet the actors to those entering the intimate Paradise Factory for The Seeing Place Theater's very engaging production of Brandon Walker's adaptation of George Orwell's allegorical classic, ANIMAL FARM....

The New York City premiere of 'The Sabbath Girl,' is now delighting audiences at 59E59 Theaters. This modern romantic comedy is written by Cary Gitter, directed by Joe Brancato, and features a marvelous cast of five....

In this version, Count Dracula is not an obvious outlier with fangs and pale skin, but a charming fellow you'd never suspect is spreading the acceptance of patriarchal attitudes and gender roles through his seductive bites....

The first thing that happens in director Timothy Douglas' Classic Stage Company mounting of Tristan Bernays' adaptation of Mary Shelley's beloved gothic novel, Frankenstein, is that actor/musician Rob Morrison, playing a one-member chorus, comes out on stage and tunes the three string instruments h...

Back in the days before multiple workshops and lengthy regional runs, the geniuses of musical theatre often had to work miracles during of-of-town previews to quickly revise and rewrite surefire flops like HELLO, DOLLY! and A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM into Broadway hits....

59E59 Theaters continues their successful theatre season with The Commons, written by Lily Akerman and directed by Emma Miller. If you've ever lived with housemates, you'll appreciate each and every minute of this insightful, humorous, and wonderfully performed modern play. It is sure to appeal to a...

'You know, I hate your plays,' the great Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov once recalled the exalted Leo Tolstoy telling him during a friendly visit. 'Shakespeare was a bad writer, and I consider your plays even worse than his.'...

The internationally-known standup who first brought his Jewish-focus material Off-Broadway in 2018 with STRICTLY UNORTHODOX arrives at the SoHo Playhouse with a show inspired by his friendship and professional collaboration with Muslim standup Imran Yusuf. Having spent a great deal of time traveling...

Sometimes the most truthful answer to the standard job interview question, 'Why do you want to work here?', is 'I'm behind on my rent, I have no health care and I'm desperate for money because I don't make enough at my other job.'...

If the open hardcover copy of Thomas A. Harris, M.D.'s 1967 self-help bible 'I'm OK - You're OK' casually placed upon an ottoman makes you chuckle a bit as you settle down for The New Group's latest endeavor, you're of a proper mindset to enjoy Duncan Sheik (music/lyrics), Amanda Green (lyrics) and ...

a?oeWe'll make an Olivier of you yet,a?? an actor-for-hire says to his nervous client. a?oeI have no wish to be an Olivier,a?? the fellow retorts. a?oeNo, but for the sake of our audience, let us at least try.a??...

With a book and lyrics by Mark Saltzman and presented by Amas Musical Theatre (Donna Trinkoff, and in association with Eric Krebs), Romeo & Bernadette makes its Off-Broadway debut under the direction of Justin Ross Cohen. Turning traditional Italian melodies into songs that are the perfect mix of he...

Nowadays there appears to be an increasing awareness in the theatre about presenting women characters through the aesthetic of male playwrights and directors, much of it involving the movie term 'male gaze' which was coined by Laura Mulvey in the 70s to describe the disproportionately sexualized man...

'Magic Speed Dating' is the way the wryly entertaining master of deception Todd Robbins describes the up close and personal showcase he hosts at The McKittrick Hotel, Speakeasy Magick....

'Fame was like a tongue sandwich to my mother,' is one way Barra Grant puts it in her autobiographical (almost) solo play, MISS AMERICA'S UGLY DAUGHTER: BESS MYERSON AND ME....

It's been only three months since the brilliant lyricist/director Gerard Alessandrini opened the latest edition of his Tony-honored satirical creation Forbidden Broadway at The Triad, but after a brief hiatus, the company has moved their antics east for a stint at The York....

Obviously, it would be foolish to expect anything resembling high art from a musical comedy titled Emojiland, which not only attaches bodies to those expressive emotion-summarizing faces from social media and texting but brings them to singing-and-dancing life. But even shows that aspire to little m...