OFF-OFF-BROADWAY THEATER REVIEWS

This love story is lit. The play's title, which unfortunately sounds like a cheeky riff on a similarly named sexually charged book and movie franchise, bravely attempts to quantify an impossible sexual sum. With a running time of 70 minutes, this brisk burlesque-infused play tracks the progress and ...

In Oscar Wilde's THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, Gwendolen says, "In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity, is the vital thing." It seems that NY Classical's new production took this quip to heart as their stylizing replaces more nuanced characterization at times, at least in the gender...

'Some people go to therapy to work out their stuff,' Nicholas Linnehan informs at the start of his autobiographical play, Identity. Not him. Instead, 'I write plays to fix myself.' Before the first scene even starts, his character named Mike is laying bare his emotions for the audience to see. ...

Theater 2020, the only professional theater troupe in Downtown Brooklyn, once again proves itself as a force to be reckoned with with this lovely production of Into the Woods; theirs is a force that brings with it the power and influence a dramatic performance ought to have....

Directed/conceived by Heckler and written in collaboration with Jacob Sebastian Phillips, Sarah Raimondi and Pauline Sherrow, Recognize Theatre presents Exposed - now in performances at the MCS Theatre. It is the kind of show that raises eyebrows for some and brings others to ponder what it would be...

Adapted and directed by Chris Henry, Anne of Green Gables: Part 1 is now celebrating its World Premiere at the Royal Family Performing Arts Center, located in the heart of Times Square; it is nothing short of mesmerizing, a production that casts a spell upon its audience, beckoning them to watch thi...

This piece, written by Dan Ireland-Reeves and directed by Zach Carey, is a site-specific, immersive, intimate experience. It is a one man show performed in a purposefully claustrophobic space for a nightly audience of only ten people. The play, which run a little over an hour, is a monologue delive...

Directed by Richard Vida and choreographed by Lainie Sakakura, The Little Dancer is dazzling Upper West Side audiences with the poignant story it has to tell. This musical has every lovable quality a person can ever desire: from the children who comprise the Musical Theater Geek Chorus, to the grace...

No matter how old we become, our parents are still our parents: from high school to an engagement, to robbing our new apartment, our parents are pillars of love that we never wish to seen torn down. Now, if you're questioning why a couple's parents would collaborate to rob their children's first apa...

For the past five holiday seasons in a row, savvy New York playgoers have been filling the upstairs parlor of East 4th Street's Merchant's House Museum for a warm and intimate evening of Christmas cheer; Summoners Ensemble Theatre's delightful production of actor John Kevin Jones recreating Charles ...

Written by the team of Jessika McQueen, Shannon McInally and Alyssa Abraham, directed by Greg Pragel and celebrating its World Premiere in the heart of the East Village, 36 Juniper is an unexpected and quite riveting theatrical gem. It is over an hour of emotional and psychological suspense that bui...

Written by Yasmina Reza, directed by Jerry Heymann and now in performances at Urban Stages, Life x3 is New Light Theater Project's revival performance using the translations of Christopher Hampton. With a stellar cast that can navigate the paths of essentially three characters each with obvious ease...

Endless life and death scenarios, surging stress-levels, super-charged power dynamics and noble heroes in pristine white coats: we could fill waiting rooms with all the reasons why medicine is one of the most reliable modern storytelling backdrops. Take General Hospital, House, Grey's Anatomy, and m...

With a book by Dick Scanlan, score by Carmel Dean and lyrics taken from the works of Edna St. Vincent Millay, Renascence celebrates its World Premiere at the Abrons Arts Center; there, it is pushing the boundaries of theater towards something transcendent, not only witnessed but experienced in as cl...

There are many plays that evoke feelings and entertain and do everything that an admirable piece of theater is meant to; I cannot say, though, that these plays are as poignant or as tragically beautiful as Emma and Max: the show I was fortunate to see on its closing night. I can't remember the last ...

In this sci-fi folk musical, Rags and the band, The Future, bring music to life in a world where it has been criminalized and in a time when even applauding such things can be treasonous. ...

Adam Parrish's play Fusion is currently running at the Actors Theatre Workshop, bringing the story of one couple's struggle to stay together to the New York stage. While it has some effective elements, Fusion seems to make a caricature of relationships rather than delving deep to explore intimacy b...

When the word 'Fringe' comes into play, most experienced theatre-goers are prone to a moment of hesitation. The genre implies unconventional to the point of the ridiculous. James and Jamesy: In the Dark, winner of multiple Fringe awards, is not immune to these elements, however, it is stylishly don...

With book, music and lyrics written by Kit Goldstein Grant, directedchoreographed by Michael Chase Gosselin and based on the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, The Wrong Box now celebrates its World Premiere at Theater for the New City as part of its Dream Up Festival. Grant and Gos...

The Pond is currently playing host to the world premiere of The Naturalists by Irish playwright Jaki McCarrick who is making her own New York debut with the company. The production is largely successful in its goals, scarring the range of emotions as the audience gets a glimpse into the quiet yet tr...

Written and directed by Yukich and presented as part of the Dream Up Festival at Theater for the New City, Apes at Play is a short but ironically succinct piece that gets to the core of what it means to live within the possibility of the inexplicable....

A beautiful room decorated to the nines for Christmas, candles all aglow, with a Steinway concert grand at center stage is your first glimpse into the life of America's most prolific and famous songwriter....

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, and Buzz Aldrin followed behind him. On August 28, 2018, nearly 50 years later, Next Door at the New York Theatre Workshop brought Buzz's life from the shadows and into the (moon) light in 1969: The Second Man....

Directed by Dan Hasse and in association with the Access Theater, which has given rise to youthful, unique productions for the last twenty-six years, A Midsummer Night's Dream is the most fun you will have at any Shakespearean production for an endless number of reasons. Not only does this unbelieva...

The stage is quite empty, save for a makeshift throne in a corner and a couple of rows of ordinary looking chairs in the back, where actors not involved with scenes sit. The costumes are contemporary clothes, mostly black, with the occasional embellishment to suggest the 15th Century setting. When a...