Off-Off-Broadway Theater Reviews
BWW Review: The Seeing Place Addresses LGBTQIA+ Issues Through Shakespeare's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
by Michael Dale - September 01, 2020
Back in pre-COVID New York, barely a midsummer weekend would go by without a theatre company somewhere presenting an outdoor production of Shakespeare's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM in whatever garden, meadow or parking lot would offer a permit. When you add the countless indoor productions, the Bard's...
BWW Review: Eden Theater Company's THE ROOM PLAYS Zooms In On Teleconferenced Relationships
by Michael Dale - June 15, 2020
'I guess I knew that you could miss the things you love; I didn't know you could miss the things you hate,' ponders a New York apartment-dweller who sees little reason to get out of bed as she lives in isolation in this era of COVID-19....
BWW Review: Candle House Collective's Remote Immersive Experiences Bring Participatory Theatre To Your Phone
by Michael Dale - April 15, 2020
For over two years, the Chicago-based Candle House Collective has been creating non-tradition, immersive theatre for both site-specific locations and virtual enjoyment. But with the current health crisis putting live theatre on hold, their virtual plays can be especially inviting for audience member...
BWW Review: An uncannily timed original show featuring a very bored accountant is MONOTONY: THE MUSICAL available on Podcast
by Joe Lombardi - March 25, 2020
Avid theatergoers who are sequestered at home may find themselves bored. Along comes an uncannily well-timed new show that bears the name Monotony: The Musical. Unlike some of the other theatrical streaming events popping up every day, this one will be released as a podcast on April 15th....
BWW Review: Comically Raging Politicians Take the Stage in 13th Street Rep's THE JERRY DUNCAN SHOW
by Kristen Morale - March 10, 2020
Are you a fan of politics and the constant tension of these dueling sides - tension that is comparable to that of the Coronavirus? Are you tired of keeping a straight face while watching said politicians duke it out? Do you happen to revel in seeing these people brought to shame by an instigative ra...
BWW Review: COLOR STRUCK at Theater for The New City
by Derek McCracken - March 02, 2020
With his wide grin, open arms and humble humor, actor-activist-comedian Donald E. Lacy, Jr. takes the stage and builds a rapport with the audience almost immediately. At its core, Color Struck is an 80-minute genre-transcending show that effectively blends comedy, drama, improvisation, dancing, tone...
BWW Review: Brooklyn's Theater2020 Celebrates The Best Of The Boro And Stage With SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM
by Kristen Morale - February 25, 2020
Theater 2020, Brooklyn Heights' only professional and award-winning theater company, presents the first NYC revival of the Sondheim/ Lapine musical Sondheim on Sondheim, a revue that brings many of this musical genius' works together to create quite a show in itself. With a magnificent cast and crew...
BWW Review: The Seeing Place Brings Engaging Humanity to George Orwell's ANIMAL FARM
by Michael Dale - February 22, 2020
'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....
BWW Review: Mean Girls and Societal Injustices Torment a Young Woman's BIRTHDAY IN THE BRONX at The Tank
by Joe Lombardi - February 21, 2020
Raquel has a rough life. In Birthday in the Bronx, her character name is Rocky. She's a bruiser of a field hockey player having collected broken bones and bloody scars. Two noxious sportscasters comment about the atrocious playing conditions. 'I understand funding is tight' but the field is all ...
BWW Review: Trouble Never Looked So Cute in Rockefeller's PADDINGTON GETS IN A JAM
by Kristen Morale - February 10, 2020
Created and directed by Jonathan Rockefeller, written by Doug Smiotek and presented by Rockefeller Productions, Paddington Gets into a Jam began its twelve-week run at the DR2 Theatre on December 13th. For over sixty years, Michael's Bond's loveable bear has been delighting audience both in print an...
BWW Review: A PEREGRINE FALLS at The Wild Project
by Derek McCracken - February 09, 2020
A Peregrine Falls at The Wild Project doesn't need to travel at breakneck speed to make an impact. Clocking in at two hours/two acts/four scenes, it moseys between three locales over three years: a Texas hospital, a hospital court, and a car dealership. Along the way, it makes an unexpected avian/au...
BWW Review: THE SHADOW BOX Hurts So Good at Gene Frankel Theater
by Derek McCracken - February 03, 2020
Who knew that demise could border on delightful? Although any one of the mortality-mindful tales portrayed in The Shadow Box would serve as a viable brink from which one could face death, three stories converge to create a powerful and entertaining metanarrative nexus where life meets loss, love cha...
BWW Review: A Wildly Conceived Climate Change Comedy REALLY REALLY GORGEOUS at The Tank
by Joe Lombardi - February 02, 2020
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BWW Review: Thomas Walters' Debut of the Dead At 13th Street Repertory Theater
by Kristen Morale - January 21, 2020
So you've found your family a nice plot in the middle of a cemetery, right where dear Grandpa Isaac was recently laid to rest. With nerve-wracking moments brought to you by the family TV set, a son who has little discretion when it comes to public acts of sexual affection and townsfolk who stop by a...
BWW Review: Demons Come to Collect in the Very Funny SOUL SURVIVOR from Hiraeth Theatre Company
by Joe Lombardi - January 19, 2020
Lisa (Anna Stefanic) opens the door to her home and switches on the light. A naked man is sprawled out on the floor with food. He 'bellows a pained roar.' She shrieks, fumbles her groceries and quickly douses the offending brightness. When she turns the light back on, a paper shopping bag has be...
BWW Review: Masculine Stereotypes Skewered with Humor in CEZARY GOES TO WAR at La Mama
by Joe Lombardi - January 17, 2020
Cezary Tomaszewski has created a 'musically-driven queer fantasia' exposing the dangers of masculinity, nationalism and the culture of war. La Mama is presenting the U.S. premiere of Cezary Goes to War in conjunction with the Polish Cultural Institute and Komuna//Warszawa, an independent avant-gard...
BWW Review: A Cleverly Shaded Exploration of Life's Paths in OR, AN ASTRONAUT PLAY at The Tank
by Joe Lombardi - January 07, 2020
Or is a conjunction used to link alternatives. Life is a conundrum which offers no definitive paths or guarantees of fulfillment. That is the territory explored in Johnny G. Lloyd's cleverly shaded Or, An Astronaut Play. An individual can choose to be a teacher or a doctor. A policeman or a poli...
BWW Review: Gun Violence Abounds in the Experimental Digital Puppetry Show FEAR IN THE WESTERN WORLD at Target Margin Theater
by Joe Lombardi - January 05, 2020
Gun violence is the focus in the wildly experimental digital puppetry show, Fear in the Western World. A couple and their daughter are looking for a new home. They find one in Nesthaven, a gated community. There are lots of problems outside. A community website posts about the dangers. At one p...
BWW Review: Reading of Molière in the Park's SCHOOL FOR WIVES Was a Perfect Night of Theatre
by Emily Stubbs - January 04, 2020
Free theatre for all. That's one of the main accomplishes of Molière in the Park's latest reading of 'The School For Wives.'...
BWW Review: THE MIKADO Brings a Hundred-Year-Old Operetta to Life at The Kaye Playhouse At Hunter College
by Rebecca Kaplan - December 30, 2019
Die-hard musical theater enthusiasts and fans of opera will love the Mikado, one of Gilbert and Sullivan's strongest scores. With quick-witted and clever lyrics that satirize society, you can easily see the influence G&S's works like The Mikado had on the works of American musical theater composers ...
BWW Review: Righting Expectations in Nuance Theatre Co.'s DANNY AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA
by Kristen Morale - December 23, 2019
Directed by John DeSotelle, Nuance Theatre Co. brings John Patrick Shanley's DANNY AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA to the Nubox - an intimate blackbox theater in the heart of Hell's Kitchen where (in my experience) theatrical magic always happens. Presented as an Equity stage production, DeSotelle brings two ...
BWW Review: Traditional Marionettes Update the Scrooge Story in A CHRISTMAS CAROL, OY! HANUKKAH, MERRY KWANZAA, HAPPY RAMADAN at Theater For The New City
by Joe Lombardi - December 21, 2019
If you've seen Drunk History on television you will understand the vibe of this show. Imagine you have an elderly uncle who is of Czech descent. He has a marvelous collection of marionettes. After a few shots of Becherovka he invites the family down into the basement for an impromptu retelling (a...
BWW Review: A CITY OF REFUGE Offers Communion Amidst Crisis at The Center At West Park
by Derek McCracken - December 20, 2019
Inspired by true events, A City of Refuge from Primitive Grace Theatre Ensemble brings the audience squarely to church, a haven-as-melting-pot that reaches its boiling point and beyond. As a motley crew of community members collectively tries to absorb the shockwaves of what's happening outside (the...
BWW Review: John Kevin Jones' Captivating Performance of A CHRISTMAS CAROL Returns To Merchant's House Museum
by Michael Dale - December 16, 2019
Since its first publication in 1843, Charles Dickens' holiday classic, A CHRISTMAS CAROL, has been adapted countless times for various stages, screens and pages, but undoubtedly the most authentic presentations of the story of the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge and the ghosts who assist in his transformat...
BWW Review: David Bowie Catalog Interpreted In The Musically Gorgeous WHERE ARE WE NOW at La MaMa
by Joe Lombardi - December 15, 2019
Fans of David Bowie's music - and especially his lyrics - should immediately stop reading this review and book tickets to see the very limited run of Where Are We Now. Then come back and continuing reading! With a $26 top ticket price, this is one of the greatest cabaret values in New York City. ...
