Standing Room Only

June 30, 2019 Stagebuddy Playwright -actress Kate Hamill did such a creative job with her campy adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice” using men to play women’s roles that I eagerly anticipated her version of “Little Women.” Unfortunately, she goes beyond author Louisa May Alcott’s characterizations and, in some cases, distorts them. She has taken some […]

Theater review: The Island Now – June 27, 2019   One of the highlights of the summer is the free Shakespeare in the Park presented by the Public Theater. This season has been especially rainy, and, in fact, it rained for days leading up to my scheduled performance. It even poured that morning, the first […]

The Island Now – June 24, 2019   Sue Monk Kidd’s coming-of-age novel, “The Secret Life of Bees,” set in the turbulent ‘60s in South Carolina was a New York Times bestseller. It was then made into a popular movie starring Dakota Fanning and Queen Latifah, and now has become an off-Broadway show. The two-act […]

June 14, 2019 My friend recently posted on Facebook, “I love/hate being addicted to my phone.” Dave Malloy’s beautiful new musical “Octet,” at The Pershing Square Signature Center might provide a solution to her problem. In the exciting show, the composer, writer, performer, and orchestrator musically examines a current issue that affects us all- technology. […]

The Island Now – June 19, 2019 One would expect a play with a title like “Life Sucks” to be either very depressing or very clever and satirical. Somehow The Wheelhouse Theater Company’s production of “Life Sucks” by Aaron Posner manages to be both. Loosely adapted from “Uncle Vanya” by Anton Chekhov, the play features […]

The Island Now June 10, 2019 For Frankie (Audra McDonald) and Johnny (Michael Shannon), a first date was inevitable. For weeks they had worked together in a restaurant, she as a waitress, he as a short-order cook, and watched one another. Finally, Johnny took Frankie out to a movie, dinner and back to her apartment. […]

June 12, 2019 Stagebuddy Photo: Carol Rosegg “I hate politicians!” Miriam emphatically announces as she struggles to negotiate government bureaucracy. All around me in Theatre Row’s Clurman Theatre, audience members quietly nodded their heads in agreement. So, why would anyone want to be a politician? In “Public Servant,” the new play by Bekah Brunstetter, County […]

The Island Now May 10, 2019 By Elyse Trevers Imagine there are alternative universes. That’s what the terrific actress Laurie Metcalfe suggests in “Hillary and Clinton,” a new 90-minute play by Lucas Hnath (“Doll’s House, Part 2”).  Metcalfe reunites with Hnath having won the Tony for her portrayal as Nora. Here she plays a politician […]

May 8, 2019 Stagebuddy Classic plays have universal themes and meaningful dialogue. Often the challenge for modern directors is how to mount the plays creatively and who to cast in iconic roles. William Shakespeare’s “King Lear” and Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons” both deal with parent-child relationships. Although the stories still ring true, the plays’ […]

May 8, 2019 Stagebuddy Before there were the gory massacres and rapes of GOT, there was “Titus Andronicus,” one of Shakespeare’s first tragedies. A revenge play, it was one of his most violent works ,and in it, all the central characters were killed, some in very unusual and creative ways. Inspired by the play and […]