Standing Room Only

Rishi Varma, playwright of the new Off-Broadway show “Sulfur Bottom” has an important message to deliver to his viewers. Factories that promised to bring jobs and prosperity to communities are leaking dangerous chemicals into the ground. People are being poisoned, getting sick and dying. The environmental message is crucial; however, Varma’s debut play falls short. […]

Years ago the fictional TV journalist Murphy Brown (played by Candy Bergen) showed her contempt for pretentious modern art lovers by sneaking a picture drawn by her toddler onto the wall of a famous art gallery. Critics argued about its merits, prompting a collector to buy it sight unseen. Yasmina Reza tackles the subject in […]

My friend’s daughter had a 10 year old named Serena with long curly hair who wore frilly dresses like her older sister. One day she showed up at school with short hair and wearing overalls and announced his name was Jonah. For the most part, Jonah has been accepted and tolerated by all his old […]

Hispanics comprise about 20.0% of the total U.S. making up the largest ethnic minority in the US. Yet, in the new drama “The Other Americans” written by John Leguizamo playing at The Public Theater, they still feel they don’t belong. Leguizamo, known for his sharp funny insightful one-man shows, stars as Nelson, owner of several […]

Is it Gah-Doh or GOD-dot? That was my first question upon receiving the invitation to see the revival of Samuel Becket’s classic play, “Waiting for Godot.” Director Jamie Llloyd opted for the latter, emphasizing the spiritual interpretation of the enigmatic play. Two tramps, Estragon (Gogo) and Vladimir (Didi) wait each day for the elusive Godot […]

In his 1975 novel Ragtime, E.L. Doctorow offers a panorama of Americana. He uses real-life personalities, including magician Harry Houdini, radical militant Emma Goldman, starlet Evelyn Nesbit, Henry Ford and Booker T. Washington and interspersing them almost casually with fictional characters. Though they represent different aspects of society, they all share a common goal-the American […]

This Fall theater season presented two productions dealing with Archduke Ferdinand. At the end of Ragtime, he is assassinated, setting off the war to end all wars. More recently, I saw Archduke at the Roundabout Theatre Company, written by Rajiv Joseph, which leads up to that assassination. The beginning of the work, with hints of […]

With only two main characters and a beige couch, Little Bear Ridge Road, a new play by Samuel D. Hunter (The Whale and FX’s Emmy Award winning show Baskets) depends entirely on language, script and acting. Fortunately, the writing is so good and the acting so outstanding that the play works extremely well. The drama […]

Picture a small blonde tornado – bursting with energy and dressed in hot pink and high heels. That’s Kristen Chenoweth portraying the real-life Jackie Siegel in The Queen of Versailles. Chenoweth stars in a new musical based upon the award-winning documentary “The Queen of Versailles” by Lauren Greenfield and “The Life Stories of Jackie and […]

Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) He’s the son of the groom he has never met. She’s the sister of the much-younger bride. Together they are the main characters in Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York,) a charming new musical by Jim Barne & Kit Buchan. She is Robin (Christiani Pitts) […]