Theatre in Review: Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library (Luna Stage/59E59)
For her new play, Jenny Lyn Bader has found a fascinating historical episode and I'm not sure she makes the most of it. The Mrs. Stern of the title would be Hannah Arendt, the philosopher, journalist, and thinker who gave us with ...
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Theatre in Review: In the Amazon Warehouse Parking Lot (Playwrights Horizons)
The playwright Sarah Mantell wants us to contemplate life after climate disaster -- something we should all be thinking about -- but, in the case of In the Amazon Warehouse Parking Lot, their imagination is ...
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Theatre in Review: Left on Tenth (James Earl Jones Theatre)
Left on Tenth, billed as a romantic comedy, only fulfills half that description; indeed, its greatest achievement may be to unite the audience in its hatred of Verizon's call-in service. Not just Verizon but any corporate ...
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Theatre in Review: Bad Kreyol (Signature Theatre)
It's hard to think of a playwright with a broader canvas than Dominique Morisseau. Whether exploring the history of Detroit in a three-play cycle, examining the struggles of unionized workers in Skeleton Crew, probing the ...
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Theatre in Review: Another Shot (Pershing Square Signature Center)
Another Shot, a comic drama about life in rehab, doesn't become engaging until it stops trying to entertain. Harry, the protagonist, hosts a Chicago sports radio program, using his gift of gab to convert his drinking problem ...
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Theatre in Review: Hothouse (Malaprop/Irish Arts Center)
Climb aboard the Crystal Prophecy, a luxury liner carrying its overprivileged clientele to the Arctic -- the former Arctic, really -- "to see where the ice isn't." (We are told it is sixty degrees Fahrenheit at the top of the world; you ...
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Theatre in Review: Guac (Public Theater)
The title of this piece -- which runs only through this week so, for God's sake, hurry -- is also the nickname of Manuel Oliver's son Joaquin, who, on Valentine's Day 2018, was shot four times with an AR-15 rifle while attending ...
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Theatre in Review: Ashes & Ink (AMT Theatre)
You will look a long time before you find a more put-upon heroine than Molly, the central character of Ashes & Ink. A widow, she is trying to complete the sale of the family sound-effects business. (In a clear case of fumbled ...
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Theatre in Review: Sunset Blvd. (St. James Theatre)
When Billy Wilder attended the opening night of Sunset Boulevard, the musical, in 1993, he was quoted as calling it "a very lush, very well-done production." He added, "The best thing they did was leave the script alone." Oh, ...
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Theatre in Review: Romeo + Juliet (Circle in the Square)
This Romeo + Juliet doesn't come alive until the bodies start dropping. It happens near the end of the first half, with the murder of Mercutio, a moment that finally injects some electricity into Sam Gold's wayward ...
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Theatre in Review: Drag: The Musical (New World Stages)
Drag: The Musical is the theatrical equivalent of Drag Queen Story Hour; underneath its sequined, bewigged, heavily made-up surface, it's all about love, hugs, and community. It is, you should pardon the term, a fairy tale ...
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Theatre in Review: Our Town (Ethel Barrymore Theatre)
Even in an uncertain production, Our Town's power remains undimmed; this is good news because Kenny Leon's Broadway revival of the Thornton Wilder evergreen can't quite make up its mind about several key matters ...
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Theatre in Review: The Big Gay Jamboree (Orpheum Theatre)
Stacey, the heroine of the new attraction at the Orpheum, wakes up one morning hung over and trapped in an Off-Broadway musical from which there is no escape. (I guess we've all been there.) Still, one has every right to feel skeptical ...
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Theatre in Review: Franklinland (Ensemble Studio Theatre)
Musical theatre fans know from 1776 that Benjamin Franklin was estranged from his son William, a British loyalist and Royal Governor of New Jersey. Hardcore musical theatre fans know from Ben Franklin in Paris that Ben (as ...
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Theatre in Review: The Counter (Roundabout Theatre Company/Laura Pels Theatre)
You can't say The Counter isn't efficient; like a crack short-order cook, it wastes no time in serving up its thoroughly unbelievable premise. It features Paul, a retired fireman and, inevitably, the first customer each ...
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Theatre in Review: Hold on to Me Darling (Lucille Lortel Theatre)
Kenneth Lonergan has long proved his mastery of contemporary tragicomedy, but he has never given us anything as purely hilarious as the unraveling of Strings McCrane. A massive country star and an action film draw -- think Morgan ...
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Theatre in Review: Sump'n Like Wings (Mint Theater Company/Theatre Row)
"Yer better let me outa here! I'll kick yer ole door down!" So says Willie Baker, the heroine of Sump'n Like Wings, who, as the play begins, is being held prisoner by her mother. (Actually, it's an act of gaslighting; the ...
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Theatre in Review: Deep History (Public Theater/Susan Stein Shiva Theater)
Deep History begins as a lecture and threatens to become a nervous breakdown. David Finnigan, a self-described "artist who works with researchers" and "a consultant with the World Bank on climate and disaster risk" is ...
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Theatre in Review: People of the Book (Urban Stages)
Plenty is going on in People of the Book -- sex, politics, racism, literary chicanery, and a full dossier of scandalous secrets -- but it rarely seems to matter, for two reasons. First, the plot is wildly overstuffed, its ...
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Theatre in Review: The Roommate (Booth Theatre)
I've never seen this before: The Roommate begins with a curtain call. Mia Farrow and Patti LuPone, the entire cast of Jen Silverman's prairie comedy, enter, their names projected on Bob Crowley's airy ...
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