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Thursday, April 29, 2021

'Fat Ham' Review: A Queer, Black 'Hamlet'? Ay, There's the Spice Rub. by Jesse Green

Set at a Southern barbecue, James Ijames's hilarious update on Shakespeare sees a recipe for liberation in the story of family disaster.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:32PM[SHARE]

Thursday, April 22, 2021

Review: 'Romeo and Juliet,' Cut in Half and Twice as Good by Jesse Green

Josh O'Connor and Jessie Buckley star as the star-crossed lovers in a compelling stage-film hybrid adaptation.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:36PM[SHARE]

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Review: A Perfect Storm of Weather and Racism in 'shadow/land' by Jesse Green

Erika Dickerson-Despenza's play about Black women struggling to survive Hurricane Katrina gets an ear-tingling podcast production.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:36PM[SHARE]

Sunday, April 4, 2021

Review: Live Theater Returns, With Mike Daisey and His Beefs by Jesse Green

The monologuist appeared onstage, indoors, in front of a real audience, on the first day possible. Maybe he shouldn't have rushed.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:32PM[SHARE]

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

What Makes 'Follies' a Classic? 7 Answers and 1 Big Problem. by Jesse Green

Fifty years ago, Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman exploded the Broadway "concept" musical by conjuring the bittersweet reunion of aging showgirls.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:42AM[SHARE]

Casting a 'Follies' of the Future, With Beyoncé and Ben Platt by Jesse Green and Scott Heller

In the 50 years since the musical's debut, revivals and concerts have served its great songs to great stars. Who'd be our Broadway babies 25 years from now?

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:42AM[SHARE]

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Review: Building a Better Girl in 'Honestly Sincere' by Jesse Green

Liza Birkenmeier's new play about a shape-shifting teenager makes a fitting contribution to Theater in Quarantine's revamp of the avant-garde.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:32PM[SHARE]

Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Should the American Theater Take French Lessons? by Jesse Green

Arts workers are protesting closings and occupying playhouses all over France. On Broadway, that drama has yet to open.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:18PM[SHARE]

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Review: Royalty as Horror Show in 'Duchess! Duchess! Duchess!' by Jesse Green

An uncanny new play imagines Meghan (and Kate, too) trapped in a nightmare palace where racism reigns.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:12PM[SHARE]

Thursday, March 4, 2021

Review: Your Arm Is a Canvas, in 'As Far as Isolation Goes' by Jesse Green

Because of pandemic restrictions, a performance piece about refugees requires you to draw on yourself, in both senses

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:32PM[SHARE]

Sunday, February 28, 2021

Making Black Lives, Not Just Black Deaths, Matter Onstage by Jesse Green

The tragedy of racism is only part of the story in two very different plays from London that carry a dimension of meaning not usually seen in this country.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:48PM[SHARE]

Friday, February 19, 2021

Attend the Tale of 'Anyone Can Whistle,' Then and Now by Jesse Green

A sparkling new recording of the 1964 musical makes half the case for Stephen Sondheim's endlessly inventive score.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:24AM[SHARE]

Sunday, February 14, 2021

Review: Beware the Text, and Other Tales From 'Smithtown' by Jesse Green

Four not-very-believable characters in a chain of monologues are rescued by a cast of exceptionally believable actors.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:03PM[SHARE]

Tuesday, February 9, 2021

Review: Fathers, but Not Yet Men, in the Prison Drama 'Shook' by Jesse Green

Samuel Bailey's knockout professional debut isn't so much about the pipeline to incarceration than about the toxic masculinity that keeps it flowing.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:54PM[SHARE]

Friday, February 5, 2021

Christopher Plummer's Robust Final Act Crowned a Noble Career by Jesse Green

At home in the footlights, he knew the power of charm and every trick of the stage trade. But even after a celebrated "King Lear," there was more to play.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:24PM[SHARE]

Wednesday, February 3, 2021

Bringing Out the Best of Sondheim, Herman and … Schraubstader? by Jesse Green

Three new revues offer war horses, showstoppers and standards " but, even better, rarities.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:33PM[SHARE]

Sunday, January 31, 2021

Review: Seeking a Date but Finding Hypocrisy in 'Hi, Are You Single?' by Jesse Green

All Ryan J. Haddad wants is a boyfriend. But his pride " or is it his prospects' prejudice? " keeps getting in the way.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:32PM[SHARE]

Thursday, January 28, 2021

Review: Playwriting and Bug-Hunting Wed in 'The Catastrophist' by Jesse Green

Pandemics and ordinary tragedies clash in Lauren Gunderson's overwrought portrait of her husband, the virologist Nathan A. Wolfe.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:24PM[SHARE]

Wednesday, January 27, 2021

Virtual Readings Take Center Stage as a New Genre of Theater by Jesse Green

With minimal rehearsal and production values, online events are becoming a distinct (and worthy) new genre of theater.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:36PM[SHARE]

In Virtual Readings, Less (a Lot Less) Is Sometimes More by Jesse Green

With minimal rehearsal and production values, online events are becoming a distinct (and worthy) new genre of theater.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:18AM[SHARE]

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

It's Time to Turn the Page on the Trump-Shakespeare Comparisons by Jesse Green

Pundits have likened the president to Lear, to Hamlet, to Macbeth, to Coriolanus. That may have been four years of wishful thinking.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:03PM[SHARE]

Friday, January 8, 2021

Conspicuous Consumption, Getting More Conspicuous Onstage by Jesse Green

Forget tragic lovers. At the Public Theater's Under the Radar Festival, fast cars and other luxuries fuel tragedies about the love of things.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:24PM[SHARE]

Sunday, January 3, 2021

'Ratatouille' Review: What's Small and Hairy With Big Dreams? by Jesse Green

What started as a TikTok meme and became a crowdsourced musical could have online lessons to offer for Broadway.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:18PM[SHARE]

Wednesday, December 30, 2020

In Four Audio Plays, No Stages but Lots of New Voices by Maya Phillips, Jesse Green and Laura Collins-Hughes

A big-box store, a hotel for transgender women and a dinner party gone awry are some of the places your ears will take you to.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:48PM[SHARE]

Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Advocating and Agitating, Connecting and Inventing by Michael Paulson, Jesse Green, Scott Heller, Laura Collins-Hughes and Elisabeth Vincentelli

With their field rocked by unprecedented challenges in 2020, these people and groups " some notable, some new " stepped into the breach.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 11:12AM[SHARE]

Friday, December 18, 2020

Bumps on the Road From Broadway to Hollywood by Jesse Green

Not for decades have so many plays and musicals been turned into movies. But even in the best of the new crop, a lot gets lost in translation.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:06AM[SHARE]

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Review: Mother Teresa Sings, in Drag and With Doubts by Jesse Green

In Heather Christian's "I Am Sending You the Sacred Face," the saint of Calcutta vogues and lip-syncs and broods on the nature of selflessness.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:42PM[SHARE]

Monday, December 14, 2020

Review: A World of Cardsharps and Zoom Dupes in 'The Future' by Jesse Green

In his latest magic show, Helder GuimarÃ£es shuffles an old genre into a new technology with mixed results.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:42PM[SHARE]

Wednesday, December 9, 2020

When a Theater Critic Learned to Grade on a Curve by Jesse Green

Nine months covering a devastated art form have changed one critic's habits, and tastes.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:18AM[SHARE]

Sunday, December 6, 2020

How 'Wolves' and 'Heroes' Are Saving Pandemic Theater by Jesse Green

Serious new plays are always in danger of disappearing " never more so than now. But inventive virtual productions, such as "The Wolves" and "Heroes of the Fourth Turning," offer hope.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:32PM[SHARE]

Thursday, December 3, 2020