Off-Broadway Reviews

Review of Shakespeare in the Park production of Coriolanus at Delacorte Theater

What kind of mothering raises the best servant to the people? Is it conditional or unconditional? This year's Public Theater presentation of Shakespeare in the Park delivers an examination of mothering for political success in Coriolanus at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, directed by Daniel Sullivan.Caius Martius (Jonathan Cake) is a mama's boy to mother Voluminia (Kate Burton). Sullivan has him so tied to the apron strings that Cake rarely touches his own wife, Virgilia (Nneka Okafor),...

Review of #DateMe: An OkCupid Experiment at Westside Theatre

You simply can't go wrong choosing #DateMe: An OkCupid Experiment for an entertaining night out at the theater. It's laugh-out-loud funny, it is absolutely like nothing you've ever seen before, and if you don't walk out of the theater gobsmacked by some of the statistics you've heard, well, I don't know how, but you managed to fall asleep while everyone else was laughing.Wait, what? Statistics you say? Why yes, statistics. #DateMe: An OkCupid Experiment was created by Robyn Lynne Norris after...

Review of Little Gem, starring Marsha Mason, at Irish Repertory Theatre

In Little Gem at the Irish Repertory Theatre, three generations of the Neville family - grandmother, mother and daughter - stand on the the cusp of change. In a series of monologues delivered directly to the audience, each shares her unique perspective. They are three sides of one coin, who spin one tale of shared grief and hope.We meet the youngest Neville first. Amber (Lauren O'Leary) bursts with nervous energy and a line of fast talk that at times leaves one breathless. O'Leary endows Amber...

Review of Mojada at the Public Theater

Once again, Luis Alfaro's genius is showcased in his ability to turn ancient Greek tragedy into compelling and timely modern theater with his latest offering at The Public Theater, Mojada. In this case, Euripides' Medea is the jumping off point for Alfaro as he morphs the Greek sorceress into a young Mexican wife and mother who crosses the border illegally with her husband, son and nurse. Mojada is a stunning glimpse into the circumstances of existence for those who choose the hell that is both...

Review of Audible's the way she spoke, starring Kate del Castillo, at Minetta Lane Theatre

It is is snowing in Juárez? It never snows in Juárez. Something is terribly wrong.Women are disappearing from the streets of Juárez. Some have never been found. Others have been discovered in ditches and behind dumpsters. The fallout from drug trafficking and gang battles has been a descent into lawlessness that has left the women of Mexico uniquely vulnerable to an extraordinary level of violence. Women's bodies are literally the battlefield across which gang wars are raging. In Audible's the...

Review of Lincoln Center Theater's The Rolling Stone at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater

It is a summer Sunday afternoon, I am having brunch with my B-FAM - Brother From Another Mother - at a sidewalk café where the eggs are divine, the coffee is clearing my vision to the day's brilliance and I am thinking, Why did I sign up to review such a heavy show today? First world problems, right? But wait! One can feel such euphoria when the theatre gods come together making a perfect storm of writing, character development and direction. The Rolling Stone, written by Chris Urch and directed...

Review of Rock of Ages at New World Stages

The ferocity of hard rock is eroded by a stream of easy laughs in Rock of Ages, a hot mess of a musical that is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its Broadway run with a 16-week Off-Broadway engagement, shrunk to fit the carpeted confines of New World Stages. Tasked with creating a story that could withstand an abundance of 1980's music, by which I mean snippets of nearly every rock anthem and power ballad one can think of from that era, writer Chris D'Arienzo throws as much plot as he can at...

Review of Lincoln Center Theater's LCT3 production of In the Green

Being a kid in medieval Germany was no day at the beach, especially if you were Hildegard von Bingen. The youngest among 10 siblings, her parents sacrificed her to the Catholic Church when she was eight, and she spent the next 30 years locked away in a dark cell. She would emerge, circa 1136, to become a devout nun as well as a gifted writer, composer, and botanist who also performed exorcisms and had Godly visions. Nearly 900 years later she was declared a saint. Perhaps sensing that Hildegard...

Review of the Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park production of Much Ado About Nothing

This production of Much Ado About Nothing at the Public Theater's Free Shakespeare in the Park works. It sings. It flies. Director Kenny Leon and his fine cast have imbued the production at the Delacorte Theater with a certain style, grace and spirit. Conventions are dropped by the wayside beginning with the casting. The choice of Danielle Brooks, who is, as she puts it, "a plus-sized woman" in the part of the very brave and very sort Beatrice works very well. Pairing her up with the chameleon...

Review of Fiddler on the Roof (in Yiddish) at Stage 42

Full disclosure - I saw Zero Mostel in Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway in 1965. My sister and I sat audience left very close to the front and I think the tickets were $9.95. I wasn't crazy for Mostel who was doing schtick that made the audience howl but had nothing to do with the story. It bugged me. Even at 15 I was one smart shiksa.Speaking of which, have you ever noticed how many words we have looted from the Yiddish? America is not the home of the King's English - we speak Mongrel. Someone...