Off-Broadway Reviews

Spring Awakening

Music by: Duncan Sheik Book and lyrics by: Steven Sater Based on play by: Frank Wedekind Directed by: Michael Mayer Choreography by: Bill T. Jones Cast: Jonathan Groff (Melchior Gabor), Lea Michele (Wendla Bergman), John Gallagher, Jr. (Mortiz), Skylar Astin (Georg), Lilli Cooper (Martha), Gideon Glick (Ernst), Brian Johnson (Otto), Lauren Pritchard (Ilse), Phoebe Strole (Anna), Jonathan B. Wright (Hanschen), and Remy Zaken (Thea), Stephen Spinella (Male Adult characters) and Christine Estabrook...

The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical

Review by Holli Harms April 4, 2017Words From A Nine Year Old:This story begins with the legendary Rick Riordan story of Percy Jackson book #1. It starts in NYC, in the Metropolitan museum with Mr. Brunner, Mrs. Dodds, the Yancey academy kids, and our hero, Percy (plus his right hand man, Grover). If you've ever read the first book "The Lightning Thief," you probably would know what godly thing is about to happen. And guess what, with costume, theater technique, and maybe a touch from the gods...

Avenue Q

The New York Theatre Guide last reviewed the New York production of Avenue Q seven years ago, so we thought it was high time we re-visited Princeton, Kate Monster and co. at New World Stages to see if that fur-covered musical magic is still alive and well. I'm happy to report that Avenue Q is still right up my (Sesame) street!In 2003, this musical comedy from the creative genius of Jeff Whitty, Jeff Marx and the now EGOT-winner Robert Lopez defied all conventions and broke the mold of modern...

Colder Than Here

Written by: Laura Wade Directed by: Abigail Morris Cast: Judith Light, Brian Murray, Sarah Paulson, Lily Rabe. Synopsis: Faced with the news of her impending demise, Myra is trying for once to be the model home-maker, wife, and mother, turning her household topsy-turvy as she sets her sights on a few domestic tasks to complete before she leaves...like arranging every last detail of her own funeral and relentlessly trying to force her fractured family to communicate with each other. Myra, her...

The Woodsman

Review by Daniel Dunlow 14 February 2016Brave, courageous, and full of heart. There's no play like The Woodsman. There's no play like The Woodsman. There's no play like The Woodsman.Now that the The Wizard of Oz puns are out of the way, opening up at New World Stages is incredibly innovative new play The Woodsman which tells the story of the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz in his transition from man who chops down trees to becoming the rusted, metal creature in the woods that we all know from the...

Vanities

A review by Tulis McCallOh, they try, these women. They do try. They sing. They dance. They change clothes onstage. They try so hard they make you tired, and you aren't doing much of anything except sitting through this long, dull toothache of an evening.This is the story of three best friends from Texas, whose accents may come and go, but their friendship remains solid. More or less. Mary (Lauren Kennedy ) is a rebel, Joanne (Sarah Stiles) wants to grow up so she can be a wife and have...

THE BOOK OF GRACE

Review by Tulis McCall 18 Mar 2010Well, folks, there is trouble in River City and her name is Grace. Well, she is not the trouble really, but she surely has a way of attracting it to her.Set in nowhere Southwest, near the Fence that is supposed to be keeping aliens out of the country, Grace lives with her husband, known only as Vet. Grace looks for the good while Vet looks for the borders. Borders define what is yours and what is mine. For Vet, pretty much everything falls into the "what is...