Off-Broadway Reviews

'Dreaming Zenzile' review — a simple yet stunning tribute to a singer's legacy

There's a line at the beginning of Dreaming Zenzile, the new musical about South African singer Miriam Makeba, that goes, "Your voice will continue the fight for freedom long after you're gone." Writer/performer Somi Kakoma proves this to be true. Her poetic retelling of the music pioneer's life is simple without being underwritten, hopeful without being kitschy, and celebratory of Makeba's music as well as her activism, leaving the audience inspired to continue her fight for justice and...

'Fat Ham' review — comedic 'Hamlet' adaptation serves revenge with a side of ribs

Count on a play winning a Pulitzer Prize days before beginning New York performances to ramp up not just anticipation but also, let's face it, expectations.So it goes for Fat Ham, a broad and rollicking riff on Hamlet at The Public Theater. Running 90 unbroken minutes, it is by turns hilarious, chaotic and weirdly lovely — like when a young man touches another and tells him: "You feel like a fabric that cost too much." In the end, the play isn't all that deep, but it bursts with so much heart...

'Exception to the Rule' review — an eye-opening stint in detention

With Exception to the Rule, provocative playwright Dave Harris takes audiences into the broken carceral system that exists within predominantly Black high schools across the nation. The only problem with this Roundabout Theatre Company production is that it gilds the lily by presenting the action as if it were a thriller, when the play is actually documentary theatre.The show opens with a group of rowdy kids reporting to detention. There is Mikayla (Amandla Jahava, a total spitfire) whose...

'Golden Shield' review — compelling yet busy play gets lost in translation

In Act II of Golden Shield, the ambitious new drama by Anchuli Felicia King, the narrator takes us through the English proverb "too many cooks in the kitchen." What that proverb means, says the narrator (played with energetic charm by Fang Du), is "misguided benevolence. Too many people trying to help at once." It's a popular adage, and it can also be used to describe King's play: compelling but overstuffed with ideas.Golden Shield is named after the firewall in China that enables the country to...

'The Vagrant Trilogy' review — a heartbreaking story of Palestinian displacement

During a heated exchange in Part 2 of Mona Mansour's The Vagrant Trilogy, the Palestinian scholar Adham, while living in London, says of his brother stuck in the Middle East, "He only knows how to be a refugee and wait." His ex-wife, who wants Adham to help him get his brother out of there, snaps back, "It's so easy to say when he's just an abstraction to you." From over here in New York, it's easy for us to see the plight of refugees as an abstraction, be they Palestinians, Ukrainians, or any...

‘Which Way to the Stage’ review: A valentine to New York musical theatre fans

Ana Nogueira's new comedy, Which Way to the Stage, is a valentine to New York musical theatre actors and those aspiring who are unable to quit the biz, despite its toxic demands. The play, which is playing at MCC Theater, follows Judy (Sas Goldberg) and Jeff (Max Jenkins), two extreme fans of Idina Menzel waiting at the If/Then stage door for her autograph.That premise expands into a look at what actors waiting for their big break do to stay afloat financially and artistically. The play provides...

'Wish You Were Here' review — a compassionate look at Iranian culture

In Sanaz Toosi's Wish You Were Here, five Iranian women grow together and apart from each over the course of 13 years. Their conflicts transcend the simple mundanites that comprise modern friendships. Though those issues (petty rivalries and jealousy) also appear, they play second fiddle to the compromises and personality changes that each woman is forced to undergo in the face of violent revolution.The year is 1978, and five women have joined to celebrate Salme's (Roxanna Hope Radja) wedding....

'Alison Leiby: Oh God, A Show About Abortion' review — the timeliest show on stage right now

Alison Leiby's comedy act Oh God, A Show About Abortion falls right in line with its stand-up predecessors at the Cherry Lane Theatre: It matches the political relevance of Alex Edelman's Just For Us and the discussion of the taboo that defines Jacqueline Novak's Get On Your Knees. All three mine fantastic comedy (and sharp insights) from unexpected subjects, but Leiby's now stands apart as perhaps the most timely political comedy special on stage right now. Had I seen Oh God the day I was...

'¡Americano!' review — a necessary story about a Dreamer with a dream

There's an essential human story being told at New World Stages. <a href="https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/%C2%A1americano" target="blank"¡Americano! — an ambitious new musical with a book by Michael Barard, Jonathan Rosenberg, and Fernanda Santos, and music and lyrics by Carrie Rodriguez — thrusts the emotional tale of a teenage "Dreamer" to the front lines of the Off-Broadway theatre. At its core, this musical, also directed by Barnard, strives to share one man's fight for his place in...

'A Case for the Existence of God' review — a case for a playwright at his peak

"I think we share a specific kind of sadness," Ryan tells Keith in A Case for the Existence of God. He's right. The source of that sorrow is revealed bit-by-bit in this deeply compassionate, quietly remarkable two-hander by Samuel D. Hunter. The setting, as usual, is Idaho, the author's home state. The 30something men are talking in a cubicle inside a small business in Twin Falls. Keith (Kyle Beltran) is a low-level mortgage broker. Ryan (Will Brill) seeks his help to secure a loan to buy a...