Off-Broadway Reviews

'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...

'Cyrano de Bergerac' review — James McAvoy leads a classic for the masses

Cyrano de Bergerac is having a pop culture moment lately. It's been 400 years since the real Cyrano lived and more than 100 since Edmond Rostand made his life into an 1897 play, but the skilled writer who, believing himself ugly and therefore unlovable, uses his talents to help another man woo his love was just the subject of a musical film starring Peter Dinklage. Now, British director Jamie Lloyd's fresh take on Cyrano de Bergerac is making its American premiere at the BAM Harvey Theater,...

'To My Girls' review — a comedy about friendship that needs more heart

During one scene transition of the new Off-Broadway comedy To My Girls, there is a mashup of Britney Spears's "Toxic" and Sixpence None the Richer's "Kiss Me." It's a combination that's tonally so opposite you wouldn't think it works, but it, to put it frankly, slaps. Unfortunately, the rest of the play does not live up to the imaginative promise of that remix. To My Girls, currently running at Second Stage's Off-Broadway space, uses a tried-and-true dramatic formula: longtime friends reuniting...

'Harmony' review — comedy and sorrow in near-perfect harmony

A bio-musical about a historic male singing group whose members were cobbled together from humble backgrounds, showing in retrospect how they achieved a meteoric rise to fame amid the forces — internal disputes, personal troubles, sociopolitical forces — that threatened to tear it all down. I could be describing Ain't Too Proud, Jersey Boys, or now, Harmony. Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman's musical about the Comedian Harmonists, a German choral group whose fame collided headfirst with the...

'Suffs' review — a historical and history-making musical

There's one moment in Suffs that will make you want to get up and raise your fist. It's early on in Act One, during a 1913 protest where over 5,000 women, wearing white, marched on Washington to demand the right to vote. In real life, suffragist and lawyer Inez Milholland led the procession astride a white horse, wearing a crown and cape. Suffs impressively recreates that moment, with the powerful Phillipa Soo coming out on a full-size replica of a horse as she sings "women of the country" as...

'Confederates' review — the Union collides with university

Dominique Morriseau's Confederates is a spicy comedy that dissects the intricacies of racism that Black women are expected to endure. The recently opened production at Signature Theatre does so by framing the experiences of two Black women struggling through systems of white supremacy across two periods of time. We open with Sandra (Michelle Wilson, queenly and sage), a Black, tenured political science professor calling for an investigation into a racist image — her face photoshopped on the body...

'Help' review — timely, timeless, and time-sensitive

If there was ever a show that speaks to the current moment, it's Help. Or perhaps speaking the current moment is a better phrasing. It's almost uncanny that Claudia Rankine first premiered the very urgent Help at The Shed in 2020, before history's most seismic racial reckoning erupted across the U.S. and the world. The show feels very much like a product of that reckoning, not least of all because real-life political moments feature heavily in the script. They're as recent as Ketanji Brown...

'At the Wedding' review — a trite yet fun journey through love and pain

There's a celebration going on at the Claire Tow Theater in Bryna Turner's At the Wedding, and you're invited to bear witness to the... despair? After our wedding-crashing antihero, Carlo (Mary Wiseman) kicks off the event with a bitterly funny, fourth-wall-breaking monologue about the inevitability of soul-crushing heartbreak, a bridesmaid berates her in the next scene for making the event's youngest guests cry with her spiel. Yes, you're unwittingly put at the kid's table, from which you get...

'Little Girl Blue' review — an oversimplified portrait of a complex woman

There's nothing worse than watching a heroic genius, who happens to be a Black woman, emotionally deconstruct on stage. In Little Girl Blue, a new musical inspired by the life of Nina Simone, the pain of an iconic musician broken by an unsupportive family, blatant racism, and rising fame is paraded and set to her own music under the direction of Devanand Janki at New World Stages. Simone, an activist who bravely used her compelling protest songs and soulful voice to lead a worldwide revolution...

'The Chinese Lady' review — an evocative exploration of cultural difference

The caged bird in Lloyd Suh's The Chinese Lady carries the full weight of history on her shoulders. Afong Moy, the first-known woman to arrive in the U.S. from China, was presented as a novelty attraction for Americans who paid 25 cents admission. Here, she speaks from behind a gilded frame and through time, exploring her role as an object of cultural exchange while asserting her obvious humanity.It's a double act of history and drama that urgently addresses the present moment, amid an alarming...