Off-Broadway Reviews

‘Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992’ review — Anna Deavere Smith’s seminal work remains painfully resonant

Anna Deavere Smith is a singular artist. The transfiguration of journalistic interviews into documentary-style drama, a method Smith pioneered 30 years ago, redefined what it means to tell the truth on stage. Her solo performance style, which favors a kind of channeling over full characterization, encouraged an extension of imagination, essential to considering the questions of social justice her plays confront. Smith's revision of Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 as an ensemble piece for Signature...

'The Woman in Black' review — an old-fashioned, scary communal experience

I've experienced my share of Halloween-themed theatre (including ones where I was blindfolded). But what I've rarely experienced was a room where audience members screamed in fright from all directions. And they were not screaming because of anything typically scary, such as bloody scenes, murders, or anything ghoulish. Instead, the brilliance of The Woman in Black is its use of old-fashioned jump scares and an immersive soundscape to make audiences shriek and jump in their seats.The Woman in...

'Mrs. Warren’s Profession' review - Shaw's classic play still 'tickles the brain'

Mrs. Warren's Profession, George Bernard Shaw's tart and tangy play about prostitution — and more — written in 1893 and first performed in 1902, looks good for its age.Chalk it up to director David Staller's surefooted staging for the Gingold Theatrical Group led by Karen Ziemba as prostitute-turned-madam Kitty Warren and Nicole King as her down-to-earth daughter Vivie. Credit, too, the evergreen smarts and acerbity of Shaw, a writer with a piercing point of view who knew how to push buttons. In...

'Fairycakes' review — 'a gorgeous array of theatrical royalty' thoroughly enjoying themselves

Early in Douglas Carter Beane's new comedy Fairycakes, a cricket randomly bursts onto the stage. That cricket's brief and exceedingly strange appearance gives a good taste, it turns out, of exactly what we're in for. The scene is busy even before the cricket arrives. The fairy Cobweb (Z Infante) has given Cinderella (Kuhoo Verma) her makeover and is sending her off to the ball. They are interrupted by Pinocchio (Sabatino Cruz), pursued by his harried creator Geppetto (Mo Rocca). Alongside...

'Autumn Royal' review — an endless waiting game bogged down by the past

The 2017 world premiere of Autumn Royal in Ireland was met with critical acclaim, but Kevin Barry's play is making its North American premiere at the Irish Repertory Theatre in an altogether different world, one where the premise might be a tougher sell. The play sees 30somethings May and Timothy, who have been taking care of their ill father presumably for years, gripe about wanting to get rid of him and move on with their lives. We've collectively mourned so much illness and death these past...

‘Letters of Suresh’ review – all talk and little action in Rajiv Joseph’s play

In theatre, an oft-cited rule is that acting is reacting. So what are the characters of playwright Rajiv Joseph's Letters to Suresh to do when all they've been tasked with is reciting the contents of their exposition-heavy letters aloud in direct address to the audience? The answer is to serve as talking heads for material that feels better suited for an article in The New Yorker than it does for an Off-Broadway play. The plot revolves around an origami genius named Suresh (Ramiz Monsef) who...

‘Regina Comet’ review - featherweight new musical is forgettable fun

There is a tantalising, but all-too-brief moment in A Commercial Jingle For Regina Comet when the influence of another musical master can be felt. The number is "Connecting the Dots," and it's about writing a song. It most strongly echoes "Color and Light," Stephen Sondheim's painfully precise distillation of the artistic process from Sunday in the Park with George, though with a bit of "Opening Doors" mixed in as well: Connecting the dots Going note by note We're crossing out line after line...

‘Persuasion’ review - an Austen adaptation that revels in awkwardness

Persuasion has none of the opulence you'd expect from Regency England — the walls and floor are nearly bare, making the characters, in full period costume, feel like they've been plucked out of their era and dropped into a dingy basement. It's not the most romantic setting for an adaptation of a novel known for its love story. This particular one sees Anne Elliot hoping to rekindle her love with one Frederick Wentworth, who has the trappings of a war hero and is the most eligible bachelor in...

'Sanctuary City' review - powerful new play questions who is allowed to feel safe

We're all searching for some version of safety. A place where one is free to think, speak, live, and love that is exempt of judgement and ridicule. Sanctuary City, a new play from Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok, questions if this sort of place exists, and if it does, is everyone welcome.Imagine being transported, as a child, to a strange new country and being ignorant of its language, culture, and people. Picture yourself, as a result of this "forced" situation in the land of opportunity,...

'The Last of the Love Letters' review - a haunting meditation on isolation

A woman languishes in her room. One moment she's sprawled across the bed, burrowing beneath the covers, the next she bolts upright and pulls the sheets tight, trying to align her inner and outer worlds. When she opens her mouth to speak ("It's important that you know..."), it's as though an overstuffed hallway closet has tumbled open in her mind, demanding she make sense of its unwieldy mess.We've all been there, perhaps more often in the recent past than ever before: Alone with our thoughts,...