Off-Broadway Reviews

'The Nosebleed' review — autobiographical play explores a failed family relationship

Grown kids coming to terms with failed relationships with their parents has always been fertile dramatic territory. As it covers this time-worn terrain, The Nosebleed, a compact and peculiar work written and directed by Aya Ogawa, deserves credit for its singular storytelling approach.That's not exactly the same as saying this autobiographical play at Lincoln Center Theater completely succeeds and satisfies. Beyond some too-pronounced performances, the key character of the author's father is a...

‘Oresteia’ at Park Avenue Armory review — a muddled, modernized Greek tragedy

Anastasia Hille is doing the most right now. She stars in the new adaptation of the Greek tragedy Oresteia at Park Avenue Armory as Klytemnestra. In the role, she plays a grieving mother, a wronged wife, a cunning strategist, and a murderer. She delivers a strong performance, in more ways than one. After she commits murder, she has to physically drag the dead body several feet and down two steps, while the corpse leaves a streak of red blood in its wake. It's a stomach-churning moment, and Hille...

'Heart' review — Jade Anouka tells a moving story from the heart

It's a tale as old as time: An LGBT+ person realizes they're queer for the first time, and all the happiness that they feel toward finally discovering their true self (and perhaps toward an object of their affection that led to their revelation) gets crushed beneath insecurity, shame, and fear that their families or society will never see them the same way again. Countless people, including this critic, have lived this story. But just because it's a time-worn tale doesn't mean it's any less...

'Between the Lines' review — Jodi Picoult's novel makes for a surprising and celebratory musical

We've all heard the time-worn remark about leaving a show humming the scenery. After the final note of Between the Lines, a new musical about 17-year-old Delilah who escapes into books (in more ways than one), you're bound to exit buzzing about the projections.These show-stealing visual effects ingeniously depict what's happening in a children's fairytale also titled Between the Lines. Actors stand in for the illustrations on pages of the book thanks to stage magic and strategic lighting. It...

'Richard III' review — Danai Gurira seizes the stage and the throne

This year's Shakespeare in the Park production of Richard III is not, by definition, an immersive show. But in the stands of the Delacorte Theater, we're not invisible spectators, either. You might not realize it until the play's second half, but you, the audience, are tasked with two(!) roles: of the ruthless King Richard's knowing confidantes and his unsuspecting subjects. Lines like "By his face, you know his heart" elicit laughs, since Richard repeatedly cajoles other characters only to...

'Hamlet' review — classic play holds a mirror up to today

The expansive new production of Hamlet at Park Avenue Armory opens with screens. Horatio, Bernardo, and Francisco see the ghost of the recently dead King Hamlet not in person, but through a feed of security cameras, the images warping as the king flashes in and out. This gigantic screen — and the others on either side of the stage and throughout the house — brings home that this Hamlet is about surveillance. The characters are always being watched, by the cameras, by each other. And when you are...

'53% Of' review — examining the similarities on different sides of the aisle

In light of Friday's SCOTUS ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and its protection of abortion rights nationwide, Steph Del Rosso's semi-satirical political drama 53% Of now inches closer to a horror play. The show kicks off in December 2016, and in 2022, where it could just as easily be set, it reminds us of the grave, lasting effects of that election. That said, it shouldn't take a catastrophic ruling for a play to pack a punch. 53% Of is assembled from a collection of political talking points...

'Titanique' review — a boatload of campy fun

The new Off-Broadway musical Titanique has a cast and creative team of Broadway vets. But they, led by director/co-writer Tye Blue, also share a background doing pop parody musicals and dinner theatre in LA. This is the cozy, campy world from which Titanique hails, and it's now docked here on the East Coast through September. Don't go expecting a piece of high art or a faithful recreation of the James Cameron film it's based on, but do expect a titanic amount of pure joy.You'll get that vibe...

'Epiphany' review — dinner-party mystery offers little enlightenment

Lincoln Center Theater's Epiphany begins with an ominous rumbling that's so mighty it might measure on the Richter scale. Dishes and glasses on the set clink and chatter. The effect seems to set the stage for something of enormous magnitude. Don't hold your breath. Brian Watkins's intriguing, but ultimately blurry and low-impact, group portrait inspired by James Joyce's The Dead emerges more like an artistic exercise or theme and variation on that famous 1914 short story than a fully satisfying...

'Corsicana' review — in heartfelt new play, 'a song is a family'

In the program note for his new play, Corsicana, playwright Will Arbery writes that he wanted to only write, "Corsicana is a small city in Texas. This play is about four people who live there." In that spirit, I'll summarize his show just as simply: An adult brother and sister have lost their mother. Through a family friend, the brother connects his sister with a local artist/songwriter, hoping them writing a song together will help her cope.The minimal plot leaves room for a delicate character...