Off-Broadway Reviews

'Camp Siegfried' review — a summer-camp fling with a sinister twist

I'll admit I had some preconceived skepticism walking into Second Stage Theater's production of Camp Siegfried. About a summer-camp fling between two teenagers being gradually indoctrinated into Nazism, it reminded me of This Beautiful Future, another Off-Broadway "love story" involving a young Nazi from earlier this season. That show dangerously romanticized its characters in the name of nostalgia for young love and innocence, and I feared this show would do the same. My fears, luckily, proved...

'the bandaged place' review — moving new play captures the messiness of trauma and healing

To get right to the point: Harrison David Rivers's the bandaged place has no cuts or holes that need bandaging up. Every plot point, every character, every moment in this nearly perfect new play, presented by Roundabout Underground, has been stitched together perfectly. It will make your heart bleed in many different ways; it is a thoughtful and excellent meditation on the long and winding road to healing. The story centers on a dancer named Jonah, who just got out of a physically and...

'Downstate' review — a provocative yet thoughtful meditation on punishment

Downstate, the thoughtful and thorny drama by Bruce Norris, author of the Tony- and Pulitzer-winning Clybourne Park, is built on a plot structure as conventional as can be. A knock on the door and the arrival of an outsider turns the delicately, if not precariously, balanced world on the other side of the threshold upside down. But who comes knocking and who’s inside the door is anything but run-of-the-mill in this skillfully acted Playwrights Horizons presentation directed by Pam MacKinnon....

'Where We Belong' review — theatrical memoir is a masterclass in storytelling and education

Hao Bai's gorgeous set design for Madeline Sayet's Where We Belong transcends time and space. We're simultaneously on a bygone earth without borders and today's earth after people insisted on drawing them. We're simultaneously by the modern-day River Thames and the Massapequotuck River, as it was once called. Physically, Sayet also points out, we're watching her show just off Broadway, a street that used to be a key Lenape trading trail. Visually and audibly, Sayet's expertly written and...

'Catch as Catch Can' review — expertly acted play turns the family drama on its head

Unhappy families are unhappy in their own way, so it’s long been said. In her conceptually ambitious and expertly acted play, Catch as Catch Can, Mia Chung takes that time-honored trope and puts her own theatrical stamp on it. Bottom line, she doubles down. Three actors play six characters – each an adult child and one of their parents — jumping genders and generations while they’re at it. In director Daniel Aukin’s staging at Playwrights Horizons, a trio of Asian actors play the characters who,...

'Only Gold' review — in dreamlike dance musical, one move is worth a thousand words

"Following your heart" is an amorphous thing. It can be hard to know exactly what the heart wants: Sometimes it's a person or an object, but other times it's something less concrete, like freedom or respect. Regardless, it can be tricky to put one's desires into words. In that case, there's another option: expressing them with the body. That's the idea that grounds Only Gold, a new dance musical directed, choreographed, and co-written by Hamilton choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler. What shades of...

'My Broken Language' review — English, Spanish, and dance tell a vibrant family story

On paper, My Broken Language at Signature Theatre is a stage adaptation of Quiara Alegría Hudes's (In the Heights, Water by the Spoonful) same-named memoir, about finding the right blend of languages to capture the full vitality of her vibrant Puerto Rican family. On stage, the show is a living museum to the Pulitzer-winning playwright's family, constantly in motion, as the perfect cocktail of expression includes more than words. Visuals and movement are just as necessary to honor her family as...

'You Will Get Sick' review — side effects of new play include both laughter and confusion

Kicking off a play with a piercing, guttural screech is certainly a way to make an impression. It is one of multiple moments in Noah Diaz's You Will Get Sick that make an impression. A man with an unnamed sickness floating in a burst of strobe lights as hay spills out of him like a torn scarecrow. A waiter taking burger orders while on the verge of sobbing. Linda Lavin singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" with the intensity of "Last Midnight." This spiky 85-minute show packs itself with bold...

'Where the Mountain Meets the Sea' review — heartfelt new play soars with magnetic performances

Where the Mountain Meets the Sea, a heartfelt little show by Jeff Augustin, is a story that takes us from coast to coast, decade to decade. But for such an expansive story, a decidedly no-frills production. It doesn't need them. All it has, and needs, are a couple performers delivering a solid script, with music flowing throughout like waves. The magnetic storytellers are Billy Eugene Jones and Chris Myers, perfectly cast. They respectively play Jean, a Haitian immigrant to America, and his son...

'A Man of No Importance' review — Jim Parsons leads a simple yet stirring revival

With audiences on three sides of a small, knickknack-laden stage, which actors frequently spill off of with instruments in hand, A Man of No Importance at Classic Stage Company perfectly captures the feel of scrappy community theatre in a church basement. That's a high compliment, to clarify. In fact, it's the entire point of the show, a stirring and gorgeous one in its simplicity. The musical is set up as a play-within-a-play, with bus passengers in Dublin introducing the story of their...