REVIEWS
Review: An evasive ‘Macbeth’ strains for coherence
Lust for power can defy logic. Why does anyone succumb to greed or ambition? Where Shakespeare probes primal urges through poetry and dirty deeds, director Sam Gold seems to question the very point of...
Review: ‘Mr. Saturday Night’ gets swallowed in ego
Billy Crystal is roving the stage, leading an “oy vey!” call-and-response. There is no exclamation more apt for “Mr. Saturday Night,” the moth-eaten cardigan of a new musical now in residence at the Nederlander...
Review: ‘POTUS’ aims for fresh satire and mostly succeeds
There are an infinite number of ways a comedy can get its audience to laugh. Selina Fillinger’s Broadway-debut play, “POTUS,” successfully tries its hand at most. Raunchy language? Well, that starts with the play’s...
Review: ‘A Strange Loop’ is a universal story told through hyperspecificity
What can I say about “A Strange Loop” that hasn’t already been said? When I got the assignment to review Michael R. Jackson’s Pulitzer-winning musical, I even asked my editor, “Am I the best...
Review: Visionary Lileana Blain-Cruz spearheads contemporary take on ‘The Skin of Our Teeth’
Greek philosopher Heraclitus said that change is the only constant of life. In “The Skin of Our Teeth,” Thornton Wilder argues that tragedy is another. His sweeping comedy, now resurrected on Broadway for Lincoln...
Review: A ‘Funny Girl’ that isn’t overshadowed by you-know-who
Playing the part of a marquee idol is daunting on its own. Playing one made famous by Barbra Streisand may seem like a fool’s errand, doubtless one reason “Funny Girl” hasn’t been on Broadway...
Review: ‘Hangmen’ swings between genres
“Hangmen” starts with a bang, or should I say, a snap of a neck. The play begins on the morning of an execution, with the condemned man proclaiming his innocence. “I’m getting hung by...
Review: The breathtaking beauty of ‘for colored girls’
It starts with a step. Stomp. Clap. A crescendo of joyous movement and affirmations (“ayeee, yessss, you better”) erupts on stage and is immediately echoed by members of the audience, most notably, the Black...
Review: ‘How I Learned to Drive’ makes a bracing return
It’s been 25 years since Paula Vogel’s landmark drama about sexual assault and its reverberations first debuted Off-Broadway. Since then, private transgressions, like those that Li’l Bit experiences at the hands of her Uncle...
Review: Minutiae turns sinister in ‘The Minutes’
When you walk into Studio 54 for “The Minutes,” you see a cavernous room on stage, featuring a white rotunda ceiling, a line of plush chairs and conference tables with microphones attached. It seems...