We live in a time of burgeoning awareness of the importance of diversity in our cultural storytelling. Productions like Hamilton, movies like Black Panther, and Oscar speeches championing ‘inclusion riders’ all serve as bellwethers for proof of the commercial success and cultural value of racial and sexual diversity. And yet, as much attention is rightfully being […]
With Broadway ticket prices being what they are, it’s easy to despair and give up on the prospect of seeing quality musical theatre in New York without giving up and arm and a leg. “Musicals Tonight!” attempts to ease that fear by providing quality productions (on 42nd Street no less, at the Lion Theatre) without the […]
It has been asked, “Will this increasingly digital & virtual age lead to the ultimate death of live performance?” It’s a “video killed the radio star” kind of question, and the insatiable rise of streamable content implicitly makes theater (or concerts, sporting events, or any live performance for that matter) look increasingly antiquated. The survival […]
A Case For Magic Robert Malissa has heard the skeptics and the critics. He knows that there are people who come to his shows determined to confirm him in their minds as a fraud and dismiss “magic” as both frivolous & dishonest. Mr. Malissa knows that many people scoff at the idea of magic as […]
We are at the intersection of Black History Month and the first days of MLB’s Spring Training, with baseball on the horizon. It is a time for celebrating America’s most-storied game, and a time celebrating great black Americans. Baseball, earned through the privilege of its history serves as a uniquely qualified sport to tell the […]
Regeneration, just closed on Theatre Row but returning for one more performance on November 6th, is built upon what would seem to be sure-footing for interesting theatre: the high emotional stakes of a woman’s journey with breast cancer, and the life-shifting perspective that such a run-in with mortality can bring. The subject matter is emotionally interesting, […]
In & Of Itself, currently playing at the Daryl Roth Theatre until the end of 2017, may be the smartest, most surprising, and most personal show that I have ever had the privilege of seeing, or more appropriately, of being a part of. Members of the audience are participants, to varying degrees, just as much […]
Tooting Arts Club’s production of Sweeney Todd at the Barrow Street Theatre is the perfect thing to see this fall: part dark theatrical masterpiece, part haunted house. It’s the most creatively staged production of Sweeney Todd that I have ever seen: the show is set in a pie shop (with fresh pies baked by the former White House pastry […]