It seems counterintuitive to suggest that a musical can be both overly simplistic and overly ambitious, yet Steve Martin and Edie Brickell’s new show Bright Star has somehow managed to achieve both distinctions. Laced with lulling bluegrass melodies, Bright Star layers platitudes and time-worn themes to create a narrative, which is not inherently bad (many […]
The only way that Seth Rudetsky and Jack Plotnick’s former off-Broadway musical comedy Disaster! could succeed on a Broadway stage is if it thoroughly embraced its own absurdity. Thankfully, Disaster! does just that, and the results are a guffaw-inducing two-hour romp through insanity dressed up in garish 70’s attire. This musical tribute to terrible calamity […]
This is part three of our continuing coverage of the New York Frigid Festival in the Lower East Side. Lil Women: A Rap Musical When you think of Little Women, Louisa May Alcott’s famous tale of female friendship, family and forays into adulthood, your mind is likely overwhelmed by conjured images of freestyle rap battles […]
It is February in New York again, which means it is time for the annual Frigid Festival in the Lower East Side, celebrating its tenth year in existence. The festival boasts a diverse line-up of off off-Broadway theatrical productions, and this year is no exception. Emily Dickinson: Paranormal Investigator The greatest flaw in Todd Brian […]
My review of Lazarus was written. Finished. Sitting in my e-mail outbox ready to be sent on the morning of January 11. Then, I turned on the news and heard the headline: David Bowie dead after an 18-month battle with cancer. That review now resides in an overstuffed digital trashcan, never to be read. Don’t […]
2015 pop culture is best summarized using four words: Star Wars. Adele. Hamilton.* With a cast recording that graced Billboard charts as the #1 rap album and #9 album for top sales, an indefinite sold-out run and multiple presidential visits, Hamilton is an unstoppable phenomenon. Sure, Book of Mormon, Wicked and the Lion King won […]
Long before Alan Turing laid the groundwork for modern day computing, the Harvard Computers were processing astronomical data and making scientific advances and discoveries that would drastically impact the field of astronomy and allow mankind to better understand the cosmos. The Harvard Computers began their work in the 1880s and operated for a mere pittance […]
Immersive theatrical experiences rely heavily on setting to properly integrate theatregoers into the action of the show. It is a bit like rounding up sheep for the actors and designers who need to direct the attention of patrons to specific areas of a room without confining people to chairs.* AccousticaElectronica, a theatrical experience originally developed […]