THE HANGOVER REPORT – Botis Seva’s hallucinatory BLKDOG arrives at The Joyce, engulfed in vulnerability and fury

Last night, I attended the opening performance of Botis Seva’s Olivier Award-winning BLKDOG at The Joyce Theater in Chelsea. Performed by the London-based dance company Far from the Norm — … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – No one puts baby in the corner: Feminism writ large in BLOOD OF THE LAMB and MEDEA RE-VERSED

Over the past week, I had the chance to catch a pair of impassioned if flawed Off-Broadway productions that depicted strong women dealing with having their rights aggressively stripped from … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Go big or go home: The musical parodies THE BIG GAY JAMBOREE and GHOST OF JOHN MCCAIN swing big to varying success

This fall, a pair of Off-Broadway musical parodies are swinging big to lure in audiences. Read on for my thoughts on these larger-than-life productions. THE BIG GAY JAMBOREEOrpheum TheatreOpen run … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Ayad Akhtar’s new play MCNEAL is a head-spinning if uneven vehicle for film star Robert Downey, Jr.

Last week, Lincoln Center Theater’s production of Ayad Akhtar’s highly anticipated new play McNeal opened on Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. Akhtar is perhaps best known for having written … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Processing life through song: Todd Almond’s I’M ALMOST THERE and Gabriel Kahane’s MAGNIFICENT BIRD / BOOK OF TRAVELERS

This fall, a pair of sensitive singer-songwriters — Todd Almond and Gabriel Kahane — have taken to the Off-Broadway stage, each armed with their own beguiling song cycle(s). Read on … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Awash in grief and anxiety, Hannah Gadsby’s WOOF! finds the famed comic in transition

Last night, the New York leg of Hannah Gasby’s Woof! world tour opened at the historic playhouse at the Abrons Arts Center in the Lower East Side. The show arrives … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Performance as literal acts of survival: Molissa Fenley’s STATE OF DARKNESS and Miet Warlop’s ONE SONG

Over the past week or so, I came across a pair of performances that were literal acts of survival, both requiring Olympic-level endurance to simply get through them. As per … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The freewheeling new musical adaptation of SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED meanders, but it’s a quirky delight

Last night, the new musical adaptation of Derek Connolly’s 2012 indie film Safety Not Guaranteed opened at the BAM Harvey Theater, officially kicking off the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s storied Next Wave … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Classical music roundup: Assessing the anticipated premieres of Jeanine Tesori’s GROUNDED and Meredith Monk’s INDRA’S NET

This week, I had the chance to catch up with a pair of major premieres from two highly established and much loved female composers — Jeanine Tesori and Meredith Monk. … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – James Ijames contemplates the merits of gentrification in the one-sided new play GOOD BONES

Playwright James Ijames scored big with his previous effort at the Public. That would be Fat Ham, which won him the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2022 (although the work … Continue Reading →