VIEWPOINTS – Classical music roundup: EL ÚLTIMO SUEÑO DE FRIDA Y DIEGO is a vibe at The Met, LISE DAVIDSEN dazzles at Carnegie Hall with an all-Schubert recital

With the recent conclusion of The Metropolitan Opera’s 2025/2026 season, it seems a good time to look back at the final new opera of the company’s season, composer Gabriela Lena … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Dance roundup: Scottish Ballet dances a stylized MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS, and ALVIN AILEY explores its legacy in its BAM spring bill

Blink and you might have missed them — Over the past week or so, New York saw the quickly successive arrivals and departures of two notable dance programs that lit … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Immersive theater roundup: Role playing in Bated Breath’s probing DIRTY BOOKS, spying intimacies against the vistas of DUMBO in THE CIRCUIT

Those of you looking for immersive theatrical experiences beyond Masquerade — and still mourning the closure of the long-running Sleep No More — can get temporary your fixes by partaking … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Avant-garde theater, uptown: Xhloe and Natasha debut Off-Broadway in AND THEN THE RODEO BURNED DOWN, Julia May Jonas’s A WOMAN AMONG WOMEN returns

Currently on the boards Off-Broadway are two decidedly avant-garde works that have found their way uptown to poke and prod decidedly more mainstream audiences. More specifically, these are Lincoln Center … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Coming of age is a harrowing thing: Eisa Davis’s ||: GIRLS :||: CHANCE :||: MUSIC :||, Martyna Majok and Aimee Mann’s take on GIRL, INTERRUPTED

Currently Off-Broadway, you’ll find a pair of somber coming-of-age plays — both with a heavy reliance on music — that bring high stakes to their depiction of the journey from … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Paper Mill Playhouse mounts a sturdy, traditionally-staged revival of WEST SIDE STORY

Perhaps with one of the few glaring exceptions being Ivo van Hove’s experimental revival that opened on Broadway just prior to the world-changing covid pandemic, Jerome Robbins’ singular vision permeates … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Nightlife roundup: ANGEL BLUE experiments with cabaret at 54 Below, ROBIN MCKELLE channels Ella Fitzgerald, et al. at Birdland

As per usual, I’ve been augmenting my primetime theatergoing with a fair number of nightlife outings, largely to get better acquainted with performers as their authentic selves. As always, read … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Classical music roundup: Maestro Janowski returns to lead the NY PHILHARMONIC, the great Marin Alsop conducts Beethoven and Marsalis via the PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA

Over the past week or so, I had the great pleasure of catching notable performances by the New York Philharmonic at its home base at David Geffen Hall at Lincoln … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Intimate opera with high stakes impact: THE POST OFFICE gets philosophical (and political) at BAM, Heartbeat Opera’s stylish VANESSA packs a punch

Those of you looking to expand your opera-going experience beyond the Metropolitan Opera should turn your attention to the occasional intimate opera productions occurring across the city. In the past … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Uniquely immersive Off-Broadway shows exploring family legacy: Partying with the Guerreros in CANCIONES, slumming in a cluttered apartment in OBIT.

Over the past week or so, I’ve been able to delve into a pair of new Off-Broadway plays that deal with the notion of family legacy, particularly as it relates … Continue Reading →