THE HANGOVER REPORT – A triumphant return: City Center’s gala revival of RAGTIME lives up to its reputation as one of the great musicals of the modern era

Based on E.L. Doctorow’s 1975 novel Ragtime, the seminal and beloved 1996 musical adaptation of the same name — featuring music by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and a … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The immersive new gay-themed musical LITTLE HOUSE ON THE FERRY delivers breezy entertainment

Last night, Robert Gould’s new gay-themed musical Little House on the Ferry officially re-opened The Duplex’s upstairs cabaret space — now rebranded as “Ferry’s Landing” — which has been shuttered … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The future looks grim in Sarah Mantell’s poetically wrought new play IN THE AMAZON WAREHOUSE PARKING LOT

Opening earlier this week was Sarah Mantell’s disarming if enigmatic new play In the Amazon Warehouse Parking Lot, Playwrights Horizons’ main stage offering this fall. The winner of last year’s … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Hallucinatory visions of the end of the world: Ars Nova’s THE BEASTIARY and Malaprop’s HOTHOUSE

Over the past few days, I came across a pair of shows with grim matters on their minds — namely, the end of the world as we know it, and … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Two timely political thrillers at New York City Center: Stephen Sachs’ FATHERLAND and Erika Sheffer’s VLADIMIR

On consecutive nights at each of the subterranean performance spaces at New York City Center, I was able to attend two works of highly charged political theater that tap into … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Julia May Jonas’s beguiling A WOMAN AMONG WOMEN engages in a fascinating dialogue with an Arthur Miller warhorse

This week, I ventured out to East Williamsburg to catch the Bushwick Starr’s production of A Woman Among Women by Julia May Jonas. The mounting — a co-presentation with New … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – All About My Father: Fatherhood woes feature prominently in Lloyd Suh’s FRANKLINLAND and Mathilde Dratwa’s DIRTY LAUNDRY

In my recent theater-going adventures, I came across a pair of new Off-Broadway plays that respectively dramatize — in theatrically imaginative fashion — two cases of fatherhood woes. As always, … Continue Reading →

Alaska Thunderfuck, Jujubee, Jan Sport, and Nick Laughlin in "Drag: The Musical" at New World Stages (photo by Matthew Murphy).

THE HANGOVER REPORT – DRAG: THE MUSICAL follows a familiar formula but makes for a mighty entertaining evening

It’s hard not to have a good time at Drag: The Musical, the crowd-pleasing new Off-Broadway musical that opened last night at New World Stages. Fabricated from a familiar concoction … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – THE FORD/HILL PROJECT powerfully splices the trailblazing testimonies of Anita Hill and Christine Blasey Ford

This past weekend at the Public Theater, I caught the final performance of Waterwell’s production of The Ford/Hill Project (the piece is co-presented by Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Radical deconstructions: The hyped Broadway revival of SUNSET BLVD. and the confounding SHOWGIRL at NYU Skirball

I recently had the opportunity to take in a pair of provocative productions by adventurous theater-makers that radically deconstruct recognizable works of pop culture, challenging audiences to look at them … Continue Reading →