THE HANGOVER REPORT – The heartfelt but undercooked new musical DISTANT THUNDER engages in a welcome new perspective

Currently over at A.R.T./New York Theatres in Hell’s Kitchen, you’ll be able to find the Off-Broadway musical Distant Thunder, which I attended on Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Conceived by Shaun Taylor-Corbett and … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Meghan Kennedy’s gently provoking THE COUNTER compassionately embraces its bruised souls

This past weekend at the Laura Pels Theatre, I caught up with Roundabout Theatre Company’s Off-Broadway production of The Counter by Meghan Kennedy (the playwright who penned the plays Too … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – David Finnigan’s stealthily unassuming DEEP HISTORY looks to the past to decipher humanity’s fate amidst climate change

Currently at the Public Theater, you’ll be able to catch David Finnigan’s one man show Deep History. Originally written and performed by Finnigan in 2019 as a wake up call … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – In the wonderfully immersive THE WIND AND THE RAIN, Hurricane Sandy unleashes ghosts of the past

Last night, I ventured out to Red Hook, I’m sorry to admit, for the first time (I even took the NYC Ferry there, another first!) to catch Vineyard Theatre and … 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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →