Reviews

New York City is host to two concurrently running productions of Shakespeare’s Macbeth this Spring: Aquila Theatre‘s presentation at the Gym at Judson (April 18th – May 6th), and Epic Theatre Ensemble‘s interpretation at the 47th Street Theatre (April 20 – May 26th). A stable of many a theatrical company’s portfolio, apart from its matchless, [...]

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  There’s a reason that the second rule of Fight Club is the same as the first rule of Fight Club.  Because Tyler Durden (and by extension, author Chuck Palahniuk) understood that it’s human nature to break rules.  First rule of Fight Club – don’t talk about Fight Club.  Second Rule of Fight Club:  DO NOT talk about [...]

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Actress and Comedian Livia Scott hosts this monthly variety show, where dead celebrities are brought back to life and stellar guest performances contribute to the experience of Livia’s Castle of Enchantment at the UCB Theater East. I attended Livia’s Castle of Enchantment on Tuesday, April 24, and was pleasantly taken on a whirlwind as Livia [...]

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The Foreplay Play – What Comes Before

by Karen Tortora-Lee May 3, 2012 Brooklyn

  There is a very telling moment which comes two thirds of the way into Mariah MacCarthy’s play The Foreplay Play which is currently being produced by CAPS LOCK THEATRE  at a site-specific location (WAY off-off Broadway) in Williamsburg.  This dramedy about the tension which builds between two couples as they tentatively (and sometimes not so tentatively) lay [...]

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RADIOTHEATRE’s H.P. Lovecraft Festival 3: A New Kind Of Classic Ancient Horror Storytelling

by Stephen Tortora-Lee May 1, 2012 Manhattan

THE OLDEST and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.   – H.P. Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror In Literature When I think of Howard Phillips (H.P.) Lovecraft’s Weird Stories I think of very intelligent people, facing the unknown. An unknown that is not known [...]

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Christopher Marlowe’s Chloroform Dreams

by Geoffrey Paddy Johnson April 29, 2012 Manhattan

  There’s much more than a touch of Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe in the character of Katharine Sherman‘s Christopher Marlowe in her new play,

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Your Boyfriend May Be Imaginary – A Epic Quest Through Another Hundred People

by Karen Tortora-Lee April 18, 2012 Manhattan

  While there’s nothing to indicate that Sondheim influenced Larry Kunfosky’s Your Boyfriend May Be Imaginary in any way (in fact, extensive interviews with Larry Kunofsky beforehand never once included references to The Man or the the musical I’m about to cite) we all have our own personal archives.   To me, there was an [...]

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HA! – A Trio Of Rich Orloff Comedies

by Karen Tortora-Lee April 13, 2012 Manhattan

HA! is a trio of Rich Orloff’s most popular and acclaimed one-act comedies:  Oedi, a parody of Oedipus Rex, The News From St. Petersburg, a Chekhovian spoof set in 1905 Russia, and The Whole Shebang which portrays the entire universe as just a college student’s masters thesis on another dimension.  What they all have in common [...]

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The Real Thing – Where Art Meets Life

by Karen Tortora-Lee March 21, 2012 Off-Off-Broadway

Art imitates life.  Life imitates art.  Often times -for the life of a playwright- the lines are so blurred that it’s almost impossible to distinguish realism from hyper-realism or acting from genuine feeling and emotion.  When fact and fiction can no longer be untangled it isn’t always easy to recognize if the words you’re hearing [...]

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The Thing About Dan … Is Also The Thing About You

by Stephen Tortora-Lee March 21, 2012 Manhattan

The Thing About Dan, which ran last month, was the first play mounted by Slightly Altered States Theater Company,  written and directed by Sari Caine Glickstein, created in collaboration with actor Michael Hurst (Paul) and improviser Louis Kornfeld ( Zip). The production was very warmly received and many of the nights the cast was playing to sold-out [...]

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Traveling Musicians – E-I, E-I … OH!!!! (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)

by The Happiest Medium March 5, 2012 Festivals

The Happiest Medium review by guest contributor Katelyn Manfre.   Are you ready to rock? No, seriously, are you? Because  Traveling Musicians, the glam-rock quartet straight out of the barnyard, are ready to help you find your inner animal. This merry band of misfits is comprised of four multi-instrumentalist critters–a cat, a dog, a donkey [...]

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The Rope In Your Hands: Katrina, In Their Own Words (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)

by The Happiest Medium March 3, 2012 FRIGID 2012

The Happiest Medium review by guest contributor Katelyn Manfre For those of us tucked up in the Northeast part of the country, Hurricane Katrina is a distant memory, a tragedy of nearly a decade ago. But for those still feeling the effects down South its presence is constant. Siobhan O’Louglin gives a voice to the [...]

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Fear Factor: Canine Edition – Puppy Love (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)

by The Happiest Medium March 3, 2012 Festivals

The Happiest Medium review by guest contributor Katelyn Manfre   John Grady loves the show “Fear Factor.” He has his theories and his predictions about how the insane game show will play out, and is especially drawn to the “Couples Edition,” where young die-hards compete, and, predictably lose, to the old married pair with many anniversaries to their [...]

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Musical Pawns: Lost Music And Direction, Found Voices (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)

by Diánna Martin March 1, 2012 Festivals

Part historical odyssey, part musical, Musical Pawns centers on the career work of Russian composer David Nowakowsky, a brilliant contemporary of Tchaikovsky and Wagner, whose works have been lost for nearly 100 years. Guarding his unpublished manuscripts for decades were his Grandson and then Great-Grandson, and the play also follows their life as Jews in [...]

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Aerial Allusions: A Ladder To Nowhere (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)

by Diánna Martin March 1, 2012 Dance

  Performance art pieces, in general, can be thrilling to behold, whether they break new ground, or simply retrace the steps made by others in new and innovative (or deeply personal and fascinating) ways. The idea of combining dance, theatre, and clown with music to portray emotional journeys and the struggle of gender roles sounds [...]

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Stripper Lesbians: When Baring It All Is Academic (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)

by Karen Tortora-Lee March 1, 2012 Festivals

  When you read that the title of a play is as blatant as Stripper Lesbians you might be led to believe that what you are about to see is nothing more than a show which has women in various states of undress (personally or professionally), making out a lot.  However, read further to “Rising [...]

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Little Lady: Finding Her Way In The World (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)

by Geoffrey Paddy Johnson February 29, 2012 Festivals

  I can’t remember, before this show, the last time I saw an adult person unhesitatingly put their whole big toe in their mouth and suck on it with a sense of blissful satisfaction. You can marvel at the flexibility of such a feat even as you cavil at the notion of exactly how clean, [...]

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