Thoughts on Theatre

  Doric Wilson passed away May 7th of this year.  Some may know him as an American playwright, director, producer, critic and gay rights activist. Others may know him as the founder of TOSOS (The Other Side Of Silence) which was the first professional gay theatre company.   But to many he was much, much more [...]

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We asked the producers of The Body Politic at 59E59 to entice us in 59 words to check out their last performance today. The Off-Broadway debut of At Hand Theatre Company has received some great mentions and satisfied audience members. They think The Happiest Medium readers would like it because: The number one reason you [...]

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They are you know! Almost six inch high heels. In about a size 11. Men’s. (“Are those the Louboutins?”) And Justin Bond, in a streamlined, sequined black leggings ensemble is emerging through that awkward little back flap stage entrance-way at Joe’s Pub for another evening of his winter show run, simply entitled “Justin Vivian Bond”. It’s a softer-looking, even [...]

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Celebrating My First Five Years With “The Last Five Years”

by Karen Tortora-Lee November 9, 2010 Theatre

It may not make sense to celebrate the past five years of your relationship with a performance of The Last Five Years – the musical. After all, for 50 percent of the show your job as an audience member is to painfully watch this fledgling relationship between Cathy and Jamie disintegrate while trying not to [...]

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Be [un]afraid … Very [un]afraid: The Neos Show Us The Many Faces Of Fear

by Diánna Martin October 19, 2010 Manhattan

Those who are even remotely familiar with the Off and Off-Off-Theatre scene in New York have, by this point, either heard of or seen work by the New York Neo-Futurists. The company, whose work has awarded them the New York Innovative Theatre Foundation‘s Caffe Cino Fellowship and the respect of critics and audiences alike, is [...]

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New Forms Of Something Different: A Review Of “Three Sisters Come And Go”

by Sarah V. Schweig May 17, 2010 Art

Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different. T.S. Eliot The very idea of Three Sisters Come and Go was risky to begin with.  A collaborative effort between the actors — Liza Cassidy, Claire Helene and Jackie Lowe [...]

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Titus Andronicus: The Bard Would Be Proud, Methinks

by Diánna Martin March 20, 2010 Manhattan

I was just having a conversation with a fellow actor who is also the Literary Manager for one of my favorite theatre companies, and we were discussing how incredibly difficult it is to stage a successful production of Titus Andronicus. Considered by most to be Shakespeare’s most bloody and violent play; one based on the [...]

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Vodka Shoes Fit All Sizes (Frigid Festival 2010)

by Diánna Martin March 17, 2010 Festivals

Storytellers. Monologists. One-Woman Shows. The lines blur in the art forms because they are often one in the same. Sometimes the difference is subtle, and I find that sometimes it has to do with how much is taken from personal life stories. An actor (hopefully) personalizes the choices he or she makes on stage; but [...]

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Last Life Just Won’t Die – And That’s A Good Thing

by Karen Tortora-Lee March 1, 2010 Manhattan

Last Life is the fightsical from Timothy Haskell (creator of Road House: The Stage Play) and Eric Sanders (The Wendigo), and stars Taimak (of the legendary fight film The Last Dragon).  The title is proving to be about as accurate a title as “Cher’s Final Farewell Tour” because this show has been revived more times than Britany Spear’s reputation  – [...]

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It’s Everything But The Kitchen Sink In “Sex And Violence”

by Diánna Martin February 26, 2010 Manhattan

What do you get when you pair a narcissistic, yet emotionally fragile sex addict with her wanna-be-normal husband, whose penchant for punishing women is taken out on his wife’s lover’s girlfriend? The result is something even more bizarre and difficult to follow than that opening sentence. Kaleidoscope Theatre’s “Sex and Violence” did its best to [...]

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The Ohio Theatre To Close August 31st (This Is Not A Drill)

by Antonio Miniño February 24, 2010 Manhattan

The Ohio Theatre, a pillar of New York’s downtown theatre scene for 29 years, will close on August 31, 2010. The new landlord has issued official notice and no further negotiations are scheduled. Located at 66 Wooster Street, The Ohio Theatre was one of Soho’s pioneering performance spaces and is now one of the last [...]

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Williams’ Clothes For A Summer Hotel: A Ghost Play Returns To NYC

by Diánna Martin February 12, 2010 Manhattan

When Clothes for a Summer Hotel premiered in New York City in 1980, the world wasn’t quite able to wrap their mind around the play. It closed after 15 performances and was Tennessee Williams’ last Broadway production. With a myriad of plays that changed the face of modern theatre across the world, winning everything from [...]

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Preview Review: Next Year In Jerusalem

by Diánna Martin October 30, 2009 Off-Off-Broadway

Halloween is a fun time to dress up and party, but this year I am doing something WAY cooler: I’m doing what I adore, which is seeing theatre. And what makes this so special is that I am catching the final performance of Next Year In Jersusalem by award-winning playwright Dana Leslie Goldstein. One of [...]

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Reasons Why “reasons to be pretty” Couldn’t Survive

by Karen Tortora-Lee June 15, 2009 Broadway

This was supposed to be a review for reasons to be pretty (written by Neil LaBute, directed by Terry Kinney, starring  Thomas Sadoski,  Marin Ireland, Steven Pasquale and Piper Perabo).  A very late review, no doubt, but not every reviewer has the luxury of seeing a Broadway show while it’s still in previews.  Sometimes a reviewer needs [...]

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Good Ole Fashioned Happy Musicals

by Karen Tortora-Lee May 27, 2009 Broadway

The other day a friend of mine went to see Sessions.  I asked her how she liked it and she said, “I didn’t expect it to be so heavy.  I guess when I saw “musical” I expected “light”.  Huh.   As a life long devotee to Sondheim, who’s every musical (even the deceptively named Follies) is [...]

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Bea Flies Home – Remembering A Broadway Legend

by Karen Tortora-Lee May 7, 2009 Broadway

My first encounter with Bea Arthur wasn’t in her role as Dorothy Zbornak on Golden Girls, or even as Maude Findlay in Maude.  I was first introduced to Bea Arthur’s disembodied baritone as it came seeping through my bedroom floor boards. Picture it – Brooklyn, early seventies.  A young six year old is trying to get her beauty [...]

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An Open Letter To Cirque Du Soleil: I’ll Start Coming To Your Shows When You Stop Naming Them After Your Pets – OR – Kooza? Seriously?

by Karen Tortora-Lee April 8, 2009 Theatre

I can not, as a proud adult woman, BEAR to pick up the phone and say to ANYONE “Hello, may I purchase 2 tickets to Kooza, please?” It’s just so … undignified. But say Stephen got them for me, because he has no trouble saying any word in any language, be it real, made up, or [...]

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