Theatre

There’s something truly wonderful about smartly written children’s stories.  When you look at the enduring ones they’re not still around because they’re cute or funny or have clever titles . . . they’re still around because they teach an amazing lesson in a subtle and gentle way.  So, while Stinky Flowers and the Bad Banana [...]

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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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Henry James’ novella The Turn of the Screw is one of my favorite works committed to paper, being a wonderful macabre pastime that my Grandmother and I used to share together, acting out the roles as we read along. I feel it is truly one of the most important staples of Gothic Literature. With every read [...]

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No I’m First! The Diary Of Anne Frankenstein Extended

by Antonio Miniño October 28, 2009 Manhattan

Lets start with a tangent shall we. I always hate when reviews only focus on their headlining actor. Exhibit A. Roundabout Theatre’s current revival of After Miss Julie: all the reviews have focused on Sienna Miller and her amazing-to-some (or stale-to-others) performance, only a handful remembered to mention the likes of Johnny Miller and Marin [...]

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Eli and Cheryl Jump … Look After You (Fringe Festival 2009)

by Karen Tortora-Lee August 19, 2009 Festivals

You can tell it’s Fringe Season when theatres ’round the city are suddenly bustling with life at odd hours of the day and escorting people in and out quickly so they can strike a set and get ready for the next show which is happening in, oh, about a minute.  Yes, it’s all about endings [...]

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Jumping Into The Fringe with Daniel McCoy (Fringe Festival 2009)

by Karen Tortora-Lee August 1, 2009 Festivals

Unless you’ve been living outside of New York City for the last decade or so, chances are you’ve either attended a Fringe show yourself, or you’ve at least heard about the festival.  ”Fringe”, of course, means The New York International Fringe Festival and it is the largest multi-arts festival in North America, with more than [...]

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Bird House – The Impossible Begins

by Karen Tortora-Lee July 25, 2009 Manhattan

Lewis Carroll did it with Alice in Wonderland … L. Frank Baum did it with The Wizard of Oz: gave us stories of fantastical worlds where innocent girls stumble backwards into their watershed moment and grow up from the inside out.  Now, playwright Kate Marks brings us another place of fantasy where not one but [...]

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Monday Night Was The IT!

by Karen Tortora-Lee July 22, 2009 Awards

When I came on to the staff of neighborbee in October of 2008 as the theatre columnist I had no idea that  just nine months later I’d be this immersed in the Off-Off Broadway community.  But here I am, 29 weeks, 32 shows and 25 reviews later … writing not just for this site but for The [...]

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Twisted – And Now for Something Completely Different

by Karen Tortora-Lee July 14, 2009 Manhattan

Twisted is the latest great ensemble piece to come from the Horse Trade group and once again they deliver a show that lives up to its name.  From outlandishly twisted to deviously twisted to simply subtly twisted, each of these five one-acts is served up with a twist. Related Posts:Stinky Flowers, Sweet ThoughtsNew Forms Of [...]

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The Temperamentals – Where It All Began

by Karen Tortora-Lee July 8, 2009 Manhattan

Going to see The Temperamentals at the end of Pride Month was as deeply stirring as watching a reenactment of the signing of the declaration of independence on July 4th, if not more so.  Because, while the history of how America fought and won its independence is a story that is well worn, the story [...]

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“This Isn’t Paradise” … Not Even Close

by Karen Tortora-Lee June 23, 2009 Manhattan

This Isn’t Paradise is so much like Glengarry Glen Ross that it could have been written by David Mamet himself.  That is … if David Mamet had fallen down a well and lost his memory.  And his ability to write a play. And when he crawled out of the well all he found in his pocket [...]

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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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“Bigger Than I” is Bigger Than All Of Us

by Karen Tortora-Lee June 13, 2009 Manhattan

… my mom grounded me for getting a speeding ticket … so I peed in her shampoo … … I only make friends with ugly people … … I am sleeping with 2 married men  … I am a married man myself … … I will die NEVER having been loved … … I dread [...]

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August: Osage County — This Ain’t The Huxtable Family

by Karen Tortora-Lee June 3, 2009 Broadway

I’m here to set the record straight. I’ve spent years thinking that Phylicia Rashad‘s career was based on giving life to characters that sprung forth from Bill Cosby‘s head, the straight (wo)man standing patiently by as William Henry Cosby, Jr. Ed.D. gave in to one of his patented Cosby-eque tirades.  After all, she played his [...]

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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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Tommy – See Me

by Karen Tortora-Lee May 18, 2009 Brooklyn

  I don’t think I took a breath for a full five minutes as I watched the first scene of The Gallery Player’s production of

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LIARS – Don’t Believe A Word Of It

by Karen Tortora-Lee May 12, 2009 Manhattan

So off I go to UNDER St. Marks to see No Tea Production’s new show, LIARS directed by Lindsey Moore, when on my way there I’m handed a lottery ticket by a man who’s slumped over a mail box.  ”It’s … the winning … ticket ….,” he gasps to me, his arm outstretched, “… take [...]

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