Playing Host to Celebs and Newcomers Alike
Tucked away on West 72nd Street between Broadway and Columbus Avenue is the 130-seat Triad Theater. Inside, actors make their Off-Broadway debuts, celebrities take the stage with friends and audiences are always entertained by an eclectic variety of shows, from Erotic Broadway to the smash hit Celebrity Autobiography. We spoke to owner Peter Martin about what to expect there. Read more
Singing about Love in an Alley
A revisal of ‘Porgy and Bess’ leaves the songs intact but distracts from the story
By Mark Peikert
Porgy and Bess has been something like this season’s highbrow Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Both shows came to Broadway trailing a wake of scandal and op-eds—except Porgy and Bess had Stephen Sondheim and the New York Times weighing in, while Spider-Man had the Post. And in both cases, what finally showed up on stage was…underwhelming. Read more
They Want to Break Free
‘Dedalus Lounge’ draws big talent to the intimate Interart Theater
Certain universal questions arise in every generation: What is the meaning of life? What lies in the Great Beyond? And perhaps most important of all: Are you gonna take me home tonight? Read more
Seasonal Offerings
From steampunk Scrooge to a Christmas-themed Exorcist spoof
By Mark Peikert
Even with the addition of 3-D technology, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular can only hold your attention for so many holiday seasons. Likewise The Nutcracker and its derivations. This year, break out of your Christmas routine with one of these shows, ranging from new takes on A Christmas Carol to revivals of holiday-themed plays. Read more
The Powerlessness of Poverty
Period Irish drama ‘Temporal Powers’ is less than riveting
By Mark Peikert
The Mint Theatre follows up its critically acclaimed A Little Journey with the New York City premiere of Temporal Powers, written in 1932 by their pet resuscitated playwright, Teresa Deevy. An Irish melodrama played straight, Temporal Powers finds a homeless couple battling poverty—and one another—in stone ruins on the top of a hill, while a thief and their eccentric neighbors cavort around them.
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Cut to the Tape
Knife Edge Productions provides another look at a Stephen Belber classic
Does high school ever really end? It wouldn’t seem that way to anyone who has seen Tape, the enduring Stephen Belber play about three friends who reunite a decade after their high school graduation. Knife Edge Productions, in association with Swinestars Productions, is currently staging a revival of Tape directed by Sam Helfrich.
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Bless Their God-Fearing Hearts
Beth Grant leaves no prop unturned in a dark new Southern drama
By Mark Peikert
Some critics may accuse Tony Georges’ new play Tricks the Devil Taught Me, set among the kind of serious churchgoers who buy protective cases for their Bibles in a West Texas town, of going over the top. As a refugee of churchgoing Texans myself, I can attest that the sugary trash-talkers of Georges’ first act are all too real—and he even steers clear of the usual stock phrases like “The higher the hair, the closer to God.”
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Olive Branches Not Included
By Mark Peikert
Charles Busch is certainly talented enough to write a comedy without the camp of his best-known works (Psycho Beach Party, Vampire Lesbians of Sodom). After all, he scored a major success on Broadway a decade ago with The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife. But in his 2007 play Our Leading Lady, and now in Olive and the Bitter Herbs, Busch’s new comedy being produced by Primary Stages, there is a void at the play’s center that would normally be filled by Busch’s whirlwind performance and studiously casual line readings.
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A Lesson in Charisma
By Mark Peikert
Unless you’re already familiar with the world of opera and the life of Maria Callas prior to attending a performance of Master Class, well, playwright Terrence McNally doesn’t have much interest in catching you up. His 1995 play, set at one of the master classes Callas taught at Juilliard in the ’70s, thrives on delighting culture vultures by not talking down to them. You get a pat on the back if you recognize that “Sutherland” means Dame Joan, and that “Ari” is, of course, Aristotle Onassis. If you don’t know either reference, the bitchiness that runs through the play like an undercurrent will presumably keep your attention from wandering.
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Shakespeare is Main Act at Society Honoring Bard
At any given time in New York City, dozens of theater companies, schools and acting classes are mounting their own versions of Shakespeare plays. The Shakespeare Society aspires to help each and every one of them. The nonprofit institution, which until recently had been headquartered on the Upper East Side and continues to maintain programming in the community, exists to spread the word of the Bard through educational programs, residencies for directors and public events discussing the seemingly endless meaning that modern society can extract from Shakespeare’s canon.
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