Director Craig Baldwin's thrilling new adaptation of William Shakespeare's Richard II for Red Bull Theater boldly transposes the play's setting from late 14th-century England to a vibrantly realized, greed-is-good 1980s Manhattan. It is a choice that not only allows for some stunning costumes by Rodrigo Muñoz, but also conjures a period of national disunity, with... Continue Reading →
Four decades from now on the outskirts of Seoul, South Korea, the handsome and immaculately groomed Oliver (Darren Criss) spends his days contentedly confined to his stylish but tiny single-room apartment. He one-sidedly converses with his houseplant, HwaBoon (a far more amicable herbage than the man-eater Criss encountered Off-Broadway in Little Shop of Horrors), listens... Continue Reading →
Following the 2000 documentary The Eyes of Tammy Faye, produced by World of Wonder and narrated by RuPaul, and the 2021 narrative feature adaptation of the same name that won Oscars for lead actress Jessica Chastain and the film's makeup and hairstyling, the tantalizing tale of televangelist Tammy Faye Messner (formerly Bakker) is now on... Continue Reading →
The skill required to craft and perform truly great comedy is often underrated, so its refreshing to see the slew of much-deserved plaudits for Cole Escola's Oh, Mary! that currently adorn the marquee of Broadway's Lyceum Theatre. Included among the attention-grabbing endorsements is the show's own mock-boastful tagline—which channels the titular character's tendency for self-aggrandizement—"The... Continue Reading →
Cat-egory is: the Mother of Reinvention Five years after the critically mauled movie adaptation of Cats, that not even Taylor Swift could save, New York's Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC) ends its inaugural season on a major high with an inspired, exhilarating reinterpretation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1981 musical theatre classic as the worlds... Continue Reading →
If you put down your knitting, your book—and yes—your broom and make your way to New York's August Wilson Theatre right now (and likely for some years to come) you will find that it has been transformed into the Kit Kat Club for the latest revival (its fifth on Broadway) of composer John Kander and... Continue Reading →
Even Before the show's exhilarating, propulsive opening ensemble number "The Gospel" is over, it is clear that this is going to be a special night. Alicia Keys' 12-years-in-the-making loosely autobiographical musical, Hell's Kitchen, with a book by Pulitzer Prize-finalist playwright Kristoffer Diaz, is a breathtaking triumph. No wonder a Broadway transfer from its extended sell-out... Continue Reading →
Charismatic, likable and a bit of an oversharer, Blowhole's protagonist draws the audience into a world of digital dating, complex relationships and the power of the hole pic. Benjamin Salmon in Blowhole. Photo Credit: Darren Bell. We meet Him as he sits on the "throne" that takes centre stage. He explains he is hiding in... Continue Reading →
Danny Ball is alive as Ari, the drug-fueled, hungry protagonist of Loaded, an adaptation of Christos Tsiolkas’ novel of youthful queer excess in Melbourne, Australia. Updated to the 2020s by Tsiolkas and Dan Giovannoni, this one-man show is a fierce dive into the brain and body of a second-generation Greek-Australian defying the world around him.... Continue Reading →
The soap opera at the heart of Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning A Strange Loop creator Michael R. Jackson's uproarious new Off-Broadway musical, that gives the show its title and catchy recurring theme song, White Girl In Danger, is set in the town of "Allwhite" and features a story that is "Allwhite", as the opening... Continue Reading →
