279 stories by "Elyse Trevers"
If I had a product to sell, I'd hire comedian /actress Jackie Hoffman to be my spokesperson. With her rubbery face and perpetually dour expression, she's believable. She would never lie! On …
The playbill for Bertolt Brecht's play The Mother suggests immediately that the drama at The Performing Garage will be unique. Brecht himself noted that the aim of the play is not to enterta…
On September 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. It was the climax of the subprime mortgage crisis, the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history, involving more than US $600 …
Ruben Santiago-Hudson was raised by his grandmother. So he did what any talented theater person would do-he wrote a play about her! "Lackawanna Blues" is Santiago-Hudson's paean to his grand…
To many,"Six the Musical" was the show that was mere hours away from opening night when Broadway shut down in March 2020. A smash hit in London's West End, the show had already created buzz …
Language plays a significant role in "Pass Over," the play by Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu, whether through repetition, ambiguity or cultural references. It begins with the title referring to …
"I don't remember Christopher Lloyd," said the woman sitting behind us in the outdoor theater. "Jim from the TV show Taxi," we reminded her. "Oh, the crazy one." For some, Lloyd might seem l…
It almost felt normal. Although we had to wear masks to enter the theater and show proof of vaccination to get our seats, we were actually in an Off-Broadway theater sitting next to other pa…
In the 1970's, Harvey Milk, a gay charismatic politican, was assassinated for being openly homosexual. Using him as a pivotal character, Jerry James, Laura I. Kramer, Ellen M. Schwartz, and …
Full disclaimer: I am a John Cullum fan, so when I read that he was doing a one-man show tracing his long career, I looked forward to it. Filmed earlier this year and recorded with pianist J…
In her landmark book On Death and Dying, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross details the five stages of grief. Approaching it on a personal level in The Year of Magical Thinking, writer Joan Didion shares…
It has been over a year since Broadway theaters shut down, putting tens of thousands of people out of work. As more people are getting vaccinated and restaurants, gyms and bars are increasin…
Everything old can be new again with creativity. The question is how to make the traditional relevant and, more importantly, how to attract paying viewers. John Caird and Paul Gordon collabo…
It was a different kind of Halloween this year-no New York's Village Halloween Parade, no house parties, not even a lot of trick or-treaters. Many houses posted signs saying "no candy, see y…
 One of the controversial campaign issues this election year is immigration and the Zoom show "American Dreams" deals with the thorny issue head on. By participating in a game show, thre…
 I challenge you to watch The Line, streaming on The Public Theater site or YouTube, without being emotionally moved. Presented in the documentary style they used so successfully with Ex…
The statistics are staggering and heartbreaking. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, 1 out of 7 children was food-deprived. Now it is estimated that 1 out of 4 children is going hungry. With schoo…
What do you do when the show you are working on goes on hiatus and you are self-quarantined? If you are a member of a theater union like Theatrical Wardrobe Union Local 764 IATSE or United S…
Nothing can defeat the spunky Molly Brown " not poverty, hunger, illiteracy or even a sinking ship. She reminds us of her feisty spirit when she sings "till I leave the rear / It's from the …
Even seemingly well-adjusted families can be messy. In the new play "Grand Horizons," by Bess Wohl ("Small Mouths," "Make Believe,") a retired librarian, Nancy (the wonderful Jane Alexander)…
Romeo lives! At the end of the famous tragedy by Shakespeare, the young hero drinks poison and dies, but in "Romeo and Bernadette," the original Off-Broadway musical, an Amas Musical Thea…
 A simple railroad or subway ride leads you right to Madison Square Garden for top-notch children's entertainment. Shows are varied with appeal to youngsters and, often, even their paren…
I am intrigued by mentalists and mediums and always excited about a play that uses spiritualism as its theme. Even more so when the playwright is Lucas Hnath (A Doll's House, Part 2, and Hil…
It opens in a whirlwind of activity. The chef chops, minces, slices and dices, rushing between stove and counter. He throws in spices, tastes, then adds sauces, all to the jazz playing in th…
It's easy to understand why some people suffer from Coulrophobia (fear of clowns) especially when their clown faces are hidden under greasepaint, false noses and perpetually dour expressions…
