606 stories by "Joel Benjamin"
Do we need another jukebox musical? In the case of "Rolling Thunder: A Rock Journey," the answer is a wavering yes. Written with more insight than usual by Bryce Hallett, with musical direct…
What has happened to Pilobolus? Two programs, A and B, under the umbrella title "Other Worlds Collection," made up the repertory during this visit to NYC. If Program A at The Joyce Theater i…
Each dancer contributes a unique personality and approach to the parade of styles, but when they all perform together it is as if they had been together forever. Each has a solo and a ch…
Hassan has managed to raise the strident, repetitive street rhythms and language of rap into an art form that gets to the heart of what ails these three colorful figures. To be frank, the la…
The twisty, but clichéd, choreography was not without its clever and eye-catching moments, but try as he might RamÃrez Sansano never fully defined the characters, hindered by the equally…
Six quite diverse works made up the program, four by Parsons and two by guest artists (Robert Battle and Rita Butler) who pushed the dancers to their limits. The guest choreographers worked …
Groff is simply sensational in both his roles, charming as himself and astonishing in his revelatory Darin. He confesses to being "a wet man." He proves it with his near aerobically …
Wesley Wray (center at microphone) and the company of the Broadway musical "Buena Vista Social Club" at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre (Photo credit: Matthew Murphy) The off-Broadway to Broad…
Brian Stokes Mitchell, Andrea Rosa Guzman, Christopher Jordan and Kate Baldwin in the opening scene from the New York City Center Encores! production of "Love Life" (Photo credit: Joan Marcu…
Andrew Scott in the one-man show "Vanya" after Anton Chekhov at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (Photo credit: Julieta Cervantes) A playful thought came to mind watching Andrew Scott (Sherlock on…
Even though the director, Rebecca Frecknall, honors most of the play's dialogue, Blanche's heartbreaking confession scene with Mitch (Dwane Walcott), her suitor, revealing the sad roots of h…
So much of "Talking with Angels" is taken up by the rantings of these otherworldly emenations, which are filled increasingly by cryptic, impenetrable spoutings referencing religious imagery,…
"Tango After Dark" came across as more of a slick cabaret act, albeit one that was performed and staged with professional polish. The dramatically focused lighting by original designer C…
Elliott has directed too realistically, turning "Curse" into a sad melodrama, minus the magic. Maybe Shepard's odd take on rural goings-on had more of a shocking appeal to sophisticated …
Featuring ballet great and former American Ballet Theatre star, Herman Cornejo in the leading role, "Anima Animal" was choreographed by Anabella Tuliano on Cornejo's ballet concert group fro…
"Lynchtown" (1936), probably Weidman's best known work, is an indictment of lawlessness and group anarchy. It is one section of a three-part work called "Atavisms." Members of the Sokolow Th…
Bitch turns herself inside out in ways sometimes difficult to bear, particularly with her frank, anatomical language, but she communicates her joy and anguish so honestly and unflinchingly t…
"What an awful name for a musical," spouts Little Sally (a brilliantly talented Pearl Scarlett Gold) as one of the narrators of the New York City Center Encores' witty production of the 2001…
This may not have been a typical program for the Malpaso Dance Company, but the troupe seems to lean towards the darker parts of life. As moving as each of the works are, they all painte…
The best constructed work was the finale, "Grace" (1999), in which Brown created a Goddess figure come down from Heaven "to spread grace among humans."Â In addition to a score by Duke Ell…
The troupe, led by a mother and two daughters"Aparna Ramaswamy, Ranee Ramaswamy (mother) and Ashwini Ramaswamy"presented "Children of Dharma," based on elements of the famous Hindu epic "The…
Jenny Lyn Bader's "Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library" has moved from a successful run at the 59E59 Theater to the intimate WP Theater on the Upper West Side. This is fortunate fo…
The main difference is the delightfully over-the-top, campy production that takes the audience into the fertile mind of Mark Morris and his artistic colleagues. The mostly black and white sc…
The second premiere was a battle of the sexes duet, "Me, Myself and You," choreographed by Elizabeth Roxas-Dobrish to a Duke Ellington song, "In a Sentimental Mood" sung lustrously by Brandi…
"Glitter and Be Gay" is not just a Leonard Bernstein aria from Candide, but the perfect description of the campily funny new musical "Death Becomes Her" which just hit the Lunt-Fontanne Thea…
