GLAMOUR BEFORE THE FALL A pansexual Richard II struts through power, pleasure, and ruin in the 1980s In its current staging at the Astor Place Theatre, Red Bull Theater serves up a Richard I…
THIS BAT COMES OUT SWINGING Back in the nineties when tabloids ruled the world, there was one especially erroneous publication: Weekly World News. Presenting stories so outrageously false ye…
JOHN LEGUIZAMO'S THE OTHER AMERICANS IS RIFE WITH POTENTIAL THAT'S NOT ALWAYS REALIZED " MUCH LIKE THE AMERICAN DREAM ITSELF There are many kinds of Americans. Some were born here. Some emig…
SMART SELLS IT Jean Smart is a phenomenal stage actress of great depth and specificity. Not exactly news but since she's possibly best known as the warm-hearted and slightly naïve "Charle…
COLORISM, CRUISE SHIPS, AND COSMIC RECKONING Black myth meets modern identity in Aishah Rahman's last work. The glossary page of Britain's National Gallery website describes the concept chia…
GRACE, GRIOTS AND GOODIE BAGS The Baobab tree is an imposing, if unconventional, tree that grows in Africa along the Zambesi River. Also known as The Tree of Life, it seems to rise from the …
SINCE THE FRIDGE IS EMPTY, HOW ABOUT A GIANT BOWL OF GRIT? There's no place like home. Mom calls the cops, convinced Dad is going to kill her"he's drunker than usual and literally breaks dow…
YOU MAY NEVER LOOK AT YOUR LAPTOP THE SAME WAY AGAIN Is Artificial Intelligence, more commonly known as AI, our friend? Does this ubiquitous development make our lives easier, cleaner, more …
Learning another language is like becoming another person. " Haruki Murakami In 2008 Iran, four very different people struggle to learn a new language"a language that promises new opportunit…
EVERYTHING KREYÓL IS NEW AGAIN Seemingly caught between differing identities and life paths, Simone is at a crossroads. Half African American and half Haitian, this early thirties, nativ…
GET TO THIS MUSICAL ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE TO DRAG YOURSELF It's campy. It's trashy. It's WAAAAY over-the-top. It's ridiculous. It's stunning. It's funny. It's moving. It's touching. It's co…
WHOSE TOWN IS IT ANYWAY? Long before there was a Sheriff Taylor and a Mayberry (google it) there was a Stage Manager and a Grover's Corners. Thornton Wilder's classic paean to small-town lif…
THERE'S GOLD IN THESE HILLS It's always difficult for the children when a mother passes away, even if those children are adults. And if that mother is a strong-willed widow who struggled and…
THE BONES ARE INDEED GOOD, IF NOT A BIT SKELETAL The website houseful states, "good bones" refers to the core foundational elements of the home, "…a steady structure that can withstand tim…
NOT APPLICABLE Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) are two of the brightest political stars ever to walk the halls of the Capito…
IT DOESN'T JUST FLOAT, IT SOARS New York City Center's Encores! describes itself, Â "This series of concert stagings revisits the archives of American musical theater. Centered around The …
A SLINGSHOT IN THE DARK Poor King David. What a life. If the blonde-haired King of Israel isn't being duped by the local townspeople to fight Goliath, he's embarrassing himself at a cocktail…
COME HOME In the lovely Broadway revival of writer Samm-Art Williams' Tony-nominated play Home, an African-American man named Cephus Miles contemplates life or, more to the point, his life. …
LA COMEDIA DE THE COMEDY OF ERRORS Full disclosure, I don't speak Spanish. Oh, I've picked up a few phrases over the years and still remember a bit of what Mr. Sanchez taught us in high scho…
SOMETHING WONDERFUL IS COOKING IN HELL'S KITCHEN What else can be said about Alicia Keys'Â new Broadway musical Hell's Kitchen, that its recent thirteen Tony Award nominations, including o…
HOW GOOD YOU GOT IT There's an old saying that goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." But is "fixing" always a bad thing? What if that fix is not about correcting what's wrong but more abo…
Doubt is an uncomfortable condition, but certainty is a ridiculous one. ― Voltaire The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines parable as,  "…a usually short, fictitious story that…
PERICLES AT CLASSIC STAGE: A CLASSIC STAGING OF PERICLES Pericles by William Shakespeare is not a drama. Or comedy. It's a Romance. A lovely romance that touches upon incest, forced prostitu…
AN EDENIC PRODUCTION AT LINCOLN CENTER Full disclosure, I'd never heard of Stephen Schwartz's 1991 musical Children of Eden before seeing this one-night only, concert performance at Lincoln …
A STICKY SCRIPT Bees, those often annoying little creatures who have a knack for showing up at just the right time to ruin any number of outdoor activities, serve an important function. Name…