All in Review
“Beetlejuice”, the last new musical of the 2018-2019 Broadway season, is a ghoulishly good time that pays loving homage to the mythology of the movie while fundamentally reorienting the story and lending it an unexpected punch of pathos amid its crass and crude mania. Gorgeously designed with a Tim Burton aesthetic, and featuring a relentless series of bawdy jokes and entertaining songs, this hyperactive musical comedy might not meet the elevated aesthetic standards of some, but I had a blast.
A roundup look at three plays that recently opened at three of Off-Broadway’s best non-profit theatre companies: “Continuity” at Manhattan Theatre Club, “Dying City” at Second Stage Theater, and “Nomad Motel” at Atlantic Theater Company.
The York Theatre Company presents a top-notch revival of “Enter Laughing: The Musical” that is easily among the best musicals to have played New York all year. A tuneful 1930s period piece about a girl-crazy boy from the Bronx taking his first, comically misadventurous steps into the world of theatre, this once-forgotten gem is sure to have you exit laughing, and remembering why you love musicals.
A new, immersive Off-Off-Broadway production of “A Streetcar Named Desire” makes history as the first to feature a genderqueer actor as Blanche DuBois, but that’s only one reason to see this uncensored and visceral take on an American classic, performed mere feet from the audience and loaded with complex and raw performances. A must-see.
Two new comedies opened Off-Broadway in the last week, Aziza Barnes’ “BLKS” at MCC Theater and Peter Filichia’s “God Shows Up” at the Actors’ Temple; I take a look at each.
The last two play revivals of the 2018-2019 Broadway season could not be more different in the success of their execution. Here I take a look at Roundabout Theatre Company’s sterling production of Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons” (a critic’s pick!), and the abysmal revival of Lanford Wilson’s “Burn This”.
Fans of Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori’s “Caroline, or Change” who are eager to see this 2003 musical masterpiece on stage should check out the Astoria Performing Arts Center’s ambitious and well-executed production. While the trimmings are simple and the vocal performances vary in quality, the strength of the story still radiates.
Two recent productions of classic musicals get first-class treatment at New York City Center, Encores! presentation of “High Button Shoes”, which runs through May 12th, and MasterVoices’ concert production of “Lady in the Dark”, which ran for three performances in April.
Lucas Hnath’s “Hillary and Clinton” is a depressing form of inept and backhanded fan fiction, the very existence of which is irredeemably sexist. Putting the marriage and choices of one of the most accomplished and celebrated women in American history on stage for yet more public scrutiny is an indignity no male politician would ever face. Great performances aside, this inaccurate and intrusive play’s existence on Broadway feels irresponsible as a matter of civic integrity.
“Tootsie” is a mixed bag. A well-constructed, cheerful, and funny musical comedy with a suite of magnetic performances, it has a confused tone, disconnected visual and aural sensibility, and next to nothing smart to say about gender despite gender playing such a central role in the plot. It exists in no consistent reality, and leaves many circles left un-squared.
“Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations” is a seamless, slick, and exuberantly entertaining new musical that reclaims the “jukebox” genre with an energetic, fast-moving, and engrossing portrait-like study of The Temptations. This show looks good, sounds good, and feels good, and is easily one of the best catalogue musicals ever to grace The Great White Way.
Breathtaking and exquisitely crafted, “Hadestown” is easily the most tautly constructed and beautifully realized musical on this side of “Hamilton”—a riveting, heart-wrenching, and sumptuous folk opera that vibrantly renders some of mankind’s oldest and most enduring myths as an epic and compelling piece of modern musical theatre. This musical triumph is a must-see.
