Saturday, April 20, 2024
Nancy (Lizzy Jarrett) finds the strength to leave husband Coleman (Oliver Palmer) with the help of Obediah Junior (John Cannon), a clean-living preacher's son. Soon it's apparent hers is not an ordinary love triangle or redemption story. Nancy is in love with the older Obediah (James Anthony McBride), preacher of a Pentecostal Church whose denomination handles snakes. Private and communal passions come together during the service that forms Romulus Linney’s Holy Ghosts. Theatre East's outstanding revival of this provocative drama is entering in its final week of an too-short run at Urban Stages. When Holy Ghosts premiered in 1976, Pentecostals and other charismatics represented a
Month: September 2018
The Gimmick & You with Michelle Drozdick at The Pit: Underground
Photos by Christina Georgandis - red dress Clinton Jones - green dress I've spent many of my 41 years on Earth on the fringe of the entertainment world, vicariously living life through the success of others by attending their shows and creative efforts. I've acquainted myself with a great many talents. This was true again on this very singular occasion, a Solo Improv production starring Queens native, Michelle Drozdick. I have been visiting The Pit as a performer and audience member for many years. Meeting friends and connecting at every turn. During my time there The Pit has solidified it's positioning
Jaap van Zweden’s First Week at The New York Philharmonic
With an opening night gala and an ambitious, awesome sounding first subscription concert, Jaap van Zweden officially became the New York Philharmonic's 24th Music Director. The Dutch maestro, who transitioned from Concertmaster of Amsterdam's Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra to conductor with the Leonard Bernstein's encouragement, comes to an orchestra still in serious need of overhauling and/or dynamiting David Geffen Hall and continuing its overdue image change. van Zweden's predecessor Alan Gilbert succeeded making the NYP a local and digital presence (here's hoping Gilbert gets his wish to one day conduct Olivier Messiaen’s St. François d’Assise because Manhattan socialites will never sign off on it unless
Satellite Collective presents ‘Echo & Narcissus’ at BAM Fisher
"Then she still had a body - she was not just a voice" is how Ovid describes the lovesick nymph Echo in Metamorphosis. The poet is less kind to Narcissus, the object of her desire. The royal teenager possesses too "much cold pride within his tender body." Though the romance one-sided and symbolism overt, the artists of Satellite Collective vividly and memorably reinterpreted the myth at BAM Fisher. It is too bad that there were only two performances of this imaginative production directed by Philip Stoddard. Literally reflecting Narcissus falling in love with his own image, Stoddard and Satellite Artistic Director
THE AЯTS at the Ellen Stewart Theatre, La MaMa
THE AЯTS makes you want to start a revolution. It’s a powerful wake-up call to take action. The urgent litany at the end of the play - “It’s time to save the NEA, we must save the NEA again,” has become an urgent mantra on repeat in my head since watching this vital production. We’re like frogs in a pot not realizing that the water is getting hotter. With so much political ‘drama’ coming out of Washington D.C., we mustn’t lose sight of the fact that real artists are losing funding. The National Endowment of the Arts is under threat
‘Scraps’ by Geraldine Inoa at The Flea Theater
Following last season's feminist theme, The Flea now shifts attention to "Color Brave." If Scraps by Geraldine Inoa is any indication, 2018-19 is going to be daring and necessary, words not applied enough to local theatre. The hard-hitting tragedy is now playing at the Flea's Siggy stage featuring resident actors The Bats. Scraps is not only a world premiere, it also marks Geraldine Inoa's debut as a professional playwright. A scriptwriter for The Walking Dead and recipient of a writing grant established by Shonda Rhimes, her play has no zombies or prime-time McDreamy/McSteamy romance, and the dialogue would never pass ABC
BROADWAY: GETTIN’ THE BAND BACK TOGETHER AT THE BELASCO THEATRE
(WARNING! Contains spoilers) New York City -- the most dazzling and difficult place to live out your wildest dreams and fantasies. They say: “If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere,” but truth be told, many don’t make it. Such was the case for Mitch Papadopoulos (played by Mitchell Jarvis) -- the protagonist of Gettin’ the Band Back Together -- a Jersey boy turned stockbroker who had to revert to living with his mother in his childhood hometown across the Hudson River in Sayreville, NJ, after his career took a nosedive when he turned forty. The show can be
Interview with Pavla Niklova: Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival –Vaclav Havel’s Legacy Lives On in NYC
Pavla Niklova is the Executive director of the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation (VHLF) and Artistic Director of The Rehearsal for Truth Festival. I met with her in the Dvorak Room at The Bohemian National Hall to discuss the upcoming theater festival from September 25 – 29, 2018. The VHLF together with the Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association (BBLA), will partner with Czech, Hungarian, Polish, and Slovak performing arts and cultural institutions to host the second year of a unique festival presenting the best in contemporary Central European theater. What gave you the idea to create The Rehearsal for Truth theater festival
Mint Theater’s Revival of ‘Days to Come’ by Lillian Hellman at The Beckett
When it opened on Broadway in 1936, Days to Come lasted seven performances. Perhaps audiences expected something more salacious from Lillian Hellman. Her debut play The Children's Hour had plenty, and her second about an Ohio strike had none. While Days to Come is no masterpiece, the Mint Theater's excellent production at The Beckett reveals a play mired in its past and present but anticipates the future. The Rodman siblings Andrew (Larry Bull) and Cora (Mary Bacon) are heirs to a brush factory. Though the factory has remained operational during the Great Depression, the dwindling family fortune leads Andrew and lawyer Henry Ellicott (Ted