Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Director Sean Hagerty has crafted a sensational gift for you - a production of William Shakespeare's "Hamlet" that transports you to a sensorium of theatrical perfection. Part of the success of this work is that it takes place in the Grace Church in Jersey City (one stop on the Path train from Manhattan). The church setting creates a sense of grandeur, ritual and opulence. The sins of the characters seem more overt with God ever present in the stained glass windows and gothic arches. We become the congregation, the priest in the confessional, the court - we are complicit and
Month: March 2019
Smart Blonde at 59 E 59
“There are some who think Judy Holliday was the greatest comic actress of all time, and some who think she was simply the greatest comic actress of the century.” That’s David Shipman in The Great Movie Stars (the International Years), but it could be any film historian or astute film buff. The former Judith Tuvim of Queens just had a lighter, subtler touch, and greater ability to make you laugh and move you at the same time, than anybody else; her line readings were so precise, said George Cukor, who directed five of her 11 films, she’d give you a
Ballet Hispánico at the Joyce
"We did it!" was heard behind the curtain following Ballet Hispánico's world premiere of Edwaard Liang's El Viaje (The Journey). And yes, they sure did in a creatively diverse program at The Joyce through Sunday, March 31. All three ballets explored community. Notes accompanying El Viaje describe it as an "exploration of identity and the ghosts of a former life." The ghost is a woman (Melissa Verdicia) in red - the great dance color signifying uniqueness, magic or sensuality. Here, she is an exile from China and/or Cuba (hence red). She moves away and occasionally joins male and female dancers dressed in pale colors. It's apparent she
“Kiss Me Kate” at Studio 54
There’s only one other full-size Broadway musical revival in town right now, that thing uptown about Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins, so fans of golden age musicals had better hie themselves to Kiss Me Kate. But on arriving, they may find the 1948 classic, with a book by Sam and Bella Spewack and a career-high score by Cole Porter, has been tampered with to an unhealthy degree. To be sure, there’s still plenty of glory for the eye and ear. That starts with Mr. Porter’s fabulous work, a triumph for a composer-lyricist who had thought the then-recent revolution pioneered by Rodgers
‘Chimpanzee’ at HERE
Our primate friends and relatives have been taking it on their pronounced chins lately. The orange orangutan resemblance to the president was raucously noted in Adam McKay's brilliantly biting Vice, and Bubbles the chimp's BFF Michael Jackson was openly accused of being a predator in HBO's documentary Leaving Neverland. Then there is the nameless solitary female chimpanzee caged in her own show at HERE. Directed, created and designed by Nick Lehane, Chimpanzee is on exhibit through May 5 at the Dorothy B. Williams Theater. For those who are familiar with or new to HERE's Dream Music Puppetry program, Chimpanzee personifies what they do best: use the inanimate
“Death of a Driver” at Urban Stages
The two hardest types of theatrical production to pull off are polar opposites in complexity. On the one hand, there is the classic Broadway musical that requires a range of talents and has so many moving parts that it's a miracle any of them succeed. On the other, there is the simple play involving two people just talking, which is difficult because so much hinges on so little – just words as they are delivered. Will Snider's “Death of a Driver” is clearly of the latter class, and it is largely successful in delivering the words with a punch. Sarah (Sarah
Twelfth Night At The Sheen Center Black Box Theater
Frog and Peach Theatre Company presents an accessible Twelfth Night stripped of any artifice or extraneous "concept" to deliver an enthusiastic romp through one of Shakespeare's most hilarious comedies. We have all of the ingredients for an attention grabbing show - mistaken identity, gender bender complexities, pranks, fools, bawdy drunkenness, witty repartee, plot twists, disguises and satisfying reveals - all culminating in marriages. This whirlwind is underscored by Ted Zurkowski's glorious, original music. It's a fast-paced hurtle through the text, almost as if the cast are on a revolve and swivel onto stage to drop their plot turn before being