Saturday, May 18, 2024
The evening begins with an invocation to Egyptian goddess Hathor, praising her as “mistress of dance,” and “lady of jubilation.” But the woman who takes the stage is more evocative of Egyptian goddess Bastet with feline features and a catlike stride. Her stature barely surpasses 5 feet and yet she commands the entire space of the Theater at the 14th Street Y with her stately presence. This is Magda Saleh, the woman of honor and inspiration for this week long series of events and performances celebrating Egyptian dance, “in all its forms and traditions.” Ms. Saleh sets the tone with an
Author: Cindy Sibilsky
Cindy Sibilsky is a Broadway, Off-Broadway, US and international producer, tour producer, marketing/PR Director, and writer/journalist focused on fostering meaningful global cultural exchange through accessible, universally appealing entertainment. She is devoted to bringing shows and companies from around the world to the US and beyond, or calling attention to them through reviews. Cindy is a regular contributor for Broadway World, Anime News Network, and American Theatre Magazine, among others. Her writing has been translated into four languages. In 2019 she acted as guest editor, curator, and main features writer for a special edition of American Theatre Magazine on Japanese Contemporary Theatre.
Black Light at Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater
Jomama Jones is a celestial goddess, a High Priestess from the cosmos who has come down to Earth through the channel of Daniel Alexander Jones, to inspire and teach (but never to preach) in Black Light, a godsend of a production now playing at Joe's Pub at the Public Theater, as part of the mainstage season, through March 25th. There's even a specialty cocktail to mark the occasion, featuring activated charcoal with a purple glow stick as a stirrer to offset the darkness. We could all use a bit of aura cleansing and illumination at such crossroads, and an evening with
Jerry Springer The Opera Presented by The New Group at Pershing Square Signature Center
As Andy Warhol prophesied: "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." If only he understood just how true that statement would become! The artist and businessman, also known for adoring, although possibly exploiting, misfits and outcasts by making them into his Superstars, paved the way for the talk show boom of the late 1980s into the 1990s, which birthed the likes of Phil Donahue, Sally Jessy Raphael, Morton Downey Jr., and of course, Jerry Springer. But it was the guests, made famous for their infamous behaviors - the trannies, the trash talkers, people with quick tempers, loose
Under the Radar Festival at the Public Theater and Japan Society
Under the Radar Festival Presented by The Public Theater Antigonon Un Contingente Epico at The Public Theater Mugen Noh Othello at Japan Society Snapshot Review: Vivid and Engaging The Public’s Under the Radar Festival is an annual theatrical feast for New Yorkers and visitors alike to see cutting-edge new works from both the U.S. and abroad, representing 229 companies from 42 countries over the past 14 years. Their international work is always particularly interesting and not likely to be seen in such an accessible way at such affordable prices. The plays featured in this review come from two islands on opposite ends of the world whose
Mankind
Mankind Playwrights Horizons Snapshot Review: Darkly Hysterical Cindy Sibilsky, Reviewer With Mankind, playwright Robert O’Hara has secured his place as one of the most irreverent, interesting and important new voices in theatre and a true jewel in Playwright’s Horizon’s crown. His searing, darkly hysterical satire Mankind opens with a couple, post coitus, having “the Talk” about an unwanted pregnancy. Only they’re two men, “dudes” to be exact, for as the tense conversation boils, every other word is “dude!” in mock of the limited vocabulary of the prevalent Bro culture, forced with a predicament my own sex is usually on the receiving end of. The women