Aging is Not a Fairy Tale at the Theater for the New City is a delightful, charming, humorous admixture of favorite fairy tales and characters. The repartee was well crafted and sophisticated, and the cast masterfully executed the many subtle and less subtle jabs with splendid, natural timing and assurance.
Telling Tales out of School is a quick-witted, sharp, intelligent look at the world of the Harlem Renaissance and its artists. These women are each strong and fearless, witty and dry, considerate and caring.
The Frogs with Nathan Lane presented an outstanding new adaptation, and judging from the packed theater and accolades, Lane is again celebrated for his superb gifts of humor and narration.
Redwood, now playing at Ensemble Studio Theater, is a story with layers upon layers of human history, it is a story of immediacy, of familiar and unfamiliar light, of purpose and perception. How the story unfolds in its flash dance, aerobics, and musically wonderful theatrical on-fire staging is stupendous, joyful, and ravishing.
The Constant Wife was charming, fun, witty, droll, elegant, and deserving of the full house and extended ovations. From the onset, listeners were drawn into a mesmerizing plot of well-crafted characters. The company frolicked while gliding through hypocritical attitudes and gender roles prevalent in early 20th-century society.
PUFFS at the The Theater at WHATco bergan with the company storming the stage with verve as they presented this parody of the Harry Potter franchise. PUFFS portrays the story of a group of underdog students from Hufflepuff House at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. We follow the madcap antics of Wayne Hopkins, an overly enthusiastic Puff who dreams of being a hero like Harry Potter.
Scrambled Eggs by the author Reginald L. Wilson made its world premiere at the Gene Frankel Theater in New York City. It was crafted in honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. It was billed as a “compelling play on domestic violence is meant to incite conversation, build understanding, and inspire advocacy.”
As the audience gathered for HEDY! The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, we were transported through time by a captivating blend of visuals and sounds. Simple props from the era and film clips of Hedy Lamarr added to the allure. As we watched, we heard music like Cole Porter’s You Do Something to Me (1929) and Wang Wang Blues (1920) performed by Paul Whiteman and His Ambassador Orchestra.
Nightmare Dollhouse was a spooky, creepy doll-themed event that sent shivers down spines, horrible horripilations indeed! The event was staged in an old building in New York’s Lower East Side. One inched through the dimly lit rooms while walking or crawling through creepy spaces. Strange artifacts, surprises, and spine-tingling antics by weird characters made the heart race. I’ll not give it all away, but my favorite may have been sticking needles in a voodoo doll as the victim squirmed, or wait, perhaps I enjoyed drinking from a child’s make-believe haunted tea set as I was offered a ‘biscuit’ shaped like a giant cockroach.
Candace Bushnell, best-selling author, performed her one-woman show, True Tales of Sex, Success and Sex and the City, at The Green Room 42 in New York City in a sold-out performance.
