In this unassuming parking lot, under an indifferent city sky, The Drilling Company conjured faeries, fools, and lovers in riotous splendor. Don’t just dream of theatre—see it lived, loud and luminous.
A gripping, gorgeously acted parable of power, truth, and sacrifice. This western isn’t about bullets—it’s about belief. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is vital, eloquent theatre. Do not miss it.
Bell, Isserlis, Denk, Duval, and Engstroem delivered a night of music-making that will linger in memory—a night where Fauré’s introspective muse met performers of eloquence, vitality, and soul. And together, they made magic.
In the intimate black box Chain theater on West 36th Street (a location that would have amused the Bard, who knew something about cramped performance spaces), Adriana Alter and her Atlas Shakespeare Company have accomplished something approaching the miraculous with this performance of Shakespeare’s Henry VI.
It is one thing to go to a show, whose subject is an icon – Nat “King” Cole – and be entertained. It is another thing entirely to be transported as soon as the person playing Cole, Dulé Hill, begins to sing. It is as though Hill dropped into another dimension and stayed there long enough to soak up the very molecules that made Cole an extraordinary talent.
The theme of the evening, if there was one, was “Let’s See What Happens.” And what happened at the New York Irish Center was a fusion of Irish and Brazilian Samba that created an earth-shattering beauty that is our essence, our deepest truth. The space was filled with microphones, music stands, chairs and instruments; over there lies an accordion, next to the accordion a banjo and fiddle, over there in front of the piano keyboard were two small tamborims with strikers, in the back on the other side of the room was surdos, and a conglomorate of other drums. The performers were hanging out, not knowing what to expect themselves, relaxed, talking, and chatting as the audience entered the space at the New York Irish Center in Long Island City. It was a relaxed performance, much like improvised performances in Irish pubs. You arrive with your instrument, tune up, and settle in to creating music with strangers who quickly become mates through the magic of music.
I PROMISE it will make you laugh. It made me laugh, and I am not a laugher. I am an observer who, when something is funny, often makes a mental note of that effect. But laugh out loud? Not so much. Wasn’t I surprised to be one of the people who nearly barked.
The only thing freeky about “A Freeky Introduction” is the astonishing amount of love, smarts, and hope that one person – NSangou Njikam (Freeky Dee) – can fit into one tight 85 minutes, never mind one theatre. With the aid of his DJ and sidekick DJ Monday Blue, Njikam leaps onto the stage and into our hearts. You don’t have a chance to deny him, because he is that slick. The deed is done before you realize it. S-L-I-C-K!!!
Donald Margulies has written a story that, at first glance, is chock-a-block full of metaphors and symbolism. Set in Western Kentucky, it is the night of a lunar eclipse. The eclipse offers lessons in life, continuity, time – all the biggies. They can look back on the passage of time reflected in their decades-old relationship and look up at the moon and see time passing in the here and now. There is mystery in the past and the present, and certainly the future. They live on the farm founded by George’s ancestors. These two are the last generation. George and Em have two adopted children. Tim is dead, and this has always been a problem. Marianne turned out okay, but she lives far away.
Back in the day, we would have called this “A Happening.” It was the time of “Dionysus in 69” by The Performance Group and works by Judith Malina and Julian Beck’s The Living Theatre. The lines between performer and audience were blurred decades ago. With HA HA HA HA HA HA HA, now at The Public Theater, the lines are obliterated.
