DIRTY BOOKS Created and Directed by Mara Lieberman A Production of Bated Breath Theatre Company Venue location: 39 W 14th Street #301 Play Website Reviewed by David Spencer It takes place on the third floor of a commercial office building, in a loft space that has the ambience of a repurposed living room in a […]

ARCHDUKE by Rajiv Joseph Directed by Darko Tresnjak Laura Pels Theatre Roundabout’s Archduke Website Reviewed by David Spencer This continues from my review of Gruesome Playground Injuries. If you haven’t read that one first, click here. …which doesn’t “complete its mission” either but seems clearer about its purpose. In it, three young Bosnian men have

GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES by Rajiv Joseph Directed by Neil Pepe Starring Nicholas Braun and Kara Young Lucille Lortel Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer For me, Rajiv Joseph is a compelling, distinctive, yet  hit-and-miss playwright. The good news: mostly hit, never dull. The flip side: his style palate is narrower than his story range.

THE BAKER’S WIFE Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz Book by Joseph Stein Based on the film La Femme du Boulanger by Marcel Pagnol adapted from a vignette in the novel Jean le Bleu by Jean Giono Starring Scott Bakula and Ariana DeBose Directed by Gordon Greenberg Classic Stage Company (CSC’s show website) Reviewed by

NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME Written by ERic J. Rodriguez and Charles Sothers Directed by Conor Bagley Newman Mills Theatre at MCC Theatre Space (Not an MCC production) Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Self-production no longer has the automatic taint of “vanity production,” because the economics of the theatre has changed so much in

MURDOCH: THE FINAL INTERVIEW A New Play by an Unnamed Source Directed by Christopher Scott Theatre 555 Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer It starts with actor Jamie Jackson portraying a TV interviewer in a fairly typical in-person one-on-one, “news magazine” vein. When, finally, he introduces the guest of honor, Rupert Murdoch…he plays Murdoch too,

LADY PATRIOT Written and Directed by Ted Lange Ensemble cast featuring Jill Whelan, Fred Grandy and Chrystee Pharris Theatre Row Reviewed by David Spencer I’ve never much liked the phrase “guilty pleasure,” because it tends to mean something you like despite your own usual standard, or worse, despite knowing better. When what’s really going on

ROLLING THUNDER Book by Bryce Hallett Arrangements and Orchestrations by Chong Lim & Sonny Paladino Directed by Kenneth Ferrone New World Stages Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Continuing on from my review of Call Me Izzy (consider reading its intro first, if you haven’t yet), the second show I want to examine in the

GENE & GILDA by Cary Gitter Directed by Joe Brancato Starring Jonathan Randall Silver and Jordan Kai Bernett 59E59 Reviewed by David Spencer I’m not so sure about Gene & Gilda. A celebrity bio play by Cary Gitter, it posits Gene Wilder (Jonathan Randall Silver) being interviewed for television by a late-night host (voice of

THE WEIR by Conor McPherson Directed by Ciaran O’Reilley Irish Repertory Theatre Reviewed by David Spencer Taking place in “a small bar in a rural part of Ireland,” The Weir features a few regulars, feisty old codger Jack (Dan Butler) and diffident, middle-aged Jim (John Keating), tended to by the wry bartender Brendan (Johnny Hopkins).

HEATHERS: THE MUSICAL  (2025) Book, Music and Lyrics by Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe Based on the screenplay by Daniel Waters Directed by Andy Fickman New World Stages Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Heathers, though off-Broadway, was the Broadway-scale sleeper of its debut in 2014. Upon its return—and to the same venue—it’s still quite effective.

COLLECTED STORIES by Donald Margulies Directed by Lori Kee Starring Grace Kiley and Christina Toth East Village Basement Tickets and Info Reviewed by David Spencer Among the most delicate and complicated re­la­tion­ships in the world of the arts is that between men­tor and protégé. Especially when at the start the mentor is a curmudgeon and

THE LAST LAUGH Written and Directed by Paul Hendy Brits off Broadway festival at 59E59 Reviewed by David Spencer Take three mid-20th century British standup comedians of three very different stripes: Tommy Cooper, a big man in a red fez, among whose gimmicks was magic tricks that don’t work, or don’t work as you’d expect;

SUMO by Lisa Sanaye Dring Directed by Ralph B. Peña Public Theatre Reviewed by David Spencer As they sing in Pacific Overtures, “let the pupil show the master.” That’s the trajectory followed at the Public Theatre in Sumo, by Lisa Sanaye Dring. Set in present-day Japan, it’s about 18-year-old Akio (Scott Keiji Takeda) who aspires

BECKETT BRIEFS (From the Cradle to the Grave) Not I, Play and Krapp’s Last Tape Directed by Ciarán O’Reilley Featuring F. Murray Abraham, Roger Dominic Casey, Kate Forbes and Sarah Street Irish Repertory Company Reviewed by David Spencer you might have to be to some degree into Beckett or what Beckett’s into…some what degree somewhat

STILL by Lia Romeo Directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt Starring Melissa Gilbert and Mark Moses Loreto Theatre at the Sheen Center Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer I tend to avoid spoilers, even when reviewing a play that doesn’t depend upon “suspense,” per se, Still being one of those; but there’s no way to discuss it

KOWALSKI by Gregg Ostrin Directed by Colin Hanlon The Duke on 42nd Street Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Kowalski posits the particulars of the first time Marlon Brando (Brandon Flynn) met Tennessee Williams (Robin Lord Taylor) upon showing up at his Provincetown house—three days late—to audition for A Streetcar Named Desire. He arrives on

THE ANTIQUITIES by Jordan Harrison Directed by David Cromer and Caitlin Sullivan Playwrights Horizons Reviewed by David Spencer There are theatrical evenings about which I, as both theatre critic and professional dramatist, can offer a reasonably objective, sometimes even definitive, view. There are others about which I have to cop to a subjective view, though

WE ARE YOUR ROBOTS Book and Lyrics by Ethan Lipton Music Composed and Performed by Ethan Lipton, Vito Dieterle, Eben Levy and Ian Riggs Directed by Leigh Silverman A Production of Theatre for a New Audience and Rattlestick Theatre Polonsky Shakespeare Center Reviewed by David Spencer We Are Your Robots has been branded a musical,

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE written by William Shakespeare adapted & directed by Igor Golyak for Arlekin Theatre Company at the Classic Stage Company Theatre Reviewed by David Spencer I suppose it’s not unknown for an experimental company to be hit-and-miss, but after what has to be characterized the triumph of Our Class, which returned a

FRANKLINLAND by Lloyd Suh Directed by Chika Ike Starring Thomas Jay Ryan and Noah Keyishian Ensemble Studio Theatre Reviewed by David Spencer There’s a whole helluva lot of dramatized malignant narcissism on display this season, and I begin to wonder if it’s become an easy trope. The latest abusive figure is none other than Benjamin

HOLD ON TO ME DARLING by Kenneth Lonergan Directed by Neil Pepe Starring Adam Driver Lucille Lortel Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Nearly a decade later, I’m still not sure what to make of Hold On to Me Darling, an almost O’Neill-length comedy—I think comedy— by the redoubtable Kenneth Lonergan, in revival at

FATHERLAND Conceived and Directed by Stephen Sachs New York City Center Stage II Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer There’s a lot to be said for docu-drama plays whose primary or entire dialogue is culled from actual recorded evidence (recorded meaning via print and/or electronic media). Tone and treatment are, of course, everything, and there’s

OUR CLASS by Tadeusz Słobodzianek Adapted by Norman Allen, from a translation by Catherine Grovesnor Directed by Igor Golyak An Arlekin Players Presentation at Classic Stage Company Play and Production Website Reviewed by David Spencer  Our Class is an unambiguously inventive evening or afternoon of theatre—but also very much an eye-of the-beholder one. An epic

CELLINO v BARNES Written by Mike B. Breen and David Rafailides Directed by Wesley Taylor and Alex Wyse Starring Eric William Morris and Noah Weisberg Asylum NYC Official Show Website Reviewed by David Spencer I got to this one late, but having been hipped to it by a friend on social media, noting that it

N/A by Mario Correa Starring Holland Taylor and Ana Villafañe Directed by Diane Paulus Mitzi Newhouse Theatre at Lincoln Center Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer If your theatrical desire can be satisfied by seeing see two profoundly talented actresses uncannily channel the essential physicality and personae of two current important and controversial beltway players,

THE SABBATH GIRL Book by Cary Gitter Based upon his play Lyrics by Cary Gitter and Neil Berg Music by Neil Berg Directed by Joe Brancato 59E59 Reviewed by David Spencer On the one hand, The Sabbath Girl is a fairly smart musical for its team to have created. It’s small, its production needs are

KING LEAR Adapted and Directed by Karin Coonroad A Production of Compagnia de’ Colombari Company Website Show Webpage Recently at LaMama Further Venues TBA Reviewed by David Spencer   There are, to broadly oversimplify, only two ways for a director to newly interpret a classic piece—assuming a certain essential faithfulness to text; within those two

TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE By Jeffrey Hatcher & Mitch Albom Based on the book by Mitch Albom Directed by Erwin Maas Starring Len Cariou and Christopher J. Domig A Production of Sea Dog Theater at St George’s Episcopal Church Reviewed by David Spencer I was surprised, looking into the old review archive, to find that my

TEETH Book and Music by Anna K. Jacobs Book and Lyrics by Michael R. Jackson Based on the screenplay by Mitchell Lichtenstein Directed by Sarah Benson Playwrights Horizons Reviewed by David Spencer With experience and—at nearly 70, I guess I have to say it at last, age—variously comes wisdom (one hopes)—and over decades I have

SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim Book by James Lapine Directed and Choreographed by Eamon Foley Axelrod Performing Arts Center Reviewed by David Spencer I write this on Wednesday, March 20, 2024—and I write quickly and in brief because as of tonight, there are only seven more performances (through

THE WHITE CHIP by Sean Daniels Directed by Sheryl Kaller MCC Theater Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer [I wrote most of what follows in 2019, when The White Chip made its off-Broadway debut at 59E59 with a 2/3 different cast. It’s one of those Zeitgeist coincidences that this show should cme around again, exactly as

THE LIFE AND SLIMES OF MARC SUMMERS Written by Alex Brightman Music by Drew Gasparini Directed by Chad Rabinowitz Starring Marc Summers New World Stages Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer I texted a good friend and sometime collaborator that I was en route to seeing The Life and Slimes of Marc Summers, and ID’d the

THE CHRISTINE JORGENSEN SHOW By Donald Steven Olson Directed by Michael Barkavia and Zoë Adams Featuribng Jesse James Keitel and Mark Nadler 59E59 Reviewed by David Spencer The Christine Jorgenson Show took me completely by surprise, and in a way it would be good if it took you by surprise too—the power of a genuine, sneak-up-on-you