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.