 | KenderTheater (@KenderTheater) |
Harvey Fierstein's new play "Casa Valentina" is acted and directed flawlessly, and keeps its viewer engaged. However, its take on identity and intolerance is too unwieldy and diffuse to fully succeed. | |
| KenderTheater (@KenderTheater) |
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Audra McDonald astonishes as Billie Holiday in Broadway's "Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill," but the play she is in is too obvious and melodramatic to move me deeply. But the show is worth seeing for Audra's eerie performance in which she submerges herself and becomes one with her character.
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| KenderTheater (@KenderTheater) |
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"different words for the same thing" is given a top notch world premiere production at @CTGLA Kirk Douglas Theater. It is a fine and moving exploration of loss, love and community, as well as a welcome introduction to terrific young playwright Kimber Lee. Fluid and sensitive direction by Neel Keller successfully weaves together the play's various character and themes. Certain character motivations could be delineated a bit more, but Ms. Lee is a talented writer with great promise. Note to Center Theatre Group: with respect to presenting original new works, "more please."
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| KenderTheater (@KenderTheater) |
I was entranced and engaged by the visual artistry brought to two Chekhov short stories by Baryshnikov and AnnIe-B Parsons' #BigDanceTheater in "The Man In a Case" @TheBroadStage. The elliptical style is not for everyone, but it worked for me. | |
| KenderTheater (@KenderTheater) |
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Kirk Lynn's #YourMother'sCopyOfTheKamaSutra is another winner at Playwrights Horizons - a raw, funny, unique, unpredictable and moving play about exposing one's vulnerability and what it means to be human. It holds its audience in a spell throughout. Thank you Playwrights Horizons for presenting a terrific production of another unique, smart and challenging work.
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| KenderTheater (@KenderTheater) |
They don't make them anymore like #bulletsoverbroadway...for good reason, it's a creaky bore. Lots of wasted resources on stage. Susan Stroman does what she can to keep it all moving, but the source material passed its expiration date at least several decades ago. | |
| KenderTheater (@KenderTheater) |
I will confess that I had some doubt that he could pull off the darker, more serious aspects of the role, but @ActuallyNPH [Neil Patrick Harris] gives it his all and pulls off an amazing performance in @HedwigOnBway. They can start polishing his Tony, because no musical actor this season is mesmerizing audiences the way NPH does in "Hedwig." While part of me misses the grittiness of the original 1998 production, and despite some concern in the first half hour that it was being played too broadly for laughs, in the end NPH and this production make it all work. The show on Broadway is both entertaining and moving, which is hard to pull off, but what this special show needs to work. | |
| KenderTheater (@KenderTheater) |
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Broadway revival of #Violet @RTC_NYC is beautifully sung, but failed to move me emotionally until close to the finale. No doubt as to who is the highlight and heart of this production, it is @joshuahenry20 who is simply fantastic here. Sutton Foster's voice is in top form here, but her acting choices (which are usually spot on) bewildered me somewhat.
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| KenderTheater (@KenderTheater) |
Terrance McNally's #MotherAndSons is a good (not great) play that feels like it needed to be written, and deserves to be seen. It is a fine addition to McNally's body of work. Tyne Daly is quite good in the lead role. | |
| KenderTheater (@KenderTheater) |
"Rest" @SouthCoastRep is another terrific Samuel D. Hunter play featuring ordinary people who find their essential humanity confronting life's biggest issues. It features an expert cast, with special mention to the outstanding performance given by Lynn Milgrim which grounds the work and expertly conveys the play's empathetic and humane themes. | |
| KenderTheater (@KenderTheater) |
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The Bristol Old Vic/ Handspring Puppet Company production of "Midsummer Nights'sDream" at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica is an unfortunate misfire. Although it has some fine visual moments, overall it felt misconceived & lacked the otherworldly aura and magic need to make Shakespeare's play work.
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| KenderTheater (@KenderTheater) |
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Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins' "Appropriate" @SignatureTheatr is outstanding and the best new play I have seen thus far this season. A terrific cast mines the play's considerable humor while imparting the insightful depth of this promising young playwright's message. Don't miss it.
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| KenderTheater (@KenderTheater) |
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Encores! "MostHappyFella" @NYCityCenter was a near perfect mounting of Frank Loesser's classic with a dream cast and orchestra. Simply enchanting.
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| KenderTheater (@KenderTheater) |
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James Franco is just plain awful and way out of his acting league, but Chris O'Dowd is an outstanding Lenny in hit-and-miss Broadway revival "Of Mice and Men."
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