Stage Left

Aug 6

Aug 6 REVIEW: “This Ain’t No Disco” Ain’t Kidding

“This Ain’t No Disco”, an original rock opera about the art, music, and dance club scenes of 1979 New York, ain’t kidding. This new musical is bland and soulless, overstuffed, overdone, and under-dramatized, with a cacophony of characters, ideas, and issues offering only a sprawling, shallow story that is neither unique, distinctly tethered to the history of the setting, or frankly, engaging. This isn’t just a flop, but a belly flop—the likes of which you rarely see on stage in New York anymore.

Aug 6

Aug 6 REVIEW: Shakespeare in the Park’s Festive and Musical “Twelfth Night”

Robert Russo

Review, Musical, Off-Broadway, Critic's Pick

The Public Theater presents a free, Public Works musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” in Central Park. Featuring songs by Shaina Taub and a cast in excess of 75 professional and amateur performers of all ages, races, sizes, and abilities, this “radically inclusive” production is magical, festive, and highly accessible. Infectiously energetic and buoyantly spirited, do not miss this jubilant new musical.

Jul 30

Jul 30 REVIEW: “Fire in Dreamland” Simmers

Robert Russo

Review, Off-Broadway, Play

The convergence of history and art, and the way stories can capture us, are explored impressionistically in “Fire in Dreamland”, a funny, heartfelt, but ultimately emotionally-thin and mysteriously-drawn new play at the Public Theater. Rebecca Naomi Jones is a standout, but the play contains too many furtive motivations and not enough stakes.

Jul 26

Jul 26 REVIEW: A refreshingly queer “Head Over Heels” brings the beat

Robert Russo

Review, Broadway, Musical

“Head Over Heels”, a new musical featuring songs by The Go-Go’s, is an upbeat, gender fluid, Renaissance retro romp that is decidedly, and refreshingly, queer. Clever enough and funny enough, though the songs are mostly lackluster, the heart of “Head Over Heels” never stops beating, and the show features a palette of diverse representation that matters.

Jul 26

Jul 26 REVIEW: Encores! Off-Center’s “Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope”

Robert Russo

Review, Off-Broadway, Musical

New York City Center completes this summer’s Encores! Off-Center series of five performance concert revivals of rarely seen Off-Broadway musicals with a presentation of “Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope”, composer/lyricist Micki Grant’s incisive 1971 musical revue about black life in America.

Jul 25

Jul 25 REVIEW: Young Jean Lee’s quietly enveloping “Straight White Men”

Robert Russo

Review, Broadway, Play, Critic's Pick

Young Jean Lee makes history as the first female Asian-American playwright with her quietly enveloping play “Straight White Men”; far from the raging jeremiad that many liberal theatregoers no doubt anticipate, this tightly directed and finely acted play is a smart, funny, and surprising look at questions of privilege and identity through the lens of America’s oldest and newest, and soon to be minority, group: straight white men.

Jul 23

Jul 23 REVIEW: Ivo van Hove’s “The Damned"

Robert Russo

Review, Off-Broadway, Play, Critic's Pick

Belgian visionary director Ivo van Hove presents a breathtaking and terrifying stage version of Luchino Visconti’s “The Damned” at the Park Avenue Armory. Documenting the rise of the Third Reich through the lens of one German family, it is one of the most profoundly unsettling, memorable, and perversely satisfying experiences I have had in the theatre.

Jul 23

Jul 23 REVIEW: Irish Rep’s “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever”

Robert Russo

Review, Musical, Off-Broadway

Irish Rep revives Lane and Lerner’s “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever”, a middling oddball of a musical from 1965. Gorgeously sung, and charming throughout, the romance at the heart of the plot is unconvincing and largely absent from the stage. This new adaptation gets the scale right, but doesn’t solve the flaws baked in to this simple and strange musical.

Jul 22

Jul 22 REVIEW: “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” rocks your soul!

Robert Russo

Review, Off-Broadway, Musical, Critic's Pick

“Smokey Joe’s Cafe”, a musical revue featuring 39 songs from the pop cannon of legendary songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, is a hyperkinetic 90 minutes of pure, joyful, electric entertainment; anyone looking for a jolt of high energy, head-shaking, toe-tapping fun should check out this rocking and soulful new revival at Stage 42 Off-Broadway.

Jul 17

Jul 17 REVIEW: Carey Mulligan in “Girls & Boys”

Robert Russo

Review, Play, Off-Broadway

Carey Mulligan gives a commanding performance in “Girls & Boys”, but the play is bloated, plodding, and dramatically unsatisfying. Skip it or listen to the audiobook instead.

Jul 16

Jul 16 REVIEW: “Mary Page Marlowe”

Robert Russo

Review, Off-Broadway, Play, Critic's Pick

Tracy Letts’ “Mary Page Marlowe” at Second Stage offers a fascinating, fragmented portrait of one ordinary woman’s journey through life, embodied by six actors in eleven time-hopping scenes. The tension of what happens to us versus what we control haunts the text as Mary Page traverses decades, surfing waves of feminism amidst the shifting roles of women from mid-century America to the present. Mr. Letts, director Lila Neugebauer, and an ensemble cast of 18 create a mosaic that is compelling, if ultimately mysterious.

Jul 8

Jul 8 REVIEWS: Rounding Out a Very Gay Year with “The Boys in the Band” and “Log Cabin”

Robert Russo

Review, Broadway, Off-Broadway, Play

Capping an unusually gay year for New York theatre, I take a look at what many consider to be the first gay play (“The Boys in the Band”) and what might be the newest gay play (“Log Cabin”). Catch the former if you can (tickets are scarce and expensive); skip the latter.