Category Archives: Broadway
A Perfect Time to Revive ‘A Few Good Men,’ More Relevant Than Ever
With the Democrats sweeping the midterms and declaring “America is back,” Aaron Sorkin’s A Few Good Men, performed in 1989 and made into a superb titular film in 1992, starring Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson deserves revisiting. At the heart of the exciting courtroom drama unfolds the theme of following orders, regardless of their legality. Furthermore, what does it take to stop the type of corrupt culture that promotes following illegal orders into criminal acts?
The answer is, “a few good men.” Thus, for wickedness and corruption to flourish, good people do nothing to stop it. Sorkin’s early work with its trenchant themes, prescient and applicable for us today, has been given an update at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont and runs through January 10, 2027.
For the Marines in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and indeed for military units everywhere, following orders is an imperative, presuming the orders are lawful. However, the oath that LCpl Harold W. Dawson (Lavel Schley) and PFC Louden Downey (Collin Kelly-Sordelt) uphold to “Unit, Corps, God, Country” which involves a “Code Red” gets them tried for murder. When they followed orders, PFC William T. Santiago dies. The question remains whether or not they poisoned him to get revenge, or Santiago died accidentally as they followed orders to train him with an illegal “Code Red,” which they should have disobeyed. Especially in the military, illegal orders must not be obeyed as the military abides by their oath not to a man, but to the law, i.e. the Constitution.
Interestingly, the commanding officers of the JAG Corp (Judge Advocate General’s Corps) responsible for military justice, bypass the highly competent Internal Affairs LCDR Joanne Galloway (Krysta Rodrguez) as Dawson and Downey’s defense attorney. This fact, clues in the cover-up and network of men “turning a blind eye to justice” to protect LtCol Nathan R. Jessep (Bradley Whitford), who runs his base as his own private loyalty compound.
If Galloway, a highly organized, efficient advocate defends the men, her prior MO suggests she will leave no stone unturned to achieve justice. Possibly, this will involve a lengthy trial and negative publicity for the defendants, their officers and the base. Also, it may wreck Jessup’s chances at a plum promotion, since he most probably will land the position of Director of Operations for the National Security Council after his imminent retirement.
With Jessup in mind, JAG officers assign the case to LTJG Daniel Kaffee (Tom Blyth), a cavalier, unserious, trial novice with a penchant to defend soldiers using plea bargains and quick fixes with bravado. He avoids the inside of a courtroom, having never tried a case. Furthermore, he makes it known he joined the military to pay off his student loans. Thus, his ego permits him to do his job, but he has fun playing sports with the other JAG officers more, and obeys the rules not incurring a court-martial. Tom Blyth inhabits the evolving Kaffee believably.
Sorkin structured his information-dense and complex play to gradually uncover the underlying corruption of the men at the top. Thus, without giving key information, Sorkin builds his arc of development layer by layer, withholding details and creating suspense. Importantly, the playwright with nuance dicloses the egos, the ambitions, the feelings of inferiority and the shame of various characters. The excellent lead actors (Blyth, Rodriguez, Whitford, Michael Oberholtzer as prosecuting attorney Jack Ross and malevolent John Zdrojeski as 1stLt Jonathan Kendrick) pinpoint the internal flaws and interpersonal conflicts among the individuals.
As the various characters become enlightened and the villains panicked, the audience remains engaged. Invested with the questions of justice and accountability, the passed over Galloway provokes Kaffee’s pride and ambition to realize the case deserves more than a guilty plea. Meanwhile, his client Dawson refuses an admission of guilt falling back on the “following orders” defense (used at the Nuremberg trials by Nazis). With the forceful Galloway taking Downey’s defense after manipulating his relative, Galloway and LTJG Sam Weinberg (Nick Blaemire), Kaffee pursues true justice. However,, as happens in a morally corrupt social network, the officials will trap the “small fry” while the “big fish” swim free to create more havoc. The parallels to the present are thematically, horrifically clear.
As antagonists, Kaffee and Galloway continually spar. Rodriguez’s Galloway struggles to be heard amongst the men and proves she is more than one of them. First, they argue about whether the case goes to tria,l with Kaffee’s friend Sam counseling him. Then, at a turning point, Kaffee decides to come on board and they consider how best to provide a viable defense. Identifying crucial information via Galloway’s questions and expertise, it appears they’ve succeeded until at the last minute, their successes blow up with an unsalvageable failure by Galloway. Because the mistake forces Kaffee to rethink his approach, he eventually discovers an unimpeachable line of inquiry.
Kaffee and Jessup’s conflict of egos threads throughout becoming the linchpin of how Kaffee decides he will defend the men in a courtroom. The final turning point arrives when Kaffee must stand alone risking his career and future to confront the only witness who can free the men since Maj Matthew Markinson (Thom Sesma) commits suicide. But that involves getting Jessup to testify against himself.
Clearly, Sorkin’s characterizations reveal how their weaknesses lead to the death of an individual and a potential miscarriage of justice. Of course the justice warranted involves true accountability and not yes men lifting up a potentially dangerous leader to a position of power where he will do even more harm. Finally, Jessup’s arrogance honed over the years through unquestioned power and twisted mores hoists him on his own petard with Kaffee’s help. Bradley Whitford nails Jessup as a match for Blyth’s Kaffee.
The high points resonate crafted by director Michael Arden’s acute judgment regarding the staging amidst Dane Laffreey’s symbolic, stylized set design. Laffrey’s design, and lighting design by Japhy Weideman convey stark, warm, frightening, etc., atmospheres to accompany the changing mood and tone of various scenes. Joshua D. Reid’s sound design aptly enhances. Arden makes sure to use the cavernous stage. For example he places Markinson on scaffolding (in the airport scene) distant, above the men who eventually confront each other down below in the courtroom during the trial.
Symbolically, as a key witness, Markinson alone can exonerate the men. His final choice reveals sacrifice, loyalty and duty; his actions reveal just enough to lead Kaffee to make his decision about how to best pressure and confront Jessup. The final scene between them culminates into a satisfactory conclusion. At the close the superb, symbolic lighting clearly points what we must undertand to be black and white.
The creatives do a fine job to convey the shadowy world of the military that civilians do not easily comprehend. The opening line of soldiers emerge from the darkness into the light with their rifles doing maneuvers. The flag draped coffin transfixes as one Marine folds the flag. Symbolically, the memorial signifies outfitted Marines stand at the ready like sentinels moving the fallen from one world to the next. Additionally, Arden features the soldiers in shadow, backlit or with their backs to the audience, anonymously everpresent, to be respected. Theirs is an austere world with rules and mores, Arden suggests. His creative vision all the more strengthens the moral imperatives and questions Sorkin raises. The director masterfully highlights these, shepheding a fine ensemble and creatives. This memorable production gives a sounding of the current leadership of the military and its commander-in-chief.
A Few Good Men runs 2 hous 35 minutes with one intermission through January 10, 2027 at the Vivan Beaumont Theater lct.org.
‘The Imaginary Invalid’ With Bill Irwin, Marvelous Fun
If laughter does good like a medicine, The Imaginary Invalid by Molière adapted by Bill Irwin from a translation by Doug Skinner will set your body humming with health and joy. The French farce with its roots in commedia dell’arte premiered in 1673 when a sick Molière played the hypochondriac lead Argan, finished the fourth performance giving it everything he had, then collapsed and died at home hours later. With that ironic send-off, the play has lasted for over 350 years, securing the playwright’s legacy with his other globally produced works.
This cleverly wrought production directed by Brandon J. Dirden currently runs at the Todd Haimes Theater until November 22, 2026. It is a treat to see this classic lovingly handled with precision by cast and creatives who obviously appreciate its satiric whimsy and trenchant current themes.
Bill Irwin, the clown prince of theater who brings his background at Ringling Brothers to his performances (pacing, mime and rhythm), leads a fine ensemble. These include Rachel Bloom, Brooks Ashmanskas, Dylan Baker, Hiram Delgado, Crystal A. Dickinson, Ava Lalezarzadeh and Daniel Croix Henderson. Portraying the wealthy Argan who spends a fortune on his persuasive doctor’s regimens and medicines, Irwin superbly delivers his humorous portrayal of Argan, balancing authenticity with innate comic timing. His high stakes investment in the character’s belief that without the doctors’ treatments and prescriptions he would be dead in three days, Irwin presents the field upon which the ensemble zanily frolics.
With a nod to commedia dell’arte and the Commedia Francise, a prologue which is a dumb show (pantomime), lays out the events of the play and dresses the stage with Beowulf Boritt’s ingenious, period, scenic design. The masked, robed Pantolone character gets the audience’s attention, striking a long staff on the stage floor. Then, with the staff he strikes the traditional Trois Coups which summons the actors to begin the play. The actors’ seamless movements, directed by Lorenzo Pisoni, whisk the mesmerized audience from the digital age to the 17th century’s comedy of manners.
Subsequently, masked, robed doctors pull long, red ribbons from Pantalone’s robe, symbolizing the bleeding treatment practiced at the time. During that process, they pull into place the walls and the ceiling, and add the simple pieces of furniture to create the home of Argan and playing space for the actors. Through the hustle and bustle, Irwin invisibly takes his position center stage in a modernish recliner. The robed, masked actors crowd around and dress him, back to the audience, then swivel him around. Lo and behold Irwin has transformed into the iconic hypochondriac!
Spinning its magic the play builds and explodes with satire and farce into a morality tale about obsessions with quack doctors, true and false love, and a brilliant, underestimated servant who saves the day, all in the 90 minute twinkling of an eye.
Economy and efficiency for maximum laughs are the watchwords for this production. The current, edgy dialogue serves as a counterpoint to the situation and subject matter, which Irwin’s adaptation smartly leaves in the 17th century. However, to streamline the play, Irwin removes the customary “interludes,” balletic dances, that lengthen Molière’s work into three acts. Also, Irwin removes the ancillary scene with the younger daughter Louison, who Argan interrogates for information about his daughter, her sister, Angelique. Removing the scene doesn’t impact the plot development or themes.
Essentially, Irwin keeps the structure and the problems driving the forward momentum of the play. For example, customary at the time wealthy families set up arranged marriages which Argan does with a satiric twist. The marriage he proposes is not an economic arrangement because no one needs financial assistance. Instead, it erupts from Argan’s desire to indulge his hypochondria and always have a doctor, or two or three at the ready. Dr. Diafoirus (Brooks Ashmanskas) and son Thomas (Hiram Delgado) are the brother and nephew of Dr. Purgon (Brooks Ashmanskas), Argan’s primary physician. If his daughter Angelique (the lovely Ava Lalezarzadeh) marries Thomas, Argan presumably will have 24/7 access to all three doctors.
In the funny scene when Thomas first meets Angelique, we learn in coded language that he can hardly wait to have children and is practicing by himself, alone. The reference to masturbation lands, LOL. Additionally, Thomas argues a thesis against the circulation of the blood and against the obsession with “cleaning of wounds” prior to surgery. Thus, we know how ineffective, even dangerous he is, especially because he stubbornly believes in his own righteousness. Thomas appears as the 17th century equivalent of a 21st century dweeb.
Though Argan’s word is law, the lovely Angelique loves Cleante (Daniel Croix Henderson). With Toinette’s help and understanding, the couple hope to pledge themselves to each other.
Wisely, Irwin includes the singing scene between Angelique and her love Cleante (Daniel Croix Henderson). Humorously, they sing an opera in codes to each other in front of Argan and the others. The audience, clued into their love “gets” it. Of course the fun turns into laughs as Argan gets annoyed and ends up foolishly ridiculing himself. Thus, he continues to push the marriage between Angelique and Thomas. As the complications heighten when Argan’s wife Beline (Crystal A.Dickinson) insists Angelique go to a nunnery, the suspense builds. Who will help Angelique marry the man of her dreams and not the slow-witted, unappealing Thomas?
Brooks Ashmanskas portrays both brother doctors, refining the ‘”likeness” of each. However, despite differences in long, curly period wigs (Nikiya Mathis), variations in stance, speech, demeanor, costuming (the excellent Karen Perry), we note they are one in the same. With ironic intention, we recognize their same pompousness, foppishness and presumptuousness of erudition. Casting the fine, comic actor in both roles gives the audience more time to appreciate his send up of greedy doctors, and enhances the themes.
For example, the irony of casting Ashmanskas to play the younger brother Dr. Diafoirus and the older Dr. Purgon who appear in different scenes reveals how their exploitive, unscrupulous natures run in the family. As we expect, Thomas copies his charlatan father and uncle. Indeed, Delgado stokes laughter when Thomas explains his approach in never moving from the “Ancients” fixed methods into the discovery method. The family prefers to “practice” not at court where they would be held accountable for their bad, dangerous remedies since the king and courtiers expect cures. The Purgon clan only concerns themselves with proper form, not cures. Thus, they treat their own private patients whom they’ve cultivated. These patients, like Argan are gullible “cash cows,” Toinette (Rachel Bloom) counsels Argan who ignores her.
The brothers overcharge for the simple treatments like enemas, bleeding and purgatives which cause vomiting. As Beralde (the excellent Dylan Baker), Argan’s brother chides, the fact that Argan lives after all their harmful regimens proves his healthy constitution. But Argan is enamored of being ill and enjoys the attention and sympathy it brings from his second wife, the gold-digger Beline (Crystal A. Dickinson). Obviously, she plots with Bonnefoy (Hiram Delgado) to disinherit Angelique and extract as much cash as possible while Argan lives. Then, she inherits all of it after he dies. Argan’s foolishness must be countered before Angelique ends up evicted and in a convent. Will the conniving Beline win?
In fact Beline and the doctors work double time to part Argan from his money. Thus, three themes stand out in the play’s unraveling. First, golddiggers marry sick men to easily inherit. Second, doctors over charge for treatments that don’t work. Third, the course of true love never runs smoothly. These and others unspool with histrionics and hilarity. Additionally, Moliere’s theme that education can be meaningless unless put to effective use, threads throughout. Clearly, the anecdote appears to be in addition to Beralde’s dictum to “rest, ” would be to observe and watch. Observation like that accomplished by Bloom’s Toinette and Baker’s Beralde provides the wisdom to expose the difference between the liars, the frauds and the caring truth tellers. Thus, to see fact from fiction, we must watch what “they” do, not what they say. In that The Imaginary Invalid rings most true for us today.
The Imaginary Invalid runs 1 hour 30 minutes at the Todd Haimes Theater through November 22, 2026
roundabouttheatre.org.
‘School Girls; or, the African Mean Girls Play,’ What it Means to be Young, Gifted and a Black Girl in Ghana
It’s 1986 in Ghana, an exciting time of proms and beauty pageants in the lives of five teens attending Aburi (Eh-Bree), a Girls Boarding School in the Aburi Mountains. Jocelyn Bioh has created another superb, funny and profound work in School Girls; or, the African Mean Girls Play. Directed by Whitney White in a perfect collaboration with Bioh-it won them a Tony-nomination for Jaja’s African Hair Brading-once more they hit it out of the park with a jewel of a production. School Girls; or, the African Mean Girls Play has been extended through November15th, 2026 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. The extension reveals the audience’s love and appreciation for the themes and sensational, LOL ensemble. The production is a stepped up Broadway debut from its premiere Off Broadway.
Not only do we get to appreciate the cast led by award-nominees Denée Benton and Jordan Rice, we see the versatile Jasmine Amy Rogers, Tony-award nominated for the titular role in Boop! The Musical. White has selected a multi-talented cast to create a fan favorite. With authenticity, humor and heartbreak they reveal the key theme that meanness knows no boundaries in every culture, regardless of color or nation. Unfortunately, the noxious, warped values of appearance fascism, colonialism, and Black-on-Black appearance racism infect the beauty, innocence and unity of young girls everywhere. This seems especially so as they prepare to “earn” their place in a values twisted global society run by an oppressive patriarchy.
Bobby Brown’s “It’s My Prerogative” umspools in the background, signaling the time period, a patriarchic theme the girls and woman ascribe to unsuccessfully, and the African girls’ adoration of Brown. After a few bars of the song, the cast sits center stage dressed in the colorful uniforms of the school (Qween Jean’s costumes) in a spacious lunch room designed by Teresa L Williams. However, all hope for an uplifting experience chokes off when Benton’s Paulina fat shames Nana (Erin Morton) about eating carb-packed porridge instead of an apple. Paulina cues in her subjects, Mercy (Jordan Rice) and Gifty (Nia Otchere-Sarfo), to parrot one of her mantras to stay in this popular group which she commands with a velveteen iron rod. Nana must deprive herself “to stay fit,” “looking fine-fine.” The implied threat of what will happen if she stays fat like a cow conveyed by Benton’s thin cheering squad stays unspoken at this time. Clearly, Nana’s days are numbered unless she gets on Ozempic (not invented yet).
Benton’s Paulina rules with cruelty using a “value” perpetrated by the patriarchic, US entertainment industry to psychically oppress all females young and old with the fascist body type image: blonde, beautiful, “fit,” aka thin. One can’t be “too rich or too thin.” The mantra which augmented from the1960s well into the 1980s disappeared with a “Women Have Curves” backlash, then vengefully returned with the side-effects ridden Glp-1 drugs in the 2020s. Fat shaming weaponized by men and women alike to create a sacrosanct pecking order of beauty and excellence keep the weight loss industry humming in the multi-billions. Bioh gives a nod to this anathema of women trying to “be” something, and places it at the top of her play with an undemocratic Paulina.
Not only does Paulina control the others by making Nana feel inferior, she uses that weapon to keep Mercy, Gifty and Ama (Lucia Aremu), loyal and “worthy.” Additionally, Paulina later uses her own making others feel like worms “empowerment” to force Nana to wrongdoing for her own advantage. Clearly, Paulina has learned how to dominate from the inherent system of hierarchy run by men, who lure adult women to set inequitable standards precisely to maintain control over the entire system. When Paulina leaves the lunch room momentarily, Mercy and Grifty apologize to Nana telling her they have to be nasty or Paulina will pick on them. Thus, continues the uproarious and painful ego belittling exercises these teens go through with each other, fostered by corrupt global mores that Headmistress Francis (Heather Alicia Simms), buys into educationally spreading the rot.
Two turning points occur which advance the levels of complexity and outrageousness for Paulina and her crew and bring karma back on Paulina with an interesting reversal. First, her crew and most everyone in the school believes Paulina will win the audition for the Miss Ghana beauty pageant, especially Paulina. However, the “queen” throws a silent fit when Headmistress Francis introduces the group to a transfer student from the US who will also audition for the beauty pageant. Not only does the beautiful bi-racial, talented Ericka (Jasmine Amy Rogers) whose father’s ancestry is Ghanaian, have much lighter skin, her vocal talents rival Whitney Houston’s. White’s superb staging of the audition scene where each girl competes to be selected for the Miss Ghana candidate brings maximum, riotous, audience laughter
In the second turning point Eloise Amponsah (Patina Miller), Miss Ghana 1966, intends to lift the country and the Miss Ghana winner by entering her into the Miss Universe pageant. By recruiting a girl who can compete commercially because her skin tones compare with those from Argentina, Brazil and Sweden, she tells Headmistress Francis, only one candidate can win, Ericka. Then she speaks her rationale why. Everyone benefits: Eloise receives a promotion, the school fallen on hard times will receive a generous donation, and Ghana will place in the Miss Universe Pageant and maybe win. However, two obstacles stand in the way; a ferociously competitive Paulina and Ericka’s questionable Ghanaian heritage.
Though Headmistress Francis has invested time and money with Paulina, even paying for hospitalization because Paulina wounds herself with skin bleaching creme to whiten herself to no avail, Eloise Amponsah’s ferocious competitiveness comes into play to champion Ericka. Paulina who tries to expose the sweet Ericka’s questionable heritage creates chaos, provokes fisticuffs with Ericka, and harm to Nana and the other girls.
Whose personal power will dominate, Headmistress and Paulina, or Eloise Amponnsah and Ericka? Bioh reveals the inherent corruption, bigotry and debilitating messaging such a competition presents. Indeed, the pageant symbolizes how global nations see African nations like Ghana as inferiors to exploit. The choice between Paulina or Ericka has repercussions that extend far beyond lifting national pride. Cui bono and at what cost?
Sensational actors whose moment-to-moment portrayals make the stakes comical, yet heartfelt, complex and real. Boih suggests sub rosa that twisted values continue because corporations benefit. They increase their profits from damaging skin bleaching creams to diet and medical industry weight loss devices, etc. Global countries lift up commercial enterprises like the Miss Universe Beauty Pageant and promote cultural images of beauty to benefit related industries. Bioh’s African Mean Girls asks what is the cost to Black girls in Ghana who intend to succeed by any means necessary because that is how the patriarchy has set up the life or death game. The play brilliantly highlights these multi-layered concepts along with the overarching theme of the velvet, terrorism of group relationship dynamics. Indeed, these themes reveal a dangerous soul-killing matrix that compels its subjects to to get to “a top” that someone else created for them not to reach.
School Girls; or The African Mean Girls Play which runs 1 hour 25 minutes with no intermission, enjoys an extension through November 15, 2026 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater; manhattantheatreclub.com.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Ed Harris, Allison Janney, ‘Other Desert Cities’ Awash in Celebrities, a Must-See
With a celebrated cast led by Julia Louis-Dreyfus in her Broadway debut, Jon Robin Baitz’s Other Desert Cities, currently in revival at the Hudson Theatre was highly anticipated. Lily Rabe, known for her fine work at The Public’s Shakespeare in the Park, and Joe Kerry, making his Broadway debut, round out the award-winning, versatile cast who are certainly well worth seeing. Of course, they do a yeoperson’s job in Jon Robin Baitz’s complex, tricky play which asks the audience to leap from well-placed humor and light-hearted tone to the darker side of sacrificial revelation which can and should release an emotional catharsis. Other Desert Cities runs through January17, 2027 at the Hudson Theatre.
Directed by Jon Benjamin Hickey Other Desert Cities doesn’t quite get to its expected cathartic, profound, heartbreaking result at the conclusion. It should land in expiation and forgiveness, and audience recognition that people can and do change, even staunch conservatives. The original production yielded that emotional lightening bolt. However, comparison between the original production which starred Stockard Channing, directed by Joe Mantello, and this revival is patently unfair. This ensemble will arrive at that needed result as the production settles. Importantly, the splendid cast pinpoints the characters and more importantly, they challenge an argument for viewing “the other political side” without empathy. At least for the Reagan era.
The play opens on Christmas Eve 2004 at the Wyth’s upscale home in Palm Springs (Scot Pasks’s set design is predominately sandy taupe and tonal compliments, as if the desert has symbolically moved inside and dried out the older characters emotionally.) Yet, the Wyth’s home evidences the Wyth’s care, stolid reserve and attention to detail. Indeed, organized perfection in the decor appears in every inch of the expansive living room. This even includes the huge, elegant, beautifully appointed Christmas tree backstage center, which sports a Star of David on the top, representing Polly’s Jewish heritage.
When we first see them, dressed in coordinated tennis outfits, Polly (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, a former film writer, and Lyman (Ed Harris), a movie star turned ambassador for the GOP, look serene. This attractive-looking, “with-it” couple reflect their happiness at having their adult children home for the holidays. With Brooke (Lily Rabe) and Trip (John Keery), they’ve finished an earlier game of doubles (tennis). Presently, they recoup, settle in for refreshments and prepare for last minute shopping and the evening celebration at the country club.
By degrees we learn about this family through the banter and lively conversation which reveals the parents’ politics (Republican), former circle of friends (Nancy and Ron occasionally, etc.), children’s politics (liberal Democrat), and other details about their lives. For example, their son, Trip (Joe Keery), produces his own “reality” TV show where he lives in LA. His show, which features celebrity juries who stand in judgment of the little folk, provokes Polly to wise-cracks. Interestingly, the “always on” Polly spills spiky one-liners often directed toward her children in response to their provocation or hers. Her gibes apparently keep them on their toes.
As we learn about Brooke we note the difference in her look than her parents and brother. For example, her drab, thrown-together shorts and shirt for tennis, her later jeans and shirt possibly reflect her politics or her emotional state. (Costumes are by Tom Brodecker.) During the discussion, we learn Brooke’s serve and tennis game have deteriorated. And we gradually discover that Brooke’s fictional first novel, a success, ended in writer’s block and a decade-long battle with depression. Also, she was hospitalized on the East Coast after a break down. Having gone through rehabilitation which her parents paid for and brother helped her through with her brother and aunt’s support, she wrote another book which she brought with her to share with the family.
As the coup de grâce, we meet Silda (Allison Janney), Polly’s sister, Brooke and Trip’s aunt, a recovering alcoholic and ferocious Democrat. Lyman very generously insists that Silda will be living with them, and they will watch over her, though Polly objects to this a distance from Silda’s hearing. Importantly, we note that though the sisters collaborated successfully writing in the past, in the present they’ve achieved detente only by sniping at each other sarcastically. Along with Silda, present for Christmas, we learn someone else hovers but never materializes except in a stray reference. Trip and Brooke had an older sibling in a depressive state who drowned himself. His loss which happened years before, Polly and Lyman mention sparely because of the grief and heartbreak.
Though the loss of their son devastated them which happened during the previous war in Viet Nam, they recovered and they make it through the days. Indeed, the humor helps them to keep it together as well as the agreement not to discuss the subjects that divide them, i.e. politics.
Thus, assembled before us appears to be a successful, self-satisfied family. The daughter’s edginess about her book evolves and like all hidden truths with this family, erupts and surprises by the end of Act I. Though the children “don’t discuss politics” for Christmas, we imagine arguments happened among them about the current war, the aftermath of 9/11, whose present Republican administration put troops in another desert. By the conclusion the symbolic parallel of deserts referenced in the title makes sense because families live with the consequences of wars and no one escapes. So even in tony Palm Springs, a family must live with the consequences of war, which an administration, whose party they supported then, has continued in wars to this current day.
Throughout these scenes in Act I, Julia Louis-Dreyfus shines as she and the cast volley sarcasm back and forth and Lyman referees and gently chides when someone goes beyond the lines and hits one out. Indeed, Dreyfus and Harris seem the old married couple in their element. This dynamic changes in Act II and Harris’ Lyman takes a stand. The ensemble and director follow the largely expositional script through to the end of the first act then finally arrive at the heart of the matter, perhaps too latently. However, Jon Robin Baitz deliberately draws out the family to mislead us into stereotyping them. Look for contrary clues.
What Polly, Lyman and Trip don’t know is what Brooke passively aggressively neglected to tell them so she might drop it like a bomb, face-to-face at Christmas, a time for love or revenge. She reveals to her parents that her second book will be released in the new year and excerpts will be published in The New Yorker in a few weeks. Wheeee!
Initially thrilled that Brooke finished a fiction book as part of her upward climb to health, they grow pale when she explains that instead, she wrote a memoir about her brother Henry and their part in causing his downward spiral during the Viet Nam war to his death. With Silda’s encouragement, she relates that their Republican, conservative, rejection of Henry’s lifestyle forced his drug use and deterioration and estrangement from family. Eventually, their nihilistic influence left him no choice but to commit suicide after his involvement in a cult bombing which killed a man.
For the past six years, Brooke gave voice to what she saw of her brother’s history. And she resolves, if Polly and Lyman can’t bare to speak of Henry, whose presence haunts them even to there being no photos of him anywhere in the house, then her book will memorialize him forever and tell how they drove him to end his life. Ironically, boasting of her self-awareness, Brooke assumes her well heeled parents, who fled Los Angeles after Henry’s death to hide in the desert, will take this new book in their stride. Wrong! Likewise, when she asks Joe Kerry’s Trip for support (Act II) his beautifully delivered response startles her. And Kerry wins the audience’s applause for his efforts.
In Act II, when Lyman and Polly finally appear from reading and filtering what the memoir is and does, they shock Brooke. Initially, saying he won’t read it, then begging her not to publish it, until after his and Polly’s deaths, Lyman realizes his words mean nothing. Meanwhile, Polly, having read through most of it says she will disown Brooke and never see her again if she publishes it. The sarcastic jabs in the first act dissolve into justifications, defenses and accusations until Lyman says he can’t go on. With a commensurate shock and awe, Polly and Lyman confront their daughter with her inaccurate, specious representation of Henry and the family history. They speak about the real casualties of war and what happened. Before our eyes, these leopards change their red spots. Even the sanctimonious Silda, too drunk to save Henry, rejecting his pleas for help so many years ago, exclaims, “Oh my God,” when she hears Lyman and Polly speak.
The conclusion is a tour de force with all the actors on board, whether you feel the empathy and “the world” which Lyman speaks of lifts from your shoulders or not. Indeed, the truth will out, happening at the right time. And no conservative or liberal should fear it, if it is under-girded with love.
‘Celebrity Autobiography’ Stars a Rollicking, Rotating Cast
The premise of Celebrity Autobiography, created by Eugene Pack, is an interesting one. The revue where actors dramatically read excerpts from various stars’ memoirs or samples of their poetry emphasizes the comedic, however unintentional on the part of the authors. The theme is that celebrities are often ridiculous when they are dead serious and attempting to be revelatory. What makes various celebrities ridiculousness particularly noteworthy is their self-importance and need for self-aggrandizement.
The rotating cast of actors who read from the unwittingly funny memoirs are noted for their comedic grist and natural funny bones. They keep the pot boiling each night at the Shubert Theatre where the show currently runs through September 6, 2026. In order to see favorite actors performing, the website lists scheduled performances. Though some celebrities like Tony Shaloub, Matthew Broderick, Brooke Adams, Danny Burstein and others rotate in and out, others like Mario Cantone, who can’t resist impersonations, appear for more days of the run.
The chosen celebrities given an appropriate send up are so inherently self-satisfied, it is as if their agents who wanted to add to their own bottom line suggested that their clients’ “words of wisdom” be written for the ages. After all, who doesn’t want to read or listen to the illuminated thoughts that Ryan Seacrest or Vanna White feel compelled to share? Indeed! The beauty of the production is that often the celebrities sage comments are anything but. In fact many celebrity quotes are pegged for belly laughs. Of course when they were written, the actor, or singer, or TV game show star, or TV host, or sports star wrote them in all seriousness. Hence the quote advertising the production, “You can’t make this stuff up.”
First premiering in New York in 2008, the following year it won the Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience. Celebrity Autobiography was revisited in London’s West End and at the Sydney Opera House in Australia to name a few. Problematically, some of the show received an update, but not the entire production. Clearly, Broadway and movie aficionados will be familiar with Ethel Merman, Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor and Carol Channing. A younger crowd may not. Nevertheless, the portrayals as caricatures work, and the night I saw the production, Mario Cantone as Carol Channing and Liza brought down the house.
Obviously, the various actors, most of them with live theatrical experience, make the show unforgettable, though the numerous laugh lines specifically are head-shakingly unmemorable. Creators avoided any political updates which might have been appropriate since the pure folly of politicos has risen to grandiose heights that might have had the audience rolling in the aisles. Instead, the celebrity politicians were avoided and the echoing absence was an opportunity missed. Some of the most LOL humor might be the most current, and certainly we are familiar with key players being hit over the head with them daily. Strangely, that opportunity was lost.
Other than missed opportunities in the sphere of political celebrities, the mash-ups related to topics worked well. For example in the poetry corner, Suzanne Somers and Matthew McConaughey’s very tacky love poetry floated down to the audience, who responded with guffaws and gales of laughter. The Matthew McConaughey drawl put it over the top.
In one of the foody sections, Oprah, Neil Sedaka and Dolly Parton related their habits and diets. Dolly’s self-deprecation about her body was intentionally LOL. Other mash-ups involved music legends-Celine, Buble, Miley, Beyonce, Cher and sports figures-Tiger Woods, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sly Stallone which actors honed with impressions that rocked. In “Broadway Babies” among Carol Channing grousing about Barbra Streisand in the film version of “Channing’s show Hello Dolly” and Ethel Merman (I missed Andrea Martin the night I saw it), Sandy (Jeff Hiller), the dog from Annie shows up. Sandy gets multiple laughs sharing the list of who petted him from Lauren Bacall to Andy Warhol taking his picture. A line ringer that the audience appreciated was when Sandy boasted, “Once I even growled and showed my teeth to Muhammad Ali, and the heavyweight champion of the world backed down!”
It is arguable whether or not the larger stage venue where actors appear in line facing off to the audience with just microphones and no sets worked. Certainly, reading and pacing comedy to sense the audience’s interaction is much easier in a more intimate venue as was done in the past. However, the risk in the large venue with more exalted prices is tenable. People will pay for the much needed laughs in this trying time. And maybe not including politicos to ridicule after they are ubiquitously annoying everywhere is a good thing after all.
Celebrity Autobiography runs 90 minutes with no intermission at the Shubert Theatre on 44th St. between 7th and 8th Avenues. https://celebrityautobiography.com/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23821737322
August Wilson’s ‘Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,’ an Exquisite Revival of a Magnificent Play
The souls of Black folk hover over the land of the prosperous free in the North, and the oppressed, Black, peonage-dependent, economically impoverished of the South in August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, currently at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre through July 26, 2026. The revival of Wilson’s second play in his 10-play Pittsburgh Cycle that highlights the Black American experience across each decade of the 20th century is superbly directed by Debbie Allen. The monumental drama stars acting heavyweights Cedric The Entertainer and Taraji P. Henson. Additionally, Wilson scholar, director, playwright and actor, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, takes a bravura acting turn as Bynum Walker, the root worker, spiritual divine and linchpin upon which the play’s action turns. The production is a rare treat striking up powerful emotional resonances as the actors bring home Wilson’s characters in all their heartfelt glory and revelation.
The play’s setting is 1911, Pittsburgh’s Hill District, where the lively, humorous, ersatz, social critic of Black southerners, Seth Holly (Cedric the Entertainer), and his nurturing, “keep-Seth-in-line” wife Bertha (Taraji P. Henson), get along and prosper as best as they can. The solid, 25-year-married couple run a boardinghouse, taking in folks who find their way north from the civil rights negating Jim Crow South. The wanderers include Molly Cunningham (Maya Boyd), Jeremy Furlow (Tripp Taylor), Mattie Campbell (Nimene Sierra Wureh), Herald Loomis (Joshua Boone) and his daughter Zonia (Savannah Commodore the evening I saw the play). The unstated assumption (if you know your history) is that they are compelled by oppression and circumstance to migrate north toward hope and employment opportunity which has been denied them by southern states’ race laws that stripped their rights and returned them to various forms of bondage, especially after Plessy v Ferguson (1896).
Allen’s vision for the play encompasses a stylized reality for the well appointed kitchen and parlor of the large boardinghouse first floor with a long wooden-finished staircase going up to the second floor. Stylized in the background are symbols of bustling industrialization and progress (bridges, buildings, industries) surrounding the Hill district (David Gallow’s set design ) over-shadowing the Holly’s dwelling as reminders of opportunity in the expanding city. With Stacey Derosier’s accompanying lighting design, at times with a sun-setting, many-hued sky, there is a meld of backlit darkening skyline that contrasts with the homely, secure, house interior that provides shelter, comfort and meals to those passing through to another destination.
Wilson familiarizes us with the cultural history of Back Americans with his representative character types who strike out looking to settle into a new form of freedom, seeking to bind their personal progress with the building boom happening in northern cities like Pittsburgh. These wayfarers only alight for a time at the Holly’s, leaving by the play’s conclusion. The exception is Santiago-Hudson’s Bynum Walker, who remains as a long-time boarder and quasi friend of Seth and Bertha, though Seth doesn’t like Bynum’s root working. Seth’s focus on prosperity and getting ahead in life is the antithesis of Bynum’s spiritual perspective. The humorous interplay between the two men represents the tension between the material and spiritual worlds and stirs the forward momentum in the play’s development as we meet Black characters who need physical sustenance and spiritual guidance and wisdom.
Wilson introduces Bynum’s spiritual import when he shares a story about “finding his song” (his purpose in life), directed to it by a “shiny man” who radiated light and opened Bynum’s understanding about life. Bynum experiences a visitation with his father who had passed, and receives divine wisdom from him. Because of this epiphany, Bynum redefines himself as a “conjure man” who binds people to their “song,” (purpose). Bynum, too, is looking for a new form of freedom, but unlike the others he acutely straddles the material and spiritual worlds and seeks spiritual freedom. He wants to find the “shiny man” again from whom he will receive another revelation. It is Bynum’s ability to perceive the things of the spirit, to negotiate the gap between the physical and spiritual realms, between life and death, that helps a few of the characters on their journey to a new identity in the North.
For each of the characters, the Holly’s is a way station, a symbol of impermanence and financial instability until they can stand on their own. For example, Wureh’s sweet Mattie Campbell seeks help from Santiago-Hudson’s Bynum. He works the roots to help her find her man who dumped her, giving her wise counsel that she may be better off without him. Like a charm she ends up with guitar playing, road construction worker Jeremy, but it doesn’t last when Boyd’s fashionably dressed, elegant Molly shows up, stays a week, and entices Jeremy away from Mattie. The forlorn Mattie can’t stop Jeremy flirting with Molly as Bertha looks on disapprovingly. Eventually, Jeremy dumps Mattie for the haughty Molly, who will probably dump Jeremy for another fellow with more money who can keep her in better style. It seems everyone who stays for a time at the Holly’s is searching, but none more determined than Joshua Boone’s Herald Loomis.
Boone’s sinister, quiet Loomis pays money to the Hollys for room and board for himself and his daughter Zonia. He hopes to find his wife Martha (Abigail Onwunali) who he believes may be in the area. Seth takes his money with suspicion and Bertha treats him and Zonia kindly, but Cedric The Entertainer’s Seth criticizes Loomis behind his back. He wants him to leave as soon as his week is up because he fears trouble. Seth suspects Loomis did some crime and is dangerous. It doesn’t help that the mysterious Loomis says little about himself and doesn’t mingle with the others, though 11-year-old Zonia and young neighbor Reuben Scott (Jackson Edward Davis) become friendly, and she expresses love and faith in her father’s goodness.
However, the few times Loomis gathers with the others prove to be stressful for him. At the conclusion of Act I, he becomes enraged at the group dancing and chides them about calling the Holy Spirit. As he goes to leave, he has a spiritual revelation that takes him violently as he speaks in tongues. Bynum guides Loomis through his vision. He speaks a metaphoric prophesy about Blacks coming up out of the water in a mighty wave as they receive the breath of new life and stand on their own and walk away on various roads. However, Loomis struggles to get up and is unable to stand and join the others as the lights dim ending the act.
Allen’s mesmerizing scene is dynamic and moving. The dramatic portrayals by Santiago-Hudson and Boone keep one spellbound, drawn to Loomis’ prophecy as the scene ends at a high point of revelation. Loomis sees the impact of the Black migration as a wave that covers the land, but he is unable to join it. His legs are too paralyzed to get up and walk. Why?
In Act II Seth questions Loomis’ claims to be a church deacon, convinced he’s “not right.” When he tries to get Loomis to leave, Loomis reminds Seth of the money he paid for the second week. Loomis must wait for Rutherford Selig (Bradley Stryker) a people finder, who will bring him word of his wife Martha. Seth, who is frightened and annoyed about Loomis’ spiritual “carrying on” intends to throw him out. Only Bertha can calm him down. Meanwhile, Loomis’ prophecy unfolds as Molly and Jeremy take off and Loomis shows an interest in Mattie.
By degrees Wilson converges Seth’s truth that something isn’t right about Loomis with Bynum’s spiritual sensitivity about the former deacon. When Loomis flips out hearing Bynum sing “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,”Bynum confronts Loomis about being “one of Joe Turner’s ni$$ers.” The lyrics relate to the disappearance of Black men kidnapped for the peonage system (which was supposedly illegal, but whose law was not enforced until the 1940s). When they didn’t return home, family or friends would say, “Joe Turner’s come and gone.”
Bynum’s sensitivity and second sight is spot on. Boone’s Loomis reveals the story about himself, Zonia and Martha. We learn that Loomis was snatched up off the streets (kidnapped illegally) by Joe Turner, the Tennessee governor’s greedy brother who had Black men charged for any pretext (walking on the wrong side of the street) to force them onto a chain gang without due process to pay off their “crime/debts.” Most probably Joe Turner gets kick backs for his Black labor supply, who do not resist or do so at their own peril. Loomis was in bondage/slavery for seven years, while his baby daughter grew up with his mother until he was freed to go to her.
Loomis’ story is tragic. He not only loses his wife, position in the church and happy family life, he loses his dignity, humanity, freedom and person-hood. Worse, he is robbed by Joe Turner of his self-love and peace. However, Bynum tells him that there is something the racist could never rob him of, which plants a seed of hope that comes in handy when Looms meets Onwunali’s Martha.
What emerges is beautifully acted by Boone, Santiago-Hudson, Onwuali and the ensemble in a final scene. It is the play’s central theme about the trauma of racial hatred, the brutality and inhumanity of Jim Crow’s hell and the soul damage it causes. Is one able to recover, stand up and walk away from that physical, emotional and spiritual torment, or is one paralyzed by the hatred and abuse for life? Will Loomis be an angel or a devil, as he confronts Martha which he does in the last scene, suspended between heaven and hell, bondage and freedom, life and death?
Joe Turner’s Come and Gone runs 2 hours 20 minutes through July 26, 2026 at the Barrymore Theater, Manhattan; joeturnerbway.com..
‘The Lost Boys,’ LJ Benet and Ali Louis Bourzgui in a Soaring Musical Spectacle (12 Tony nominations)
Based on the titular cult classic film by Joel Schumacher (1987), The Lost Boys delivers an exciting, thrill-ride as an eye-popping, explosive, stunning, theatrical spectacle. The production tops the film with terrific live performances that convey the emotional resonance of The Rescues’ sensational punk rock/ballad/pop music and lyrics and a character deepened book by David Hornsby and Chris Hoch. The musical, directed with theatrical precision and veneration of the film by Tony Award-winning Michael Arden (Maybe Happy Ending), is not to be missed.
The superb technical and special effects (Markus Maurtte), gobsmacking aerial choreography (Lauren Yalango-Grant and Chrisophr Cree Grant), dramatic set designs by Dane Laffrey all undergird the killer performances by leads LJ Benet (Broadway debut), Ali Louis Bourzoui (Tommy in The Who’s Tommy) and Maria Wirries (Dear Evan Hansen). This show is a fabulous entertainment. It will delight fans to come back again and again to experience the lost, rebel vampires trying to maintain their hold on a new reality, then spectacularly die trying. The Lost Boys is currently spreading its vampiric lore at the Palace Theatre in an open-ended run, until it disappears. Maybe not. Watch the last scene carefully.
The adaptation makes way for a fleshing out of the characters, especially the Emerson family. It enhances our understanding of the motivations beginning with mom Lucy (Shoshana Bean) who uproots her sons from Arizona to escape her husband’s violence. The introductory song “No More Monsters” establishes the ironic raison d’être for their relocation to a better, new life for all of them which only happens after they conquer their inner fears and confront their own demons by fighting evil, spiritual presences that try to overtake their souls.
Shoshana Bean gives a heartfelt performance as Lucy, who wars with the brooding Michael (Benet) and dismisses ninth-grader Sam (Benjamin Pajak) in his criticism of the “pet cemetery” of stuffed animals on the walls of their deceased grandfather’s living room, in a house which he left to his daughter Lucy in Santa Carla, California. There, Lucy tries to raise them without really dealing with the tribulations they experienced as a family coping during the years she was with her “off the charts” husband who took out his misery and aggression on Michael.
Over the course of Act I, book writers Hornsby and Hoch reveal the roiling undercurrents of Michael’s loss of innocence because of his father’s brutal abuse, and his disaffection from his mom and brother as a result (“Lose Yourself”). His inner conflict compels him to seek a physical and psychic place where he can shake off his painful memories of his vulnerable victim-hood and recreate himself into someone cool with power and strength, one of a family of “brothers” connected by the same impulses.
Thus evolves the conceit for Michael’s attraction to the rocker band of vampires masquerading as “lost boys” (“Have to Have You”) that he is introduced to on the boardwalk by their lead singer Star (Maria Wirries). His initial loss of innocence and brutalization makes him vulnerable to his seduction by Billy Idolish blond, band leader David, the kinetic and mesmerizing Bourzgui (“Time to Kill”). Of course the mysterious, entrancing and conflicted Star, in conflict about embracing the vampire life, is attracted to Michael for himself (“Now, Forever”). Yet, Wirries’ Star is fearful for him as David and his bros close in on Michael to make him one of “them” forever.
The Rescues successfully score this and other themes with alluring, powerful music that varies from songs that escalate from rock choruses to an incredible a cappella of vampires that would convince anyone to join the undead and live forever.
Mirroring Michael’s notion of changing their lives, Lucy and Sam look for adventure in this new place. Former hippie Lucy moves to occupy herself with making money, so she finds a job in a video store, igniting the interest of her cultural opposite, the politically conservative owner Max (an excellent Paul Alexander Nolan). Lucy eventually invites him to dinner in Act II, after their wonderful duet “Wild,” in which Lucy, like Michael, expresses her desire to unleash herself and have fun and adventures she’s never experienced before. Max, willing to join her in song and excitement in a playground scene, might even be her companion, (an irony).
Meanwhile, comic book aficionado Sam meets locals Alan and Edgar Frog (feisty Jennifer Duka and Miguel Gil). They remind him of the posting of photos of many area citizens who have gone missing. They attribute it to vampires who are making Santa Carla the “Murder Capital of the World.” The siblings’ passionate mission to hunt down and eliminate the head vampire to save the citizens from the vampire apocalypse engages Sam. Alan and Edgar teach him about vampires and he reads up about the initial stages of vampirism which Michael may seem to be exhibiting. All three scour the area on vampire hunts and decide who the head vampire might possibly be revving up Sam to believe Max is a vampire (“Mom’s Boyfriend is A”) with hilarious results.
By this point Michael is in the thick of his relationships with the mesmerizing David, Star and their hardcore punk rocker outfitted band of brothers (Brian Flores, Sean Grandillo, and Dean Maupin). Ryan Park’s costume design and David Brian Brown’s hair & wig design turn out a heightened steampunk aesthetic from the movie. Bourzgui’s influence and “come on” is balanced, non-aggressive, helpful and “healing,” the antithesis of Michael’s father. Michael finds him irresistible.
Not only does David cultivate Michael to play in his band, he grooms him and teaches him how to let go, take risks and fly with the others. The flying scenes, phenomenally lit by Jen Schriever and Michal Aden are a compilation of technical moves where the brothers fall back into a pit fearlessly, then fly up encouraging Michael to fall back from the bridge trestle high into the empty air on his first flight. Their movements are breathtaking and metaphoric. Combined with The Rescues’ musical accompaniment, the beauty is beyond what you’ve seen before, besting Arden’s gorgeous moments in Maybe Happy Ending. The effects Michael experiences, we understand are designed to imbue Michael with feelings of fearlessness, power and freedom. These are elixirs he can’t deny he enjoys. However, Star and his brother warn him that the captivity of a vampire’s life has a dark downside. Would he want that forever and risk being annihilated by vampire hunters?
One of the vampire symptoms, Sam tells him, is hallucinations and Michael is hallucinating his brutal father (Ben Crawford), revisiting his anger and abuse. As Sam realizes he must save his brother who is on the brink of being lost to him and his mom forever, he accepts what must do. He manifests his authentic, powerful self, allowing his queerness to “be.” Pajak’s Sam performs “Superpower,” a humorous song and dance number with a group of pastel, rainbow colored “super” Sams costumed by Ryan Park. With joy and enthusiasm he stirs up the energy to “save his family and save the day” with the equally enthusiastic Frog siblings.
The themes about escaping pain, denial, rebellion, identity and reconciliation powerfully shape the conclusion of the musical. With Arden’s inclusion of Reagan TV video clips in speeches-platitudes-espousing family values, we note the juxtaposition of the Emerson family’s communication issues, trials, errors, with love and forgiveness running throughout the difficulties inspired by Bean’s Lucy. Platitudes are easy, working out family situations are difficult. Lucy’s love and reconciliation with herself and Michael works its profound, uplifting moment in “Michael.” Lucy learns that not reconciling her own conflicts in an abusive relationship only opens the door to more abusive relationships. Likewise, Michael’s escaping his problems only drives him to the loss of himself. Even with the pain, his human soul identity is worth more than living in an eternal loss of soul light.
The “lost boy” vampires are defeated in a pyrotechnical array. Surely, now, the Emersons and townspeople can all “make it through the night.” Or maybe not; check out the last scene beyond curtain calls.
The Lost Boys runs 2 hours, 40 minutes at the Palace Theater lostboysmusical.com
‘The Rocky Horror Show’ Seductive, Zany, Fabulous, High-energy Revival (9 Tony nominations)
The Rocky Horror Show musical revival currently at Studio 54 through July 19 is minus “picture” in the title. Why? The production directed by Sam Pinkleton is live theater at its best. The laughs and antics morph nightly depending upon the craziness of the audience, inspired and provoked to scream out comments by Rachel Dratch in the role of the Narrator. With irony, fierce looks and raised eyebrows Dratch attempts to “keep a lid on” by actually stirring the pot to a boil to incite hilarity. Joining Dratch are the stellar cast which include Drama Desk nominated Luke Evans and Stephanie Hsu. With over-the-top performances by Andrew Durand (Shucked), Amber Grey (Hadestown) and Juliette Lewis in her Broadway debut, this unforgettable revival is making its mark.
Thus far, the revival directed by Sam Pinkleton has taken Richard O’Brien’s book, music and lyrics to heights not seen before. As a result, The Rocky Horror Show has been nominated for six Drama Desks, 2 Outer Critics Circle Awards and 4 Drama League Awards. This madcap genre journey through every wild meme you can imagine except placid paradise is a romp into the past and future and everything in between. Since the show first opened and flopped in 1975 at the Belasco Theatre, then succeeded as a cult film classic screening at midnight in 1975, some form of “Rocky Horror” has been gyrating into the heavenlies ever since.
Luke Evans in the role of Frank-N-Furter (Drama Desk nomination), is gloriously gorgeous, hyper-sensualized in his attractiveness, appealing to men, women, aliens and other carbon life forms. Sporting his incredible body in black fishnets, chest-exposing corset, hyper-toned derriere, he is grace, elegance and anointed velvet combined. With his glistening long hair which he tosses occasionally at jealous, infatuated servant/assistants, Columbia (Machaeela a Rodriguez), Magenta (Juliete Lewis) and Riff Raff (an unrecognizable Amber Grey in changing make-up, costumes and wig) Evans artfully moves in heels at a pace and comfort which, if attempted by the average female, would send her to the hospital. His seduction scenes with Durand’s Brad and Hsu’s Janet, the innocent couple who seek refuge on a rainy night wandering into his gothic-vampiric-sci-fi castle, meld sexy with funny. His “hot” is hot, not wacko, weirdo, psycho EWW.
Most probably that is because Pinkleton’s emphasis is on humor, fun, authenticity and reverence for the opportunity to collaborate on this iconic material that helped change cultural consciousness, making diversity of genders acceptable.
Pinkleton’s admiration keeps the tone and pacing perfect and strangely innocent and refreshing. The gay mayhem and drag, once eye-opening (50 years ago) have been softened by the lurid Epstein files. Under his thoughtful, joyful direction, this Rocky Horror Show revival represents a throwback to a time when hopeful cultural revolution was in the air and “change” and “liberal” meant positive evolution and equality. The words weren’t “filthy,” “hateful” concepts as they’ve come to mean in MAGA propaganda circles today, that truly lurid MAGA politicos make them out to be. Irony of ironies, Richard O’Brien’s book, music and lyrics have been displaced by current political, global horrors into the realm of nostalgia and sweetness. Songs like “Sweet Transvestite,” “I Can Make You a Man,” “Touch-A Touch-A Touch-Me” delight and entertain. Indeed, Pinkleton’s vision of fun and madcap mashup inspires unity, and a dissolution of the generational divide. Indeed, this is a production that great grandparents, grandparents, parents and teens can rock out on.
dots scenic design is a combination of striking glitz and gothic beauty, and shining, wacky, D.I.Y. whimsy. As Brad and Janet drive in the gothic rainstorm, a miniature greenish-glow white plastic castle emerges from the box upper audience left. Onstage, there is an improvised car: the actors hold the headlights with others holding a windshield wiper as they inch forward. Yet, from this makeshift exterior style emerges the gloriously lighted castle interior entrance with a long staircase where Magenta’s Juliette Lewis prances surrounded by a profusion of candles and candelabra dimly lighting a paneled background. Jane Cox’s lighting design exceeds expectations and Brian Ronan’s sound design moderates the songs with the quieter dialogue with expert balance.Touché
Positioned in the box section audience right are huge silvery tubes, steam punk style, like you’d expect to be used to conduct hot air when a heating system has broken down. Also, placed in the adjacent box are robotic, sci-fi-looking silvery manikins that open and shut their jaws for an introductory song. On the backs of some audience seats are black and silver decorative tape. The Studio 54 venue couldn’t be more appropriate. The show is not only onstage, but in the audience if audience members break free and dance to “The Time Warp.”
The atmosphere conveyed is “out-there” fun heightened by David I. Reynoso’s costume design. He places the men and women in intimate apparel revealing their phenomenal bodies. The tall Boy Radio who covered for Josh Rivera in the role of Rocky-Frank’s created Frankenstein monster was tall and beautiful, the perfect male match for Frank with garter belts holding up fishnets. The phantoms wore various outfits, sometimes loose fitting tuxedos. Even the rolly-polly Dr. Scott ends up exposed in a hysterical moment. The only one who attempts to maintain her cool and decorum is Dratch’s narrator, dressed in a lovely, sedate tuxedo as her effected, droll narration keeps the vignettes together and advances how the couple loses their innocence and everything else but their lives, led by the well-meaning Frank who counsels “Don’t dream it, be it,” the classic refrain.
Every scene and song holds its moments. One striking, unforgettable vignette occurs at the end when Frank sings “I’m Going Home.”Evans’ Frank knowing the inevitable is coming sings with heartfelt passion. The mood change is somber and soulful as he puts off the “persona” of Frank, removes his eyelashes and wig and composes himself for the end. The transformation reveals Evan’s prodigious talents on “top of the fact” that during the production he reached high notes with ease He is just gobsmacking. With Kris Kukul’s music supervision and Ani Tai’s energetic dancing, what’s not to love about this revival of Richard O’Brian’s The Rocky Horror Show at Studio 54.
The Rocky Horror Show runs 1 hour 50 minutes at Studio 54 through July 19. roundabouttheatre.org.
Nathan Lane, Laurie Metcalf Bring Out Truths for Our Time in an Ageless ‘Death of a Salesman’ (9 Tony nominations)
Considered Arthur Miller’s masterpiece of the average guy as a tragic figure, Death of a Salesman has been a hard sell for me as Miller’s greatest play. However, Joe Mantello’s searing direction that teases out incredible performances from Nathan Lane (Willy Loman), Laurie Metcalf (Linda Loman), Chrisopher Abbott (Biff) and Ben Ahlers (Happy), made me a convert. Presented on the cavernous stage of the Winter Garden Theatre in its sixth Broadway revival, the Loman family’s psychological travails between reality and hopeful dreams unfold their flawed humanity with pathos until August 9, 2026.
This magnificent revival in Mantello’s expansive vision conveys the characters as middle class archetypes of American citizens that are manufactured, used up and spit out by a devouring corporate culture, obsessed by success, money and status as definitions of power and greatness (“the American Dream”). Industrialization, production and “progress” are the means used to propagandize and process worker-citizens away from an appreciation of their soul worth and self identification as valuable to themselves and their families.
To underscore this overarching theme of the Lomans snared by this cultural processing with the use of the American Dream to drain their hopes, keep them ensnared and perpetuate the elusive lies of easy prosperity inferred by Willy’s Uncle Ben-Jonathan Cake (you walk into a jungle and bring out diamonds), Mantello uses a stylized set design superbly realized by Chloe Lamford. Additionally, the sound design by Mikaal Sulaiman, haunting music by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw, and lighting design by Jack Knowles beautifully carry Mantello’s dark, foreboding insights which the superb ensemble enlivens in a production whose like won’t be seen again.
This production of Miller’s Salesman is perfectly synchronized to reflect citizens in our country, currently under siege from the very forces which isolate the Lomans from helping each other. Set adrift in misery, loneliness, distraction and despair, they have little recourse or salvation except delusions, hallucinations and denial. Even a form of success is never enough as suggested by Ahlers’ Happy, who references a prosperous boss who builds an estate but “doesn’t have the peace of mind to live in it.”
The symbol of what made America great, the car (automobile production and its attendant feeder industries, oil, gas, rubber, etc.), becomes that which Willy chooses as his place to die. Mantello features Willy’s car as ever-present and onstage throughout. The car is where Willy spent most of his life alone, traveling through New England with his dreams, and longing of returning home to see his sons, chiefly Biff who he lives his successes through until Biff has a breakdown. At the play’s beginning it also becomes his place of terror, of failure, of disorientation where he can no longer survive for any length of time on a road trip. Finally, he converts it to his way out of a tormenting hellish life he can’t bear, that promises more hope for his family in his death.
The play opens as Lane’s Willy, exhausted and broken down, returns from his aborted sales trip and drives the car onstage into the humongous, grey space that is the Loman’s stylized home. Unlike previous revivals, this place is nothing like an American home the bank would hold in a mortgage. It is similar to an empty factory or warehouse with rectangular, peeling tiled columns and no vibrant colors. It is dimly lit with a grid of dirty window panes on the backstage wall that barely let light in.
The space is symbolic and interpretive. Far stage left is the basement with Willy’s possible instrument of suicide, the gas water heater, and downstage left is the bit of soil where Lane’s Willy hopefully plants seeds he will never see grow. The characters remain onstage, moving around uncomfortable, factory-type, metal “furniture” to define areas they set up mostly away from each other. They sometimes become inconsequential dim shadows when they don’t speak and other family members do.
Spot lit when there are interactions is Mantello’s approach. But for their interactions darkness and isolation surround them. As spots come up on the initial scene between Willy and Linda when she asks why he came back home, Biff and Happy each lie on a bench on opposite sides of the stage in their ersatz beds and bedrooms, as their parents talk “downstairs.” The spots illuminate the life and interaction of Linda and Willy to a break point, then the darkness encroaches. The symbolism is affecting and effective, revealing the disjointedness of this family, their fears, their isolation, their solitary struggles, their inability to communicate with efficacy to bring about their listener’s understanding toward change.
Willy’s dire emotional and psychic state which impacts the family is also symbolized with the set when the characters move as if in timeless space, like Uncle Ben-Jonahan Cake-who floats onstage and off, as his words float in and out of Willy’s mind. Initially, he uses Ben to inspire him, but also his words and values are a truncheon that Willy uses to bludgeon himself for his failed life. There are also the recriminating memories of guilt that devastate him and push him toward self-annihilation provoked by grown up Bernard (Michael Benjamin Washington) who asks what happened in Boston, the turning point after which Biff and Willy are separated from each other by a gulf of lies and pretenses to protect Linda and damn each other, .
Importantly, Mantello/Lamford and the creative team have created an environment of bleakness and gloom removing any sense of warmth or comfort that a homely kitchen set or living room would suggest. Indeed, Willy and his family move in this towering oppressive, dark space that crushes them but for their connection to each other, which is their real and lasting hope, if they could see it and give each other more kind words and love instead of recriminations. However, even when they argue, insult, indict or chide each other as the glorious Metcalf does in a moment-to-breathtaking-moment take down of Biff, then Happy, her scorching speeches, one about how they left Willy alone babbling in the restaurant, are better than the silent, darkness above, behind and around them.
Mantello/Lamford also use the car to travel through time into the past. For example, one of Willy’s comforting reminiscences is when Young Biff (Joaquin Consuelos) and Young Happy (Jake Termine) follow Willy’s instructions to simonize, shine and buff the car. It is the family’s prize possession that helps provide Willy’s means of support and allows them to go to Ebbets Field on a celebratory day. It represents Willy’s pride in Biff’s scholarship success, as he stands on the roof of the car, the lighting in a golden bronze to family cheers on game day. Happy, happy recollection when Willy is their fine father, Biff has the world at his feet, and Linda looks on her brood “pleased as punch,” a successful mother and wife. Even their giving neighbor Charley (the fine K. Ttodd Freeman) comes out to tease them on this greatest of days for Biff and Willy.
Lane convinces us that Willy is who he claims he is, until he isn’t. Out of the remembrances into the gloom of grey reality he tells his sons, “the woods are burning,” and Linda tells the incredulous Happy and anger-suppressing Biff their dad is dying. With a raw fierceness and edgy emotional plea, Metcalf’s Linda tells Biff and Happy that they can’t just come to visit her, because she loves Willy. “He’s the dearest man in the world to me.” Metcalf’s Linda means it and because of her strength of character and force of will, we take a second look at Willy and see him through her eyes with poignance, and weep for this desolate family.
As the play progresses, Miller via Mantello reveals, the reminiscences are in fact hallucinations that Willy uses to torment himself when Biff visits. Willy’s hallucination in the restaurant after his sons desert him is guilt-laden. He relives Biff catching him with a woman and calling him a liar. Willy knows he let his son down, but he can’t admit it and will never forgive himself for it, turning psychically sick. After that incident in Boston Biff and Willy can’t have a heart to heart. Even toward the conclusion when Biff tells his father he will never be the man Willy wants him to be, Willy can’t hear him and misunderstands.
It’s a superb theatrical moment between Lane and Abbott, who passionately steps into the heartfelt, truthful Biff, releases his anger and turns to his father. Willy, still lost, conflating past and present, incapable of recognizing Biff’s truth proclaims,”He cried to me.” In the final most dangerous of Willy’s hallucinations, Cake’s Ben agrees with Willy that Biff will be magnificent with twenty-thousand to back him. Lane’s portrayal of Willy humanizes him and makes him identifiable.
As the second brother given short shrift by the family, Ahlers Happy repeats himself to get attention and uplift Linda. His, “I’m gonna get married, mom,” is as plaintive a cry as any grown manchild’s cry is, yearning for recognition and love but feeling he is incapable of receiving it. Ahlers’ Happy is endearing and charming in a standout portrayal, I haven’t seen before. Still carrying the American Dream to “make it” after seeing what happened to his brother and father, we note his denial like Linda’s, as the inevitable comes and brings her a terrible freedom.
Death of a Salesman runs 2 hours, 50 minutes with one intermission at the Winter Garden Theater through August 9, 2026. salesmanbroadway.com.
‘Schmigadoon!’ LOL Spoof, of a TV Spoof of the Golden Age of Musicals, Comes Home to Broadway
Based on the Apple TV Plus series first season, with book, music and lyrics by Cinco Paul, Schmigadoon is a celebratory spoof of iconic musicals of the 1940s-1950s. With clever twerks of plot, characters, musical phrasing, and acrobatic, balletic dancing from these Golden Age musicals, and a lot of original overlay, this heavenly production, directed by Christopher Gattelli, is where it belongs, Broadway’s the Nederlander Theater. Currently, the world premiere of Schmigadoon! is spreading its joy with an end date through Sept. 6, 2026.
Topped off with fanciful, colorful 1918 (The Music Man) period costuming by Linda Cho, whimsical scenic designs of a magical forest, a Schmigadoon town square surrounded by the beautiful facades of Victorian houses, a carnival barker’s Tunnel of Love ride (Carousel) and more by Scott Pask, one’s spirits are uplifted. We don’t want Josh Skinner (Tony award nominee for Beetlejuice, Alex Brightman) and Melissa Gimble (Sara Chase, The Great Gatsby) to leave the fairy-tale “take-off” of Brigadoon. This is especially so after enjoying the introductory song “Schmigadoon,” meeting the wacky town characters, hearing the vibrant chorus, “wowing at” the set and costumes, and experiencing the apparent peace and happiness Mayor Menlove (Brad Oscar) promises. And then there’s the gorgeous carney Danny Bailey (Max Clayton), who comes on to Melissa in “You Can’t Tame Me,” later that evening, reminiscent of Billy Bigelow in Carousel (1945). Well, well.
Alex Brightman’s orthopedic surgeon Josh is believable as the typical, unromantic, scruffy-bearded male who can’t dance, won’t sing and dislikes musicals where folks sing and dance for no logical reason. He prefers reality and sports to fantasy and “magic” which run counter to his scientific mind.(His type is a spoof in itself.) Sara Chase’s pediatrician is perfect as his opposite. Not only does she deliver babies (the union of love) she’s a romantic who loves musicals. Despite Josh’s dislike, she attempts to share her enjoyment of dancing, singing and romance by making Josh sit through the 1952 film of the most realistic, integrated musical of them all, Singing in the Rain. But she fails to convince Josh musicals are important precisely for the reasons Josh finds them odious. You need a break from reality now and then and love, passion, romance, poetry, singing and dancing provide a welcome respite from the stress and angst of daily pressures, don’t you.? Josh doesn’t buy it, yet.
So when their wanderings in the forest, arguing about Josh not dancing with her at a couple’s retreat, land them in the anachronistic Schmigadoon, Josh is beside himself when the band strikes notes for a song and dance number. He is also pissed that the innkeeper prodded by Ana Gayster’s Mildred Layton forbids Josh to room with Melissa because it’s not respectable in 1918. Only with marriage are “relations” permitted. That and no Wi Fi pings Josh to a fever pitch saying, “I hate this place,” as he pushes Melissa to leave after the waitress and townspeople sing about the delicious “Corn Pudding” for breakfast. A problem arises when Melissa joins in a verse of melody she finds easy to sing as if she belongs there with the chorus which is strange and wierds out Josh who must get home ASAP.
He especially is thrilled to go over the bridge from fantasy into reality, except that’s not happening. Every time they try, it turns them back to Schmigadoon. After their umpteenth time, they question the universe about this anomaly. A Leprechaun appears. He sings that they can only leave if they’ve found their true love. “But ’til ye’ve found it ye must stay, where life’s a musical every day!” Both Josh and Melissa are stunned at seeing the mythic figure. Using his scientific mind and deductive powers of reasoning, Josh concludes that they can’t be each other’s true love. This is particularly concerning when they test the magic by saying they love each other, but still are returned to Schmigadoon.
As they argue now about what true love is, enter the townspeople who moderate their fight in “Lover’s Spat,” then lead them back to Schmigadon because they are homeless and have nowhere else to go. With the motivation to return home, they split up and go on the hunt to find their “true love” since Josh is convinced that their coupling isn’t “true love.” For a man used to employing the scientific method, Josh misses the cognitive dissonance of his actions to find his true love in a fairy-tale musical, but we have a good laugh at his expense..
During twists and turns of adventure and song, more musicals are represented. Josh ends up with Betsy (McKenzie Kurtz) at the point of her father, Farmer McDonough’s, shotgun. But he is saved and falls for Emma Tate (the golden-voiced Isabelle McCalla). The schoolteacher with her brother Carson (Ayaan Diop) providing the latest town intel, ping character twists from The Music Man providing the romance for Josh in the hope that Emma is his true love to bring him home.
For her part Melissa establishes a bond with carney Danny Bailey (Max Carter is wonderful) which blows up when he shoots himself with his own gun unwittingly during a “robbery” to get money for their baby, though Melissa is not pregnant (a send up of Billy Bigelow in Carousel). But she does fall for Doc (Ivan Hernandez) who is older and a stern type like Colonel Von Trapp from The Sound of Music. She even gets to provide an instructive lesson in female anatomy to a pregnantt out of wedlock couple in “Baby Talk” that follows the tune of “Do, Re, Me,.” The scene is riotous.
This mayhem is brought to another level by Gaysteyer’s Mildred Layton with her anti-DEI campaign to remove self-outing, gay, Mayer Menlove, (Brad Oscar brings down the house with his reveal). “Tribulation” reminiscent of the “Ye Got Trouble” in The Music Man sends the production is “off the charts” LOL. But the truth unfolds eventually and Josh and Melissa’s enlightened “modern” energy bring renewal to the antiquated town’s old-fashioned ideas about love and sex. Positive changes and evolutions occur and with these interactions, Josh and Melissa are changed through wisdom they learn and share.
Paul’s tweaks to the musicals reveal his admiration and reverence for one of this country’s finest contributions to the arts historically, the American musical. The enthusiasm of the principals, the authenticity inhabiting their portrayals allows the audience to empathize because the characters are not superficially drawn or cartoonish. This is especially true of Alex Brightman’s Josh at the conclusion in his astounding moment of realization where reality and romance and hope merge in his soul. At that moment Brightman reaches an apex, proving that serious moments can convey theme with beauty in a hilarious production. It is all a matter of superbly balanced tone and meaning which Paul and Gattelli achieve in this memorable musical of musicals.
Schmigadoon! runs 2 hours 30 minutes with one intermission at the Nederlander Theater through September 6, 2026 schmigadoonbroadway.com.
