Remember the Jason Blair scandal at the New York Times?  About ten years ago, a young Times reporter was found to have been phoning in stories from his Brooklyn apartment which he devised by watching and reading the news and cribbing from articles in other newspapers.  The scandal reverberated through the newspaper, leading to heads rolling at the top editorial levels and major restructuring of the editorial process.  Now it's a play, by Gabe McKinley.… <Read More>

Last night I attended a performance of a new play by Jon Kakaley, "A Hole in His Heart," at Atlantic Stages on West 16th Street, a production of "Ten Years Productions" directed by Jake Turner.  My theater-going companion and I subscribe to Atlantic Stages, which affords a variety of independent theater productions over the course of the season.  The description of this show sounded interesting, so we decided to take the plunge, even though we … <Read More>

Tonight I attended a performance of "Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays," at the Minetta Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village.  This production, conceived by Brian Shnipper and directed by Stuart Ross, brings together six superb actors for readings of short plays by an all-star cast of writers: Mo Gaffney, Jordan Harrison, Moises Kaufman, Joe Keenan, Neil LaBute, Wendy MacLeod, Jose Rivera, Paul Rudnick and Doug Wright.  All of the short plays relate in some … <Read More>

I saw this strange and disturbing play, "Wild Animals You Should Know," by Thomas Higgins, at the Lucille Lortel Theatre on Saturday afternoon.  This is a production of MCC Theater, with Trip Cullman conducting a very strong cast, consisting of John Behlmann, Patrick Breen, Gideon Glick, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Alice Reipley, and Daniel Stewart Sherman.

The premise is that teenage boys are savage animals… Well, at least some of them.  The central character, Matthew, is … <Read More>

This past weekend I saw the current Broadway revival of Terrence Rattigan's play, "Man and Boy," at the American Airlines Theater on 42nd Street, as presented by Roundabout Theatre Company and directed by Maria Aitken, on Saturday night, and "Relatively Speaking: 3 One-Act Comedies" at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, directed by John Turturro, on Sunday afternoon.  It was a very "filling" theater weekend, indeed.

"Man and Boy" is presented as a vehicle for Frank Langella, … <Read More>

I loved Jesse Eisenberg's performance portraying Mark Zuckerberg in "The Social Network."  So when I heard that he had written a play and would be starring in it off-Broadway, I had to go.  I attended yesterday's matinee with my regular theater-going companion.  Just a brief comment here from the two of us – this play should still be in the workshop phase.  There are some entertaining moments and some good performances, but the thing doesn't … <Read More>

On Saturday afternoon I attended a preview performance of "The Submission," a new play by Jeff Talbott that opened last night at the Lucille Lortel Theatre on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village. 

 This is a very producible play, with four characters presented on a unit set.  (Anybody who sees it will identify that as a laugh-line early on….) 

The premise is that a gay white man who has been struggling to write a producible play … <Read More>

I attended the matinee performance on Sunday.  Charles Busch's dramatic comedy, "Olive and the Bitter Herbs," takes a familiar stereotype, the elderly Jewish New York City stage & TV actress, and stands it on its head.  Marcia Jean Kurtz is fabulous in the lead role of Olive, who manages to antagonize almost everybody she meets, until some determined individuals can break through to establish a human connection.  I think that Richard Masur as the father … <Read More>

I saw "Bluebird" last night.  This play by Simon Stephens was first produced by English Stage Company in London in 1998, but it didn't seem dated to me.  The staging is simple: a few chairs on a raised platform on a bar stage.  The only other fixed props are two telephone booths (open) mounted stage rear and off to one side. 

The premise is that a cab driver, Jimmy, played with stunning realism by Simon … <Read More>