The ambitions of these two comedies could hardly be more disparate, yet the craft employed in both is rooted in similarly precise calibrations of our attention and sympathies.
Rob Weinert-Kendt
Rob Weinert-Kendt, an arts journalist and editor of American Theatre magazine, has written for The New York Times and Time Out New York.
Posted inArts & Culture, Theater
‘Parade,’ ‘Sweeney Todd’ and ‘Camelot’ offer a history lesson on the American musical
Three strong new revivals offer an instructive comparative lens through which to view the form’s development over the decades.
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Oscar Isaac and Rachel Brosnahan bring love and revolution to life in ‘The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window’
A lovingly crafted new revival of “The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music makes a fresh case for reconsideration of Lorraine Hansberry’s less well-known second play, which followed the classic “A Raisin in the Sun.”
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Broadway’s ‘Between Riverside and Crazy’ uses the hilarious and profane in a restless search for moral clarity
As ever, Stephen Adly Guirgis writes hilarious, profane dialogue and puts his characters in contention over matters both petty and portentous.
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From ‘Death of a Salesman’ to ‘A Raisin in the Sun,’ theater explores the Black American dream
‘Death of a Salesman,’ ‘The Piano Lesson’ and ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ showcase the strivings for Black economic independence and self-determination.
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Broadway’s ‘1776’ revival casts women and non-binary actors as founding fathers. Can it succeed in the shadow of ‘Hamilton’?
While Lin-Manuel Miranda’s popular Founding Fathers remix was built for performers of color, “1776” has been retrofitted onto this troupe of talented women.
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In ‘Corsicana,’ playwright Will Arbery writes an ode to his sister with Down syndrome
“Corsicana,” named for the small Texas city in which it is set, is odd and stiff—qualities that are only exacerbated by director Sam Gold’s spare, often awkwardly formal staging.
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‘Macbeth’ and ‘Cyrano’ are two classic plays getting fresh interpretations — with very different results
Classic plays don’t require updates or new translations to stay fresh, but if they are indeed classics, they can withstand new interpretations.
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‘A Case for the Existence of God’ is not a theological argument. It’s a parable.
Hard truths spill out in the tentative friendship of two men in Samuel D. Hunter’s Off Broadway play, “A Case for the Existence of God.”
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Two new Broadway musicals show the pitfalls of turning complex history into song and dance
With “Suffs” and “Paradise Square,” Broadway offers two new musicals that address the great animating subject of the American musical: America itself.