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.
Theater
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.
Posted inArts & Culture, Theater
In ‘Sweeney Todd,’ we see the dark, demonic twin of Jesus’ Passion
In these Lenten and Easter days in which the church celebrates a man whose divinity was revealed in his willingness to sacrifice everything for love, consider “Sweeney Todd” to be that story’s dark, demonic twin.
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
‘Love’ gives a theatrical voice to the homeless with humor and heartbreak
“Love,” a new play by Alexander Zeldin, is not a grim report on poverty nor a blistering call for social reform, but simply lets the poor speak their own stories.
Posted inArts & Culture, Theater
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.”
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
French playwright Moliere’s fraught relationship with the Catholic Church: A fresh look on his 400th birthday
Molière faced opposition from church figures during his life over his controversial works. Four centuries after his birth, what religious themes and tensions can be found in his plays?
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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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Who is allowed to write about pedophilia?
“Downstate,” Bruce Norris’s new off-Broadway play about a group home for pedophile, raises the question: Who gets to write about pedophilia? And what are they allowed to say?
Posted inArts & Culture, Theater
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.
Posted inArts & Culture, Theater
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.