As ever, Stephen Adly Guirgis writes hilarious, profane dialogue and puts his characters in contention over matters both petty and portentous.
Theater
Posted inArts & Culture, Theater
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.
Posted inArts & Culture, Theater
‘The Song of Bernadette’ is headed to Broadway
Over 80 years after Bernadette’s canonization, Frank Wildhorn has composed the music for a new stage adaptation of “The Song of Bernadette.”
Posted inArts & Culture, Theater
Goodbye ‘Dear Evan Hansen.’ You helped us understand the anxieties of young people today.
On Sunday, Sept. 18, “Dear Evan Hansen” finished its Broadway run. During its six-year run, it was a touchstone in the ongoing conversation about the mental health of young people today.
Posted inArts & Culture, Theater
The strange, drama-filled trip of Broadway’s ‘Funny Girl’—and what it reveals about live theater
The revival of a 1964 musical is stumbling a bit—but then, the original had its own troubles.
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
Interview: Can artists with diverging views on abortion find common ground through a Catholic musical?
People who shut down those with different opinions have a less rich life, and make less rich art.
Posted inArts & Culture, Theater
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.
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
Theophilus Lewis: A Black Catholic convert who brought the Harlem Renaissance to the pages of ‘America’
Theophilus Lewis wrote hundreds of theater reviews for “America,” though he got his start as a critic for a magazine central to the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s.