“Welcome, and thank you for flying El-Al,” a snarky flight attendant says through a tortured smile. After briefing us on the minimal safety precautions and talking us through the in-flight entertainment menu (“Don’t Mess with the Zohan” and “Fiddler on the Roof,” naturally), we are whisked away on Sivan Hadari’s jet-setting adventure of self-discovery. For…
MacDougal Street today can hardly be described as paradise. Crammed with NYU students jostling for falafel, or the bridge-and-tunnel crowd fighting for a seat at Panchito’s, it’s difficult to picture the street as a hub of subversion and artistry. But once upon a time, it was. In the 1920s, a Polish Jewish lesbian immigrant named…
Photo by Jonathan Slaff At least “Open Rehearsal” gives warning. The audience is told point blank in the program that the “acts and scenes occur out of sequence.” It is clear from the moment the lights go down that this will not be a linear theatrical experience. Playwright and director Lazarre Seymour Simckes is no…
It is always inspiring to see the amount of new theater being developed in New York. Though not always commercially or artistically successful, new plays are heartening; their presence suggests that there are brave artists out in the world who will continue to create, seemingly unscathed by the cruelties of “the business.” These artists make…
Photo by Carol Rosegg There is something to be said for knowing one’s audience. The people sitting in the cushioned, expensive seats all have expectations, wants and needs. Perhaps they want to forget; to laugh; to be touched, or to hear a really good story. Or maybe they want to remember. Jake Ehrenreich’s one-man comedy…
Photo by Leon Sokoletski A crash is heard at the Westside Theatre. Something unidentified, something flying, lands with a thud on the stage, and from the wreckage emerge eight figures. Bright white from head to toe except for ruby red lips, these creatures are from the planet Voca, a strange and exotic land where “life…
Erik Lieberman and Delphi Harrington in ‘For Elise.’ Photo by Gerry Goodstein. Weddings are the best. There is food, drink, music, organized dancing, and cake. What could be better? My favorite part of any wedding is watching the old and new generations interact. Nothing is more priceless than the look on my grandmother’s face when…
Each year at Passover we gather together, crack the door a bit, and break bread of the unleavened variety. It is a celebration of freedom, of tradition, and a reminder of those ties that bind. While the Seder depicted in Matthew Lopez’s play “The Whipping Man,” which opened February 1 at New York City Center,…
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