Chooch Toddlers, Chicken Cutlets, and the Women We Miss
A warm, witty, and deeply personal review of Elizabeth Wellington Rollins’s The Three Graces of Pearl Street. Beyond the over-explained hot flashes and editorial flaws lies a moving tribute to Italian-American matriarchs, lost heritage, and the women who taught us how to love around a dinner table.
The Siblings Don’t Leave the Bedroom in Les Enfants Terribles
Two siblings, one bedroom, and a private world of games, obsession, and jealousy. Crawl Space brings Jean Cocteau’s Les Enfants Terribles startlingly close to its audience in an intimate new adaptation.
REVIEW: John of John by Douglas Stuart
Gorgeously written and almost unnervingly immersive, John of John drops you onto a remote Scottish island where family, religion, and the place that raised you are nearly impossible to escape. I admired the novel more than I loved its plot, but its people and landscape stayed with me.
New York’s Hottest Love Affair Is Underground
Hot platforms, screeching trains, and a 1974 New York classic: a love letter to the NYC subway, inspired by Film Forum’s NYC In Transit series and the New York Transit Museum’s 50th anniversary.
An Obsessive Night at Books Are Magic
Literary translator, medical student, and now novelist Lizzie Buehler stopped by Books Are Magic to talk about The Obsessed, her anxious, funny debut about academia, relationships, and the strange places our obsessions can take us.
Chekhov, But Make It Therapy Speak
Chekhov gets a modern psychological makeover in The Real Ivanov. But when a character explains everything he’s feeling, is there anything left for the audience to discover?
Review: We Hexed the Moon by Mollyhall Seeley
Four women try to hex the moon into cheese, the moon quits anyway, and somehow it all becomes one of the most compelling novels about female friendship I've read this year. Mollyhall Seeley's We Hexed the Moon is weird, funny, unsettling, and unexpectedly tender.
IF You Love Theater Go See Isla. That’s the Review.
ISLA proves you don’t need a massive budget or flashy tech to make theatrical magic. With puppetry, shadows, live music, and a deeply personal story of family and Cuba, this is the kind of show that reminds you why you love theater in the first place.
This Play Thinks Getting a Job Is the Ultimate Betrayal
A sharp political satire set inside a snowed-in Williamsburg apartment, Chapter Meeting delivers big laughs and strong performances, even if its ambitious script could use a tighter edit.
Raising a Glass to Oil & Whiskey: A Fresh Take on Musical Theater
Blending the energy of a Nashville concert with the intimacy of Off-Broadway, Oil & Whiskey delivers powerhouse vocals, heartfelt performances, and a fresh take on musical theater. Playing beneath the West Bank Cafe at the Laurie Beechman Theater, this country-infused production proves that two seemingly different worlds can make beautiful music together.
Beneath the Surface at HERE ARTS CENTER
Mermaids, lobster costumes, glowing jellyfish, and a lip-syncing clam puppet set the stage for HERE Arts Center's 32nd Annual Gala. Beyond the festivities, conversations with the organization's three co-directors revealed an ambitious vision for the future of experimental theater in New York.
The Cast Soars, but A Walk on the Moon Never Takes Flight
A Walk on the Moon boasts a gifted cast, beautiful vocal performances, and an appealing score, but an unsympathetic central character and a familiar story leave this musical adaptation struggling to justify its existence.
The Sims, Sleepovers, and the Messiness of Being A Teen
Four teenage girls, countless hours spent playing The Sims, and the complicated realities of growing up. In Dad Don't Read This, playwright Eliya Smith and director Chloe Claudel deliver an energetic, funny, and surprisingly poignant portrait of friendship, adolescence, and the search for control.