Kiki & Herb, the sensational renegade cabaret act that broke up for 8 years before reuniting briefly in 2016, make the kind of entertainment that glues itself to your brain’s pleasure points. Nowhere near ordinary, and delightfully unpredictable, they’re everything they claim to be; subversive, boldly aggressive and gloriously original. The Stage Network, an arts …
Visionaries see an obstacle and innovate around it. Two of them in the theater world, Igor Golyak and Wang Chong, show how it’s done. Both are directors who found a way to make remarkably successful live theater virtually. Golyak’s Natasha Banina vs the State became a New York Times critic pick over the summer and …
Passing down a craft, a sustaining livelihood, from generation to generation may be a fading phenomenon, but Dennis Watkins never misses an opportunity to thank his grandfather for sharing his incredible skills with him. Watkins’ granddad not only owned a magic shop, he was also an accomplished sleight of hand magician. And now, thousands of …
Artists can create under nearly any circumstance. Still, the constraints facing them these last few months have pushed them to their limit. Given the rigidity of its standard model, the theater community has had an especially hard time adapting to the limitations Covid has imposed on it. Necessity is demanding new ways of thinking about …
Virtual Play/Actual Breakthrough : State vs. Natasha Banina Read More »
Until you confront it, it’s sometimes hard to understand what it means to read or listen to the language and voice of a southern writer. Few are as extraordinary as Tennessee Williams whose plays plunge into the human spirit and swirl with delicate words that seduce the ear and can cut with the accuracy of …
In this brave new world, you never know what to expect when you venture onto that jam packed digital highway in search of a respite from the Covid harangue. Most of the time, all you’re looking for is some soul satisfying entertainment that both soothes and excites. A semblance of what’s no longer part of …
The impact of the coronavirus continues to reach deep into our lives and remind us of our common vulnerability. Gov. Pritzker’s recent declaration of a “bending” of the curve stands as the first faint ray of hope the city and state have seen in its month-long battle with the covid 19 virus. The news bolsters …
When Douglas Turner Ward wrote his pioneering one act play, Day of Absence, in 1965; he had a very clear intent. He wanted to write a play exclusively for a black audience. An audience that did not then exist. He was also working with a highly specific set of objectives. Expectedly, he wanted to write …
Time and a change of perspective can allow you to appreciate things you once abhorred. That maxim can be true of many things. Music, art, food. People. It was true of Boys in the Band. When Mart Crowley’s 1968 bombshell of a play rolled out on celluloid in 1970, it rightfully caused the world to …
Some productions rejuvenate your appreciation for theater by stripping it down and letting you focus on its two essential parts, the story and the characters. Double Vision, a wild and smart musical now playing at the Edge on Broadway, is the kind of wacky joy ride that generate lots of grins, and an occasional groan, …
Double Vision Adds Richness to What a Musical Can Be Read More »