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Bucks County Playhouse Premieres New McNally
Last week I was privileged to see the World Premiere of Terrence McNally’s new play, Mothers and Sons, in its limited run at the Bucks County Playhouse. In the 1990s, Mr. McNally wrote a play called...
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"Much Ado About Nothing" in the Whedonverse
Kenneth Branagh’s1993 film of Much Ado About Nothing had one of the wittiest title shots I can recall. I burst out laughing in the theatre when I first saw it, and it still tickles me. It’s over the...
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Fourth of July Weekend is HOT HOT HOT
Over 90 degrees in the day, 80s at night. Nice breeze if you’re in the right spot. Where is that spot?Millie and Wilbur celebrate Independence DayThursday – the 4thRecently I’ve taken an interest in...
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Conjuring the World's End
I saw two movies in August, one for which I’d had a smidge of hope and one for which I had high hopes. The one for which I’d had only a smidge of hope in the first place, The Conjuring, was quite...
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Vacation in Amagansett
Tuesday 3 September 2013The drive to Amagansett, which should have been a smidge shorter than the drive to Montauk, took two and a half hours. OK, I stopped briefly at the grocery store, but the...
View Article"Big Fish" Tells a Whopper
The thing about Big Fish is that it looks fabulous. Director/Choreographer Susan Stroman knows how to set ′em up then pull out all the stops with energetic and/or synchronized dance numbers. She...
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The Donmar > St Ann’s Warehouse(s) all female production of Julius Caesar
"Girls! Girls! Girls!" That’s what “theatrical” venues used to say about their female stars. Phyllida Lloyd’s scintillating production of Julius Caesar is not titillating in the usual sense, and one...
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Two Pinter Plays in Two Weeks
Harold Pinter’sBetrayalhas been revived on Broadway, the West End, or wherever else many times since its debut in 1978. Not because it’s a great play, but because actors love the challenge of it....
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2 Becketts in 2 Weeks
“Nothing to be done.” That’s the first line of Waiting for Godot, which Patrick Stewart accompanies with a shrug. This combination becomes not just a running theme but a running gag. Waiting for Godot...
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A Dream Opening for TFANA's New Home
All the superlatives have been used up on Julie Taymor’s various productions over the years, so I’ll try to refrain. That’s not easy, however, in light of this scrumptious presentation of...
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In Repertory: Twelfe Night and the Winter of Our Discontent
Shakespeare’s Globe is in town, and instead of performing one play at the Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts at Pace University downtown as they usually do, they brought two to perform in repertory...
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EST presents a rooster, a hen, and some unpleasant not-quite-humans
Ensemble Studio Theatre’s production of Year of the Rooster by Eric Dufault is dully pretentious, superficially acted (with two exceptions), and altogether disappointing. The play, in its current...
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Will the Civil War Never End?
Downstairs at New York’s City Center, the Women’s Project Theater presents a play about the United States, human beings, divisions, and Pickett’s Charge. Director Daniella Topol has guided her fine...
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Coriolanus at the Donmar, or Live Theatre an Ocean Away
This week, at 2 p.m. New York time, I saw the Donmar Warehouse’s current production of Coriolanus simultaneously with its London audience at 7 p.m. their time. The six camera set-up did more than...
View ArticleMiracle in Manhattan
Musings on the MTAA local bus in Queens idles at the bus stop, the first of the route. Doors closed, plenty of seats available, plenty of passengers. The bus driver sits chatting with one of the...
View Articlevague scribblings on a few movies
I am so far behind in my film viewing that I’ve only seen three films in the last four months.One of these was Gravity. While 3-D is often annoying and just another gimmick to me, in Gravity it was...
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The Accidental President
If the test of an historical drama requires an audience on the edge of their seats, then Robert Schenkkan’s new play “All the Way” earns an A. Bryan Cranston as Lyndon JohnsonThe play is about LBJ and...
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Sewing Saga
My niece is having a baby. Her first. As the modern custom goes, she and her husband are registered on Buy Buy Baby for the stuff they need and/or want. Mostly I plan on buying whatever I like for the...
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On the Birth of the Bard
Last year I wrote a reasonably well-prepared post about William Shakespeare and his plays in celebration of his birthday on this very blog. Alas, this year, well, I’ve been a bit lax in gathering data...
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The Many Faces of Lear
That King Lear is a great play is evidenced in how many ways it can be played and still work to bring out its audience’s fears, fury, loathings, loves, sorrows, and laughs.Laurence Olivier brought a...
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