The Drama Desk Awards celebrate achievements both Broadway and off-Broadway for a season — this year, of course, that season was cut off quite short. The shut down of theatres due to COVID-19 dramatically impacted what shows were already open, and therefore eligible, for awards this year. This was especially the case for Broadway, since most Broadway shows had not opened yet by the time of the shutdown. The result is that off-Broadway is represented much more in nominations than usual. Even with a condescend theatrical season, off-Broadway in particular had so much to offer, evidenced not only by the…

The problems of Ivo van Hove’s “West Side Story” are almost too numerous to fit into a single piece, but I am going to try. There has already been quite a bit written on this revival, so instead of a traditional review this is going to be more of a semi-organized set of thoughts about some problematic aspects — things that I feel need to be talked about and addressed more. Consider this my cahiers de doléances, my list of grievances.

To begin I must of course start with the captain of this misbegotten mess, Ivo van Hove. For those…

A review of the newly revised production of “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” in light of “Mack & Mabel” at City Center Encores! and Ivo van Hove’s “West Side Story.” In our current theatrical moment, what degree of nostalgia should go into a revival?

As a critic, some weeks you see Lucas Hnath, Young Jean Lee, and Alice Birch question the forms that theatre can take. Other weeks you see back to back revivals of Jerry Herman, Leonard Bernstein, and Meredith Wilson. …

At this point it is hard to go more than a few months without a Lucas Hnath play. “The Thin Place” at Playwrights Horizons closed just a few weeks ago, and now we herald the opening of the wunderkind’s latest work, “Dana H.” Hnath is such a versatile, chameleonic playwright that it seems as if he has challenged himself to master — or at least attempt — every major style of drama. He has given us a literary sequel, a religious critique, an historical allegory, and a spiritualist psychological thriller, to name a few. Expanding this already ever-expanding playbook is…

“Medea” is one of the stories that you know going in what’s going to happen— no matter what, the tossed-aside wife is going to murder her children — but you watch anyway, almost unable to look away. Simon Stone, who wrote and directed a new adaptation currently playing at BAM’s Harvey Theater, has created a painfully uncanny world that translates Euripides to modern day, inspired by a real life Kansan woman who murdered her children. …

Elizabeth Strout’s novels are generally beloved, as is Laura Linney, so combining the two was a logical choice for adapter Rona Munro and director Richard Eyre. However, the production of “My Name is Lucy Barton” at the Manhattan Theatre Club’s Friedman Theatre (a transfer from London), seems to be lacking. It has several great elements, including an emotional story and a phenomenal actress, and yet it never really soars.

Munro’s adaptation is a rather straightforward translation of the novel, which was written in first person and almost begging to become a monologue. In it, Lucy tells about a recent extended…

Works of drama have been traditionally classified into comedies or tragedies, (or if you are being generous, tragicomedies). Ever since the Ancient Greeks this dramaturgical framework has been the main way that audiences, writers, performers, scholars, and critics alike have understood theatre. The main basis behind this genre binary is the affect that each produces: tragedy has a negative affect, usually of sadness, while comedy has a positive affect of joy. However, recently another affect has come into fashion for theatre: fear.

This affect defies the boundaries of comedy and tragedy, although it leans closer to the latter, since fear…

In “The Inheritance,” the current talk of the town gay play that claims to deal with the legacy of the AIDS crisis, all of the major characters are not only white, but are HIV-. There are two minor black characters, one of whom is HIV+, but his status is only mentioned once briefly, and the other black character similarly only has one quick mention of HIV to say “if you’re a black gay man in America, your chances of contracting HIV in your lifetime are one in two.” Once again, the line is quickly said and quickly forgotten. …