Off-B'way Review: Dad Don't Read This

Sophie Rossman, Kayta Thomas, Amalia Yoo, 
and Renee-Nicole Powell
in Dad Don't Read This.
Credit: Valerie Terranova

“You can’t be bad at this game. It’s like life but on the computer,” says one of the four young girls comprising the character list in Eliya Smith’s compelling and insightful play Dad Don’t Read This at the Greenwich House Theater after a run at St. Luke’s Theater. That line sums up her young characters’ conflicts between living real life and in the digital realm. As she did with her previous play on adolescent angst Grief Camp, Smith’s intense script is jagged, funny, painful, messy and very real. Dad follows a quartet of teen girlfriends obsessively playing the computer game SIMS where they create artificial worlds rather than cope with the actual one. The play begins with Mal reading a warning to her father, quoting the title, and pleading with him to stay away from her computer. The action takes place in Mal’s bedroom (Forest Entsminger designed the accurately chaotic set) as she negotiates the rocky path of adolescence and yearns to break out of her central Ohio town. Her friends Noelle, Sophie and Lida bicker, share secrets, and sleep over as they go through similar identity crises.

Smith compassionately documents the young ladies’ attempts at forging their own life stories and being kind to each other while surrounded by gossip and peer pressure. Director Chloe Claudel smoothly stages the action so the scenes flow into each other as Mal deals with her warring parents, creating homes and activities for her SIMS creations, fighting feuds and making up with her pals. Choreographer Lena Engelstein devises expressive dance moves to interpret the girls’ frustrations and eagerness to become grown-up. Mitchell Polonsky’s sound design provides an evocative aural environment including the muffled offstage voices of Mal’s mom and dad. Abigail Sage and Finn Bamber’s lighting design reflects the violently shifting moods from a dreamy starscape to harsh reality when one of the girls switches on an unforgiving overhead bulb in the middle of a sleepover. Costume designer Olivia Vaughn Hern dresses them in character-defining casual wear. 

At the performance attended, director Chloe Claudel covered for Amalia Yoo as Mal and was movingly convincing in conveying her struggles to find self-actualization outside of Ohio and the SIMS world. Sophie Rossman is especially touching as Sophie, particularly in a frightening monologue in which she describes a sleazy encounter with a predatory adult in a family restaurant. You can see the conflicting emotions play across her face as Lida expresses revulsion and then guilty excitement and finally shame. Katya Thomas captures the clingy neediness of Lida who shyly hides her empathy for fear of appearing weak. Renee-Nicole Powell displays the athletic Noelle’s seeming confidence, actually a shield for her insecurity. 

Recent plays like John Proctor Is the Villain, Grief Camp, Indian Princesses, and this striking one are dealing with the pain and challenge of being young in the 21st century. Let’s hope more playwrights emerge to address this relevant topic.

June 23—July 18. Try for Baby Productions and The Goat Exchange at Greenwich House Theater, 27 Barrow St., NYC. Running time: 95 mins. with no intermission. daddontreadthis.com.

Off-B'way Update: All-Star View from the Bridge; Irish Rep

Sam Rockwell, Marin Ireland, and 
Alfred Molina will star in an Off'B'way
production of A View from the Bridge
at LaMaMa.

An unusually starry production of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge will play the legendary Off-Broadway La MaMa Theater this fall with preview performances beginning Nov. 27 before a Dec. 13 opening. Oscar winner Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards) stars as Eddie Carbone, Obie winner and Tony nominee Marin Ireland (Queens) plays his wife Beatrice and Tony winner Alfred Molina (Art) will be Alfieri the narrator and Greek chorus. Neil Pepe of Atlantic Theater Company will direct. (Side note: Ireland's play Pre-Existing Condition will return for a run at the Greenwich House Theater opening Sept. 14.)

“Some of my earliest theatre memories are of coming to La MaMa as a kid and hanging out backstage while my mom was doing experimental theatre of the day. To now return to the Ellen Stewart Theatre with Arthur Miller's masterpiece with these remarkable collaborators feels like coming full circle," says Rockwell in a statement. "I started my own career downtown, and institutions like La MaMa have always inspired me—as an artist and as an audience member. They're the lifeblood of our culture, championing bold new voices and reminding us why the theatre matters. I've always considered myself incredibly lucky, and this opportunity feels like kismet.”

View concerns the longshoreman Eddie Carbone who comes to tragedy because of his unspoken passion for his teenaged niece. The play began life on Broadway as a one-act play on a double bill with Miller's A Memory of Two Mondays in 1955. He later expanded it to full length and an Off-Broadway revival starring Robert Duvall and Jon Voight ran for 780 performances. Subsequent Broadway productions starred Tony LoBianco (1983), Anthony LaPaglia (1997), Liev Schreiber (2010), and Mark Strong (2015). 

Off-B'way Review: Giulia: The Poison Queen of Palermo

Jennifer Nettles and company in 
Giulia: The Poison Queen of Palermo.
Credit: Andy Henderson

You really have to admire author-actress Jennifer Nettles. In addition to playing the title role, the Grammy-winning vocalist of the duo Sugarland wrote the songs and book for the new musical Giulia: The Poison Queen of Palermo, now at the Perelman Performing Arts Center. She (or the producers) enlisted Tony-winner Mary Zimmerman to direct. Plus the basic idea is intriguing. The plot is based on a true story of a 17th-century Italian female apothecary who aided the women of her community by poisoning several abusive husbands including her own. Nettles creates a proto-feminist heroine, sort of a socially progressive Sweeney Todd. 

Unfortunately, while there are several entertaining elements, Giulia doesn’t quite come together for a satisfying whole. Nettles’ book is earnest in its desire to create a plucky protagonist challenging an oppressive patriarchy represented by a hypocritical cardinal (powerful Quentin Earl Darrington) and a villainous civil governor (mustache-twirling Christopher M. Ramirez). But Nettles doesn’t seem to be able to make up her mind as to what kind of show this is. The tone is mostly deadly serious, but switches to dark humor halfway through the first act, but then switches to girl-power tract as Giulia gleefully massacres all the nasty men who assault their spouses and sets up a women’s talk therapy session in her shop. The show opens like Pippin with a commedia dell’arte troupe performing a scene-setting intro number led by an overplaying Bre Jackson. But then the play-within-a-play concept is dropped. 

B'way Update: Dolly Parton Musical

Carrie St. Louis, Katie Rose Clarke and
Quinn Titcomb in
Dolly: A True Original Musical in Nashville.
Credit: Matthew Murphy

That Dolly Parton musical is coming to Broadway after all. After receiving mostly negative reviews for its world premiere in Nashville last year, the show's future appeared uncertain. But it has just been announced Dolly: A True Original Musical will begin preview performances at the St. James Theater on Dec. 7 and open on Parton's 81st birthday on Jan. 19, 2027. The score will be composed of Parton's past hits and new tunes she has written especially for the show. Parton also collaborated on the book with Emmy winner Maria S. Schlatter (Parton's Christmas on the Square TV movie). Tony winner Barlett Sher (The King and I, South Pacific) directs. No word on casting as of yet. In Nashville, the lead role was played by three actresses, enacting different phases in the 11-time Grammy winner's life. Bio musicals on Cher and Donna Summer were similarly split three ways. Parton previously wrote the score to the musical version of 9 to 5, based on the movie in which she co-starred with Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda.

“My whole life has been a musical. A grand ole opera really and I can’t wait to present it to you on Broadway," says Parton in a statement. "I hope you enjoy watching as much as I’ve enjoyed livin’ it.”

“During our world premiere in Nashville, I was overwhelmed by the deep connection audiences have with Dolly. You mention her name and people light up and share a time that she has inspired them and brought them joy," says Sher. "But despite all of that genuine love, Dolly has never really shared her story before. She’s offered glimpses and peeks, but this musical allows her to reveal the unfiltered story in her own words. As we prepare to come to Broadway, we’re thrilled to show that rhinestones were never her whole story.”

Book Review: Stone Mattress

(Bought at the Little Red Book Shack in Hudson, NY for 50 cents.) In an afterword, Margaret Atwood explains the difference between tales and stories. She labels these "nine wicked tales" as influenced by folk lore and are less likely to require the verisimilitude of "stories." Atwood brilliantly takes elements of speculative futuristic fiction, fantasy, murder mystery and horror and weaves them into realistic settings. Each tale was totally absorbing. I especially enjoyed The Dead Hand Loves You, Torching the Dusties and the title story. In the Dead Hand, she satirizes the horror genre as an author seeks revenge on his former roommates. Torching the Dusties imagines a future where senior citizens are terrorized by entitled youngsters who feel they've been cheated of a decent planet by their elders. Stone Mattress details the perfect murder scenario. Atwood is such a master. 

Off-B'way Review: Birthright; A Walk on the Moon

Zoe Winters, Eli Gelb, Molly Ranson, Nate Mann,
and Hale Appleman in Birthright.
Credit: Emilio Madrid

Two new Off-Broadway shows deal with Jewish characters. One deeply examines the complexities of Jewish identity while the other is a shallow musical treatment of familiar tropes combining a few acceptable songs with a tired plot. Jonathan Spector’s Birthright at MCC Theater is an overwhelming wallop of a play, encompassing America’s frayed relationship with Israel as well as the individual struggle to reconcile religious affiliation with personal ethics. Pamela Gray and AnnMarie Milazzo’s A Walk on the Moon, based on Gray’s 1999 screenplay, at the Laura Pels after productions at New York Stage and Film and the George Street Playhouse, is more like a walk in the park—a familiar, not unpleasant, but not particularly exciting park. 

As he did with the vaccine controversy in Eureka Day, Spector skillfully presents multiple sides of a difficult issue in Birthright. No one is a hero or a villain, the characters are just of a group of people muddling their way through the confusion of modern life. Running at three hours and 20 minutes, the play covers 18 crucial years, 2006 to 2024, in the lives of six young Jewish friends. Director Teddy Bergman miraculously keeps the action flowing so that those three hours never drag. Each of the three acts takes place during a reunion after their trip to Israel sponsored by the titular organization to encourage American Jews to explore their connections with the homeland. As the conflict between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration and the Palestinians metastasizes, each of the group differently deals with their raging reactions and their own sense of Judaism.

Eli Gelb and Zoe Winters
in Birthright.
Credit: Emilio Madrid

In Act One, subtitled “Two Jews, Three Opinions,” the sextet wrestles with the implications of their recent trip and their personal and political entanglements with Israel and each other as they start lives outside of college and family. The continuous action takes place at the home of Chaya’s parents in a Washington DC suburb, though we only meet Chaya’s mom. Scott Pask designed the handsome set. Act Two (“A Palace in Time”), set ten years later, is a series of brief, fractured scenes on the night before the wedding and move to Israel of Alona (fragile yet ultimately strong Molly Ranson). In Act Three (“Right of Return”), the group is reunited by tragedy and split by Hamas’ terrorist massacre and Israel’s retaliatory war on Gaza. Here, as he did in Eureka Day, Spector incorporates text messages and Google searches projected onto Pask’s set. Bergman cleverly stages these scenes with Natasha Katz’s evocative lighting focusing on the reader of the digital messages with the rest of the cast in darkness and sounding like they’re underwater. David Bengali created the imaginative projections. 

Not only does Spector portray the personae’s tortured connections to their faith and culture, but also explores such weighty topics as the course of Jewish history, the changing means of communication, the coarsening of political dialogue and the meaning of community. 

The 15th Annual David Desk Awards

Laurie Metcalf and Micah Stock
in Little Bear Ridge Road.
Credit: Julieta Cervantes

The 2025-26 theater season is now over and that means it's time for the 15th annual David Desk Awards with my choices for the best onstage in NYC theater out of everything I've seen in the past twelve months. Shows like Cats: The Jellicle Ball and Libertation are not included because I considered them last year for their Off-Broadway runs. I categorize Masquerade, the immersive version of Phantom of the Opera as both a revival and a Unique Theatrical Experience. 

Play:
The Balusters (David Lindsay-Abaire)
Cold War Choir Practice (Ro Reddick)
Giant (Mark Rosenblatt)
Kyoto (Joe Murphy, Joe Robertson)
Little Bear Ridge Road (Samuel D. Hunter)
Meet the Cartozians (Talene Monahon)
Prince Faggot (Jordan Tannahill)
Punch (James Graham)

Musical:

The Lost Boys

Mexodus

My Joy Is Heavy

Saturday Church

Schmigadoon!

Revival of a Play:

Becky Shaw

Bug

Death of a Salesman

Galas

Joe Turner’s Come and Gone

You Got Older

Revival of a Musical:

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

The Baker’s Wife

The Gospel at Colonus

Masquerade

Ragtime

The Rocky Horror Show

Actor in a Play:

Jon Bernthal, Dog Day Afternoon

Will Harrison, Punch

John Krasinski, Angry Alan

Stephen Kunken, Kyoto

Nathan Lane, Death of a Salesman

John Lithgow, Giant

Okieriete Onaodowan, The Monsters

Micah Stock, Little Bear Ridge Road

Mark Strong, Oedipus

Actress in a Play:

Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Well, I’ll Let You Go

Carrie Coon, Bug

Lesley Manville, Oedipus

Laurie Metcalf, Little Bear Ridge Road

Aigner Mizzelle, The Monsters

Alia Shawkat, You Got Older

Actor in a Musical:

LJ Benet, The Lost Boys

Alex Brightman, Schmigadoon!

Nicholas Christopher, Chess

Luke Evans, The Rocky Horror Show

Joshua Henry, Ragtime

Actress in a Musical:

Abigail Bengson, My Joy Is Heavy

Sara Chase, Schmigadoon!

Caissie Levy, Ragtime

Marla Mindelle, Titanique

Book Review: Chilly Scenes of Winter

(Bought at the Little Red Book Shack in Hudson, NY for 50 cents): I've read many of Ann Beattie's story collections and novels, but never this one, her first big hit which put her on the literary map back in 1976. It was later filmed as Head Over Heels (the studio didn't like her original title). There isn't much of a plot. Unhappy twentysomething Charles pines for married Laura while tending to his mentally-ill mother Clara, and coping with hostile feelings towards his stepfather Pete. His sister Susan is still in college and engaged to a med student Charles doesn't like and his best friend Sam has just lost his job and moves in. The novel follows Charles through a cold winter as he stumbles his way through life, trying to find love and meaning in a boring government job and a frustrating romantic life.

I couldn't help liking Charles, even though he's a whiny complainer. Beattie gives him so many human flaws and foibles, it's hard not to sympathize with him. The book was proclaimed as a 1970s answer to Catcher in the Rye. Charles is not as disaffected and rebellious as Holden Caulfield, but he is a realistic example of the youth of the decade after the 1960s seeking their identity in a society that provides few role models. He is damaged because his father died when he was young and his mother has lost her grip on sanity. He becomes a needy desperate loner with few friends (except for Sam) and longs for the unattainable Laura. I enjoyed this work by Beattie more than her others. The quirkiness doesn't feel as forced as in many of her short stories.  

Off-B'way Review: La Cage Aux Folles

Billy Porter and Wayne Brady in
La Cage Aux Folles.
Credit: Joan Marcus

The mission of Encores! is to give obscure or forgotten musicals with some worthy elements—either a witty score, a fun book, or an opportunity for a contemporary performer to stretch themselves—another look. La Cage Aux Folles doesn’t really fit any of these criteria. The original 1983 production ran for over five years and there have been two revivals (2004 and 2010). The show has not slipped beneath notice and holds a place in the cultural memory for its trailblazing depiction of a loving gay couple humorously challenging bigotry. Jerry Herman’s spritely score contains many tunes which remain on the short-list for Favorite Broadway songs. Harvey Fierstein’s book retains its sitcom-y punch, with only a few dated spots.

However, Robert O’Hara’s new concert staging does give us chance to “see things from a different angle” as the lyrics to “I Am What I Am,” the show’s hit anthem of gay rights, suggests. With an all-black cast and an infusion of transgender imagery, O’Hara brings La Cage up to the present moment. David Zinn’s set and Clint Ramos and Michelle Ridley’s costumes evoke black, gay icons from Sylvester to Eartha Kitt’s Catwoman.

When the original production opened, stars George Hearn and Gene Barry made it abundantly clear in interviews they were both big, strapping straight guys only playing at being queer. (I even recall one feature article on the show in a national magazine telling of a straight chorus boy in drag harshly rejecting the flirtatious advances of a male stagehand.) I don’t recall any kissing between the two leads and I believe they only went as far as handing hands. Here, Wayne Brady and Billy Porter—the former has identified as “pansexual” and the latter as gay—are entirely believable as a married couple of many years. They aren’t afraid to display intimacy. At one point, Porter’s extravagant Albin recoils from a public display of affection from his husband Georges (Brady). This is the only moment that rings false. 

Porter is blazingly flamboyant and touching, unashamedly proclaiming his identity. His rendition of “I Am What I Am” at the first act finale brings down the house. He’s entirely at home as the top-billed drag entertainer and loving maternal figure in his family. Brady is equally professional and commanding as the—you should excuse the expression—straight man to Porter’s flashier role. He provides a solid anchor for Porter to take off from. 

As Jean-Michele, the son who requests Albin get tucked away in a closet to please his prospective conservative in-laws, Alaman Diadhiou gets an impressive dance solo. Tonya Pinkins is a delight in the beefed-up role of Jacqueline, the world-weary restauranteur as is James Jackson Jr. as the sassy servant Jacob. Peter Francis James overplays the stuffy right-wing leader, emerging as a straw bogey man.

The staging can be rough at times. The lack of prep time shows. At one point, Porter flubbed a line and ad-libbed, “Only ten days, bitches,” referring to the abbreviated Encores! rehearsal period. The design elements are uneven, particularly Adam Honore’s harsh lighting which sometimes causes glare and audience members have to shield their eyes. Some Encores products have been so polished they could open on Broadway with little transition, but this one would require additional work. However, the choreography by Edgar Godineaux and Dormeshia is brilliantly executed and is a highlight. 

Despite the rough patches, this La Cage is a fun frolic and a bracing reminder of how far we’ve come in 40 years. Gay couples are now regularly in TV commercials and game shows (like Brady’s Let’s Make a Deal.) Musicals like this one were there first, making it a fitting way to end Gay Pride month.

June 18—28. Encores! at City Center, 131 W. 55th St., NYC. Running time: two hours and 30 mins. including intermission. nycityenter.org.

Billy Porter and cast
in La Cage Aux Folles
Credit: Joan Marcus

B'way Update: Three Days of Rain

Francois Arnaud in Heated Rivalry
Credit: HBO

The trend for revivals continues as the latest entry in the 2026-27 Broadway season is announced. Richard Greenberg's Three Days of Rain, previously seen Off and on Broadway, will begin performance in February 2027 at a Shubert theater to be announced with a cast mainly known for their film and TV credits. The cast of three who will play two roles each is comprised on Francois Arnaud (Heated Rivalry), David Corenswet (Superman), and Emmy nominee Yvonne Strahovski (Serena Joy from The Handmaid's Tale). Tony winner Anna D. Shapiro will direct.  

Anna D. Shapiro said, “THREE DAYS OF RAIN is truly one of the most beautiful plays I’ve ever done or experienced. Steeped in the brilliantly funny and enchantingly complex world of Richard Greenberg, the story follows two generations of New York intelligentsia as they navigate the burden of family, the seduction of art and the necessity of love over time and eternity.”

David Corenswet as Superman
Credit: Warner Brothers

Three Days of Rain premiered in NYC Off-Broadway in a 1997 Manhattan Theater Club production with Patricia Clarkson, John Slattery and Bradley Whitford. The play was a Pulitzer finalist and won an Obie Award. A 2006 Broadway revival was headlined by movie stars Julia Roberts, Paul Rudd and Bradley Cooper.

This brings the number of Broadway play revivals for 2026-7 to ten with only four new plays scheduled (five if you count Billy Crystal's autobiographical solo show). 

Yvonne Strahovski as Serena Joy
on The Handmaid's Tale.
Credit: Hulu

B'way Update: Warriors Musical

Eisa Davis and Lin-Manuel Miranda

Warriors, a musical based on the 1979 Paramount Pictures release The Warriors and the 1965 novel by Sol Yorick, will open on Broadway in Spring of 2027. Previews begin in March with an opening in April at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater. Book, music and lyrics are by Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton, In the Heights) and Eisa Davis (Bulrusher). Jeffrey Koons directs and Andy Blankenbuehler of Hamilton co-directs and choreographs. The plot follows a NYC gang as they travel from Coney Island to the Bronx and back in an effort to prove their innocence of a murder. The musical originated as a concept album realesed in 2024 and featuring Lauryn Hill, Busta Rhymes, Nas, Billy Porter, Coleman Domingo, and many others.

“With Warriors, we take a fateful journey through New York City full of heart and grit as our characters fight to survive,” said co-writers Miranda and Davis in a joint statement. “Musicalizing such a vibrant world for the concept album has been a thrill, and now we're coming out to play on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne. We can't wait.”

A scene from The Warriors film (1979)

B'way/Off-B'way Update: LCT Season; Mean Girls Cast

Jasmine Amy Rogers will star in two Broadway
shows this season; Bradley Whitford and Tom
Blyth will headline A Few Good Men.

The Sound of Music, Rodgers and Hammerstein's beloved classic of the Von Trapp Family Singers and that famous climb over a mountain to escape the Nazis, is returning to Broadway as part of Lincoln Center Theater's 2026-27 Broadway and Off-Broadway season which will also include revivals of A Few Good Men and August Wilson's Seven Guitars and a new play from Kimberly Belflower, author of John Proctor Is the Villain. 

Tony nominee and Drama Desk and Outer Critic Circle winner Jasmine Amy Rogers (Boop!, Spelling Bee) will headline The Sound of Music revival, scheduled to begin performances at the Vivian Beaumont on March 23, 2027, with an opening set for April 15. Tony nominee and Drama Desk winner and LCT artistic director Lear de Bessonet (Ragtime, Into the Woods) will direct. The Sound of Music opened in 1959, ran 1, 443 performances and won five Tonys including Best Musical. The 1965 movie version starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer won five Oscars and became one of the top grossing films of its day. A 1998 revival ran 533 performances.

BTW, before wandering through the hills and singing about how they are alive, Rogers will star in Manhattan Theater Club's production of School Girls or the African Mean Girls Play, opening Sept. 28 at the Samuel Friedman. Her co-stars are Tony nominee Denee Benton (Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, The Gilded Age), Tony winner Patina Miller (Pippin), Drama Desk nominee Erin Morton (Heathers), Nia Otchere-Sarfo, Jordan Rice, Obie winner Heather Alicia Simms (Purlie Victorious), and Lucia Aremu (Cold War Choir Practice).

Back to Lincoln Center: Aaron Sorkin's A Few Good Men starring Emmy winner Bradley Whitford (The West Wing, The Handmaid's Tale, Transparent) and Tom Blyth (The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes), begins previews at the Beaumont Oct. 8, opening Oct. 19. Tony winner Michael Arden (The Lost Boys, Maybe Happy Ending, Once on This Island) directs.

At the Off-Broadway Mitzi Newhouse, Ruben Santiago-Hudson will direct a revival of August Wilson's Seven Guitars, set in 1940s Pittsburgh. Santiago Hudson won a Tony for Featured Actor in a Play for the 1996 original Broadway production. Previews Nov. 5, opens Nov. 23.

Kimberly Bellflower follows up her Broadway debut of John Proctor Is the Villain with Born in the Dirt, reuniting her with director Danya Taymor. The story concerns a young woman in a small Souther town working at a "hospital" that produces dolls for collectors. Previews April 14, 2027, opens May 6. 

Also at the Newhouse will be Playing Burton by Mark Jenkins, directed by Bartlett Sher, a one-man play about the legendary film and stage star Richard Burton, played by Matthew Rhys. Dates to be announced.

Lincoln Center's LCT3 at the Clara Tow Theater will present creation stories and the important importants by Mfoniso Udofia (performances begin Sept. 15) and Pretend It's Pretend by Emma Watkins (beginning Jan. 28, 2027).

Off-B'way Review: Henry VI: A Trilogy in Two Parts

Mia Katigbak and Jon Norman Schneider
in Henry VI: A Trilogy in Two Parts.
Credit: HanJie Chow

What a difference a day makes. The first part of NAATCO (National Asian-American Theater Company) and the Public Theater’s two-evening presentation of Shakespeare’s Henry VI trilogy is a confusing muddle with ridiculously labyrinthine plots and melodramatic acting and direction. I actually dreaded returning to the Public the following evening for the second part. But, much to my relief and delight, Part Two was a tighter, ferocious spectacle of power politics. The press materials claims this early work from the Bard inspired the bloodthirsty Game of Thrones fantasy series and the second part bears that out. Originally presented in 2018, Henry VI: A Trilogy in Two Parts condenses three of the Bard’s early history plays in a two-night sprawling epic. The action covers the seemingly endless War of the Roses wherein the Houses of York and Lancaster battle for the crown during the reign of the boyishly naive title monarch.

Teresa Avia Lim and Paul Juhn in
Henry VI: A Trilogy in Two Parts.
Credit: HanJie Chow

Director and Adapter Stephen Brown-Fried can do little to enliven the overstuffed Part One, subtitled Foreign Wars. The young king (sensitive Jon Norman Schneider) is embroiled in armed conflict to retain the French lands conquered by his father the war-like Henry V. The French have a secret weapon, the possibly divine, possibly witchy Joan of Arc (fiery Myka Cue). Meanwhile, the devious Duke of York (steely Rajesh Bose) is scheming to seize the throne, countered by Henry’s dominant wife Queen Margaret (commanding Teresa Avia Lim). There are so many slow-motion battles, reversals of fortune and elaborate stratagems, it’s nearly impossible to keep track of them all. (Mextly Couzin’s striking lighting does help clarify the action somewhat.) In one ironic scene, York’s convoluted explanation for his claim to the crown gets the biggest laugh of the evening. 

Actors are constantly moving pylons entwined with thick ropes back and forth across the drab set by the design team of dots. The absurd black and white costumes by threeAsFour featuring weird puffy fabric choices, denote no specific period and make the performers look like they are wearing sleeping bags or comforters. Hardly appropriate for combat. Mia Katigbak does have moments of dignified grace as Henry’s humane advisor, an island of sanity in a sea of madness. (There are many interesting examples of cross-gender casting with women playing male roles.)  

Kimiye Corwin, David Shih, and 
John D. Haggerty in
Henry VI: A Trilogy in Two Parts.
Credit: HanJie Chow

But Part Two, subtitled Civil Strife, benefits from mainly focusing on a single story arc: the machiavellian machinations of the crippled, satanic Duke of Gloucester, later to be crowned the infamous Richard III. Played like a diminutive dynamo demon by Julyana Soelistyo, Richard becomes the center of an epic battle to seize the monarchy at all costs. Brown-Fried’s pacing becomes quicker and clearer, the battles are not as repetitive and the acting is sharper. Schneider’s Henry grows more complex, displaying the woebegone king’s conflicting inner struggle between religious idealism and brutal reality. (In a fascinating double-casting choice, he reappears as a lowly messenger after the king has been taken captive.) Lim’s Margaret emerges as a wolf-like predator, devouring anyone who crosses her. A production of Richard III featuring Soelistyo and Lim would be a terrific cage match. There are also vibrant performances in this second part by Anna Ishida as Warwick, Orville Mendoza as the rebel Jack Cade, and David Lee Huynh as Clifford.

The three Henry VI plays are rarely performed, yet they have relevance in today’s world. Both feature a deeply divided country with leaders exploiting populist fears and passions to gain unchecked power. This production attempts to make that connection, but only succeeds half-way.

June 21—July 19. Public Theater, 425 Lafayette St., NYC. Running time: Part One: two hours and 45 mins. including intermission; Part Two: two hours and 15 mins. including intermission. publictheater.org.

Book Review: Twilight of the Super Heroes

(Bought at Inquiring Minds Bookstore in Saugerties, NY for $7) Deborah Eisenberg's short story collection has some brilliant passages, but I found her overall style a little too writerly. I didn't feel like I was inside the characters, but in the mind of the writer, coldly observing them. The perspective shifted within the stories, which was confusing. The title story is praised lavishly in the book inside blurbs as an insightful rumination on 9/11. It didn't make me feel anything really. The perspective switches from a rudderless young man sharing an illegal Manhattan sublet right in front of the Twin Towers with three friends to his art-dealer uncle who procured the apartment for him. The young man is amateur artist producing a satiric comic strip featuring Passivity Man. The reaction of these two and the roommates to the Twin Towers devastation and its aftermath are the nucleus of the story. It didn't register as emotional or impactful. 

I liked Some Other, Better Otto and Revenge of the Dinosaurs more. The first depicts a depressed gay man dealing with his husband and family including a schizophrenic sister. The second a somewhat feckless young artist coping with her senile grandmother and her more practical brother. I felt closer to the characters here.

Off-B'way Update: MCC Season

Leonardo DiCaprio and Johnny Depp
in What's Eating Gilbert Grape

MCC Theater has announced it 40th anniversary 2026-27 season including two new American plays and a musical adaptation of a beloved film and novel. First up is Anon--a tempest at our kitchen table by Anne Washburn (Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play), directed by Anne Kaufman, previewing Sept. 25 for an Oct. 13 opening. When a gay pride flag is flown in their suburban Texas neighborhood, two families freak out. In January, Lloyd Suh's The Heart Sellers tells the story of two immigrant strangers sharing their first Thanksgiving in America. June brings the world premiere of a musical based on What's Eating Gilbert Grape? with a book by Peter Hedges based on his 1991 novel (the basis of the 1993 movie starring Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio and Juliette Lewis). Music and lyrics are by Adrian Enscoe, Christopher Sears, Sydney Shepherd, and Regina Strayhorn. Anne Kaufman returns to MCC to direct.

"We've always sought to provoke conversations that don't happen anywhere else - and 40 years in, that energy feels stronger than ever. Our Anniversary Season features three very different, unabashedly American stories that share an urgency that is unmistakably of the moment," said Co-Artistic Director Bernie Telsey. "Will (Cantler, co-artistic director) and I are grateful to explore these worlds with the adventurous artists, audiences, and supporters who make MCC what it is. This season will be a celebration for everyone. Find us in the lobby, we can't wait to talk to you!"

Post-Tony Thoughts

P!nk at the Tonys.
Yes, I took the picture from my TV set.

It's been more than a week since the Tony Awards and I've been struggling to figure out what I want to say about the annual celebration of all things Broadway. It was a fairly good production. When pop music star P!nk who has no theater credits at all and whose only connection to the Main Stem is a few of her songs are in the jukebox scores of Moulin Rouge and & Juliet, was announced as the hostess, I was skeptical. Was this merely a desperate ploy to get a new demographic to watch? Also there had been calls to boycott the Tonys because of CBS' parent company Paramount being taken over by the Trump-friendly Ellison family. (Also the producer of Tony winning Best Musical Schmigadoon! is evidently a big MAGA donor.)

To my surprise, P!nk acquitted herself quite well and humbly took on the role of an enthusiastic newcomer from another media not wishes to intrude on the party but to help make it fun. I could have done without the limp comic bits with Darren Criss pretending to be scared of leaping off the balcony and Ariana DeBose offering not-funny hostess advice. The opening number about leading ladies was clever, but I couldn't understand most of the lyrics. P!nk was spectacular in the Chicago tribute and it served as a knock-out audition for her to join the company. The Chorus Line tribute was unnecessary. Once again, the show ran close to four hours (if you count the Pluto TV pre-show) and just like last year they did not mention the Pluto winners on the CBS broadcast (except for the Outstanding Theater Teacher). And the Special Tony Honors winners--entertainment lawyer Loren Plotkin, stage manager Jake Bell, 1/52 Project, creative director Kenn Lubin and the League of Resident Theaters--weren't even mentioned at all. At least on the Oscars, they show clips of the Special Awards handed out earlier in the week.

I got 20 out of 26 right in my predictions. The only real surprise was Ali Louis Bourzgui winning Featured Actor in a Musical for The Lost Boys. I think the vote was split between Andre De Shields of Cats: The Jellicle Ball and Ben Levi Ross of Ragtime who won the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards. I was especially glad for Schmigadoon! winning Best Musical, Book and Score. Maybe this will lead to Schmicago (the Apple TV series's second season) making to Broadway and the third season, Into the Schmoods, getting filmed by Apple.

Book Review: Bad Behavior

(Bought at Time and Space Limited in Hudson, NY for $4) Mary Gaitskill's first collection of stories features some pretty twisted souls. Secretary (which was adapted into a 2002 film) features a weird relationship between the titular office worker and her attorney-boss combining elements of S&M, spanking and workplace harassment, but she seems to enjoy it. A Romantic Weekend also borders on sadomasochism, but the two lovers can't seem to agree on what they want. Prostitution is a main element in several of the tales as the heroines grapple with feeling trapped in the world's oldest profession. A customer is the main focus of another story as he falls for a working girl but is shattered when he encounters her in the outside "real" world. Gaitskill portrays these people without judgement. My favorite was the last, longest story, Heaven in which a woman deals with her repressed husband, four children going through different phases of rebellion and a troubled niece who comes to live with the family. Virginia goes through numerous difficulties and tragedies without really examining her life or her feelings and finally accepts her lot. Gaitskill reminds me of A.M. Homes and Lorrie Moore with her short, sharp, detailed observations of characters muddling through challenging but mundane lives.