Theater-goers are provided a special treat - two reviews of Bedlam's enthralling production of Sense & Sensibility. Click below to read on.

A big star in a small theater is a rare New York treat.  Much criticism has been hurled at star driven theater but there are certain plays and certain performances that really justify how these performers attained their status.   This is one of those performances.  The vulnerability and utter charm that Matthew Broderick brings to his tormented character, John, are what power this beautifully written Irish tale. 

Our show is presented at the Irish Repertory Theatre, which in the recent past has produced Frank McCourt's The Irish . . . and How They Got That Way.  A fitting subtext of this performance might be; A Big Star and How He Got That Way. 

The sold-out run of Ironbound, by Polish playwright Martyna Majok, at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater was recently extended through April 24, allowing our entry.  Five minutes into the show we easily saw why this play has become such a sensation in the Downtown theater scene.  Tony Award-nominated actor Marin Ireland is nothing short of sensational. 

I don’t understand Sam Shepard.  At least I think I don’t; I’m not really sure.  There’s nothing particularly obtuse about each of the events in the play, Buried Child, as they develop in this well-acted drama.  My confusion is trying to piece it all together. In my quest I have read numerous synopses and reviews, which have brought me no closer to a conclusion on this play’s meaning.  That being said, Buried Child, directed by Scott Elliott, is a captivating 110 minutes of dysfunctional and, at times, humorous family drama. 

The plays we choose to see are never picked randomly.  Two things inspired our viewing of Nice Fish. First I was informed by a reliable source (thank you Margaret) that Mark Rylance (who I had never heard of, but whom my wife Melissa loved in Wolf Hall) was theater’s greatest living actor. The second is a love of forays into Brooklyn generally and to St. Ann’s Warehouse specifically.  Our birthday trip (it was Melissa’s birthday) “over the bridge” (under the tunnel actually via subway) did not disappoint. 

“Taken into custody.”  It is a line that has been so often heard in the World War II stories about people who have disappeared into unknown places.   Incident at Vichy is a look at this event from the other side.  Our viewpoint is from the nondescript government building that has been appropriated as a makeshift holding pen.  Our unrelated cast of characters is grouped with no common bonds, or so they would like to believe.  More importantly, perhaps, they would like us to believe. 

Jayne Houdyshell is Broadway royalty.  She provides the humanity that we extract from our Father Knows Best version of the American Thanksgiving gathering.  Perfect comedic and dramatic timing envelop her every word.   The Humans, written by Stephen Karam, is a story of a Thanksgiving gathering with all the Hallmark greeting card dressings completely removed. 

Cloud Nine is a play that tosses you this way and then turns you the other way.  Presented in the round at the Linda Gross Theater (Atlantic Theater Company), one could feel as though she has been dropped in a kaleidoscope.  The actors briskly enter and leave from every corner of the venue.  Events swirl and with each turn of the kaleidoscope, it all gets a little stranger and more disorienting.  Not that that’s a bad thing.

In Caryl Churchill’s world, set in colonial Africa and 1979 London, you’re not going to feel comfortable.  Rather, this world is time-bending, gender-bending, mind-bending, reality-rending good fun.  She’s a he and now he’s a she, and he’s a kid and she’s someone else altogether.  You just have to let go and slide around with the kaleidoscope. 

The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey, a one-man show at the Westside Theatre, was a great experience. An earnest and kind treatment of multiple characters by one actor is rare. It is all too easy to fall into mocking the female or elderly characters – James Lecesne both wrote and performed the whole piece – and as this show is set south on the Jersey Shore, there are certain unnamed caricatures that are top of mind with the region.