Holli Harms

“When someone we are rooting for gets their big break...we jump to our feet...That’s what makes reality TV so compelling, and also what makes ‘Original Sound’ so exciting...The original music...is wonderful and sublime...The cast, across the board, spot on...A cautionary tale of what happens when we justify our every move with motivated reasoning – adapting all reasoning of our actions to meet our needs. It is the play that resonates our time now in history.” Full Review

“Acted with care and vicious depth, I was glad I went to see ‘All Our Children’...to witness the unfolding of this horrific story, and the love that rises up from it...The play reflects the fanaticism, the persecution of those not like us, that is happening right now in our own backyard. Horrifying to think we have the capacity for such hate and single-mindedness...This is not an easy play to watch as it will tear at your soul, but it is well, well worth the watch.” Full Review

"An utter catastrophe of uninspiring staging that left me dumbfounded. How could this have gone so wrong?...A lot for the actors to chew on, but when you have them acting to cameras, set up with screens that distort and block their actual faces, or the majority of them prerecorded and airing on one of the five screens hanging, then, well, they’re acting alone, and that solitude creates a void between the actors and the words they are saying." Full Review

"Set in the round, the actors in continuous movement, the play trots along but the movement is forced, staged. These are all damn fine actors but something is missing; connection, ensemble. They are not in step...One of Strindberg’s most daring plays and was way beyond its time when first staged in 1905 and McPherson’s adaptation is modern and wildly gratifying, so let's hope that as the production continues it can solidify this most interesting of takes on marriage." Full Review

"This is the Grinch of all Grinch’s. He growls and purrs and prances and struts like a rock star and we love it! The audience responds with a beam of joyful light, all eyes on the stage as this magnificent production unfolds the story we already know, and yet this is so very fresh and very fun...There is not one moment of downtime. You hop on this sleigh ride and off you go." Full Review

“Harper has written a fierce piece of theater with dialogue that pops and sparks with humor and intensity...No one is a villain, twisting their bar handled mustache and laughing. These are complicated human beings. These are remarkable people...And the cast? Took my breath away...I do wish we had seen more of the women...Broadnax III’s direction is spot on. Scenes flow from one to the other seamlessly. There is no excess just constant motion to an end that will, if nothing, bring hope.” Full Review

“Written in 2003 and yet...is even more relevant now. Uncanny and scary how it hits the nail on the head, getting at our paranoia of the immigrant at the exact shrieking pitch of today...The layers of the play will have you considering and reconsidering existence – yours and others...The director, Ron Canada, moves this layered onion at a pace meant to keep us on our toes...This is a smart play, with smart actors and director, telling us the messy story of us.” Full Review

"Got a ridiculously super energized imaginative eight year-old or younger?...This play sounds like a good choice for them...Silly comedy, story telling, amusement, face-to-face interaction, and all sorts of fun many kids will enjoy...Peter Michael Marino is a one man whirling dervish of energy, comic timing, physical agility, and out and out hilarity. He is a blast to watch and the kids were absolutely mesmerized." Full Review

“Exquisite, sublime, smart, and damn funny. Woman, played by the incomparable Haberle, and Scarecrow by the brilliantly talented and funny Gray, are pugilists with their words, sparing off and punching out. This is one hell of a good play with an ensemble that takes your breath away, makes you think, and touches your heart...An event to be witnessed...Take a friend so that you can...discuss what you have experienced and what it all means to that thing you call your life.” Full Review

"Corrie’s words, drawn from her journals and emails and edited by Katherine Viner and Alan Rickman, are divine. Erin Cronican is wonderful as Rachel; funny, self effacing, observant, meticulous, flawed and confused. A production of Rachel’s story, in her own words, is so strong and solid that it does not need the theatrical staging of this production. Trust that an actor on stage with the presence and talent of Ms. Cronican is sufficient." Full Review

"Joshua Jackson has a difficult role as both actor and translator, and he is simply put, wonderful. He makes it all look so easy...Lauren Ridloff is a powerhouse of raw emotion and honesty. She is so incredibly strong and beautiful...The signing is so amazing that when the characters do simple mimes of opening windows and doors, those movements come across as awkward and jarring compared to the complex moves of ASL. Those mimes felt out of place." Full Review

"The cast of young actors are, simply put, divine. Acting, singing, dancing, building and breaking down the set and making the magic of it appear effortless. This ensemble is flawless. The co-direction of Beatty and Costello is a rocket ship to the stars. Propelling us into other worlds with their staging and ingenious crafting of set and props. They have fashioned, with the writing of Kruckemeyer, a joyous time at the theatre...Kruckemeyer has created a new kind of magical mythical fairy ta... Full Review

"Do we require this to make us sensitive to the mass shootings that are so prevalent today?...'Office Hour' isn’t opening our wound for examination so it can heal, but instead, creating a thicker, tougher callus. Is that necessary?...The performances are all solid...Neel Keller’s delicate direction allows his actors the space to bring these characters and their stories to life." Full Review

“Directed exquisitely by Charlotte Moore...is a must see for all those who love theatre and the importance of language crafted by a master...How timely a play this is about ethnic categorization and social stereotyping in our own climate of deportation and hate...Mr. Friel has such a wonderful gift for letting a story unravel slowly through conversation and character. He wants us to understand what home means...The cast is outstanding.” Full Review

“We should be on the edge of our seats, but somehow with this production I was comfortably sitting back waiting for the shock that never comes…There is opportunity for sympathy from the audience for these characters, but this presentation is too preachy...This production loses its way...The entire production has the feel of holding back…This politically ‘NOW’ piece feels rushed and weakened by a direction taken that serves neither play nor actors.” Full Review

“You wanna see a show that is completely innovative and inspiring, where you can share the experience with your children, where after you can go for sushi and discuss how good you feel, how much fun you just had? Yup that’s ‘The Lightning Thief.’ This production is acted and sung as well as any Broadway production…Fun and magic, those are the two words that best describe this production…Every song is a gem.” Full Review

“The play flies by on the wings of lightning and thunder due to the smart, fast, clever, hilarious dialogue of Steven Levenson, the carefully choreographed staging of Daniel Sullivan and the amazing performances of this ensemble. Everyone is perfect…I left the theatre with so many thoughts and images and questions in my head. I left the theatre changed. The show closes April 30th. You have some time but not much. Go.” Full Review

"It is an endless bombardment of sound and fury–showing us, telling us, who these boys are...but it’s too much...It is the arrival of Jenny that turns the play into something more than the yelling and gnashing of teeth. Here is where poetry begins and here is where we start to care, to listen–leaning forward, drinking in the words and emotions played so beautifully by this flawless cast...It is the quiet, painful moments of longing where the writer, actors and director all shine." Full Review

"A poem for all of us to keep in our pockets and carry with us…Hallie Foote and Harriet Harris are a perfect pitch together. Rebecca Brooksher’s portrayal of Annie is a gentle portrait of a young woman’s inability to hang on to sanity…The play is all about those remembrances. The past occupying each of the characters' lives much more than the present. Home is where they came from, not where they are." Full Review

"The writing in 'A Life' is the beautiful turned up. It’s funny, poignant and honest. The acting and directing – breathless. Director Anne Kauffman understands the weight of quiet, of silence. David Hyde Pierce, who is one of our theatrical treasures, and the rest of this outstanding cast are courageous in their ability to simply be – be there in front of us with all their humanity." Full Review

"'Hamlet' is a great story. A great story of revenge, heartache, betrayal. And the Public Theatre’s Mobile Unit is great storytelling. Their bare-bones attack on the play allows for the words and emotions to rise to the top...Chukwudi Iwuji’s Hamlet is a force to be reckoned with. He fills the room with his heartache, his anger, his confusion...The cast eats the space up with their teeth, their hands, their nails, biting and clawing their way through the story." Full Review

"Happiness is 'You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown'...This time around the play is being done by actual kids–extremely talented Broadway kids...All of the actors are top-notch singers, dancers, actors–triple threats all the way...The songs are everything about being a child. Hilarious, clever, hand-clapping good...You will find yourself smiling from ear to ear when you leave." Full Review

"From the first note of the violin that opens the play to the last words spoken, for 90 minutes everyone at The Public’s Shiva Theater is airborne. It is sheer energetic bliss...This production by The Mobile Unit is so fresh that it feels new. The directing by Lear deBessonet is inspiring. The actors leap and jump and dance and tear at a set comprised of nothing more than a large carpet, a ladder and two benches with their teeth and bodies, gnashing away with intense glee." Full Review

"To choose 'Hamlet' as your launch into the directing world is a bold choice, and for the most part Moratti has succeeded in this committed decision. Her principal move is to bring musicians onstage with the actors creating additional rhythms to Shakespeare’s music of words...Alexander Sovronsky is first-rate as the Prince of Denmark...The entire cast are solid in their performances...Here is hoping that Celeste Moratti continues on this trajectory of directorial discoveries." Full Review

"The 'Boy' at the center of the play is Adam, portrayed so sublimely by Bobby Steggert...There are no definitive antagonists here. Everyone is doing what they can to help a child who feels completely out of step with the rest of world, it’s just that their help is destroying him...Anna Ziegler’s writing is clean, clear, and concise. Not a word out of step. Her poetry of emotions all brought so beautifully to the stage by Linsay Firman’s subtle directorial hand. The cast is simply put – perfect." Full Review

"Taking the journey with them is a free-falling rollercoaster ride that will leave you smiling from ear to ear and looking forward to running back to get in line and do the ride again. This is Shakespeare as he intended; bawdy, wild, fun for the masses...There are hilarious drunken scenes with Trinculo, Stephano, and Caliban. The three of them are the 3 Stooges reincarnated and spruced up to this century. My face hurt from laughing so much." Full Review

"A spoken word, musical performance piece...Fleming is a treasure. As is Ben Whishaw and his powerful delicate self...The dialogue is so rich, every sentence a delicious taste in your mouth...Director Katie Mitchell’s hand is a slow reveal that eventually blasts out the myths of the characters, the story of writers, the audacity of life and those who create art, and love. In a word, 'sublime.' The entire production." Full Review

“Well crafted and beautifully written...Hinrichs captures so beautifully the innocence of childhood...It is a very personal yet very universal story. There are quiet, breathtaking moments of love and kindness, and a child’s openness to the world that counter the moments of hate and violence...A story about kindness, about acceptance, bullying, peer pressure, friendship, breaking down of stereotypes and all of it told through the sublime, heart lifting performance of Hinrichs.” Full Review

“90 minutes of torrential storytelling, quiet storytelling, heartbreaking, truthful storytelling where a simple gesture speaks volumes more than words...BKBX is a company that combines theater, dance and mime...’SKIN’ is creative. It’s surprising. It’s fun...The entire evening is silent except for the wonderful music that underlines and highlights each scene...This is an evening of joy. Joy of humanity, joy of art, and joy of the theater and all that it brings to our lives.” Full Review

"This is 90 minutes of non-stop hilarity. It’s a good, crazy, dancing time at the theatre and it’s Shakespeare. If you have a friend who has been hesitant about going to see Shakespeare, this is the play you have to take them to...But mostly, take yourself for some fun and respite from this crazy time we are living in. The cast in this 90-minute workout are a wonderfully diverse toe-tapping, knee-slapping fantastically talented troupe of thespians. AND IT’S FREE!" Full Review

"The smashing together of the eras is absolutely brilliant in that it makes these girls the every girl. They are OUR girls, our daughters and sisters who are trapped in that bunker by the frenzied nationalism of a country run by a monster...Sarah Norris’ direction is music on stage. She moves her cast in and out of the joys of being a teenager and the horrors of possible death with the wand of a conductor. The cast is marvelous." Full Review

“There is audience immersion with the actors all about us, but I never became fully engaged. The performances felt too reserved. I wanted them to be less polite and be more of a taking the bull by the horns. This is not to say that I was not entertained, moved and even educated...What adds to the evening is the music, made up mostly of the audience in the act of eating...’Cafe Play’ reminds us that even a night out to eat can turn into a discovery.” Full Review

"Starring, in a triumphant solo performance, the radiant Carey Mulligan...As humans, our humanity towards one another, our perpetuation towards violence, our existence on this planet, are all explored in Mr. Kelly’s extraordinary script. You will laugh and you will gasp and you will sit in shock. That kind of journey can only come from great writing, acting and directing." Full Review

"At times I wanted to go deeper – feeling that I should call out 'Wait! Stop! Go back! Tell me more!' but they have much to tell in only 90 minutes and lingering is not an option...As an ensemble based company, their strength is in their ensemble – their dances and movement used to tell the story have an architecture to them that is there not only to move the play along, but to move us to them as they construct the story." Full Review

"In the hands of Williams, Henry V is simply Henry, struggling with his position as king...Williams is remarkable. As is the rest of this ensemble. Ketting as Katherine is outrageously funny...War, the complexities of it, the greed of it, and this battle over land that Henry says is England's, and the loss of it, are all played out beautifully in this most exceptional of Shakespearean plays...Such a great way to bring your child, ten and older, to their first Shakespeare or their 20th." Full Review

"There is no nuance here, and that unfortunately is the problem with much of the play...The first act is long...The second act is the gem hidden inside this conglomerate stone...This is a story that indeed needs to be told, to inform and remind...An important play in understanding a culture that is in a struggle with the world they find themselves in, but the over-writing can get in the way of the story and become a curtain we have to struggle to see through." Full Review

"The actors are pitch perfect. The characters all hiding secrets and truths that make their way to the light by desire or force and most definitely humor...Mae is a vision to behold...Blackhurst as Bernie is rock steady hilarity...White turns the Chloe character into an interesting person and not a stock character...Mills is bloody grand...Some of the slapstick felt staged and pushed, but a minor detail to an evening of darn good theatre. Go and laugh and listen and enjoy." Full Review

"A triumph of acting...A performance of beauty and intensity...Volok is not alone on stage. The madness itself is tangible. The people, the dogs, all present. That is the strength of his performance. Mr. Volok is truth...I wish the production trusted him more. I wish they had seen that Gogol’s story and Volok’s performance are enough, so that they would not need to add so many sound and lighting cues that are distracting at best and absolutely overpowering at worst." Full Review

"Intense and erotic...Marvelously choreographed...It all happens in race-against-the-clock speed, packing the story into 90 minutes on an intimate stage with an ensemble of excellent actors playing multiple characters...Not only is the cast made up of excellent actors, but their physical bodies are ripped and cut unbelievably...Truly, the beatings and rapes, though choreographed, are still extremely graphic and disturbing." Full Review

"A devil-may-care production, hysterically funny, rapid-fire acting at a neck-breaking pace…One of Shakespeare’s best comedies...You’ll be delighted with gorgeous Cuban music and dance, costumes and chunks of iambic pentameter spoken in Spanish. ‘Twelfth Night’ has never been so sexy and raunchy and funny. Olivia played by Ceci Fernandez is Carol Burnett slapstick and Carole Lombard screwball charm all in one." Full Review

"The first act is spent telling us about the 11 who died that day...This goes on and on and on. There is no tension, no pressure on stage as the talk continues about the pressure and tension on the rig...It is the second part of the evening, the aftermath of the explosion, where secrets are told and stories unfold that are new and touching...The ensemble is, simply put, wonderful. They cruise from character to character, moment to moment with clockwork precision." Full Review

"What gets played out during the course of this production is not only several riveting games of speed chess, but the burdens each character has carried through life for wrong’s committed...If you listen here, you will be challenged. Challenged and brought to a modicum of understanding. An understanding of, despite all the horrors we face that bring us to the precipice, we still innately have a desire to do good in the world." Full Review

"Richard Greenberg is a master of word wars. Intelligent, clever word wars!...His arguments are Shakespearean in their verbiage, a heightened emotional state...At the end of the play there were polite applause but we want emotional connections–especially when there is so much promise. Emotionally we were left stranded on the boarding platform, hoping for another train to come our way." Full Review

"Playing 19 people, all the dialogue transcribed from interviews, Anna Deavere Smith is a powerhouse, a tour de force, a troubadour and mirror of ourselves...Smith is supported so beautifully by director Leonard Foglia and composer and fellow performer Marcus Shelby, who is often onstage with Smith and with his bass accompanies her words perfectly...This performance, this story should not be missed." Full Review

"From the acting to the sets, it all feels forced: forced laughter and joviality, forced intimacies, forced pratfalls...The cast feels so disconnected it's as if they had never seen one another until this very moment on stage. All of them are dancing as fast as they can to entertain but no one is listening or supporting one another...This adaptation does have its moments, but those moments become just that, moments drowning in a two hour and fifteen minute production." Full Review

"Directed so beautifully by Stephen Ryan, 'Dragonslayer’ is about that pride, that love, that kinship. And that magic. Our collectiveness as people, as New Yorkers, was magical…The songs are beautiful, poignant and funny. The cast–a solid ensemble. A few performers who stood out for this reviewer among an outstanding cast are Cait Kelly as Jenny the waitress hoping to be an actress and John Mervini as Damon Slade…Thank you Isle of Shoals for bringing back this gem of a musical." Full Review

"'Incognito' explodes onto the stage and there you are on this incredible ride. Hughes’ direction of Payne’s brilliant script is so spot-on, so meticulous and moving at the speed of light, that there is no room for you to exhale...It is a tour de force for these incredibly skilled performers. They’re jaw-droppingly good...This is why we have theatre...This is the off-Broadway scene as it should be, intimate and at the same time expansive, thought-provoking, exciting and surprising." Full Review

"Ralph B Pena direction is sharp, swift and fun...The cast is fierce and unstoppable. A. Rey Pamatmat's play is a web of love and conflict between cultures, and parents and children, that is never sentimental or schmaltzy, but funny and unapologetic. The play’s arguments are at times repetitive and the fights and feelings the characters have towards one another are sometimes clunky, unclear and occasionally incomplete, but I’ve found that is often the case in true family dynamics." Full Review

"Director Rachel Chavkin has set the pace for Marco Ramirez’s play, 'The Royale,' with claps and stomps, creating visceral partners between words and movement and making us the plays sparring partner. Her brilliant staging, mustered with Ramirez’s story and the flowing connected ensemble of this marvelous cast is like watching a jazz band riff off of each other...Go! Get a ticket! Run to The Mitzi E. Newhouse at Lincoln Center! Don’t wait until it’s too late!" Full Review

"Dave Maiullo is part showman, part circus barker, and all physics enthusiast and keeps the stage in constant motion. He flows from one demonstration/experiment to another all without added theatrics that might be needed if the demonstrations/experiments were not so remarkable...It is tons of fun and ‘What the what' informative and you don’t need a 7-year-old or 6th grader to enjoy it, but if you happen to know any take them along." Full Review