MinorTricksterDeity

See it if You want to see Eno at possibly some of his Eno-iest. It's got that existential, melancholy, deadpan style that makes this adaptation neat.

Don't see it if You need something more traditional and blunt, this is a very off-the-cuff, did that just happen(?) kind of material that takes a moment.

See it if You want to see a cleverly-executed theatrical experience with a finely-tuned hand working the machine.

Don't see it if You can't do monodrama, can't do with intense depictions/recollections of trauma and pain.

Also DANA H. is probably Hnath's best play yet. It's a clever conceit that works so effectively with the deft hand of Les Waters at the helm and the singular performance of Deirdre O'Connell, who lip syncs the words of the titular Dana but completely, incredibly, embodies her so well. Everything, from the Florida motel room to the implied sunshine behind the door to the curious Brechtian titling of each part compiles itself into a fascinating 75-minute show.... Read more Read less

See it if You want to see something nontraditional and embraces genre

Don't see it if You need something more conventional or can't deal with mixed media design

Also THE HEADLANDS....is alright. It's not bad. But it's not great. Christopher Chen's story lovingly relies on noir and nostalgia in ways that are familiar yet also clever riffs, but the ultimate story - the mystery that should be the heartbeat of any good noir - isn't as compelling as perhaps it might be. The projection design is fantastic but in some cases a bit wonkily used. Knud Adams' direction is very simple but the cast often underdelivers and Chen's script doesn't dig in as deep as it probably should. It'd be a major spoiler to explain why the mystery feels a bit hammy, but watch and see for yourself. Maybe you'll find yourself sleuthing as well.... Read more Read less

See it if You want to see a very well-written, well-acted one-person show from Donetta Lavinia Grays

Don't see it if You can't do monodrama or mild audience participation

Also WHERE WE STAND has a lot going for it (great direction, a beautiful script) but it honestly just feels like the piece needs a different space - WP feels so bare and it didn't feel totally in sync with the piece itself. A bare stage is fine but it felt clinical more than a town hall.... Read more Read less

See it if You want to see a great director confront one of Shakespeare's finest works.

Don't see it if You can't do Shakespeare, long runtimes, or want to trek to Brooklyn.

Also This is a long HAMLET. This is a dark, very Irish, very absorbing and clearly-spoken HAMLET by a cast that knows what it's doing. Fair warning: it feels as heavy as the play is - the 3.5 hours do not brisk by but they don't feel like you're in an endless play either. Farber's production is all at once great, timely, with astounding performances by all (Ruth Negga and Aoife Duffin as Hamlet and Ophelia are a wonderful pair, and shout out to the Polonius who is the most cock-headed, and therefore great, Polonius I have ever seen). It's creepy, willing to be theatrical and fun, and downright capable.... Read more Read less

See it if You want to see a really unique take on the theatrical ode, especially to one of the greats of Polish theater.

Don't see it if You need something linear, more "exciting", or something not quite so downtown.

Also I have to admit, I thought I was going to hate this show - it sounded, even for The Wooster Group, something overconceived, but watching it made me consider the piece as a strange ode to Tadeusz Kantor in his "style" - it was like they composed the piece in the same strange purgatory that some of Kantor's most famous works take place in, which only made it all the more fascinating. When they finally hit full Kantorian mode with the last sequence (the show is divided into five parts), it really becomes something gorgeous.... Read more Read less

See it if You love film and want a smart, brilliant take on live cinema/theater/storytelling.

Don't see it if You need something more formal and traditional

Also James & Jerome have been making great live storytelling with music for years but this is both their most ambitious and best work to date. A movie in your mind and goddamnit, the movie itself is such a joyous heartbreaker and the show's conception and design shows why and how James & Jerome are one of NY theater's best creators right now.... Read more Read less

See it if You want to see adult puppet theater.

Don't see it if You have a thing about puppets, loud noises, or aggressive material

See it if You want to see the work of Richard Jones, whose epic stagings are masterful.

Don't see it if You want, y'know, something that felt emotionally viable.

Also Jones' staging is exquisite - no one had any doubts about that. Shinn's translation/adaptation though feels really deeply hollow and just plain boring? Horvath is a fantastic writer and this production did his own epic mind justice in the visuals, but the text felt so limp.... Read more Read less

See it if You want some genuinely fun, absolutely intelligent yet playful theater. It's truly great.

Don't see it if You have no soul. You want "adult" fare. Bah, adult fare!

Also Slava Polunin's lovely quilt of the sad clowns that populate SLAVA'S SNOWSHOW is a lovely, avant-garde, clowning carousel of wonder. It's got a fucking snowstorm for Christ's sake! It's somehow Beckettian, weep-worthy, aesthetically astounding and yet such a lovely time altogether. The 100 minutes it occupies is too short but it feel like you've been completely entranced and invited into this fun, sad-funny world.... Read more Read less

See it if You want to see a masterwork by a forgotten master. Like theater that features a diverse, all-female cast.

Don't see it if You're some kinda misogynist, don't like walking around the theater, need something straightforward.

Also Someone once described FEFU AND HER FRIENDS as a "metaphysical murder mystery" and it feels very much that way. It's very very weird when it gets there and operates in a way that lures us into a sense of "quirky?" but then quirky becomes outright horrific when the final few minutes kicks in and makes you question just what we saw.

All hail Fornes, may this be the first of many revivals of her work.... Read more Read less

See it if You like Alanis Morissette. You enjoy jukeboxes. You like your musical theater fare to be contemporary and with music that sounds modern.

Don't see it if You don't want to deal with modern problems, have no patience for (mostly) white families being self-destructive, don't like jukeboxes.

Also JAGGED LITTLE PILL has a lot going for it. Tom Kitt's orchestrations are fantastic and lift the music out of its album rock world and into that of musical theater. The idea is so well-intentioned but its execution....eh. The design and direction were a disappointment compared to the performances, music, and choreography. Some of the performances were complete standouts and truly deserved of the applause and praise. If only the show didn't drop ideas and pick up new ones every which way.... Read more Read less

See it if You want a wide-in-scope, empathetic view on difficult lives in difficult places.

Don't see it if You need short, brief explanations. You need pure catharsis at the end.

Also HALFWAY BITCHES... is as Guirgis as it gets - a lot of fantastic insults, a lot of fun characters, and some true heartbreakers in the form of people trying to find their way. Somewhere between gritty poetry and human epic, it's a wallop of a play. Only thing is that it's 3.5 hours and could do with a trim, and the directing felt flat in a few spots, but overall an enthralling, very watchable work.... Read more Read less

See it if You like Irish humour, want a dark story told in interesting ways, and some complicated characters.

Don't see it if You don't like gallows humor, unusual storytelling styles, or furniture on stage.

Also PUMPGIRL is a heck of a script, and the story - told through three, not-quite-linear, never intersecting monologues except in a few wee moments, tells an interesting story of small-town dreams and small-town mentality. However, the Irish Rep's studio stage is a wee one and even a chamber play like this felt deeply constricted by actors mostly standing about in one spot.... Read more Read less

See it if You want a non-traditional, lushly scored chamber musical with deep emotional waves.

Don't see it if You need something more traditional. You don't like chamber shows. You need more than 2 people in the cast.

Also This was a genuinely interesting musical theater experiment. I don't get what people have been saying about Act One, it's very clear in it's story, it just meanders a bit. Act Two's libretto by Harrison David Rivers is the superior of the two. The score operates on a lot of operatic modes which absolutely works for this material and the way the show is structured - it has a sung-through quality that reminds me of "Caroline, or Change" but a lushness in the score that unfortunately results in a very monotonous sound sometimes. The cast was great, Jack Cummings III's direction kept it feeling like internal emotional structures were coming through and boy, when this show hurts, it hurts.... Read more Read less

See it if You're really into Steppenwolf's acting style. You like Tracy Letts. You're older.

Don't see it if You're sick and tired of old, white man theater.

Also Did we really need a white liberal middle-aged dude centered in a play where basically he's too good for the world and hurt, complicated, yet somehow 2-dimensional women are to blame? Was it a better take on a midlife crisis comedy? Sure. Were the jokes funny? Yeah, quite a lot. But wow it's great to know all women are broken or overoptimistic and that just RUINS men. I know we're supposed to view Wheeler as a douche searching for himself but this play could have simply ended when he finally got shut down by his original-new girlfriend. Don't get me started on his 26-year-old second girlfriend who is basically the "hippies" he's so scared of and a sweltering mix of every millennial stereotype swallowed into one. Did Bill Maher write this disdainful piece of wish-fulfillment?... Read more Read less

See it if You want a really smart, actually dexterous debate play.

Don't see it if You need your empathy sated.

Also Will Arbery's HEROES is, at its core, a deeply sympathetic and smart play with the right amount of creepy. Danya Taymor directed it masterfully and it actually tested the limits of my empathy, made me laugh out loud, and brilliantly engaged with the structure it set out to embody. It's not a play that's easy to bring in, but it holds itself against you and demands recognition.... Read more Read less

See it if You want to see the continuing work of Peter Brook and three great actors play on stage.

Don't see it if You need a set. Or something more lush in its design/dramaturgy.

Also It's an interesting experience - a mix of fable, ode to the theater, unexpected where it needed to be, funny and endearing where we don't quite expect it to be. The live pianist was an unusual, not always successful, touch though.... Read more Read less

See it if You want an interesting update on Medea and an unflinching take on America's immigration stories.

Don't see it if You don't have a drop of empathy in your bones.

Also MOJADA is, firstly, a more subdued adaptation of Medea in terms of its dramatic structure and dramaturgy - and that helps move the story along, but the excellent text felt oddly slowed down. Some moments just felt more languid than necessary.... Read more Read less

See it if You like contemporary restaging of classic work.

Don't see it if You want more from your Chekhov remixes and aren't a fan of well-produced mediocre scripts.

Also This could have been a great play, but it felt like it was piggybacking on Three Sisters and heightening a lot of absurdity in a way that wasn't really that rewarding. The physical gags are hilarious, Trip Cullman's staging is damn fine (and I was a big fan of the set), but after a while I wanted the somberness of the original. Act Two was much better than Act One - if only the latter had more of the former.... Read more Read less

See it if Just go fucking see it.

Don't see it if You are uncomfortable with sex, queerness, race, or want conventional subject matter.

Also I'm really happy this show exists. It breaks all the taboos of subject matter with a heart-lifting score that pulls no punches and holds nothing back. We need more musicals like this.... Read more Read less

See it if You want something to chew on.

Don't see it if You need theater that explains itself immediately to you.

Also I have to say this and this is the best way I can articulate this, as a white audience member - go see Fairview, and afterwards, I hope you understand that there are spaces that you, as a white audience member, should not encroach upon.... Read more Read less

See it if You like to see Shakespeare done-up in the best way Shakespeare can with some amazing performances.

Don't see it if You aren't willing to stick out a 2.5 hour Shakespearean comedy.

Also First things first, for whatever the reason I have never been the biggest fan of "Much Ado About Nothing" and this was my first experience seeing it staged. That being said, it being staged made me appreciate the play more and the fieriness + crackling wit that comes to the surface. Danielle Brooks is great, as are her castmates, I just wish Kenny Leon's staging didn't feel as underdeveloped as it did. Some moments were just perfect, others felt like they hit too slow or hit too fast. The overall concept (that of a modern Georgia-set "Much Ado...") was fun but it felt as if Leon thought it just spoke for itself without any more direction attached.... Read more Read less

See it if You want to see newer, brighter takes on Shakespeare. Also Glenda Jackson.

Don't see it if You don't like more imagistic, less naturalistic takes on Shakespeare. And if you can't handle 3.5 hours of straight material.

Also King Lear is considered a mountaintop for actors and Glenda Jackson is now one of the few who have conquered it twice. She's a storm all her own and Sam Gold clearly knows how to put that front and center. Some aspects of the production didn't ring for me (why does Edgar have AirPods? Why do the sisters all have different accents?) but as a whole it's a much more interesting and intense interpretation of 'King Lear' than any version I've seen as of late.... Read more Read less

See it if You want lushly realized, very well-staged musical classics.

Don't see it if You want the sexual and gender politics to be up to date, because albeit one coup d'theatre, it may go over older people's heads.

Also Let me be honest and say that I have a really genuine fondness for 'My Fair Lady' - it was one of the first movie musicals I encountered and I loved it. However, even with Bartlett Sher doing his best to get complex performances out of every one in this cast in a visually gorgeous revival, it still reads as problematic. I love the tunes and the production but I wouldn't mind if we retired this gemstone.... Read more Read less

See it if You want to see some fun, jazzy, curious takes on the 1001 Nights tales.

Don't see it if You can't do devised theater, snacks, or have sensitivities towards (mimed) violence and, yes, troubling imagery.

See it if You want to see a fantastic play that's entertainingly plotted, carefully directed and just so much fun.

Don't see it if You don't like histories, have no time for rock bands, or really just have no soul.

Also Lauren Yee is really the heir to David Henry Hwang and Lynn Nottage when it comes to great historical drama - a sad, heartfelt, music-filled and wildly ambitious play says it all about Yee's talent and Chay Yew's direction is just the amount of fun and heavy needed for such a great show. I hope it gets all the awards. I hope it gets all the praise.... Read more Read less

See it if You want to see an overly old fashioned gem. You like Beth Malone (who is great).

Don't see it if You're like, you know, under the age of 60.

See it if You want to see the work of Ivo van Hove, like video design in theater, want to see a finely sung, finely tuned cast.

Don't see it if You need a substantial West Side Story - the staging and the execution of the ideas aren't totally coherent enough to make it all gel.

Also WEST SIDE STORY is lovely....kinda. It's dated, and it shows, and the idea to bring a show about immigrant-native conflict in this day and age to this very day and age seems wise on paper. But Ivo van Hove, with video designer Luke Halls and his usual collaborator Jan Versweyveld, either doesn't completely commit to the concept or overindulges. Some moments are stunning, others are misjudged. The video design is a mixed bag of beautiful cinematography and shots but also extraneous, half-hearted political imagery. A live cinema West Side Story with this concept is a great idea! If only the team had fully committed as deeply as they should have to it. "I Feel Pretty" wasn't missed. Cutting the Somewhere ballet, but not the song itself, was a weird move and I could hear the weird leaps in the music. Speaking of, the new choreo is quite boring and only rarely interesting. Bleh.

Another point: Amar Ramasar is not a good actor, and a sex offender. There was no need to cast him.... Read more Read less

See it if you want to see a relationship drama disguised as science fiction

Don't see it if you want to see an actual science fiction drama

Also To be fair, REALLY REALLY GORGEOUS has a lot of potential - I was just deeply irked by being told this was a dystopian, climate-change focused drama that was really....a relationship drama about what happens when your S.O. becomes the successful one, wrapped in a very thin SF aesthetic. To be fair, dramas about artistic relationships are worthy subjects to talk about! But needlessly layering it with something that's an entirely different play, replete with uneven worldbuilding, isn't a good call.... Read more Read less

See it if You want to see a quality production of a lesser-known Shakespeare.

Don't see it if You don't like classic theater, are one of those wealthy people who think they should be honored every fucking day

Also TIMON OF ATHENS is a tough play - it's co-written by two writers with very different worldviews (Shakespeare and his misanthropic bestie Thomas Middleton) and this text has been really well cut by Simon Godwin and Emily Burns....there's just an unusual flatness that pervades the entire show. Kathryn Hunter and her cast are great, it's just that TIMON is a bit of a weirdo in the canon.... Read more Read less

See it if You want an original take on Macbeth that plays deeply into the play's occult nature in a way you perhaps didn't expect!

Don't see it if You want traditional Shakespeare - this is very breathless and 90 min, no intermission

Also MAC BETH isn't perfect but it's pretty damn fantastic. It draws on our modern obsession with power, blood, the occult, and more blood to fashion a refreshing, weird, brutal take on the Bard's most haunted work.... Read more Read less

See it if You want a genuinely no-holds-barred, fun, strange, tense piece of theater.

Don't see it if You don't like adults acting like teens, or can't deal with stories about teens.

Also The last bit of OUR DEAR DEAD DRUG LORD threw me for a whirl, wondering just what I'd watched and what it meant for the rest of the play I had just experienced in the past hour. Was it all leading to this moment? Was this Scheer's ultimate statement regarding individual power and trauma? I'm not sure, and can't pretend to be certain, but it still makes OUR DEAR DEAD DRUG LORD one of the most original plays right now, with a verve and power that Scheer and Whitney White invigorate into it at full throttle.... Read more Read less

See it if You want to see the rare revival of Tony Kushner's brilliant first play.

Don't see it if You want something short and sweet. It's a very cerebral, long work.

Also I have such mixed feelings about A BRIGHT ROOM... mostly because I can't tell if Kushner's new additions are brilliantly audacious or an overcalculated misstep. On one hand, the Zillah/(and now Xillah!) scenes are more vibrant than ever before. On the other, it makes the Berlin sections of the play feel laggy and underbaked. So go in, decide for yourself. But if you leave not wanting to change the world - through art, through politics, through love - you are really far gone.... Read more Read less

See it if You want an epic masterstroke from a writer of uncompromising ambition, from a director with a truly, deeply loving staging.

Don't see it if You need something short. You have issues with gay stories (it's 2019, you should fucking not). You have no patience.

Also Okay, first and foremost - as much as I enjoyed THE INHERITANCE, I couldn't help but feel it's 6hr and 25min runtime was definitely overlong. It would have done better as a 5 hour epic piece. Phew, with that out of the way, the play is such a heartfelt look at gay life now and the stories are such heartbreakers and tearjerkers that it's a hard play not to at least feel for. Stephen Daldry's direction was pitch perfect, and it helped lift the drier bits of Matthew Lopez's otherwise absorbing script.... Read more Read less

See it if You want to see a treasure of Yiddish theater restored.

Don't see it if You need English. Or something more mature - it's essentially Jewish Cinderella.

See it if You like Lucas Hnath. You're very patient and are willing to wait for a payoff.

Don't see it if You dislike extra characters and overwriting. You can't handle being messed with by a play.

Also The work plays a lot like a Gothic thriller. The structure is very similar to one, and the deeply engaging acting lures us in like fish on a line. My only problem was the overwritten first half of the play, which felt distracting and too close to dinner-table plays. But when the play finally kicks into high gear and fully embraces its Gothic nature, then we're in for a much more interesting ride.... Read more Read less

See it if You enjoy post-dramatic, quirky, heartwearming theater.

Don't see it if You need something....normal. You need a better take on this script than the current director's.

Also Will Eno's script is a charmer, and one of his most straightforward in some ways yet just as metaphysical, metatheatrical, and sweet on life as his plays tend to be. However, Kenny Leon's very straight staging messes with this underlying material and turns THE UNDERLYING CHRIS into what seems to just be a quirky play about life. It's a lot more, if only they paired this show with a better director at the helm.... Read more Read less

See it if You want to see great adaptations of great novels. Like Thomas Ostermeier. Want a smart take on trauma.

Don't see it if You need English (it's supertitled).

Also I left History of Violence considering the ways this work chose to tell its story and have to say it's incredibly unlike anything you'll see on American stages outside of places like St. Ann's Warehouse - it's slow, but the slowness capsizes us into an exhaustion that's not unlike the one our hero feels in the wake of endless questioning and lack of empathy.... Read more Read less

See it if You want really interesting, no-frills theater.

Don't see it if You need an explained, long, purely visible arc.

Also IS THIS A ROOM benefits from the fact it doesn't try to pretend to be anything other than it is - it's a staging of the FBI transcript detailing the arrest of Reality Winner, and just keeping to that simplicity is what makes the weird bits weirder, the scarier bits scarier, and the gutting bits so gutting. It's brief, simple, but craftily directed by Tina Satter. Stellar acting, we love simple design elements used effectively.... Read more Read less

See it if You want a fascinating situation staged clearly.

Don't see it if You want something less philosophy and more action.

Also TERRA FIRMA is a big play with big ideas but it suffers from the weight of its own ambition. I'm not sure how else to describe it but not as an underdeveloped show (not in the slightest) but a show developed in a direction that didn't serve the potential meaning that the work could elucidate.... Read more Read less

See it if You like Great Actors Acting Well, love great writing and smart direction.

Don't see it if You don't like one-man shows. You have little heart. Need a bigger scope in terms of cast and set and storytelling.

Also Two really well-paired monologues by Simon Stephens and Nick Payne, ace direction by Carrie Cracknell, with stellar performances by Tom & Jake. It's great seeing a kinder, non-aggressive type of masculinity depicted on stage. Personally, "A Life" is the better of the two plays but both are standouts in single-man storytelling with wide, beautiful canvases of emotion. Couldn't help but feel a chamber piece like this shouldn't really be on Broadway, but they clearly wanted Jake on Broadway because it would sell.... Read more Read less

See it if You want really different, really fascinating theater.

Don't see it if You need something purely linear or straightforward. This is Mac Wellman, y'all, prepare for some joyous weird.

Also BAD PENNY is a fun one. The decision to take the show outside was a great one and helped the strange, communal nature of the piece. A fun, unusual time with a playfulness and whimsicality a lot theater can learn from. I was pleasantly bamboozled which isn't something I get to say a lot.... Read more Read less

See it if You want a really okay, really hokey musical.

Don't see it if Just don't. It's overwritten, under-conceived, casually racist, and not worth it.

Also This is what happens when you want to tell an important, original story but have none of the actual desire or drive to do so. It's way too long, way too slow, and way too cliched and dated.... Read more Read less

See it if You want to see a horrifying, bloody take on girlhood.

Don't see it if You have issues with nudity, teenagers, goddess-summoning, or Sonic.

Also This really intriguing concept and fascinating staging and text would have landed harder if the acting style didn't veer into this weird, druggy, semi-aloofness that undercut the brutality inherent in the dramatic structure. There was, no spoilers, a "murder" - if only the rest of the play had the same energy as said murder.... Read more Read less

See it if You want to hear some unusual orchestration/fascinating use of loop in musical theater scoring.

Don't see it if You want theater that has well-developed dramatic structure

Also I'm genuinely surprised at how disappointed I was. It felt like there were so many ideas that weren't dug into and resulted in a skeletal, uninteresting musical.... Read more Read less

See it if You like confrontational, funny, uncompromising theater.

Don't see it if You have issues with (very minor) audience participation, nudity, or blunt language about race and sex.

Also I'm firmly in the "if theater makes you uncomfortable, it's doing something right" camp - not to say all uncomfortable theater is good theater, but this is very good theater. It's whip-smart, unafraid, and firm in its commitment to the stories it's trying to tell. If you're not someone who likes to be discomforted by your theatrical experience, see this anyway. It's like stepping into the deep end of the pool just to get the cold shock over with.... Read more Read less

See it if You like office comedies but with an intelligent, surreal twistiness.

Don't see it if You don't like office comedies with intelligence and surreal twistiness.

Also A great one-hour, hilariously constructed, bit-of-a-wallop of a play. And yes, it will make you kinda hungry afterwards but it's also a deep consideration into why we obsess over petty things and the comfort those petty things give us in the face of an all-consuming existential maw.... Read more Read less

See it if You want to see a fresh take on an American classic novel.

Don't see it if You want your Broadway fare to be more socially relevant and palpable.

Also Look, Aaron Sorkin's script is masterfully crafted and Bartlett Sher's direction is excellent as usual, but I left 'To Kill A Mockingbird' feeling as if there were works by PoC writers and directors that should have taken up the Schubert's massive stage. We always need to re-examine our legends and our canon, and 'To Kill A Mockingbird' is a genuine part of that canon (especially the white canon), but we more desperately need to amplify the voices of those we've marginalized to the very most of our ability - this show just doesn't do enough. Not by a long shot.... Read more Read less

See it if You want a good take on and interpretation of Chekhov.

Don't see it if You have no funny bone.

Also As a Russian-speaking person, I often find American & British interpretations of Chekhov to be deeply depressing, unfunny, and unnecessarily dour. Aaron Posner's straight-up English style retelling of 'Uncle Vanya' proved to be a great antidote to this bizarre mindset that Chekhov = always sad. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of bitterness in his work, but there is also a sense of kindness and understanding in his writing. And for fuck's sake, they're supposed to be funny (looking at you Richard Nelson)!... Read more Read less