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Ragtime at Lincoln Center

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There is one subtle but bold change made to the opening of Ragtime . Traditionally the show begins with a Little Boy speaking alone onstage directly to the audience. "In 1902 Father built a grand house..." and the scene comes to life around him. In the Lincoln Center revival the moment has a subtle, but powerful shift. Now the first thing we see is a very small black boy (Coalhouse Walker III), running around a piano, occasionally tapping some of the keys. He is joined by the Little Boy, and Mother, who stops the running. The Little (white) Boy sits Coalhouse III down, and starts telling the story directly to him. When the scene emerges in front of them, the Little Boy joins, but Coalhouse III remains the singular audience member. Joshua Henry (Coalhouse), Cassie Levy (Mother), Brandon Uranowitz (Tateh) and Company Ragtime , for those who don't know, follows three intersecting families at the turn of the 20th century - a privileged white family, a black couple (Coalhouse ...
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Suffs - Broadway Pro Shot

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  Suffs  is an important piece. It's a good piece. It's the kind of piece that all high school students should be required to watch. But, for me, it's a piece that left me feeling more "yes! It's very good that we're talking about these important historical events that far too few people know about" and less "that experience moved me." Suffs  is the "safe" version of what I think was done more emotionally effectively in the 2015 film Suffragette starring Carey Mulligan and Meryl Streep (the musical was not based on this film). If you haven't seen that film, I highly recommend it  - but be warned: it is not for the faint of heart. Suffs  gives you facts about the American suffragette movement - we learn about important historical figures, the need for intersectionality, the arguments made for and against the right for women to vote, what women gave up in pursuit of the fight, how black women aided the movement and were left behind by...
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Innocence

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  Innocence is a piece that Opera fans will be well aware of, but laymen may have only heard about recently when it burst onto the Met stage. It's rare these days that a contemporary Opera catches the cultural zeitgeist in the way Innocence  has, but boy is it exciting when it does.  Innocence features a score by Kaija Saariaho (1952 - 2023), a Finnish composer, she produced an impressive catalog across genres, receiving high profile commissions and having the distinction of being the first female composer to have an Opera presented by the Met in more than a century. The Finnish libretto is by Sofi Oksanen with the Multilingual libretto and dramaturgy by Aleksi Barriére. Indeed, the piece features nine languages including Finnish,  Czech, French, Romanian, Swedish, German, Spanish, English and Greek.  One of the principal roles, Markéta, was written for an indigenous Finno-Ugric folk singer. There is an off stage chorus and a full orchestra marked by a preponder...
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Location: 30 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023, USA
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The Lost Boys

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I saw the film of The Lost Boys once, long ago. I remembered enough of it to have a clear understanding of the story I was walking into when seeing the Broadway musical adaptation, but not enough to not be able to experience the musical as it's own entity. The shortest summary of my feelings, if you want a quick "yay" or "nay" is the heart of what makes folks love the story is intact and the performances are strong. But there are some inherent dramaturgical issues with the original that are only exacerbated by some additional poor choices on the part of the Broadway creative team. Go see the musical for the heart of the story, the performers, the spectacular special effects and aerial choreography. Don't get your hopes up too much for the score (namely the lyrics), or the power of adaptation to elevate the things that didn't work in the film. Indeed, there are cringe moments here that are unique to the musical alone.  The Lost Boys  is a film I always he...
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Take Care of My Friend

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This review is going to be shorter than my usual fare, namely because this piece was not my favorite. I returned to the Filigree Theatre after being so impressed with their final show of last season, The Illusionary Games of Edward Rye   . I was excited to discover a new company that seemed to have fantastic taste in new work, and executed that work well - especially in terms of the caliber of talent they employed.  Filigree does three shows a season: one is a classic, one (I believe) is a work by a TX native or resident, and the third is a brand new piece. This season that new piece is Take Care of My Friend , a new play by Kathleen Fletcher, directed (as all their plays seem to be) by Artistic Director Elizabeth V. Newman. Unlike Illusionary  last year which was deeply moving, and intelligent, with (generally) fantastic performances (that show went on to win BroadwayWorld Awards for Leading Performer in a Play (star and writer Ashley Griffin), Best Play, Best New P...
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Étude

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Ashley Griffin (Soul 1) and Ryan McCurdy (Soul 2). Photo by Micah Joel Photography How on earth is such exquisite writing being relegated to a small, off the beaten path theater? Seeing this play is like, and I don't say this lightly, going to see a show being put on in someone's living room and it turns out to be the world premiere of Hamlet .  Étude , a new play by Ashley Griffin,   directed by Jennie Hughes and produced by Caitlin McNeilage and Leading Lady Creative is poetry in the most beautiful sense of what that can mean in a play (no, I don't mean literal poetry.) The language is so deeply profound I found myself crying at the end.  The story is both incredibly simple and deeply complex. Griffin has woven together a stunning tapestry of characters, themes and ideas. And the script is TIGHT. This is officially a workshop production, but this is a piece that's ready to go. The basic plot is this: two souls wait to be born. They are soulmates (no, not necessarily r...
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