When we last caught up with the inspired young theater company Les Freres Corbusier, they were recreating an unforgettable Bible Belt "Hell House" for Halloween at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn. The immersive spectacle, which the audience walked through in small groups guided by the devil, was hilarious and terrifying for all the right reasons. Expect more of their not excessively ironic good humor in their latest big project, an emo rock musical exploration of the life of President Andrew Jackson, called Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. The show, a historical blend of fact and fiction, got great reviews when it was staged in a more modest form as part of The Public Theater's LAB season last spring. Written by Les Freres Corbusier Artistic Director Alex Timbers, with music by Michael Friedman, the production runs through April 25th. (If you're interested, be advised that last year's run quickly sold out.) Last week we had a pleasant chat with Benjamin Walker, who stars in the title role. more ›

Everybody wants to be a rock star, perhaps none more ardently than theater folk, some of whom have been prodding the form toward rock since the sixties. Sam Shepard famously insisted that he wanted to be a rock and roll star, not a playwright; recently the likes of theater company Les Freres Corbusier and playwright Adam Rapp (who moonlights in a band) have expressed a sensible desire to tap into the Bowery Ballroom demographic. more ›

READING: Mira Jacob and Alison Hart host yet another of Pete's Reading Series. Tonight they welcome Nell Freudenberger, author of "The Dissident", which focuses on lives in the aftermath of 1970s radicalism. more ›

When the young Georg Buchner died in 1837, he left behind his unfinished working class tragedy Woyzeck, which was inspired by the real-life story of convicted criminal J.C. Woyzeck, a soldier who had become unemployed, homeless and hallucinatory. Before being sentenced to death for the murder of his lover, the medical examiner dismissed Woyzeck's mental illness as mere social deviancy. more ›

By now you’ve probably heard about the hellacious goings-on at Saint Ann’s Warehouse in DUMBO. (If not here’s an in-depth Gothamist interview with the producer of Hell House, Aaron Lemon-Strauss.) more ›

Starting yesterday at the cavernous St. Ann’s Warehouse, New York City is getting its first chance to experience “Hell House”, an interactive spectacle that is fast becoming a Halloween tradition in churches across America. more ›

Far more than most presidential scandals/screw-ups, the Clinton-Lewinsky affair seems perfect for dramatization as a musical (though Les Freres Corbusier did do a good job with Warren Harding a while back, we have to admit). Especially in retrospect, the whole thing was too much of a farce even as it happened to merit the serious treatment an opera or straight play would be liable to give it now – it seems it was almost born to become a goofy musical satire. And with recent White House fumbles on certain disasters weighing on our minds, we more than appreciated the lighthearted fun of Monica! The Musical (book and lyrics by Daniel J. Blau and Tracie Potochnik, music by Adam Blau), which just opened in the NY Musical Theatre Festival. The production is less polished than some of the festival’s other offerings, some of which are well on their way to opening off-Broadway; as one of the producers explained at the beginning of the show, the set and costumes are mostly just “suggestive” of what they might eventually become. Fortunately, there are already a lot of catchy songs with very funny lyrics and the cast is hugely talented and energetic; it might deal with some idiotic goings-on that few people care about now, but that inconsequential melodrama is rendered quite laugh-worthy by this lot. more ›

With the massive arts listings in last Sunday’s Times, the new season officially got underway, although theatre fans have for some time been able to get at least some idea about the next year on stage, and not only the brand-name productions, via the estimable nytheatre.com. Still, poring over those inky pages and getting overwhelmed by the sheer bulk of what’s about to come our way has no real substitute, and we’re now particularly looking forward to October’s Massacre (Sing to Your Children), a dark psychodrama/mystery written by Jose Rivera and being produced by the LAByrinth Theatre Company at the Public; 4.48 Psychose, Sarah Kane’s very experimental final play which will be performed by Isabelle Huppert in French (also in October, it’s part of both the Act French festival and BAM’s Next Wave festival); the latest provocation from Les Freres Corbusier, Hell House, which from the Times’ description sounds like it will be a close reproduction of fundamentalist Christians’ method of scaring people into faith, though you probably won’t have to look too hard for the satiric element; and Douglas Carter Beane’s The Little Dog Laughed, a send-up of the pervasive celebrity gossip culture playing in December at Second Stage. We were also tickled to see that Martin McDonagh (writer of The Pillowman) and John Patrick Shanley (Doubt) will again go head-to-head with new plays next spring – Shanley’s Defiance at Manhattan Theatre Club and McDonagh’s The Lieutenant of Inishmore at the Atlantic. As the Times asks, why mess with success? The Pillowman’s imminent closing notwithstanding, both have been hits despite being singularly unsettling theatrical experiences, so maybe they offer each other mutual support, and maybe the new plays will find the same rapport. In any case, we’re excited. more ›

It seems like every few months or so there’s a story in the news about how hard it is to produce a show on stage these days – hard to make it profitable, hard to get the audiences. From Broadway to off-off Broadway, it's the same story. Thankfully a few recent shows have done well enough that they’ve returned, or will be, for extended runs. The lucky recipients of this popular demand? more ›