On Sundays Gothamist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in New York and reviews of recent books and performances. The judgments expressed below are entirely those of the author. There’s no getting around it: Dan Lauria plays the crankiest of cranks in William Mastrosimone’s A Stone Carver (directed by Robert Kalfin). No cute grumpy old man business – Lauria seethes with a grouchiness that more than lives up to his character’s last name, Malatesta. But......

On Sundays Gothamist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in New York and reviews of recent books and performances. The judgments expressed below are entirely those of the author. Christopher Boal’s play Crazy for the Dog is a sharp, bleak but also sometimes darkly funny look at some tough human relationships; it’s a good production, but one wonders if perhaps the real reason Jean Cocteau Rep has had enough success with it that it’s now......

On Sundays Gothamist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in New York and reviews of recent books and performances. The judgments expressed below are entirely those of the author. It’s easy enough for everyone to condemn slavery as it existed in the past, on a large scale with whole tribes shipped across the Atlantic to perish on New World plantations, or when it involves children in sweatshops or women lured away from home and forced......

On Sundays Gothamist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in New York and reviews of recent books and performances. The judgments expressed below are entirely those of the author. Over the past centuries, people have adapted Shakespeare’s plays in countless ways, often to put them in a contemporary setting. With Clean, by contrast, Bob Epstein has taken an already contemporary story and setting and written it in the manner of a good Shakespearean comedy mixed......

On Sundays Gothamist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in New York and reviews of recent books and performances. The judgments expressed below are entirely those of the author. If I tried just to describe moment by moment the dynamic of the two characters’ interaction in Nerve , you might well get the impression that it’s basically an off-off-Broadway equivalent of a date movie, and that the main point is to see which of the......

On Sundays Gothamist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in New York and reviews of recent books and performances. The judgments expressed below are entirely those of the author. It’s hard to imagine the Iranian leadership, or many non-exile Iranians, being riveted by or even comprehending of pretty much any show on or off-Broadway, as a general rule. Egads, the sexy dancing in The Pajama Game, the AIDS in Rent, the audience’s unabashed collective fun......

On Sundays Gothamist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in New York and reviews of recent books and performances. The judgments expressed below are entirely those of the author. With a piece of art that’s been inspired by another piece of art that was inspired by yet another, you can be excused for wondering if those degrees of separation will mean a product that’s not inspired at all. Fortunately this is not the case with......

On Sundays Gothamist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in New York and reviews of recent books and performances. The judgments expressed below are entirely those of the author. I tried to find a less clichéd way to put it, but it really is apt to describe Julia Jordan’s new play Dark Yellow as an emotional rollercoaster – both for the audience and, clearly, for the actors. As with any rollercoaster, there are a few......

On Sundays Gothamist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in New York and reviews of recent books and performances. The judgments expressed below are entirely those of the author. Sitting in the audience of cagelove it can be hard to keep yourself from yelling out to the stage, talking back to the actors in a way more usually associated with watching TV shows. Christopher Denham’s play has some flaws in both writing and execution, but......

On Sundays Gothamist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in New York and reviews of recent books and performances. The judgments expressed below are entirely those of the author. Living in New York, where there’s constantly something to do, a show to see or an underground club to party at or a protest in a park, it’s hard to imagine living someplace where boredom reigns, and drives people nutty. In Don Zolidis’ A Night Near......

On Sundays Gothamist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in New York and reviews of recent books and performances. The judgments expressed below are entirely those of the author. “Ablutophobia” – the fear of bathing – sounds more like a joke to be played out over a few days in a comic strip than a potential centerpiece for a play that has at least some serious things to say. But in Naked Angels’ The Mistakes......

On Sundays Gothamist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in New York and reviews of recent books and performances. The judgments expressed below are entirely those of the author. The “Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and [X]” tag has to be in the running for most-used (some would say worn out) subtitle. Fortunately, C.J. Hopkins’ screwmachine/eyecandy, which adds “love Big Bob” in the slot, is both dizzyingly disturbing and unique in its own......

On Sundays Gothamist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in New York and reviews of recent books and performances. The judgments expressed below are entirely those of the author. It’s hard to imagine a quirkier, more compelling idea for a character than a half-Irish salesman, jazz aficionado, and ladies’ man who also happens to be Adolf Hitler’s nephew. It might not even be possible to dream up such a creation, and in fact Mark Kassen......

On Sundays Gothamist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in New York and reviews of recent books and performances. The judgments expressed below are entirely those of the author. Of the array of narrative voices that seem to be American through-and-through, that seem to have a cadence that only this country could have fostered – whether or not that’s the case – the language of the hard-boiled noir thriller is surely a prime example. In......

On Sundays Gothamist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in New York and reviews of recent books and performances. The judgments expressed below are entirely those of the author. Many reviews of Godlight Theatre Company’s production of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 (Bradbury adapted it for the stage years ago; Joe Tantalo directs) have marveled about the way it manages to bring home Bradbury's prescience when he wrote it in 1953, and that it reminds you......

On Sundays Gothamist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in New York and reviews of recent books and performances. The judgments expressed below are entirely those of the author. History has undeniably powerful draws – there’s the power of nostalgia, for one, and the longing for another era that seems like it was so much better; but there’s also history as undertow, with forces both good and bad from the past acting on us today......

On Sundays Gothamist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in New York and reviews of recent books and performances. The judgments expressed below are entirely those of the author. SXSW may be wrapping up in Austin, but here the run of Not Clown, a show performed by Physical Plant, an iconoclastic, very indie Austin-based group, just began (and ends in less than a week, but that’s par for the course). Anyway, last week my counterpart......

On Sundays Gothamist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in New York and reviews of recent books and performances. The judgments expressed below are entirely those of the author. As The Music Teacher begins, magnified footage of fresh-faced teenaged students in a choir and at play in an idyllic high school setting floats gauzily over curtains onstage. It effectively sets the tone of nostalgia and longing that characterizes the rest of this opera-play by Wallace......

On Sundays Gothamist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in New York and reviews of recent books and performances. The judgments expressed below are entirely those of the author. When I started thinking about how to review Jean Cocteau Repertory’s new production of Moliere’s The Miser, I spent awhile mulling over something serious to structure my thoughts around, something going on in current affairs or some deep literary concept one could say runs through it.......

On Sundays Gothamist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in New York and reviews of recent books and performances. The judgments expressed below are entirely those of the author. Walking around in New York, it’s frequently possible to catch at least fleeting glimpses of a long-ago past – the carvings on the cornices of an elegant building, perhaps, or a seemingly eternal Italian restaurant, or even just the dark view up a subway tunnel, if......

On Sundays Gothamist likes to publish opinion pieces by its contributors, friends and you. The opinions expressed in this piece do not neccessarilly represent anyone besides the author, in this case Joseph Anastasio. This week, the city failed to require Critical Mass, a monthly group bike ride through the streets of Manhattan, to obtain a parade permit beforehand. This shouldn't be much of a surprise to anyone, as the city was at best on shaky......

On Sundays Gothamist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in New York and reviews of recent books and performances. The judgments expressed below are entirely those of the author. It certainly felt appropriate to be seeing The Snow Hen last night, coming and going to the theater as I did dusted head to toe with snowflakes glittering in the Brooklyn streetlight. I thought, beforehand, that it might be topical in another way, too, namely that......

On Sundays Gothamist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in New York and reviews of recent books and performances. The judgments expressed below are entirely those of the author. I approached Jay McInerney’s The Good Life with a hint of trepidation, always slightly suspicious of any literary representation of that day in September. McInerney didn’t disappoint, at least not on that count. The aftermath of the attack, the atmosphere in the city – both human......

On Sundays Gothamist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in New York and reviews of recent books and performances. The judgments expressed below are entirely those of the author. If people are going to continue to follow the age-old adage of “write what you know,” my guess is that, based on demographics, we’re going to see a lot more plays about middle-aged people having to deal with their even aging, weakening parents. Obviously that’s not......

On Sundays Gothamist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in New York and reviews of recent books and performances. The judgments expressed below are entirely those of the author. I remember telling a friend, after finishing Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, that Wonder Boys had not prepared me for this brilliance. I think I’ll be saying the same thing about Julian Barnes’ latest novel, Arthur & George. I’ve read A History......

On Sundays Gothamist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in New York and reviews of recent books and performances. The judgments expressed below are entirely those of the author. To get students’ creative juices flowing, writing teachers like to make them build a story around some basic situation or obstacle. “There’s a secret that everyone knows but is not allowed to discuss,” for instance – I have not-so-fond memories of some of my poor attempts......

On Sundays Gothamist publishes opinion pieces by its contributors and friends. It was Mike’s week. Actually, considering the mayor’s worth more than you can imagine and New Yorkers gush over him as if he’s some kind of savior, maybe this is shaping up to be his century. Call him Bloomer, Hizzoner, Moneyberg, Li’l Mike – choose your favorite nickname. It doesn’t much matter, because you can call the short, nasily-voiced gazillionaire with an eerie ability......