New York City Stage

Quote from "Trouble in Mind" by Alice Childress

noreply@blogger.com (New York City Stage) — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 20:22:00 +0000

Quote from Wiletta in Trouble in Mind by Alice Childress:

But they was dragged...they came with guns and dragged them, they weren't sent to be killed by their mama! Writer wants the damn white man to be the hero and me the villain.

Quote from John Leguizamo: Defend Against the Federal Attack on the Arts

noreply@blogger.com (New York City Stage) — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 18:21:00 +0000

From John Leguizamo: Defend Against the Federal Attack on the Arts, a guest column in the New York Daily News:

Authoritarians seek to erase the past and create their own skewed national narrative. This history that this [Trump] administration would like to remove is that of Black people; the heritage they want to deny is that of immigrants; the contributions they want to ignore are that of Latinos; the story they don't want told is that of indigenous Americans.

Quote from "Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo" by Rajiv Joseph

noreply@blogger.com (New York City Stage) — Sat, 24 May 2025 16:59:00 +0000

Partial quote from Tiger in Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo by Rajiv Joseph:

See, all my life, I've been plagued, as most tigers are, by this existential quandary: Why am I here? But now...I'm dead, I'm a ghost...and it's: Why aren't I gone? I figured everything just ended. It's alarming, this life after death. But here I am. Dante in Hades. A Bengal tiger in Baghdad.

amber iman as goddess (michael thurber music/lyrics; ali saheem book)

noreply@blogger.com (New York City Stage) — Sun, 18 May 2025 14:42:00 +0000

amber iman is a bronze goddess

marimba posing as divine nadira

infiltrating hot moto moto nights

filling mombasa up with cosmic hope

uniting tribes with sacred honey sweet arias

until watamaraka’s envy beckons her home

Quote from Actor Jonathan Bailey

noreply@blogger.com (New York City Stage) — Fri, 17 May 2024 14:36:00 +0000

Quote from actor Jonathan Bailey when asked by WSJ about one piece of advice he’s gotten that’s guided him:

Always do theater. That was actually from Ian McKellen. It’s in my bones anyway.

Quote from Kelli O’Hara About the Theater

noreply@blogger.com (New York City Stage) — Thu, 02 May 2024 15:23:00 +0000

Quote from Kelli O’Hara in Penta article: Actress Kelli O’Hara’s Career Advice: Take ‘the Long Road’ in an Era of Viral Sensations:

Incredible theaters around the world include...For my money, everywhere from the Palladium in London to the Delacorte in Central Park to the makeshift black box theaters in a childhood backyard. Wherever we are free to let our imagination fly is the best sort of theater.

The Grenfell Tower Fire Tragedy

noreply@blogger.com (New York City Stage) — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 20:02:00 +0000

I can’t recall the last time I cried at the theater. Yes, tears have pooled in my eyes. Sometimes they’ve threatened to spill over, but usually they don’t. They quickly evaporate. Last weekend, however, this was not the case. When I saw the names of the victims of the tragedy that is the Grenfell Tower fire, tears breached my lids, and when I saw multiple names with the same surname, salty tears poured down my cheeks as I wondered how many members of one family, one household, are gone...forever. Hurriedly, I plucked a tissue from my back pocket and scrambled to wipe the tears and their stain away. After all, I was at the theater—more precisely, St. Ann’s Warehouse in Dumbo Brooklyn—surrounded.

Grenfell Tower, Grenfell Tower, Grenfell Tower...

I came to learn about the tragedy that is Grenfell Tower through a poem—Grenfell Tower, June, 2017—by British-Nigerian poet Ben Okri. I was so moved by the poem that I immediately wanted to learn more about what happened that night.

As I made my way to St. Ann's to see the National Theatre's production of Grenfell: in the words of survivors—a play by Gillian Slovo—I reread Ben Okri's words once again. Later, I would come to realize that in less than two months, it will be the seventh anniversary of the fire that took seventy-two lives. And my understanding from the talkback—Can Tragedy Change Policy?—that took place after the show with a panel of two survivors from the night of the fire as well as local New York City politicians and activists, no criminal justice has been served for the people of Grenfell Tower.

What Happened, What Happened, What Happened...

For those who are not aware of the 2017 fire (like I was before I read Mr. Okri's poem), know that what started as a refrigerator fire in a flat wound up engulfing Grenfell Tower due to shoddy materials used during refurbishment of the twenty-four story building years earlier. This however is a vast over-simplification of what happened. One has to also look at a loosening of health and safety regulations. One has to look at capitalism and the never ending pursuit of corporate profits. One has to look at mismanagement and placing cost cutting over safety. And one has to look at the West London neighborhood where the tower stood/stands and the community of Grenfell residents who have their origins in the Caribbean, Portugal, Syria, Morocco, Ethiopia, Britain, and more.

Here is one short documentary; more are available online.

Grenfell: in the words of survivors...

For those who want to know more about the victims, the bereaved and the survivors of this tragedy, please please head over to St Ann's and listen to first hand verbatim accounts of what it was like to live in Grenfell Tower, go through horror and trauma there, and then band together in solidarity and to hopefully promote change.

Be warned though: Grenfell: in the words of survivors is emotional. It may move you to tears, but even if it doesn't, it will surely make you want to get up, march out of the theater, and take some sort of action...

I Love this Love Letter

noreply@blogger.com (New York City Stage) — Thu, 17 Mar 2022 23:00:00 +0000

A love letter from playwright Arthur Laurents to dancer Robert Pagent in the 1950s.

Aah, to be so enamored that you drop everything, pour your delirious heart out into a flipping type-written love letter, and long for "the peaceful excitement that comes from being with someone you love."

On view at The Morgan Library & Museum

Dominique Morisseau - Playwright's Rules of Engagement - Confederates

noreply@blogger.com (New York City Stage) — Wed, 16 Mar 2022 23:00:00 +0000

PLAYWRIGHT'S

Permissions for Engagement

Consider this an invitation to be your full and unrestricted selves. But I also want you to know that the theatre normative will be disrupted in this space for the duration of this show. And that means some thangs.

It means you are allowed to laugh audibly and give all the "um hmmms" and "uhn hnnns" you feel inspired to give

The subject matter might make you think that there is no room for humor. That is a lie. The humanity of both the folk in the present and in the past during times of enslavement mean that they are full and complex. They are not simply downtrodden or in a perpetual state of abuse.

Just like in the present, the enslaved are multi-faceted. We all carry snark and sarcasm. We are all expert navigators of the systemic fuckeries. And sometimes, navigating that shit is painful. And sometimes, navigating that shit is funny.

As always, the theatre can be church for some of us, and testifying is allowed.

Please be an audience member that joins with the village, either silently or vocally, in support of the journey we will take collectively. Exhale together. Laugh together. Say "oh hell no" or "amen" should you need to.

This is community. Let's dismantle and let's go.

peaceandlovedominique:)

I Saw the Northern Lights in NYC

noreply@blogger.com (New York City Stage) — Sat, 05 Mar 2022 16:27:00 +0000

Okay, so I haven’t really seen aurora borealis. There haven’t been any recent trips (unfortunately!) to any of the best destinations to take in the northern lights.

But this experience still rests firmly on my bucket list.

In the meantime, I take what I can get and headed over to The Edge at Hudson Yards this week to gaze at a special sky-high light show taking place only for a few days -- March 3rd through 7th (7 to 10pm each night).

It wasn't the real thing. But New York City on a clear night from the edge of a precipice is always beautiful.

Cécile McLorin Salvant’s "Ghost Song" - Drops Today

noreply@blogger.com (New York City Stage) — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 22:30:00 +0000

One of my absolute favorite artists:

Wall Street Journal ~ Larry Blumenfeld:

“Ghost Song” is her boldest act yet. Here, Ms. Salvant displays yet more sonic range and nuance—soaring through intervals, moving nimbly through tricky rhythms, and reveling in pithy turns of phrase. Her voice is singularly arresting, yet it is never a single sound. It’s playful, nearly giddy, on “Optimistic Voices” (from “The Wizard of Oz”), and then sultry when that song segues into Gregory Porter’s “No Love Dying.” It’s a blues holler to start the title track, one of seven original compositions, and nearly soft as a whisper to begin Sting’s “Until.”

Ms. Cécile McLorin Salvant plays the Rose Theater in May 2022.

In Memoriam

noreply@blogger.com (New York City Stage) — Sat, 27 Nov 2021 00:40:00 +0000

Love Note to a Playwright by Phyllis McGinley

Perhaps the literary man

I most admire among my betters

Is Richard Brinsley Sheridan,

Who, viewing life as more than letters,

Persisted, like a stubborn Gael,

In not acknowledging his mail.

They say he hardly ever penned

A proper "Yrs. received & noted,"

But spent what time he had to spend

Shaping the law that England voted,

Or calling, on his comic flute,

The tune for Captain Absolute.

Though chief of the prodigious wits

That Georgian taverns set to bubblin',

He did not answer Please Remits

Or scoldings from his aunts in Dublin

Or birthday messages or half

The notes that begged an autograph.

I hear it sent his household wild—

Became a sort of parlor fable—

The way that correspondence piled,

Mountainous, on his writing table,

While he ignored the double ring

And wouldn't answer anything;

Not scrawls from friends or screeds from foes

Or scribble from the quibble-lover

Or chits beginning "I enclose

Manuscript under separate cover,"

Or cards from people off on journeys,

Or formal statements from attorneys.

The post came in. He let it lie.

(All this biographers agree on.)

Especially he did not reply

To things that had R.S.V.P. on.

Sometimes for months he dropped no lines

To dear ones, or sent Valentines;

But, polishing a second act

Or coaxing kings to license Freedom,

Let his epistles wait. In fact,

They say he didn't even read'm.

The which, some mornings, seems to me

A glorious blow for Liberty.

Brave Celt! Although one must deplore

His manners, and with reason ample,

How bright from duty's other shore,

This moment, seems his bold example!

And would I owned in equal balance

His courage (and, of course, his talents),

Who, using up his mail to start

An autumn fire or chink a crevice,

Cried, "Letters longer are than art,

But vita is extremely brevis!"

Then, choosing what was worth the candle,

Sat down and wrote The School for Scandal.

—Phyllis McGinley

Broadwayworld Jukebox: 30 Songs for Your 2020/21 Tony Party

noreply@blogger.com (New York City Stage) — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 12:00:00 +0000

I may have missed the Tony Awards but I sure am enjoying the Broadway World playlist.

Schomburg Performing Arts Talk: Fire Shut Up In My Bones

noreply@blogger.com (New York City Stage) — Wed, 29 Sep 2021 19:49:00 +0000

A talk with members of the creative team behind the history making opera — Fire Shut Up in My Bones:

Fire Shut Up in My Bones premiered in New York on Monday and plays at the Metropolitan Opera through October 23rd.

Sun & Sea : My Return to the Theater

noreply@blogger.com (New York City Stage) — Tue, 21 Sep 2021 01:03:00 +0000

After vacation | Your hair shines | Your eyes glitter | Everything is fine

Sun & Sea is an Lithuanian opera by Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė (direction and set design), Vaiva Grainytė (libretto) and Lina Lapelytė (music).

For this piece, tons of sand have been hauled in from the shores of Jersey to a Brooklyn theater. Theatergoers stand above the stage and roam around and watch (almost voyeuristically) while a varied cast of about thirty or so relax on a beach, play games, eat lunch and disappear for the occasional dip in the water. A subset croons melodies — melodies about exhaustion from being overworked, melodies about privilege, melodies about love, melodies about complaints about untidy beachgoers, and melodies about mortality — while the theme of climate change flows like an undercurrent through the piece. Together, the evening adds up to a very unique and worthwhile theatrical experience and a wonderful, comfortable return to the New York City stage!

Sun & Sea is a perfect return to the theater after eighteen months. I didn't have to jump right back in a packed theater. I could easily move about BAM Fisher and had the option to leave at any time The full opera lasts about an hour but performs on rotation for about five hours. Theatergoers can leave after one rotation or stay for the remaining rotations. I stayed two hours. They first hour I hugged the rail and just observed, taking in all the activity on the beach below me — trying to identify the performers singing, wondering how easy it is for them to sing supine, marveling at the kids playing, and thinking how well-behaved the sole dog in the cast is. For the second hour, I stood back from the rail and allowed newcomers to get a good view of the performance as I simply listened closer to and enjoyed the music and read through the libretto in greater detail, grateful to be able to finally return to the theater once again.

Sun & Sea plays at BAM Fisher through September 26th. Ticket holders are required to show proof of vaccination and must wear a mask during the performance. After BAM, it moves on to Philadelphia. See schedule at https://sunandsea.lt/en

The libretto may be found at http://bambillss2021.tilda.ws/

Intermission...

noreply@blogger.com (New York City Stage) — Tue, 28 Jul 2020 17:00:00 +0000

The Whitby Theatre

noreply@blogger.com (New York City Stage) — Tue, 04 Feb 2020 15:29:00 +0000

I am a regular theatergoer, but I could probably go out every day of the year and still not hit up all the nooks and crannies where I can experience the performing arts in some form in this area.

My latest discovery? The beautiful Whitby Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. Bear right as you enter the hotel, trot down the staircase and discover a quaint, intimate screening room.

Recently, I attended a The American Associates of the National Theatre (AANT) screening of Arthur Miller's All My Sons with a FABULOUS performance by Sally Fields. What a treat the screening was - a glass a wine, a little popcorn, and amazing theater.

Shakespeare fans can enjoy a Royal Shakespeare Company’s screening of Romeo & Juliet later this month.

The Metropolitan Opera Standing Room Ticket - Behind The Dress Circle

noreply@blogger.com (New York City Stage) — Sat, 01 Feb 2020 13:26:00 +0000

How do you come by a ticket to a sold out performance of The Metropolitan Opera's The Gershwins' Porgy & Bess without going through some expensive reseller?

Buy a standing room ticket on a snowy winter day.

By chance, I discovered that the Met offers standing room tickets. They are available same day and can be purchased online or in person at the box office

I purchased a ticket online behind the Dress Circle for $40 + an additional $10 in fees.

And here is my view House Left. Beautiful!

I would not hesitate to purchase a standing room ticket again.

Very affordable for the opera and an absolute bargain for a sold out performance.

Theater Talks: Charles Fuller's "A Soldier's Play"

noreply@blogger.com (New York City Stage) — Tue, 07 Jan 2020 13:07:00 +0000

Many thanks to Roundabout and the Schomburg for a wonderful talk on Charles Fuller's Pulitzer Prize winning A Soldier's Play, which is making its Broadway debut under the direction of Kenny Leon. A Soldier's Play runs through March 15, 2020 at the American Airlines Theatre. Can't wait to see it!

Jason Moran - Jazz on a High Floor in the Afternoon

noreply@blogger.com (New York City Stage) — Tue, 10 Dec 2019 06:00:00 +0000

Earlier this year on the Blue Sea at Note 2019, I had the honor to experience Jazz pianist's Jason Moran and his band. I recall just sitting in awe of the MacArthur Fellow's virtuosity, happy to be able to observe him in an intimate lounge setting. With that memory, I paused each time I looked at a Whitney Museum email lingering in my inbox promoting Jason Moran's first solo museum show. I knew that I had to see and support the show.

After looking through the series of performances scheduled over several weeks, I settled on Jazz on a High Floor in the Afternoon: Michela Marino Lerman's Love Movement. - a Jazz tap show performed inside an exhibit paying tribute to three legendary Jazz stages - midtown's Three Deuces, Harlem's Savoy Ballroom and Alphabet City's Slug's Saloon.

The performance was truly clever. I enjoyed the tap, which I don't get a chance to see often, and I really got a kick out of seeing the Jazz club replicas, especially Slug's Saloon, which, by the way, on that same Blue Note at Sea cruise I watch I Called Him Morgan about Helen Morgan shooting Jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan in that club. That chair ain't knocked over for no reason.

Jason Moran's trio The Bandwagon plays the Village Vanguard December 19-21. If you were able to score a ticket, enjoy!! The Whitney exhibit runs through January 5th.

Inua Ellams - Barber Shop Chronicles

noreply@blogger.com (New York City Stage) — Sun, 08 Dec 2019 00:50:00 +0000

I recently returned home from an amazing trip to Ghana, West Africa for the Year of Return 2019 - which was launched to commemorate 400 years since the first enslaved Africans were forcibly brought the United States. It was my first time to the region. I took in Pan-Africanism and the Atlantic from the other side, learned about Asante history and culture, ate spicy foods that were not unfamiliar as they warmed my esophagus and stomach, marveled at beautiful colorful fabrics, and almost lost it in a slave dungeon at Cape Coast. Frankly, I did not want to come home and would have gladly stayed longer if I could. But that is not how my world works unfortunately :(

A few days after my return (that is, to the U.S.), I halfheartedly scrolled through marketing emails in my inbox and perked up when I saw a promotion for Barber Shop Chronicles by Nigerian-British playwright Inua Ellams. Hmmm...what is this (I wondered) - an opportunity to return to Africa through theater on the New York City Stage?

The festive Barber Shop Chronicles takes place in barber shops across the African continent (Lagos, Johannesburg, Accra, Kampala, and Harare) and in London, and wonderfully explores black male masculinity and relationships. It was absolutely refreshing to lose myself in these black men's stories, set to the bumping Afrobeat back drop. Kudos to BAM for bringing this to us, as part of Next Wave 2019! I want more like this!

More Sage Advice from "The Heiress'" Dr. Sloper

noreply@blogger.com (New York City Stage) — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 13:32:00 +0000

On Family:

Family feeling is very proper. There isn't enough of it in our city.

On Love:

I don't believe in love at first sight.

On Cleverness:

You are good for nothing unless you are clever!

MINDing My Health at 92Y

noreply@blogger.com (New York City Stage) — Sun, 13 Oct 2019 15:08:00 +0000

As Mental Health Awareness week kicked off last week, I enjoyed a day of panel discussions and break out sessions at MIND Your Health at 92Y. The day included an array of speakers such as Bob Roth, Cheryl Strayed, and Cynthia Germanotta, as well as doctors and experts such as Dr. Alka Gupta from Weill Cornell Medicine. MIND Your Health was designed to help us take a holistic approach to improving the quality of our lives.

Some notes from the day (in no particular order):

Talk about mental health. Eliminate the stigma. Mental health is just as important as physical health! Treat mental disorders as they emerge; if not, they will worsen...
Minimum of 7 - 8 hours sleep --> necessary (make your environment peaceful - put down the phone - dim the lights - set the right temperature - NO WINE!
Social connections and relationships --> critical
Find things in your life that release endorphins naturally
Practice gratitude and journaling. Create mantras
Practice mindfulness through meditation (those with untreated trauma - beware)
Talk to your kids - make time for family time!
Practice vulnerability - struggle is universal. you are not alone
Look into alternative therapies - cannabis, slime anyone?
Feed your brain. Mediterranean diet linked to good health and less depression. Eat more plant-based foods - eat fatty fish (e.g., salmon, mackerel and sardines) 2-3x per week - limit added sugars - take in 25-30g fiber daily. Eat slowly and enjoy your food
Reduce cognitive decline - avoid chronic stress and exposure to toxins and embrace physical fitness and social networks

Natasha Yvette Williams - Rescue, Relief, and Redemption!

noreply@blogger.com (New York City Stage) — Mon, 30 Sep 2019 11:01:00 +0000

I haven't been following Natasha Yvette Williams' career as closely as the gentleman I had the opportunity to sit next to at the elegant and cozy Feinstein's / 54 Below room on Wednesday night, but I'm sure pleased that I fixed my cabaret craving by attending her show.

Mrs Williams, whose Broadway credits include Chicago and Waitress, is talented, funny, vulnerable and supportive. She charmed her friends and audience with musical theater, soul and gospel tunes and readily shared her stage with young talent she has met at the stage door, her Waitress cast mates, and the talented Saint Aubyn, who recently wowed me in Ain't Too Proud and blew me away with his Try a Little Tenderness on Wednesday.

Mrs Williams cabaret show was an absolute blast and exactly what my spirit needed to get through the work week.

Ogresse - Cécile McLorin Salvant with L'Orchestre L'Ogresse

noreply@blogger.com (New York City Stage) — Sat, 28 Sep 2019 12:33:00 +0000

Maybe we could dance all night

Under clouds of violet

Moving to melodies long-forgotten

Maybe if you held me tight enough, my love

Neither one of us would fly or fall