by JK Clarke   The first thing you notice, within minutes of Alan Cumming grabbing the microphone on the cozy stage of Joe’s Pub for his new show Legal Immigrant (running through June 30) is that he’s not merely the star of a cabaret performance, but rather this is a...

        by JK Clarke   There are a handful of phrases that are likely to get the attention of the FBI’s algorithms and probably should be avoided in your emails or Google searches. Things like “I’ve got a bomb,” “would you like to buy some heroin” or, say, the title...

      by JK Clarke   Despite remarkable progress in the acknowledgement of LGBTQ+ civil rights over the past few decades, there is a growing misconception in the straight community that “coming out” is no longer complicated or detrimental to those who do. Part of that has...

        by JK Clarke   On the heels of last year’s controversial (and totally misunderstood) social-commentary-tinged Shakespeare in the Park production of Julius Caesar, one could have easily expected the mounting of Shakespeare’s most racially charged play, Othello,...

  Wednesday, June 13 saw the opening night of the madcap musical comedy, Desperate Measures for an open at New World Stages after an Outer Critics and Drama Desk Awards winning run at the York Theatre Company. Inspired by Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, the musical is a joyous,...

      The Band Visited, the Band Saw, the Band Conquered. The 2018 Tony Awards took place Sunday, June 10 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The big winner of the night was The Band’s Visit, which took home ten Tony Awards, followed by Harry Potter and the Cursed...

    Sunday evening, June 3, all the stars were out to walk the red carpet for the 2018 Drama Desk Awards, just off Times Square, along Anita’s Way. Prior to streaming into The Town Hall, where the 63rd Annual Awards took place, nominees from Broadway and Off-Broadway stopped...

        by Sandi Durell   Part 2 coverage continues with Drama Desk Video Interviews in the press room at the Marriott Marquis on June 3 with the 2018 Award winners. Speaking with Ethan Slater, Tina Fey, Tina Landau, Glenda Jackson, Neil Austin, Jonathan Tunick,...

  The Drama Desk Awards took place at The Town Hall on June 3rd, hosted by Michael Urie. Red Carpet Arrivals at Anita’s Way found Theater Pizzazz’ JK Clarke on the scene. Look for those! Here is Part 1 of the 2018 Drama Desk Award Winners, with photos by JK Clarke, and Video...

        by JK Clarke   Comedy is hard. Especially theatrical comedy. Even if the humor exists in the script, it doesn’t necessarily make it to the stage. Ordinarily, William Shakespeare’s comic masterpiece, Twelfth Night, is a sure bet for a night of guffaws. But this...

        by JK Clarke To bring a production of Long Day’s Journey Into Night to New York City only two years after the powerful, arresting and Tony award-winning Roundabout Theater Company Broadway revival starring Jessica Lange and Michael Shannon takes, in the politest...

  Photos and video, plus winners. Winners for the 2018 Chita Rivera Awards were announced last night at The NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts (566 LaGuardia Place off Washington Square Park). On the scene were JK Clarke – photos and Sandi Durell – video...

      Monday evening, May 14, at the Marriott Marquis in New York City’s Times Square, The Actors Fund celebrated four gigantic stars of stage and screen and awarded them The Actor Fund’s Medal of Honor: Uma Thurman, Warren Beatty, Chita Rivera and Kenny Leon. The...

        by JK Clarke   The women of Tennessee Williams plays are easily identifiable. The older ones, usually mothers, are bitter and neurotic. The younger, neurotic and vulnerable, though usually sweet and endearing. The models for these women were Williams’ mother...

    Wednesday, May 9 the Nominees Reception for the 63rd Annual Drama Desk Awards took place at Friedman’s in the Hotel Edison. Celebrating the nominees for the 2017-2018 theater season awards, the room was abuzz with the outstanding performers and creatives from this...

    Filming/Interviews by Sandi Durell   The 2018 Drama Desk Nominees met with the press at Friedman’s at the Edison Hotel on West 47th Street, on May 9 to talk about their roles and creative participation in the various productions for which they are now being nominated....

      The 2018 theater awards season kicked off with a pop—a KPOP—last night at the 33rd Annual Lucille Lortel Awards, honoring the best in off-Broadway, at NYU’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. With multiple nominations for KPOP (12), Bella: An American Tale...

        by JK Clarke   As any health or behavior expert can tell you, the root cause of substance abuse is rarely, if ever, the substance itself. Rather, it’s the underlying mental or emotional suffering of the user that leads to it, and those issues must be addressed...

      by JK Clarke   There are very few theater programs I am more fond of than The Public Theater’s Mobile Unit. I look forward to their twice annual, sparse but powerful Shakespeare productions that are toured through the boroughs of New York City to community centers,...

      Monday Night, April 30, the nominees for the first Annual Chita Rivera Awards gathered at Bond 45 in Times Square to celebrate their accomplishment. The Chita Rivera Awards, whose mission is to “celebrate dance and choreographic excellence, preserve notable dance...

      Wednesday evening, April 25, saw the opening night festivities of the Broadway revival of Saint Joan, the George Bernard Shaw telling of the life of Joan of Arc at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Directed by Daniel Sullivan, Saint Joan stars Condola Rashad as Joan, and...

      Carousel and SpongeBob Square Pants Lead with Mean Girls, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child not far behind   The 63rd Annual Drama Desk Award nominees were announced this morning at Feinstein’s/54 Below by Jane Krakowski and Tituss Burgess and streamed live on...

      by JK Clarke   James Joyce, Vladimir Lenin and Tristan Tzara (one of the founders of Dadaism) are hanging out in Zurich . . . sounds like the setup to one of those “guy walks into a bar” type jokes, right? Well, it sort of is, but in long, theatrical form in the...

    Harry Potter goes Broadway! Picking up where the seventh book in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series left off, with Harry and his magical friends as adults, the two-play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two opened Sunday, April 22 at the Lyric Theatre on...

        by JK Clarke   One of the drawbacks of theater or literature that deals with contemporaneously specific issues is that they run the risk of losing their relevance over time. Works that endure tend to also encompass universal, timeless themes as well. Such is...