By Marcina Zaccaria   Austin Pendleton successfully combines two Shakespearean plays in Wars of the Roses: Henry VI & Richard III, bringing the best of actor’s theater to the stage. With Austin Pendleton’s direction, the company is completely engaged in the moment. Each...

  By Marcina Zaccaria   Yuko Ninagawa directs a captivating production of Macbeth at this year’s Lincoln Center Mostly Mozart Festival. The script, translated by Yushi Odashima, is astonishingly faithful to Shakespeare’s play. Beginning with three witches, inspired by Kabuki, we...

    By Marcina Zaccaria   In a bright fantasy that is Emojiland, the world inside of smart phone is examined for New York Musical Festival audience. Emojiland is a celebration of the Unicode Standard, and a wise testament to the joy of putting emotion in text messaging. You...

    By Marcina Zaccaria   Attending 54 Sings 1776 was a joyous way to compliment fireworks from the 4th of July. The show got off to a great start with Devin Ilaw (Miss Saigon) as John Adams proclaiming the need for Congress. Performing to a sold-out crowd at Feinstein’s/ 54...

    By Marcina Zaccaria   Moscow’s Theatre of Nations arrived in New York to present a stunning contemporary rendition of Anton Chekhov’s tragic drama, Ivanov. Finding the character of Nikolai Ivanov, Theatre of Nations Artistic Director Evgeny Mironov is charismatic and agile....

  Eve Ensler’s plays have a way of creating a gate to newfound emotion, far beyond the everyday     by Marcina Zaccaria   A recipient of the 2018 Lucille Lortel Lifetime Achievement Award, a pioneer feminist playwright (and a performer and lecturer in her own right),...

  By Marcina Zaccaria   At McHale’s, a bartender asks you to know his friends, understand their problems, and hear some awesome blues music from the musician on the perch, Shelly. That’s three-time Grammy nominee Michelle Shocked on the microphone at the top of the steps, performing...

    By Marcina Zaccaria   André Holland has had an exciting journey since the success the 2016’s Moonlight, (Academy Award for Best Picture).  With a background in acting (Broadway’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone and A Wrinkle in Time), he has every sense of what drives a story. ...

  By Marcina Zaccaria   Pygmalion begins brilliantly with the audience standing outside a rounded stage. Posters of theatrical presentations are posted on the walls. Before you know it, the Bedlam ensemble takes the stage. Barking out their lines while audience members hover, Eliza...

    By Marcina Zaccaria   Artist Patrick Dunning enchants audience members at The Sheen Center in The Signature Project. Not really speaking with brogue, but clearly having a gift of the gab, this world traveler explains how he began The Signature Project. Dunning was inspired...

  By Marcina Zaccaria   Through the bluster of winter, a distraught bride bursts into a snowy cabin in Alaska. Having nowhere else to run, she struggles to find a place for herself in Brilliant Traces. Rosannah DeLuce, played by Alyssa May Gold (Broadway’s Arcadia), awakens in the...

  When Images Persist   By Marcina Zaccaria   Time Stands Still, produced by New Light Theater Project, premiered at the 13th Street Repertory Company. Sarah is the driving force behind her freelance photography career. Going into battle grounds, shooting close-ups of war-torn...

    By Marcina Zaccaria   Panorama, an edgy exploration of identity and belonging, debuted at the Under the Radar Festival on January 3rd. Actors begin with a type of audition. Explaining their ethnic background, age, and history of performance, the presentation of their...

    By Marcina Zaccaria   To watch a rare bird fly is an astonishing joy. Soaring Wings, produced by Chen Feihua, the Artistic Director of the Shanghai Dance Theatre, presents beauty and frailty. This dance drama stars Zhu Jiejing and Wang Jiajun, principal dancers of the...

  Letters and Christmas Lore   By Marcina Zaccaria   How do you say exactly the right thing at Christmas time? This Christmas, Stomping Ground Theatre Company and Gwen Arment explore exactly that question, in a musical by Paul Cozby and Laura Bergquist. Performed at the Metro...

    By Marcina Zaccaria   Chains rattling in your ears? Ghosts flying from the rafters? If you’re aching to consult old colleagues to figure a better future, or are just hoping to gain some inspiration after a blast from the past, A Christmas Carol is for you. This classic,...

By Marcina Zaccaria   With Thanksgiving trimmings in foil and all the signs of Autumn fading, now is a good time to look past Cyber Monday and towards the Christmas holiday. Whether the presents are stacking up in your house or not, Cindy Lou Who wants to shed light on a Blue Christmas....

  by Marcina Zaccaria   The interrogation: does a Mayoral candidate, perfectly dressed, have blood on her hands? Politics can be a dirty business. When so many parties are involved, a mayoral race proves to be fatal in Mesquite, NV. The play, by Leegrid Stevens, is like a mystery...

by Marcina Zaccaria   Café Play is a rare, blissful experience conceived, structured, and directed by Erin B. Mee. Joining a small group at 10:30AM at the Cornelia Street Café, it felt like the best kind of performance event. Actors appeared as servers, and performed short plays, musical...

  by Marcina Zaccaria   Statistics about prison are on the walls. An audience ready to see and hear walked around a space that includes quilts, and squares of fabric with phrases of empowerment. The Peculiar Patriot combines a 90 minute monologue with a complete gallery...

    by Marcina Zaccaria   Me the People is a hilarious, song and dance review through the Trump Administration. Held together by four strong musical theater actors, this political parody will keep you smiling and tapping your toes. At the beginning of the show, actors...

    by Susan Hasho   Village, My Home is a part of The Dream Up Festival presented at Theater for A New City. The citizens of this slice of an unnamed town are expressive and mostly frustrated. They pass by center stage in this production and let us in on pieces of their lives....

    Review by Marcina Zaccaria   In A Wall Apart, Lord Graham Russell, Founding Member of the band, Air Supply, creates big rock sound against a black and white video of a torn Berlin.   After a screen with images of Germany in the 1960s fills the stage, friends celebrate...

    by Marcina Zaccaria   My Dear Watson is a clever tale of mystery at The New York Musical Festival.  With Book, Music, and Lyrics by Jami-Leigh Bartschi, My Dear Watson takes the classic Sir Arthur Conan Doyle characters and puts them into a revolving chess match. This...

            One Hundred Years Remembered – 1917-2017: Tychyna, Zhadan & the Dogs   by Marcina Zaccaria   One hundred years is a long time. When considering 1917-2017 through the eyes of a Ukrainian poet, there is something quite special. From...