1. WORD PLAY: "The Truth Teller" by Joyce Carol Oates, directed by Gloria Muzio, presented by the Circle Repertory Company at the Circle in the Square. "Much about this cartoon-like comedy is dazzling, not least of which are the author's words...." - February 1, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
2. FARCE ON A SHOESTRING: "Loot" by Joe Orton, directed by Dan Tedlie, presented by The Independent Theatre Company, at the House of Candles Theatre. "Following an insane kind of logic, the author seems to improvise as he goes along; yet 'Loot' winds up making weird sense at the end...." - February 16, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
3. ITALIAN-STYLE, NO CHOLESTEROL, "Napoli Milionaria" by Eduardo De Filippo, directed by Robert Hupp, presented by Jean Cocteau Repertory at the Bouwerie Lane Theatre. "Ah, to have had Marcello Mastroianni in this Americanized translation (by Tori Haring-Smith) might have been heaven. For the play simply craves an Italian dialect...." - February 18, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
4. MEDIEVAL-LIFE CRISES: "Happily Ever After" by Elliot Meyers, directed by Scott Pegg, presented by Wings Theatre Company. "...It's a delicious conceit, and it offers lots of laughs (and a few clunkers); but the drama of real life remains essentially inert in this cute and clever play." - February 26, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
5. WHY NOT TONY?: "Why Not Tony's Wife" by Nico Hartos, directed by Nico Hartos, presented by Inner Circle Acting Studio. "Not only does the charismatic acting teacher who wrote this sex-starved but benign version of Iceman Cometh manage a neat theatre, but he co-produced, stage-managed, and directed it, keeping the actors hopping with lots of varied movement...." - February 26, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
6. SPANGLED FISH: "The Ruffian on the Stair" by Joe Orton, directed by Irin Evans at St. Mark's Studio Theatre. "...Orton's plays are filled with spangled moments, some shining in our eyes, others caught in darkness, shifting, changing, relating, making memorable impressions...." - March 1, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
7. TRIXIE PICKS UP PIXIE STICKS: "Renegade Sluts on Bikes" Music and Lyrics by Jay Kerness; Book and Lyrics and Directed by Lisa Mulcahy at the Trocadero Cabaret. "This show assembled a brilliant cast of Sluts (you might define them as Mickie Mouse Club rejects) for a fun and wholesome cabaret musical that's worth the price...." - March 3, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
8. HOW LOW CAN YOU GET?: "Cannibal Cheerleaders on Crack" Written and Directed by Billy Bermingham at the Trocadero Cabaret. "The question 'Why are they doing this?' constantly came to mind as the actors in this play squirted, dribbled, or poured white, green, yellow, brown, or red bodily fluids all over the stage, each other, and some unfortunates in the audience, making such a mess that even corpses left the stage disgusted...." - March 4, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
9. CLAY BUTTERFLY: "M: The Mandela Saga" by Laurence Holder, directed by Randy Frazier at the Theatre for the New City. "With lines like 'Americans kill each other for jackets,' the author displays talent for language, has a feel for epic drama, and can establish relationships cleverly through exposition. But his characters tend to debate, deliver monologues, and write letters -- in short, do things other than act the drama, which consequently rarely flutters or flies...." - March 16, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
10. BRAVE NEWT'S WORLD: "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury, directed by Lee Gundersheimer at the Synchronicity Space. "Synchronicity Space was a perfectly-named theatre for this piece, in which combined production efforts achieved eerily effective moments on an efficient budget...." - March 18, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
11. EATING ANDY WARHOL: "The Secret Warhol Rituals" by Stephen DiLauro, directed by the author at the Tribeca Lab. "Since the plot of this show concerned much ado about a suitcase worshipped by members of your average group therapy session from hell, the realest parts seemed to be the crackers and tomato juice served free by the congenial producers during intermission...." - March 21, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
12. OVER THE TOP: "Seduced" by Sam Shepard, directed by Frank Licato at the Kraine Theatre. "...This wonderfully entertaining, humorous revival captured poetically how frustrating it must have been for the living to survive the end of a man, richer than any other, whose life force ruled both heavens and earth...." - March 22, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
13. ARMCHAIR TRAVELER: "Memories of an Unknown Celebrity" by Michael Mindlin, directed by Phyllis Newman at the Redfield Theatre. "...Mindlin's advisors should have trusted his theatrical instincts more. Though gentle and subtle like his personality, those instincts produced some vivid moments when animated by his quick intelligence, wit, and oceans of tolerance and good will...." - April 3, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
14. STICKS ACROSS THE STYX: "Gilgamesh" Adapted from the Sumerian Epic by Andrew C. Ordover, directed by David Mowers and Andrew C. Ordover, presented by The Ohio Theatre. "There were no genius actors on the level of Gielgud or Olivier in this outstanding production. Those two would have catapulted the company into the stars. But there was ingenuity to burn in an extraordinary evening of beauty and terror...." - April 6, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
15. MOON GLOW: "Goose and Tomtom" by David Rabe, directed by Adam Oliensis, presented by Willow Cabin Theatre Company. "Imagine Cops and Robbers played in a tree house by kids who discover secret treasure, torture small animals, fear flu bugs in their noses and worms in their tummy, and know too much about sex and lethal weapons, and you have some idea of the strange world created by this prodigious author...." - April 9, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
16. LEST WE FORGET: "The Art of Remembering" by Adina L. Ruskin, directed by Rachel Wineberg at the Trocadero Theatre. "Described as a "collage," this play, like Death of a Salesman, ricochets back and forth in time, place, and situation. The technique is sometimes skilled; but the play is mostly a mixed bag of family tales comprised of such disparate elements as fruit stands, Krystallnacht, and milking cows...." - April 17, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
17. THE BIBLE: PART DEUX: "The Celebration Reclaimed" by Arthur Sainer, directed by Donald L. Brooks, at the Theater for the New City. "Whether the writing of this epic neo-biblical tale was Brechtian ('God watches, but people watch their purses...'), Shakespearean ('...poured words in the porches of my ears...'), or what-have-you ('God keeps faith with those who sleep in the dust'), it made much of the play bewildering - until you began to judge things as you would an oratorio, where the strongest parts are not the interchange of actions but the music of the arias and choruses. From that point of view, there was much intellect to admire...." - April 20, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
18. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH A GOD: "Lonely Too Long" by Chuck Blasius, directed by the Author, presented by IncoacT. "The author/director has created a first-rate showcase on a fifth-rate budget. If he solves some problems in technique, he may wind up with a comic masterpiece...." - April 26, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
19. WAS THAT ALL THERE WAS?: Marathon '95-Series A: "The Ryan Interview" by Arthur Miller, Directed by Curt Dempster; "Wreck on the Five-Twenty-Five" by Thornton Wilder; directed by Richard Lichte; "Flyboy" by Yvonne Adrian, directed by Maggie Mancinelli-Cahill; "A Dead Man's Apartment" by Edward Allan Baker, directed by Ron Stetson, at the Ensemble Studio Theatre. "EST's annual marathon well represents the creativity of the American theatre. If only these plays had more drama, the evening would have been more satisfying...." - May 6, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
20. PLEASE RESUSCITATE!: "Extraordinary Measures" by Eve Ensler, directed by the author, presented by Music-Theatre Group and HOME for Contemporary Theatre and Art; at Here. "The ephemeral lives of many showcase productions are mercifully put down by the rules of Actors Equity Association. But no one should write "Do no resuscitate" on this play's chart...." - May 12, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
21 YOKOHAMA MAMA: "Madame Butterfly by David Belasco, directed by Brenda Lynn Bynum at The Play Ground. "The pretty Monica Uhm, who stars as Cho Cho San, hobbled discreetly and added S's to singular nouns practically every opportunity to charmingly portray a former geisha girl who speaks English in tribute to her erstwhile suitor, a loutish American sea officer who knocked her up and deserted her...." - May 13, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
22 TABLOID HEAVEN: "Vertigo Park" by Mark O'Donnell, directed by Matt Ames, presented by Zena Group/One Dream Theatre. "This satirical farce locks American politics and the media in a cynical, shallow, empty embrace. But in doing so, the author sets a cynical, shallow, empty stone in every character's heart.... - May 18, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
23 SATURDAY NIGHT LIFE SUPPORT: "Happityme/Bippy's Gang" by Scott Tobin, directed by Norman Siopsis, presented by "The Just About Had It!" Theatre Company at the Trilogy Theatre. "...With characters leaving the stage because they have to go to the bathroom, and lines like 'never in my life have I encountered such unprofessionalism,' the writing was not brilliantly crafted...." - June 9, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
24. DISARMING DISBELIEF: Marathon '95-Series C: Three plays by Cassandra Medley, Laurence Klavan, and David Mamet, directed by Irving Vincent, Charles Karchmer, and Curt Dempster at the Ensemble Studio Theatre. "Ultimately this mystery play produced a shaggy dog...." - June 10, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
25. GHOSTS IN THE MACHINE: "To What End," a Spanner in the Works Production at the HB Playwrights Foundation. "...The artists performed their respective functions well, and created some striking effects. What they lacked were the skills of a gifted playwright...." - June 16, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
26. SEVEN MINUTES OF HEAVEN: "The Autumn House" by John Attanas, directed by Jonathan Fluck, presented by IRT's New Directions. "There came a poignant moment at the end of this play when the mood reflected everything the playwright must have wanted. But this production, though disciplined and even loving, lacked sufficient virtuosity to overcome his weaknesses...." - June 21, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
27. TRY HARDER: "A Promise to Try" by George Gene Gustines, directed by the Author, presented by Entropy Theatre Troupe. "...This writer makes your head spin trying to comprehend a plot that runs something like -- Robert's in love with Mark who's in love with Stephen who's in love with David who doesn't love anyone until he realizes he really loves Nina, who's no longer in love with Terri, who is in love with Nina until she realizes she really loves Delilah...." - June 30, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
28. ANGELS AT THE IMPROV: "False Positive" by Perry & J. M. Montauredes, directed by J. M. Stevens (Montauredes), presented by Actors Company Theatre, at the Masque Theatre. "...This production's writers seemed to have hacked everything to the nubbin. But the resulting kernels of drama generally lacked sufficient artistry to rivet anyone...." - August 5, 1992
(Click HERE to read the review.)
29. STAND-UP POLITICS: "A Greater Good" by Keith Huff, directed by Mark Hunter, presented by The Miranda Theatre Company. "It was hard to discern the author's intention, whether satirical, bombastic, or serious, in Liz Davis' performance of Lynn Quisnie, a suburban housewife who takes on political causes in order "to become cosmically significant."..." - September 8, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
30. ON A GOLDEN CRUCIFIX: "Columbus in the Age of Gold" by Paul Peditto, directed by Frank Licato, presented by Cooper Square Workshop. "This well-researched play about a courageous visionary who was a lousy administrator shows how Columbus mainly set about to promote commerce while crossing seas, planting crosses, and claiming lands...." - September 14, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
31. MEZZO-MEZZO: "Brotherly Love" by John Fedele, directed by Robert Mariah, at the Samuel Beckett Theatre. "This comedy was supposed to be for Italian Americans, but its ethnic homage seemed more touristy than real...." - September 21, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
32. KABLOOEY: "Nixon's Nixon" by Russell Lees, directed by Jim Simpson, at the MCC Theater. "...By crafting a drama out of snippets of taped conversations, books, and speeches, the author has made a perfect use of the dramatic art to skewer his tragi-comic President...." - October 2, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
33. BABY, LIGHT MY FIRE: "Burn This" by Lanford Wilson, directed by Judith E. Taranto and Helen Beth Abrams, presented by Amuse America. "Lanford Wilson, America's most undervalued playwright, knows what happens when the American dream wakes up: when characters who complain that middle class values ruin every profundity discover more terrifying profundities within themselves...." - October 5, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
34. WELCOME TO CLUB DEAD: "The Pool of Bethesda" by Allan Cubitt, directed by Rob Chambers, presented by Common Ground. "...Though rich in its inferred emotions, the production seemed curiously distanced...." - October 13, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
35. FLIGHTS OF GENIUS: "3 Classics" Directed by Andrei Serban, presented by La Mama at the Oscar Hammerstein II Center. "Andrei Serban is onto something important in these 17th and 18th Century classic plays about love, transformation, experimentation, and enchantment...." - October 21, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
36. TAKE-OUT KASHA: "Columbina's Suite" by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya, directed by Linda Lees, at the Next Stage. "In the best of all possible worlds, American audiences would speak fluent Russian so as to enjoy, without transplantation, the vigorous works of writers like Ludmilla Petrushevskaya...." - October 27, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
37. DEATH AND TAXES: "The Loophole" by James Kahn, directed by Dan Wackerman, presented by Peccadillo Theatre at Primary Stages. "Not quite broad enough for farce, and by no means brilliant comedy, this play, written by a real life tax attorney, wavers in a no-man's land of violated logic that would never pass an audit by the IRS...." - November 3, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
38. WADING THROUGH THE GENE POOL: "The Baby Dance" by Jane Anderson, directed by Mary McGowan Kunicki, at the Greenwich Street Theatre. "This play pitted a Louisiana couple ground down by poverty against a couple of Northern yuppies who want to buy their baby. The clash of values was often wacky enough to be comic, but oh so true to life...." - November 10, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
39. MY SWEET DISPOSABLE YOU: "Abstinence " Book & Lyrics by Tom Attea, music by Arthur Abrams, directed by Mark Marcante, at the Theater for the New City. "This show treated such serious subjects as overpopulation, premarital sex, and AIDS with Professor Cochburn's 100 axioms to 'just say no' to sex...." - November 17, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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40. UNTRUE ROMANCE: "Single Red Rose" by Scott L. Wolfson, directed by Stanford Yukinaga, at the Samuel Beckett Theatre. "...Although the lines are sometimes very funny, a la Woody Allen, the actions keep coming back like an underdone onion that won't burp...." - November 22, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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41. EXTRATERRESTRIAL BLAHS: "Firmament" Directed by Joseph Chaikin, presented by La MaMa/Winter Project. "...The director, in his first return since his devastating stroke in 1984 to the lyrical style of drama that made him famous, has created beautiful, impressionistic vignettes to watch..." - November 25, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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42. NORMA DESMOND TRIUMPHS: "Polly's Panic Attack" by Sebastian Stuart, directed by Everett Quinton at La Mama E.T.C. "The writer of this silly play is a master of non sequiturs and some mildly funny gags on the level of 'Demi Moore Doorknobs,' or someone having 'the sex appeal of a road kill....'" - December 8, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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43. DATE RAPE: "Plunder" by Colette Burson, directed by Tim Cunningham, presented by Playwrights Collective. "It would be a pleasure to watch these talented actors perform a real meat and potatoes script. But although the odor of cooked potatoes pervaded the tiny performance space, the audience was offered mainly fumes and cutting boards, and nothing much substantial to take home...." - December 15, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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44. SUSSING SEX IN SUSSEX: "Cock & Bull Story" by Richard Crowe & Richard Zajdlic, directed by Kevin Kennison, presented by White Buffalo Theatre Company. "...The good news about this company is that the efforts poured into its Spartan first production, which was prepared as intricately as a good string quartet, produced a splendid debut...." - December 23, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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45. APPALACHIAN GUIGNOL: "True Crimes" by Romulus Linney, directed by the Author, at the Theater for the New City. "The author, writing about his North Carolina home, directed an excellent production of an intricately plotted, strong, and well-written script...." - December 30, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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46. RUBY SHAKES HER BOOTY: "Ruby and Pearl: A Class Act" by Laurence Holder, directed by Rome Neal, at the Theatre for the New City. "The idea was attractive: The adventures of two cresting-the-hill burlesque floozies, Ruby and Pearl, one Black, one Caucasian; the one with hardened heart of gold, the other suffering mid-life crisis. Will they maintain their stripper's honorable 'tradition'? Or will they swallow their pride and do that little extra to make the 'carnivores' happy? Alas, the execution was half-hearted...." - January 6, 1996
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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47. STUCK BETWEEN ART FORMS: Emerging Playwrights Series II at the Theater for the New City. "...Perhaps even God succumbed to this much too wordy and soporific comedy in which Gregory Etchison played a tipsy bar fly served by Dale Goodson, whose tasteless tuxedo may have been dredged from the rubbish bin that supplied Kelly Herman with the costumes...." - January 13, 1996
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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48. NO RMS/NO VU: "Pastime & Papa-Boy" by Dawn Akemi Saito & Ernest Abuba, directed by Ernest Abuba, presented by La MaMa E.T.C.. "The impressively talented Ernest Abuba has directed two short plays about homeless outcasts. Despite being overwritten, they were artistic plusses...." - January 20, 1996
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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49. BROTHERLY LUST: "Strangers in the Land of Canaan" by Paul Alexander, directed by Rip Torn, presented by Sanctuary Theatre Workshop. "The symbols clang as loud as cymbals in the Tennessee town of Paradise, where, snowed into a motel for the weekend, a wealthy Alabama farmer and his three sons, all of them trapped in different stages of arrested sexual development, meet up with a local hooker, to share their dreams of ponies sprouting wings as they sail off cliffs, or to drop all maiden shame (and trousers) to tell each other -- a bit too easily -- the things they never told a living soul before...." - January 27, 1996
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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50. SOAP BOX OPERA: "The Beautiful People" by William Saroyan, directed by Kricker James, at the The Greenwich Street Theatre. "This terminally wistful play was like watching a rambunctious but cute child: sometimes tedious; awfully hard not to like. The actors played with the whimsy, but sometimes choked when the speeches got too serious...." - February 2, 1995
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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51. STAND UP (FOR THE ENGLISH) COMEDY: "Habeas Corpus" by Alan Bennett, directed by Steven Keim, at the Sanford Meisner Theatre. "Skewering the Church and medical establishment of England, the writer, a certified madman and comic genius, tickled the audience in almost every nook and cranny, from raunchy subjects to ingenious subplots to wonderfully written lines to improvisatorial farce...." - February 9, 1996
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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52. INCREDIBLE MIRACLES: "A Laying of Hands" by Michele Maureen Verhoosky, directed by Veona Thomas, presented by Onyx Theatre Co. at the Judith Anderson Theatre. "Since the Onyx Theatre Company states its mission as providing opportunities for hearing-impaired people of color, it's hard to understand why the company chose a play with two dozen parts in it and cast every part but one with people who can hear just fine...." - February 17, 1996
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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53. SCRATCHED SURFACE, DREW BLOOD: "No One Will Be Immune" by David Mamet, directed by Curt Dempster, at the Ensemble Studio Theatre. "...Nevertheless a shaggy dog yipped throughout the rhythmic, improvisational writing; and the conclusion still wasn't very satisfying...." - March 22, 1996
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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54. FORBIDDEN ICONS: "Bette & Kate Join the Line!" by Chuck Blasius and Robert Kahan, directed by John Alban Coughlan, presented by IncoacT at Creative Space. "The conceit of this irresistibly tasteless send-up of two iconic actresses finds Katherine Hepburn and Bette Davis in their 80's still taking Uta's acting classes, still struggling to make it in the cruel theatre world, ever jealous of each other's flirtations with success, but never ceasing to be loving and supportive friends...." - May 3, 1996
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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55. REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PASTEL: "Marathon '96 - Series A" at the Ensemble Studio Theatre. "For 'Cats and Dogs': in a Chinese restaurant, where you'd like to poison the waitress (brilliantly played by Ellen Mareneck), order one Annette (played with comedic dash by Anne O'Sullivan), feeling worthless and vomity, and mix with Michael (Brad Bellamy) who stutters through their hopeless blind date...." - May 10, 1996
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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56. WHERE HAVE YOU GONE MRS. ROBINSON?: "Tips from the Shadows" Written and Directed by Michael Jonathan Parness, at the 28th Street Theatre East. "This 'dark comedy' featured the kind of surrealism that needed to be extremely well done or risk careening toward the ridiculous. Since the resources available to the playwright-director were limited, although there were moments of delight and comedy and some gifted writing, the overall effect was mostly weird...." - May 15, 1996
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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57. TWISTED CROSSES: "God's Country" by Steven Dietz, directed by Stephen Roylance, presented by Lightning Strikes Theatre Company at Synchronicity Space. "... The ensemble that produced this work does the nation a service by painting a truer picture of the lunatic fringe than we are used to seeing or often care to look at...." - May 23, 1996
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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58. BRIDGES OVER TROUBLED WATERS: Marathon '96 - Series C, presented at the Ensemble Studio Theatre. "These four one-acts strained a bit too hard for immortality. Like lonely women on a cruise, their figures sagged in the middle, and the mascara was a bit thick for two in the afternoon...." - June 6, 1996
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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59. SUMMER ON THE STYX: "Eurydice and Eurydice Hissed" by Henry Fielding, directed by Shane Baker. "...The sit-comish, Hanoverian evening became a director's medium in the hands of the exceedingly intelligent Shane Baker.... Wherever there's a rose, Baker's actors really smell it...." - June 13, 1996
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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60. SO WHAT'S SO FUNNY ABOUT A POET?: "Keats" by David Shepard, directed by Douglas Hall at Synchronicity Space. "Keats brought together a splendid ensemble of playwright, director, actor, and poet. Above all, the poet and his life and death must be credited for most of the spiritual beauty that erupts so finely in this play...." - August 24, 1996
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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61. BIG BIRD RISES: "Godspell" by John-Michael Tebelak and Stephen Schwartz, directed by Valerie Gramling, presented by Oasis Theatre Company. "This revival of the 1971 musical, based on the Gospel according to St. Matthew, has been deservedly extended. It will entertain and paint smiles on people's faces and may even make some of them think...a little...." - September 7, 1996
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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62. CAMP TUNA: "The Vicar's Wife" by Dave Mowers, directed by Rob Chambers, presented by Common Ground at the Greenwich Street Theatre. "This windy work was probably a true story about a gay parishioner who fell for the vicar. The author beat the situation like a hapless, shaggy dog...." - September 22, 1996
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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63. NO STRINGS: "The Mechanical" by J. E. Cross, presented by The ClockWorks. "The usual problem in a puppet show is how to hide the wires, operators, and ventriloquists. The OOBR Award-winning Cosmic Bicycle Theatre gloried in its failures on that score...." - October 11, 1996
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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64. ALL DRESSED UP WITH NO PLACE TO GO: "Marie and Bruce" by Wallace Shawn, directed by Chuck Blasius, presented by IncoacT at Creative Space. "...But imagine Hepburn screaming obscenities from beginning to end of a performance. Silent tedium would soon drown out the laughter...." - October 18, 1996
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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65. PROMISES, PROMISES: "A Limb of Snow" and "The Meeting" by Anna Marie Barlow, directed by David Volin, presented by White Buffalo at Theatre 22. "The author of these one-acts has a way with words, but erred on the side of too much digging for the gold -- which she sometimes got, along with symbolism, proof of research, and purplish straining for literary...." - October 26, 1996
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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66. BESSEMER MUCHO: "Andrew Carnegie Presents The Jew of Malta" an Irondale Ensemble Project, directed by Jim Niesen, at the Theatre for the New City. "This mishmash comedic melodrama promoting unionism ranged from poisoned nuns to escape from a Bessemer furnace. Its plot was about as convincing as a Flash Gordon serial...." - November 16, 1996
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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67. GIVE ME A BREAK!: January Babies: "The Anniversary" by Anton Chekhov and "Easter" by August Strindberg, directed by Tanya Klein, presented by Creative Artists Laboratory. "The program offered no clue as to who adapted or wrote the stilted translations of these one-acts. Presumably neither Chekhov nor Strindberg was responsible for such anachronisms as 'schmuck,' 'whiplash,' or 'Give me a break!'..." - December 14, 1996
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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68. WHO'S AFRAID OF CRYING WOLF?: "Warp" by Stuart Gordon & Lenny Kleinfeld, directed by Philip Baloun. "This sexy sci-fi spectacle (drawing from such sources as Wagner's Ring and especially the Wizard of Oz and Superman) offered a superabundance of gorgeous costumes, people, and special effects possibly unprecedented for an engagement of only 24 performances...." - December 17 , 1996
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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69. LIQUOR IN FRONT, POKER IN BACK: "True Confessions of a Go-Go Girl" with Jill Morley, directed by Damien Gray; and "A Belly Dancer's Story" with Sandra Catena, directed by Dan Wackerman, at the Red Room Theatre at KGB. "This brace of one-acts used similar techniques to show what can happen to a Catholic girl from New Jersey who goes in for exotic dancing and discovers the sleaze it attracts...." - January 12, 1997
(Click Hconfessions.bellyERE to read the review.)
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70. OEDIPAL WRECKS: "The Portraits of Demetrius Gant" written and directed by Miles Chapman. "...The author-poet's hothouse writing in the austerest of surroundings challenged the limits of how much purple you can get on a stage painted completely black..." - January 18, 1997
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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71. COUNTDOWN TO ZERO: "The Living Methuselah" Written and directed by Edward Einhorn, at Theatre 22. "The premise of this weak comedy was Methuselah given only one more day to live. As the grim reaper recited his countdown the suspense became ever less compelling...." - February 15, 1997
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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72. BREAKING GROUND: "Don't Let Destiny Push You Around" and "Can't Cut My Head Off," presented by John Montgomery Theatre Company. "...The company, crackling with talent and professionalism, broke new ground with its well-executed, funny, wacky, extremely commercial, and simply wonderful work...." - February 21, 1997
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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73. FIVE SISTERS AND A SEAGULL: "Steel Magnolias" by Robert Harling, directed by John Henry Rew, presented by Next Step Rep. "Chekhov it's not. But for its first production this solid new company chose a funny, touching American play, very worth reviving. It may have drawn more laughs than tears, but it never failed to entertain...." - March 15, 1997
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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74. DEBBIE DOES THE RESTORATION: "The Innocent Mistress" by Mary Pix, directed by Justine Lambert, presented by The Looking Glass Theatre. "...This company chose to punch up any and all comedic possibilities, to physicalize as much as possible, to add some questionable, although amusing, anachronisms, and to use an acting style that ignored the inner life of the characters.... The result was a bit better than a good University production of a Ben Johnson comedy...." - March 21, 1997
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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75. FILET OF SOLES: "The Crossing" by Irene Glezos, directed by Marilise Tronto, presented by The Flock Theatre Company. "This operatic plot about an 'ugly American' woman lawyer who messes in Greek politics and saves the day, was early Marx Brothers -- unless you're prepared to believe that a political prisoner of a ruthless regime, whose feet were tortured until he could barely walk, could suddenly escape from prison, run into the countryside with police chasing him, carelessly get shot, but nevertheless elude his pursuers long enough to die -- free at last -- in a cave where he and his estranged sister could reconcile...." - April 19, 1997
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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76. DASH MY BUTTONS!: "Getting Married" by George Bernard Shaw, directed by Craig Rhyne. "Treating marriage as if it were a vaccination or a baptism, Shaw's play picked it up and turned it inside out. Sadly, the institution didn't quite pass inspection...." - April 26, 1997
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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77. O. JELLO: "Othello" by William Shakespeare, directed by Miles Chapman, presented by Cranky Bug. "This director understood the play and told the story so well that footnotes were never required. That achievement signals a major gift...." - June 25, 1997
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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78. FLYTRAP: "Aphrodite's Dungeon II" by Judy Klass, directed by Troy Acree, presented by The Looking Glass Theatre. "...Alas, the current edition lacks the brilliance, sharpness, and comedic pacing that made its predecessor so impressive...." - July 19, 1997
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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79. SLICED AND DICED: "A Lullaby for Murder" by Le Wilhelm, directed by Sharon Fallon, presented by Love Creek Productions. "Imagine the butler did it, but the audience doesn't know. Work back, like a dramatist, to the detective who pretends to be the murderer -- only the audience doesn't know he's the detective. But the murderer knows he's the detective. So who's the detective fooling? The audience? Why?..." - August 14, 1997
(Click HERE to read the review.)
80. BROTHER COURAGE: "Miracle Mile" by Clark Middleton (with Robert Knopf), directed by Michael Warren Powell, presented by 42nd Street Workshop at the Lab Theater Company. "Clark Middleton, an acting protege of Geraldine Page, along with his co-writer and director, extracted nobility from disability in a one-man show for which no understudy need apply...." - September 19, 1997
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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81. FROTH A LA MODE: "Rumors" by Neil Simon, directed by Chris Fields, presented by J.E.T. Theatre Company. "This play about a dinner party cooks up an imaginary meal that promises a full course of comic delectables. But according to the plot, the ingredients are left uncooked in pans and bowls and the cooks have fled without explanation. So what happened?..." - October 4, 1997
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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82. WHAT HAPPENED TO ROMANCE?: "Cute Lonely Guys Looking for You" and "Hermione" by John Attanas, presented by New Directions Theatre/I.R.T. "Word games, bathroom humor, and throw-away lines worth saving embroidered a charming evening of one-acts. Neil Simon's done worse...." - October 21, 1997
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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83. GOOD-BYE FOREVER!: "Those Gallagher Girls" by Don Donnellan, directed by Phillip Baltazar, presented by The 42nd Street Workshop. "It was a rocky voyage for this patchy drama. But the author didn't need to drag in the Great Depression to crush these characters. Practically every one of them was a drunk, a fallen woman, an unemployable clod, a crooked politician, dead, or a Catholic combination of the above...." - October 25, 1997
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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84. PHEN-FEN ALERT!: "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde" Adapted and Directed by D.A.G. Burgos, presented by Creative Artists Laboratory. "The personable, indefatigable, and seemingly ubiquitous theatre artist D.A.G. Burgos, about whom this journal has not always been kind, strikes again with grand ambitions...." - November 8 1997
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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85. TREK DRECK: "On the Verge or The Geography of Yearning" by David Leidholdt, directed by Eric Overmeyer, presented by John Montgomery Theatre Co. "The most inspiring thing about this oddly written comedy was that a New York company rediscovered it. Of course direction and acting with plenty of panache, as well as bargain basement splendor in the technical departments, didn't hurt...." - December 6, 1997
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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86. POETIC LICENSE: "Anapest" by Lee Wochner, directed by Eliza Beckwith, presented by New Directions Theatre/IRT. "No question about the giftedness of all the participants in this production. But the writer's frothy style made the mystery less intriguing than, say, Pinter's dramatic obscurantism...." - January 22, 1998
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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87. NEVER MARRY A MEZZO: "Turnip Theatre Featured Artist Series" presented by Turnip Theatre Company. "This evening of one-acts was everything Off-Off-Broadway should be: a variety of blended ideas and talents in a large, open space, reveling in humor, pathos, and compassion...." - January 31, 1998
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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88. LAMENTATIONS: "Butterflies and Tigers" Written and directed by John Glines, at the Trilogy Theatre. "...Here it all was: ...the songs, marches, and pageantry passionately executed by the ensemble cast, for whom this play must have meant a great deal...." - February 14, 1998
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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89. WHAT A CROCK!: "Fiesta Ware" written & directed by Milton Diaz, presented by La MaMa E.T.C. "...These trivial pursuits threatened to become serious at the end as the author tossed some domestic violence and child abuse into the crock pot along with a soupcon of STD's-including not the kind of crabs you want in soup...." - February 28, 1998
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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90. GOOD-BYE KANSAS!: "Dance With Me" by Jean Reynolds, directed by Alan Wynroth, presented by Abingdon Theatre Company. "This play developed in sections. The mysterious first third, filled with ectopically pregnant Pinteresque pauses, poetry, and portentous chit-chat (squeezed out according to the Albee school of repetitious line-writing), kept the audience in a Rembrandt darkness -- unintentionally, as it turned out when the electrician finally got the light board to function...." - March 14, 1998
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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91. WOO-WOO: "Stalking the Nightmare" by Harlan Ellison, directed by Robert Armin, presented by La Vie/Centerfold at the West End Theatre. "Given the program news that the author has won more writing awards than any other 'fantasist' (a.k.a. science fiction writer), the evening was a disappointment. There was little science and even less drama in this series of eight black out sketches, none of which ended with an agreeable twist...." - March 28, 1998
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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92. MR. JULIE: "Miss Julie" by August Strindberg, directed by Heather MacDonald, at the WOW Cafe. "The director provided a tidy and challenging bill of fare; but she could have motivated more actions and used less clever staging ideas that required better furniture and props to bring off properly...." - April 11, 1998
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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93. THIS COULD BE THE START OF SOMETHING SMALL: "Side by Side by Seymour Glick" by Steve Allen, directed by Robert Armin, presented by Centerfold Productions. "Steve Allen, who composed the standards 'Impossible' and 'This Could Be the Start of Something Big,' has labored mightily and brought forth -- not a mountain -- but something far less impressive than the mere bulk of his 5,000 compositions. The title tells it all: a cute, derivative, portfolio musical, leaning heavily on a Jewish shtick...." - May 30, 1998
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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94. POSTER MAN: "An Evening with Quentin Crisp" presented by The Glines at the Grove Street Playhouse. "Quentin Crisp makes a mighty peculiar poster boy for the gay movement. He would emasculate it, blending in to gain acceptance, rather than demanding every American's inalienable right to pursue happiness -- which should have little to do with acceptance -- witness the life and fame of Quentin Crisp!..." - June 27, 1998
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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95. GWM NEEDS DISCIPLINE!: "Welcome to Chelsea" by Martin Outzen, directed by Joe Ametrano, at the Grove Street Playhouse. "First of all, the evening was as huggable as Martin Outzen, the author cum lead actor cum cuddly doll. That said, there was a lot of cutting and pasting that needed to be done, preferably by a dramaturg dealing sternly with Outzen. But when an author plays the lead and co-produces, what can you do?..." - July 18, 1998
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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96. TALKY SHOWS: "The Playwrights Theater Festival of O'Neill" by Eugene O'Neill, at the Provincetown Playhouse. "These three works were part of a decology O'Neill didn't want produced. The bare-bones production was of more than academic interest, however, because the quality of casting, directing, and acting, though imperfect in some cases, rose honorably to the material...." - August 7, 1998
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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97. DRAMA NOIRE: "The Excluded and The Idiot" by Mouza Pavlova, directed by Dan Thorens, presented by Thirteenth Street Repertory Company. "These satiric one-acts by an octogenarian Russian playwright are practically unknown; but obviously both she and her plays are favorites of the multi-talented, European-trained director...." - August 31, 1998
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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98. THREE WEAK SISTERS: "Crimes of the Heart" by Beth Henley, directed by Roy B. Steinberg, presented by The St. Bart's Players. "The main problem with this three-sister play was its awkward dramaturgy. So many interesting actions (a hot date, an apoplectic stroke, a hanged cat) happened offstage that the bulk of the play consisted of awkward exposition...." - October 9, 1998
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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99. SCATOLOGICAL ESCHATOLOGY: "The Third Pulpit" Written and directed by Ed Stever, presented by American Theatre of Actors. "This highly intelligent play came as a complete surprise. Although it piled up such nine-dollar words as 'weltanschauung'; and although it treated some of the most intractable philosophical subjects ever (such as illusion and reality; ethics; even God), the author did such a good job at delineating character, wrote so poetically and humorously, and displayed such a good theatrical sense, that what could have been a tremendously tedious exercise by a Philosophy 101 teaching assistant turned out to be a short but enjoyable comedy...." - October 24, 1998
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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100. A HAMLET SITUATION: "Angel Wings" by Murray Schisgal, directed by G.W. Reed, at the Neighborhood Playhouse. "Light comedy is devilishly hard to write, produce, direct, and act-especially when it involves twelve separate characters! But fear not: Murray Schisgal hasn't lost his magic touch. And the excellent 42nd Street Workshop has served him extremely well...." - November 7, 1998
(Click HERE to read the review.)
101. HIGH VOLTAGE: "Electra" by Sophocles, directed by David Leveaux, at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. "Brilliantly staged, striking, and expressive, though sometimes horrifying (as when Electra eats her heart out!), this production bore nothing more excessive than the Greeks would have allowed...." - December 3, 1998
(Click HERE to read the review.)
102. PETIT GUIGNOL: "Moo" by Sally Clark, directed by Bennett Windheim, presented by 42nd Street Workshop. "You wouldn't think that someone getting shot in the head would get a laugh; but this writer knew how to exploit the humor in the most god-awful stuff...." - March 6, 1999
(Click HERE to read the review.)
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103. A LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO HELL: "Train to Pokipse," novel by Rami Shamir. "In Shamir's book, love and tragedy intertwine of streams of consciousness, like gorgeous lovers forbidden to lust for one another." January 9, 2009.
(Click HERE to read the review.)
