By: Darryl Reilly
My criteria for inclusion onto this New York City-centric annual roster continues to be shows which initially impressed me, and perpetually remained on my mind after seeing them. As usual, the bulk of these were far from The Great White Way. The best show of the year played for two weekends at the quaint Secret Theatre in Woodside, Queens. City Gate Productions’ thrilling local premiere of playwright Vincent S. Hannam’s new, taut and faithful stage adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic 1818 novel, Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus, abounded in excitement, fright and contemplativeness. Tyler Fewin was outstanding as The Monster; the rest of the cast all offered vivid characterizations in their hallowed roles.
Len Cariou’s majestic performance as an old college professor dying of ALS in Tuesdays with Morrie, was a major event of this past New York theater season. This 2002 stage treatment of Mitch Albom’s 1997 bestselling memoir, Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, A Young Man and Life’s Greatest Lesson, was co-written by Albom and Jeffrey Hatcher. The magnetic and smooth-voiced Christopher Domig’s everyman persona made him ideal as Albom while interviewing Cariou. The Sea Dog Theater presented the play in a small, picturesque space at Manhattan’s St. George’s Episcopal Church. It is a sad commentary on the current state of New York City theatrical producing that attempts to transfer it for a commercial Off-Broadway run did not succeed.
Repertorio Español was founded in 1968; it presents new and classic Latin-themed plays performed in Spanish. Their production of playwright Ariel Dorfman’s renowned 1990 psychological thriller, Death and the Maiden was among the most powerful theatrical experiences of the year. Anna Malavé, Guillermo Ivan, and Sandor Juan, all delivered shattering performances in this queasy, cat and mouse game; a woman has tied up the man she believes tortured her years earlier in South America.
George S. Kaufman’s knowing, 1925 inside Broadway theater comedy, The Butter and Egg Man, was given a euphoric revival by the eternally laudable Out of the Box Theatre Company. This troupe is devoted to showcasing the talents of theater artists over the age of 50. That at times as many as ten actors all offering vivid performances were precisely positioned for optimum visual effect on the contained playing area, was a hallmark of artistic director David Edwards’ ingenious physical staging. A multitude of jokes landed, numerous sight gags registered, and the pace galloped during Mr. Edwards’ hilarious production.
Bina Sharif’s comedic, thoughtful and playfully defiant one-act play, Days And Nights, was the latest of her works to be presented annually at the Theater For the New City. The venerable Ms. Sharif’s perpetual theme of the artist versus a materialistic society, during three mirthful scenes and an eerie epilogue, lasting for one existential hour, was depicted. The vivacious Sharif and her husband, the grand veteran actor Kevin Mitchell Martin, gleefully portrayed penniless hat-wearing tramps living in an abandoned Manhattan building over the course of one day in the present. Days And Nights was partly Samuel Beckett and mostly Bina Sharif.
Also, at the Theater For the New City, was playwright Stefan Diethelm’s exhilarating Anton Goes To Heaven (?). It was a wild, sly take on Jean-Paul Sartre’s classic existential play, No Exit. Chris Cornwell delivered a colossal performance out of Sam Shepard as the MAGA ranting, drunk and profane anti-hero. After committing suicide, he wakes up in purgatory where he is tormented by his white trash mother and perverse grandfather. Cynthia Levin, Kevin Duffy and Amari Flynn, all gave fierce performances in their pivotal roles.
Playwright Rita Lewis’ searing topical drama, Rawshock, was given a scorching production by the Manhattan Repertory Theatre. Artistic director Ken Wolf’s exhilarating physical staging was marked by rapid pacing with fiercely choreographed sequences of physical violence and emotional outbursts. A cast of seven fiercely performed this Rod Serling-style social drama about a group’s therapy sessions threatened by the acquisition of their hospital by a new corporation.
Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library was playwright Jenny Lyn Bader’s absorbing dramatization of Hannah Arendt’s 1933 Berlin arrest by the Gestapo. Through her accomplished command of dramatic writing, Ms. Bader turned this factual incident into a stimulating and suspenseful 90-minute play in the classic genre of the accuser versus the accused while in a jail cell. Ella Dershowitz gave those familiar with Arendt an ideal histrionic portrait of her. Lean, boyish and soulful Brett Temple’s by the book German police inspector was the perfect foil for Dershowitz; their rapport was palpable during their eloquent interactions. Due to critical and audience enthusiasm, the play began a subsequent Off-Broadway engagement at the WP Theater on December 10, running until January 12, 2025.
On Broadway, there was an enthralling, immersive revival of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, starring Jeremy Strong and Michael Imperioli. Jessica Lange was dazzling as the wily matriarch in a haunting production of playwright Paula Vogel’s time-spanning dysfunctional family saga, Mother Play – A Play in Five Evictions. Jim Parsons and Celia Keenan-Bolger were heartbreaking as Lange’s troubled children, as they ranged from childhood to adulthood.
(Photo credit: Joe Sinnott)
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