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Mother Play: A Play in Five Evictions review at Hayes Theater, New York, with Jessica Lange

Dancing cockroaches, a PFLAG field trip to a disco, and a lot of martinis illustrate the landscape of Paula Vogel’s semi-autobiographical drama, making its debut on Broadway. Directed by Tina Landau with colourful panache, the play addresses familial homophobia, gendered expectations and the withholding of a mother’s love. While Jessica Lange gobbles up the meaty role of Mother and tragic experiences befall the family, the play resolves with eye-rolling sentimentalism.
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Days of Wine and Roses review at Linda Gross Theater, New York

Reuniting The Light in the Piazza composer and lyricist Adam Guettel with book writer Craig Lucas, new Off-Broadway musical Days of Wine and Roses does not recreate that show’s award-winning magic. This Michael Greif production, starring Broadway luminaries Kelli O’Hara and Brian d’Arcy James, remains aloof and, while it’s a pleasure to watch O’Hara and James work, the hurried musical fails to engage emotionally.
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Parade review at Bernard B Jacobs Theatre, New York, starring Ben Platt

Director Michael Arden embraces a documentary style in his production of this musical tragedy. With a book by Alfred Uhry and music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, it’s based on a true story of a miscarriage of justice in the American South in 1913. The troubling history still makes an impact, even if not every emotional beat registers as powerfully as it should. Ben Platt, who originated the title role in Dear Evan Hansen, ably stars as the wrongly convicted Leo Frank.
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The Harder They Come review at the Public Theater, New York

Adapted by Pulitzer-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks from the 1972 film of the same title, this is a beguiling, small-but-mighty musical. Incorporating Jimmy Cliff’s original songs, it maintains the movie’s message of resisting social injustice, while nudging the material away from its original machismo. Tony Taccone and Sergio Trujillo’s production is hurried in its storytelling, but there is a fiery spirit in it, further stoked by a charming lead performance from Natey Jones in the role made famous by Cliff himself.
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The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window review at BAM Harvey Theater, New York starring Oscar Isaac and Rachel Brosnahan

Unlike Lorraine Hansberry’s celebrated and often produced first play, A Raisin in the Sun, this one – her second – has not been staged in a leading New York theatre for 50 years. Anne Kauffman’s revival, with stars Oscar Isaac (seen in the films Ex Machina, Star Wars and Dune) and Rachel Brosnahan (from TV’s The Marvelous Mrs Maisel and House of Cards), gives us a rare look at Hansberry’s vision of bohemian politics, people and 1960s disillusion.
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The Wanderers review at Laura Pels Theatre, New York from Anna Ziegler, starring Katie Holmes

Anna Ziegler’s new play is a sly and moving drama looking at marriage, parents, children and the things we inherit and reject — religion, tradition, fear and dreams. It probes the complexities of familial and marital relationships, and the challenging quest to find happiness. Director Barry Edelstein’s production, with a starring performance from Katie Holmes, telegraphs some plot twists and is too static at times. Yet if some performances could be more layered, the piece is replete with stirring moments.
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Cornelia Street review at Atlantic Stage 2, New York by Simon Stephens and Mark Eitzel

Playwright Simon Stephens and indie-rocker Mark Eitzel of American Music Club previously collaborated on Marine Parade (2010) and Song from Far Away (2015). Now they join forces on a confounding new musical, directed by Neil Pepe. The piece flounders in its efforts to say something about New York City, and never finds depth in the voices of people struggling to make their way here.

It’s set around a fading West Village hang-out, possibly inspired by the now-closed Cornelia Street Café. Its char
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Pictures from Home review at Studio 54, Broadway, starring Nathan Lane and Zoë Wanamaker

Artist Larry Sultan spent 10 years photographing his parents in their southern California home and analysing their home movies for his 1992 photo memoir. Now, writer Sharr White dramatises Sultan’s efforts in a play of the same name, directed by Bartlett Sher. Frustratingly, whatever complexity Sultan’s memoir holds translates into oversimplified family squabbles in White’s script, and is flattened into diluted comedy by Sher. Yet Nathan Lane and Zoë Wanamaker deliver strong character performances.
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Almost Famous review at Bernard B Jacobs Theatre, New York from Cameron Crowe and Tom Kitt

Adapted by Cameron Crowe from his own semi-autobiographical coming-of-age film of the same title, this new musical is an unexpectedly sunny journey through the death throes of 1970s rock.

We’re never lost in the smoky haze of nostalgia. Instead, in Jeremy Herrin’s production, the show is painless but limited. Tom Kitt’s score – a mishmash of electric rock, acoustic guitar and traditional musical theatre tunes – lacks period atmosphere. And nothing here replicates the movie’s magic, despite a stellar performance from newcomer Solea Pfeiffer.
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I’m Revolting review at Atlantic Theater Company, Linda Gross Theater, New York City

In her Off-Broadway debut I’m Revolting, playwright Gracie Gardner sneaks in more laughs than you might expect from a play set in a skin-cancer clinic. In finely tuned dialogue, Gardner’s characters face the disease and its impact on their lives. With a seasoned cast under director Knud Adams, this intriguing dramedy poses bigger questions about self-worth, identity, and what we need from each other and ourselves in times of crisis – care, support, protection and resistance.
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