Martίn Hernández – Stage Raw. After actor-playwright Michael Shayan’s years of pestering his Iranian-Jewish immigrant mother Roya to tell her life story, she finally relented to being recorded. After a writing retreat exercise, he took his mother’s interview and his…
Harker Jones – BroadwayWorld. Aerosol in the air as Tracy Turnblad, Penny Pingleton, and the teens of Baltimore bring politics and pizzazz to Hollywood with a stunning production of one of the best and beloved musicals of all time… It’s…
Harker Jones – BroadwayWorld. Despite the sex comedy aspects of the show, a vein of melancholy runs throughout it, much of it being told through the lens of regret. This isn’t encapsulated any better than in Desirée’s lament “Send in…
Katie Buenneke – Stage Raw. At moments, the play is an absolute delight. Melville seems born to play a Coward crank, and really shines in the role. Chalsma is charming, especially when Amanda is at her most flustered. Charles is…
Jonas Schwartz – Theatermania. Ava: The Secret Conversations, written by and starring Elizabeth McGovern, looks at the life of golden-age movie star Ava Gardner. But oddly, it focuses more on a periphery character, a sycophantic hack writer. This might come…