reviews
-
The title of Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) tells you almost everything about the plot and almost nothing about what makes the musical so affecting. Yes, two strangers meet. Yes, there is a cake. Yes, they carry it through New York. But beneath that deliberately whimsical premise is a funny, tender story about loneliness,…
-
There are musicals that tell a story about America. There are musicals that celebrate America. And then there is Ragtime, which asks America to sit down, be quiet, and listen to the stories it has spent more than a century trying not to hear. I saw Lincoln Center Theater’s revival of Ragtime on July 29, and I absolutely…
-
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway is an undeniably impressive production from a technical standpoint, but as a complete theatrical experience, I found it much less satisfying than I expected. There is a great deal to admire in the staging, lighting, and special effects, yet those elements are doing most of the heavy lifting.…
-
There is a peculiar kind of theatrical magic that happens when a show fully embraces its own absurdity. It stops trying to convince you that what you’re watching is realistic and instead dares you to believe that the ridiculous is, somehow, the most honest thing on stage. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee has been…
-
There are Broadway musicals that tell you a story. There are Broadway musicals that let you hear a catalogue of familiar songs. And then there are the rare productions that dissolve the invisible wall between stage and audience until you forget you’re watching a performance at all. Just in Time belongs firmly in that last category.…
-
I walked out of MJ the Musical asking myself a question that I don’t think the show necessarily wants you to ask: If you removed the music and the dancing, would the story still hold you? That’s not a knock against the production. It’s a question about theatre itself. Because from the moment the lights come up, MJ does…
-
There are some plays that entertain. There are some plays that impress. And then there are plays that reach into your chest, grab hold of something deeply human, and refuse to let go long after the curtain falls. On the evening of June 13, 2026, I had the privilege of seeing Death of a Salesman, and…
-
On June 13, 2026, I had the opportunity to see Dog Day Afternoon on Broadway, and it delivered one of the most enjoyable afternoons of theatre I have experienced in quite some time. Like many theatergoers, I came into the production with a deep appreciation for the iconic 1975 film. Adapting a beloved movie for the stage…
-
There is a particular kind of theatrical magic that does not announce itself with spectacle, but instead sneaks up on you, disarming, intimate, and ultimately overwhelming. Every Brilliant Thing is precisely that kind of experience. In its current New York run, it finds a near perfect steward in Daniel Radcliffe, whose performance is as unguarded as it…
-
There is a particular electricity to a closing performance, a sense that the work has settled into itself and is now ready to take a final, confident breath. That was unmistakably present on April 18 at Pace University’s Sands College of the Performing Arts, where Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street concluded its run with…
Brian Brijbag 