Ruben Santiago-Hudson is intimately familiar with Lackawanna Blues, his play which opened Thursday night at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, and not just because he based it on his own upbringing. The one-man ode to the woman who raised him premiered at the Public in 2001, was adapted by HBO in 2005, and has been performed here and there since. And yet, his eyes throughout the show reflect more than a glimmer of the bright lights of Broadway—they spark with the joy of generations and cultures finally expressing themselves on the largest stage in the country.

Juan A. Ramirez reviews Six The Musical, which opened on Broadway tonight and currently plays at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in New York City.

Walking into the atrium for The Geffen Playhouse’s The Enigmatist, you are greeted by clumps of audience members peering at clues around the room, trying to solve puzzles before entering the auditorium. These are merely an amuse-bouche for David Kwong’s feast of puzzle, wit, and illusion that will commence shortly. There are ushers at hand to help out with hints, but almost everyone seemed game to get to the solutions on their own. Upon entering the Geffen’s intimate Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater, one notices that the room has been transformed from a traditional theater space to a paneled room that is reminiscent of an old pub, or a vintage study. The walls are lined with knickknacks that appear random, but on closer inspection make up a series of secret codes that exist solely for the audience’s decoding pleasure. 

A review of A Commercial Jingle For Regina Comet which is currently playing at the DR2 Theatre on East 15th Street in New York City through November 14, 2021.

It was fitting that I had to brave a superstorm to get to the theatre to see Sun & Sea, an opera about the impending climate disaster at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. After a critically acclaimed run in Europe, the piece has made its way to the shores of America. “Sun & Sea” plays its final performance at BAM on September 26. Following that, it will embark on a nationwide tour including stops in Philadelphia, Bentonville, AR, and Los Angeles.

The Getty Villa, a Los Angeles museum of Greek and Roman antiquities, is not the first location one might think of when mounting a musical tribute to Liza Minnelli. When that musical, however, is based on Aristophanes’ Lysistrata and set in an amphitheater against the backdrop of an ancient Roman villa, everything falls into place. 

Critic Juan A. Ramirez reviews Dear Evan Hansen, the film adaptation of the musical which will hit theatres on September 24.

Kyle Turner reviews xXPonyBoyDerekXx, a new theatrical experience on OnlyFans from Brooklyn-based playwright Gage Tarlton and The Misfits Theatre Company.

Situated in the McKittrick’s Club Car, a dark and hazy locale with dim lights and alcohol flowing, guests are sat at tables with half a dozen or so chairs and might I add some delicious popcorn at Speakeasy Magick. Our review.

On paper, The Memory of Water seems like a sombre affair, it follows three sisters as they are reunited for their mother’s funeral and examines their relationships with each other and with their significant others. Currently playing at the Hampstead Theatre through October 16.

Juan A. Ramirez reviews "The Last of the Love Letters” which plays through September 26 at the Linda Gross Theater at the Atlantic Theater Company on 20th Street in New York City.

Arturo Luís Soria’s Ni Mi Madre plays at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater through September 19. Our review for Theatrely.

Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu's PASS OVER is now open on Broadway at the August Wilson Theatre. Read Juan A. Ramirez's review for Theatrely now.

A theatrical review of playwright Liza Birkenmeier and director Katie Brook’s Islander, currently playing at the HERE Arts Center through September 4, 2021.

I had not seen a micro-play before this afternoon, but let me tell you, after experiencing the sextet of micro-plays at Theatre for One: Here is Future at Brookfield Properties’ Manhattan West Plaza, I can confidently say I’m a micro-play stan.

Max Harwood stars as Jamie New in Everybody's Talking About Jamie film which lands on Amazon on September 17. Juan A. Ramirez reviews for Theatrely.

Following a world premiere on the West End earlier in May produced by Sonia Friedman, TheaterWorks Hartford has taken this new ambitious drama and produced a rather incredible US Premiere of Amy Berryman's Walden. One of the most thrilling and satisfying nights at the theatre that I have had the pleasure of attending in a very long time — this is one of those performances that will be with you for many days. 

Juan A. Ramirez reviews Jocelyn Bioh's adaptation of The Merry Wives of Windsor currently playing at the Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park — a celebratino of the joyful pan-African spirit.

A response to Shakespeare’s King Lear, Marina Carr’s The Cordelia Dream, making its North American debut with the Irish Repertory Theatre in New York City, a woman revisits her strained relationship with a man after experiencing a chilling dream about King Lear and his daughter, Cordelia. 

Tennessee Williams’s The Two Character Play at the Hampstead Theatre ow follows a pair of actor siblings as they attempt to perform a play after the rest of their cast and crew abandoned them in a theatre in the middle of nowhere. What follows is an incredibly meta performance where actor and character become indistinguishable from each other. 

As you descend the stairs into Bond 45’s cellar, you are immediately handed a rather delicious craft cocktail (the first of five) and shown to your seats for an unforgettable evening of burlesque and belting at Speakeasy: Times Square

On a deeper note, I Hate It Here from the Goodman Theatre admits that so many horrible things in the world remain unchanged. The show does not suggest things will get better. Yet, if we take a moment to admit how bad things are, maybe we can find some common, solid ground. And that’s a start.

In E. Dale Smith’s new one-act play Fruma-Sarah (Waiting in the Wings), Jackie Hoffman stars as Ariana Russo, an embittered actor playing the ghost Fruma-Sarah in a community theatre production of Fiddler on the Roof.

The Importance of Being Earnest, currently playing at Berkshire Theatre Group’s Unicorn Theatre in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, is pretty marvelous. Oscar Wilde’s witty comedic masterpiece begins BTG’s summer season and marks the company’s and this critic’s first indoor theatrical experience in many, many months. 

Madeline Sayet’s one-woman filmed show Where We Belong, now streaming through Washington D.C.’s Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and Folger Shakespeare Library. Over the course of 80 minutes, Sayet gracefully explores the places she has tried to reclaim as her own—Shakespeare’s words, her Mohegan identity, her ancestors—and ultimately asks why we need to belong somewhere at all.

Directed by BT McNicholl, the hilarious musical comedy is the perfect production to introduce patrons back to in-person performances with Spamalot at Ogunquit Playhouse.

"Sloppy Bonnie: A Roadkill Musical for the Modern Chick" is streaming now through July 15 from No Puppet Co.