Luzia: Just say yes to this sensual extravaganza

Luzia is by far the most sensual Cirque du Soleil show I’ve seen. Go with your body wide awake. Go with somebody you can grab onto when you’re screaming and lean into when you’re swooning. Most Cirque shows are set in magical realms, but that’s only partly true of...

What We’re Up Against: the politics outweighs the art

In What We’re Up Against, playwright Theresa Rebeck makes legitimate points, but the way she makes them is so boring! Eliza, who seems to be near the beginning of her career, has been at an architectural firm for five months. Rebeck quickly establishes that Eliza is a...

Herringbone: great premise T-boned by a weak story

I wish that more people who make theatre would pay closer attention to how plays are built. Herringbone (book by Tom Cone, music and lyrics by Skip Kennon and Ellen Fitzhugh respectively) has a lot of things going for it, but sturdy structure is not one of them. The...

Hysteria: important ideas in search of a theatrical focus

A furious artist once told me, “I don’t care about structure! I don’t want to hear about structure!” — or words to that effect. She should probably not read this review. In Hysteria, playwrights Jill Raymond and Lauren Martin take on a couple of enormous subjects:...