cultural commentary from the desk of Don Shewey
My review of Gob Squad’s Kitchen (You’ve Never Had It So Good) at the Public Theater has just been posted on CultureVulture.net. Check it out here and let me know what you think. I went in a little dubious about this show, which centers on recreating a number of Andy Warhol’s films from the mid-’60s, but came away impressed with its ingenuity.
My review of Temporary Distortion’s Newyorkland at the Baryshnikov Arts Center (part of P.S. 122′s COIL festival) has just been posted on CultureVulture.net. Check it out here and let me know what you think.
The sound score for the piece is available for streaming or downloading from Temporary Distortion’s website – nice work by John Sully.
My review of Manhattan Theatre Club’s excellent Broadway revival of Margaret Edson’s justly acclaimed play Wit, starring Cynthia Nixon, has just been posted on CultureVulture.net. Check it out here and let me know what you think.
The production doesn’t obliterate my strong memories of the original 1998 New York production starring Kathleen Chalfant (see my review of that production here) — nothing could — but it’s very good, and I highly recommend it.
My review of Young Jean Lee‘s Untitled Feminist Show at the Baryshnikov Arts Center has just been posted on CultureVulture.net. Check it out here and let me know what you think.
Hilary Clark, Regina Rocke, and Katy Pyle (photo by Julieta Cervantes)
My review of Thomas Bradshaw’s mind-boggling new play Burning, directed by Scott Elliott at the New Group, has just been posted on CultureVulture.net. Check it out and let me know what you think.
The play is strong stuff but had a big impact on me. “The 30-year-old author of ten plays (including “Strom Thurmond Is Not a Racist”), Bradshaw does not, I think, set out primarily to shock, although shock he does…His remarkable accomplishment is to build a clear-eyed contemporary narrative that is as matter-of-fact about sex, drugs, and violence as it is about death, art, and politics. And he does so in a way that makes other playwrights look coy, cowardly, or faint-hearted.” You can read the full review online here.
