Michael Chekhov, Part 3
[This is the third (and last) installment of my profile of Russian actor, director, and acting teacher Michael Chekhov. Part 3 begins with a discussion of Chekhov’s disappointment with his performing...
View ArticleThe Rhine in Flames
As many regular readers of Rick On Theater know, I lived in Germany with my family for a number of years as a teenager. (See my post “An American Teen In Germany,” 9 and 12 March 2013. I was also...
View ArticleThe Group Theatre's 'Johnny Johnson'
(19 November 1936-16 January 1937)[When I was a grad student at New York University, I wrote a paper in May 1984 for a class called 20th-Century Mise-en-Scene, an examination of the staging techniques...
View Article"A Star Is Made"
[The two articles below were originally published in “The New York Issue” of the New York Times Magazine of2 June 2019. The magazine’s cover bore the inscription: “A Star Is Made: Twelve Performers...
View Article“Moron! Vermin! Curate! Cretin! Crritic!!”: John Simon (1925-2019) - Part 1
[John Simon, former theater reviewer for New York magazine for almost four decades (among other gigs), died in Valhalla, New York, on Sunday, 24 November. He was not a theater writer for whom I had a...
View Article"Moron! Vermin! Curate! Cretin! Crritic!!": John Simon (1925-2019) – Part 2
[Below is the second part of my acknowledgement of the death of theater reviewer John Simon (1925-2019) on Sunday, 24 November. Part 1 was posted onRick On Theater on 28 November and it will be worth...
View Article“Moron! Vermin! Curate! Cretin! Crritic!!”: John Simon (1925-2019) – Part 3
[This is the third part of my collection of articles concerning John Simon’s New York magazine review of The Winter’s Tale at the New York Shakespeare Festival in April of 1989. Below are several more...
View Article"Moron! Vermin! Curate! Cretin! Crritic!!": John Simon (1925-2019) – Part 4
[This is the last installment of my John Simon series. As always, if you are just starting this extended post, I recommend returning to Parts 1 through 3 (posted on 28 November and 1 and 4 December)...
View Article'Fires in the Mirror' (Signature Theatre Company)
One of the problems with political theater—or socio-political theater—is that it often ages quickly and may consequently be diminished in revival. I think that’s visible in the Signature Theatre...
View ArticleBob Dylan Dance Party
by Kirk Woodward[I imagine by now that most readers of Rick On Theater know that my friend Kirk Woodward is my go-to guest blogger for anything musical. Most ROTters also probably know that Kirk’s a...
View Article'The Young Man from Atlanta' (Signature Theatre Company)
I saw the Broadway début of The Young Man from Atlanta with Rip Torn and Shirley Knight in March 1997, but when I saw the current revival at the Signature Theatre Company, I found I didn’t remember the...
View ArticleNotes from a Sometime Actor
by Kirk Woodward[Kirk’s second contribution toRick On Theater in 10 days, “Notes from a Sometime Actor,” is pretty much self-explanatory: it’s comprised of notes on acting by someone who occasionally...
View ArticleThe "New" MoMA, 2019
In an e-mail to some readers of Rick On Theater on Tuesday, 17 December, I remarked that I hadn’t yet been to New York City’s Museum of Modern Art since it reopened after an extensive remodeling, but...
View Article'One November Yankee'
When Diana, the woman with whom I go to theater, called me and asked if I was interested in seeing a new play called One November Yankee by Joshua Ravetch at 59E59 Theaters, I had misgivings. I’ve...
View Article'The Gospel of John' on Stage
by Kirk Woodward[Kirk’s discussion of the nature of religious theater centers on a performance of The Gospel of John by his friend, actor Ken Jennings (not to be confused with the Jeopardy! star of the...
View Article'Judgment Day'
Performances at the Park Avenue Armory, also known since 2015 as the Thompson Arts Center, are more than just play productions, as you may see from my report on Eugene O’Neill’s The Hairy Ape from two...
View Article'Gesamtkunstwerk'
In the Western world—that is, Europe and the societies formed around its cultures—the performing arts are generally separated into dance, music and singing, and drama. (The split seems to have...
View Article'The Theatre of Mixed Means'&'The Theatre of Images'
When I was doing research on the avant-garde theater of the last decades of the 20th century, I found two books especially pertinent and helpful. Since then, I’ve had occasion to refer to them a...
View ArticleMoving the Empire
ROTters probably know that I go to the Signature Theatre on W. 42nd Street often, though you probably don’t know how I get there. I take the Broadway BMT subway to Times Square and then the M42...
View ArticleRyszard Cieślak
This man seems to be an accomplished gymnast with a control of his body so complete as to frighten any actor who is sloppy about his physical condition.He stripped to his work shorts, agilely performed...
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