‘Ain’t No Mo’’ Review: Jordan E. Cooper’s Uproarious Black Comedy Takes Off on Broadway

A review of Ain’t No Mo’ by Naveen Kumar | December 6, 2022

Explosive as a hand grenade of laughing gas, it’s heady and hysterical and fearlessly provocative. Its keen observations about race as both social construction and lived reality crackle like a lit fuse.

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‘A Beautiful Noise’ Serves Cheap Thrills but No Drama

Juan Michael Porter II | December 4, 2022

Using therapy as the framing for a musical play is a theatrical cheat. In such instances, rather than develop nuanced motivations or put effort into finessing a resolution, playwrights telegraph that their characters are working through trauma and are to be forgiven for anything they do or say―no matter how boring or formulaic. And so […]

If the Refreshing ‘KPOP’ is the Future of Broadway, Consider Me a Stan

Juan Michael Porter II | November 27, 2022

Against all expectations for a behind-the-scenes musical drama, KPOP’s storytelling is as sophisticated as its high-octane performances. Though the newly-opened Broadway musical at Circle in the Square Theater was a hit during its pre-pandemic run at Ars Nova, I was prepared to hate-watch it. Why? Because I wince whenever I hear the cheesy bops of […]