Review: Audra McDonald Stars in Ohio State Murders, Adrienne Kennedy’s Late Broadway Debut
Kennedy’s plays don’t condense easily into an elevator pitch, and this partly explains why it has taken nearly six decades for her to arrive on commercial Broadway — but it’s better late than never. Director Kenny Leon’s darkly mesmerizing production shows exactly what you can do with a Kennedy script and a first-class budget.
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“Ain’t No Mo’” is a Ravishing Bouquet of Blackness
The revolutionary power of Black joy takes center stage in the Broadway debut of Jordan E. Cooper’s ravishing play, Ain’t No Mo.’ Much like its 2019 production at the Public Theater, this uproariously gut-punching transfer posits a world wherein every Black person in the United States is offered a one-way ticket to Africa. Far from […]
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‘A Beautiful Noise’ Serves Cheap Thrills but No Drama
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 […]
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