Our two new drama critics share and compare their enthusiasms.
Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Its brutal out there.
And theres one extra little bright spot:New York,starting now, has two theater critics.
They gathered to discuss what theyre looking forward to this season.
Jackson McHenry:So, Sara, first of all, welcome back.
Things look a little different since you last wrote for us.
Sara Holdren:Honestly, this fall feels odd.
What boats are out there in this tempest managing to hold fast?
Im excited for that last winter at New York Theatre Workshop, it was really moving.
Its got a wonderful central trio of actors in Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff, and Lindsay Mendez.
co-written, full disclosure, by our predecessorScott Brown, whos a hilarious guy.
Thats surely aiming for a transfer.
And then the revival ofSpamalotpopped up.
Thats got a bunch of Broadway regulars in it: James Monroe Iglehart, Ethan Slater, Michael Urie …
But it seems like we may be seeing more SAG actors onstage this season, too.
Which is both revolting and also kind of hilarious, like, Yay!
Welcome back to our empty sandbox.
Absolutely no resources for you, but come play!
We might have a collection of Hollywood-actor vehicles coming down the pike.
:Its exciting to have more Branden Jacobs-Jenkins playing.
Whitney White, whos done great work Off Broadway, is directing Jocelyn BiohsJajas African Hair Braiding.
Its about Freemans experience of receiving an autism-spectrum-disorder diagnosis at age 33. :And Freeman is the only dancer onstage, right?
There are solo shows all over the place this season.
Probably a financial thing?
:How can itnotbe a financial thing?
People are desperate plenty of places have cut down their seasons.
Even before the pandemic, there was a tacit understanding that American theater loves the small-cast show.
On the other hand, solo performance can be a beautiful and complex medium and really theatrical.
Im really interested inSad Boys in Harpy Land, Alexandra Tatarskys solo show at Playwrights Horizons.
:Its one of those three solo shows at Playwrights that will be running in rep in November.
:Right, it will rotate with Ikechukwu UfomadusAmusementsand Milo CramersSchool Pictures.
The whole trio is exciting.
:And also totally embracing it.
!Not just in the field but in the world.
:They do feel like conduits for those questions right now.
S.H.:Yes!
And Rachel Blooms show even shares a director with one ofMike Birbiglias.
:What about places across the East River?
:I really think that the Brooklyn theater scene is popping off.
Theresa site-specific playrunning right now in a Brooklyn supermarket near the Botanic Garden.
Andthe Brickis doing a lot of really fascinating work.
Theres a production coming up there calledSchmidtSmithSchmidt, by Leonie Bell and her company, Local Grandma.
To be honest, I havenoidea what the show is about, but Bell looks like a wild performer.
A colleague of mine called her Pina Bausch meets Mr. Bean.
Lieblich does some really intriguing things with language this show is written in a quasi-English pseudolect.
I like that they have a bit of a niche for that.
:I feel like thats going to be the most aggressiveWaiting for GodotIve ever seen.
Yeah,lets fucking go.
:Very gruff, very American.
S.H.:Oh!
I think about that show all the time.
The new one is staged as if the audience is invited to a giant banquet.
:It really is sad that Next Wave has so few productions this year.
:Thats a good point; follow their Instagram Stories.
He crafts stuff thats always ambitious conceptually but also densely intricate.
:Right, thats the Sheds big-ticket item this fall.
A few more things.
And then Im psyched that theres a new Annie Baker play coming.
Its been too long.
The director, James Macdonald, is a frequent Churchill collaborator too.
I mean, I love a marathon.
Itll be taken by Julia Lester, who was Little Red in the Encores!
production ofInto the Woodsand was in the Disney+High School Musicalseries.
After the infamousFunny Girlcasting switcheroo, Im especially curious about that.
Then City Center is also doingPal Joeywith Savion Glover co-directing and choreographing.
:There are also some new-play premieres downtown that look fascinating.
:Thats an incredible concept.
:And I just really love the Connelly as a venue.
It feels so romantic like, crusty and gilded at the same time.
Thank you for subscribing and supporting our journalism.
