What: The Public Theater presents Jordan E. Cooper's new play about a man granted a brief reprieve from death to try to save his estranged family from an oncoming storm of biblical proportions.
And? Cooper knows how to lull you into the complacency of thinking you know what kind of show you're watching, then wallop you by upending your expectations. While the pacing of this script doesn't yet feel tight enough to keep momentum driving forward (sometimes it's there, sometimes it lags), there's enough sense of stakes and urgency that I think it will get there. At first I was worried I'd feel too estranged by the religious element of the play (as I often do with works whose sense of Christianity overdominate the piece), but the characters end up interrogating what it means to be religious enough--and indeed what God means--that I was drawn in to the conversation. This drawing in is in large part because the actual important relationships that need healing are not between human and God, but between father and son, brother and sister. And this play makes the characters work very hard for that healing, but when it lands, it truly feels like a burden of decades has been lifted.
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| Jordan E. Cooper, center, as Keyshawn, with Latrice Pace, Sheléa Melody McDonald, and Tiffany Mann as Glory Divine, Might Divine, and Holy Divine, repsectively. Photo by Joan Marcus. |
11/05/25: Bat Boy: The Musical
What: The gala presentation at Encores! this year is that cult hit musical inspired by the Weekly World News's tabloid star, about the attempt to "civilize" a half-bat/half-human boy found in a cave, and the catastrophes attached to that attempt.
And? I don't think I'd realized how much the show had been revised since its Off-Broadway premiere in 2001. Though, knowing how much O'Keefe has continued to revise his other shows since their premieres, I shouldn't have been that surprised. I do hope we get a cast album out of this, just so I have a record of the new songs (the West End album has some, but not all, of them). I have mixed feelings on the revisions. The new songs are by and large good, catchy and often improving on earlier versions (boy do I not miss "Dance With Me, Darling"), while retaining the best lyrical moments from the removed songs ("I heal real fast"). I did notice the eyebrow arch of some of the lyrics was lowered quite a bit at points, especially in the group songs, but that happened with Heathers, too, so perhaps it's done with regional play in mind. Still, it feels odd to defang a show called Bat Boy.
Regarding the rest of the revisions, I'm realizing that part of what I loved about the original was the sense of ensemble to it (yes, yes, Zelda's favorite thing: a company collaboratively telling a story): with such a small cast, everyone but the core family played many roles each, infusing group scenes with a real joy in the character switches, as well as necessitating strong choices being made for each characterization. This strategy not only allowed the whole ensemble individual moments to shine, but also made all the townspeople feel like individuals and not just a crowd of folk ready to sing, celebrate, or rampage. So I missed that element.
The flip side of that, of course, is that this revision is much more tightly focused on the family, albeit at the expense of the ensemble. Which is probably for the overall good of the show, but oh, my heart longs for "Another Dead Cow."
The cast is top shelf. Taylor Trensch dives into the physicality of the title role with gusto, nailing the camp comedy of the show, and then belting out his songs to reach us up in the balcony. Christopher Sieber is so consistently good in all his roles over the years, it's tempting to just go "yeah as usual he's brilliant," but that's giving short shrift to the specific and hilarious work he's been doing the past twenty years. His comic timing is perfectly honed, and he's fearless when it comes to being the butt of a joke. Kerry Butler, a hilarious sparkplug Shelley in the original production, returns to play Shelley's mother Meredith, and again here we have a star with a perfectly honed comedic delivery and a honeyed voice able to knock any note out of the park, paying homage to Kaitlin Hopkins's performance while still making the role her own. Gabi Carrubba makes a strong City Center debut as Shelley, balancing angsty teen against the clowning necessary for the camp of this show. And there are a number of strong performers in smaller roles--Marissa Jaret Winokur as Mrs. Taylor, Andrew Durand as Rick, Jacob Ming-Trent as Reverent Hightower, and of course Alex Newell as The God Pan, but I'm still missing a bit of the joy of seeing the same person play Mrs. Taylor as Hightower, and other juxtaposed doublings. But that's a me-issue. Everyone onstage here is great. It's just the rest of the ensemble has less to do.
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| Kerry Butler, Taylor Trensch, and Christopher Sieber as Meredith, Edgar, and Dr. Parker. Photo by Joan Marcus. |
11/07/25: Broken Images
What: Tea and Pickle Productions LLC presents Girish Karnad's one-person psychological thriller, performed by Neeraja Ramjee, about a newly bestselling novelist introducing a film adaptation of her debut novel, who then suddenly finds herself interrogated by what seems to be an alternate persona wearing her face.
And? full review here.
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| Neeraja Ramjee as Manjula Nayak. Photo by Kat DuPont Vecchio. |
11/08/25: Masquerade
A repeat performance but this time with Eryn LeCroy as Christine, Kyle Scatliffe as the Phantom, and Nicholas Edwards as Raoul. This show continues to delight. I was especially pleased it was a good weather day, so we got the rooftop scenes (and I got to see how the spaces that are reserved for bad-weather rooftop scenes are repurposed for other parts of the promenade arc). Additionally, we got a bonus final round of the triptych in the dressing room leading up to the performance of Don Juan (Managers Andre and Firmin with the notes, Carlotta and Piangi, and Christine and Raoul): because we started with the Managers (a hilarious Matthew Curiano and Jeremy Stolle), they returned for the final part of the sequence (the Phantom's disembodied voice pinballing around the small room) and found the unbreathing body of Piangi (seriously these two are hilarious and I adore them).
But okay we gotta talk about the leads. Kyle Scatliffe's performance is the first time since 1999 that I have ever felt anything for the Phantom (I am now waiting for my Phan friends to dismember me). His voice is otherworldly, his presence dominating, and his heartbreak palpable. Scatliffe manages to deftly navigate between psychopath and broken child in a way that feels organic without being cartoonish. And balancing him against another toxic but beautiful and golden-throated man, Nicholas Edwards as Raoul, what is poor Christine to do? Well, if it's Eryn LeCroy, she's gonna belt her face off on a midtown New York rooftop.
Seriously though I love Kyle Scatliffe so much. I'm really grateful I got to see his interpretation of the part. I'm going back Thanksgiving weekend with my mom, and look forward to reporting back on yet another pairing of Christine and Phantom.
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| Kyle Scatliffe and Eryn LeCroy as the Phantom and Christine. Photo by Oscar Ouk. |
Streaming Theater
- Studio 54 presents Malty and Shire's About Time.
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