A work unfinishing: Weekly Margin 2026, W12: Monte Cristo, Our House, My Joy is Heavy, The Wild Party

3/18/26: Monte Cristo

What: The York Theatre presents a new musical adaptation of the Alexandre Dumas classic novel about revenge and love.

And? full review here.

Norm Lewis as Villefort. Photo by Shawn Salley.

3/19/26: Our House

What: The Other Side of Silence presents Barry Boehm's new play, about elder queer couple Andy and Stanley hosting their nephew Brendan and his fiancé Gene for their upcoming wedding. When smalltown bigotries of racism and homophobia rear their ugly heads, old griefs and new pains are exposed.

And? This play is very difficult to watch, not because of its quality but because of its content. Though Andy and Stanley survived the worst of the AIDS crisis, with Andy a vocal and passionate fighter with ACT UP, they've settled into the family home in a rather small town with no queer community to speak of. And while they're frustrated by the harassment of local young men pelting their yard with walnuts, the underlying awareness of the danger facing Gene, a Black gay man, is felt not just by the audience but by the family onstage. And we all hate that we're right. So it's a difficult play to watch. But it's worth watching. Christopher Borg is particularly affecting as Andy, a mix of loving joy and fiercely bitter anger and heartbreak at what he and his community have lived through, and continue to live through. His final moments, a grief and reconciliation with his husband Stanley is well-earned. Also quite powerful is Jalen Ford as Eugene: quiet and sweet, but carrying an additional burden none of the others in his almost-family can seem to understand. Ford's performance is understated and honest and lived in, which makes it all the more horrible when he's attacked. Scenic designer Evan Frank builds a lovely backyard space for the action, with a fence strung with festive lights. It's notable that this feels more real than the back facade of the house, particularly with its importance to the family: a skeletal structure, with only half its siding covering the inside. But then, what we see is that perhaps a house isn't enough protection from the outside hostility, when the walls aren't as solid as we think.

Christopher Borg as Andy, Nancy Slusser as Paula, CJ DiOrio
as Brendan, and Jalen Ford as Eugene. Photo by Mikiodo.

3/20/26: My Joy is Heavy

What: The Bengsons' newest show, presented by NYTW. Like many of the Bengsons' work, this piece is memoir/autobiographical, tracking the couple's attempt to conceive while cloistered with their toddler in Abigail's childhood home during lockdown.

And? Abigail Bengson is truly something else onstage. Her open and expressive face, her vibrating and ululating voice, the way every word and sound of her grief and joy reverberate through her entire body--it's a gift to watch and hear her perform. For those who know The Bengsons' work, you probably have a sense of how the show works: narration, scene, and song, peppered here with footage filmed on their iPhones during their time in the house; bittersweet and funny both, communal even as it tells a specific and isolated story. Abigail and Shaun welcome us into this private moment, into a reconstructed version of the house but with no walls for privacy. It's naked and warm and scared and hopeful.

Abigail Bengson and and Shaun Bengson.
Photo by Marc J. Franklin.

3/21/26: The Wild Party

What: NY City Center Encores! presents The Wild Party. But Zelda, I hear you ask, didn't they already do The Wild Party? Well, they did the Andrew Lippa one. This is the Michael John LaChiusa one. Don't you remember the drama when they were both running in the same season, one Off-Broadway and one On? One starring Julia Murney, Idina Menzel, and Brian d'Arcy James; the other starring Toni Collette, Mandy Patinkin, and Eartha Kitt? Okay sure, I didn't see either one and I wasn't in New York yet and anyway let's move on but it's a really cool piece of theater history.

The Wild Party is one of two musical adaptations of Joseph Moncure March's narrative poem about a Prohibition-era party slash orgy that ends in tragedy.

And? It's a harsh and unpleasant story, but god the storytelling of it. LaChiusa's score is muscular, jarring, surprising, and relentless. It's a show that really benefits from its single act structure: it doesn't let up, and we can't escape the party even as it descends into a seedy purgatory. And this cast is, well, wild. This iteration of March's poem is an ensemble piece (even as it centers Queen, Kate, Burrs, and Black) and is thus a fantastic showcase, especially in the Encores! context. The show hosts a greedy feast of talents, from the legendary (Tonya Pinkins) to the marquee names (Jasmine Amy Rogers, Adrienne Warren, Jordan Donica, Jelani Alladin) to the delightful character actors (Lesli Margherita, Claybourne Elder, Betsy Morgan) to those new on the NY scene (hot damn, Meghan Murphy). And everyone delivers, boy do they ever. Those soaring voices blending or sliding at dissonance with each other, the charisma and chemistry: you believe that this is a group of people who know each other all too well to hide their own ugliness, even as they try to project a facade of slick charm. I wouldn't mind a cast album.