Manhattan Digest

All you need to know about Manhattan culture and so much more...

ENTERTAINMENT

Review: ‘The Originalist’ at 59E59 Theaters is The Balm We Need

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I’m ashamed to admit this, much less post in on the internet. Yet it drives home a crucial point and I’m a critic who isn’t shy on voicing his opinion.  When news of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s death emerged in February 2016, I felt a little gleeful.  To many progressive thinkers, he represented archaic, stubborn thought who wielded his power against marginalized communities. I shared the same sentiment as NY Times columnist Maureen Dowd, who wrote in a 2003 opinion piece, “Antonin Scalia is Archie Bunker in a high-backed chair. Like Archie, Nino is the last one to realize that his tolerance is risibly out of date.” [Read more…] about Review: ‘The Originalist’ at 59E59 Theaters is The Balm We Need

Review: Joshua Beamish/MOVETHECOMPANY’s ‘The Masque of the Red Death’

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blue…purple…green…orange…white…violet…blood. Last appearing at The Joyce Theater’s Ballet Festival in 2015, Joshua Beamish/MOVETHECOMPANY has once again taken to this iconic dance stage with the world premiere of Beamish’s new full-length work The Masque of the Red Death, inspired by the Edgar Allan Poe short story. [Read more…] about Review: Joshua Beamish/MOVETHECOMPANY’s ‘The Masque of the Red Death’

Company XIV’s ‘Boylesque Bullfight’ Brings a Buffet of Boys to Brooklyn

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The Bulls are in Bushwick. I don’t mean the basketball bunch from Chicago. Nor am I talking about the kind who run rampant through the streets a la the fiesta of San Fermin in Pamplona. Oh no. These bulls are taut, muscled men writhing with sexual electricity in Company XIV’s new show, Boylesque Bullfight.
[Read more…] about Company XIV’s ‘Boylesque Bullfight’ Brings a Buffet of Boys to Brooklyn

Irish Rep’s ‘On A Clear Day You Can See Forever’ is Still Weird, But Well Done

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In Razzle Dazzle, Michael Riedel’s compelling book on theater history, he shares some unique insight into Burton Lane and Alan Jay Lerner’s 1965 flop On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. “Lerner wrote it while receiving daily injections of amphetamines from Max Jacobson, the infamous “Dr. Feelgood” whose patients included Marilyn Monroe, Yul Brynner, Nelson Rockefeller, and John F. Kennedy.” [Read more…] about Irish Rep’s ‘On A Clear Day You Can See Forever’ is Still Weird, But Well Done

‘That’s Not Tango- Astor Piazzolla, A Life in Music’ is a Tantalizing Treat

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On a recent Saturday afternoon in June, I begrudgingly trudged downtown to SubCulture, the intimate, posh venue housed at 45 Bleecker Street. It was one of the first gorgeous days of spring that New Yorkers had the opportunity to savor and I regretted my decision to spend it in a dark basement with Astor Piazzolla. [Read more…] about ‘That’s Not Tango- Astor Piazzolla, A Life in Music’ is a Tantalizing Treat