I hope you are better rested than I and ready for an exciting season, starting this month.
Of particular interest to me are both these, part of the 1st Irish Festival: “Boys and Girls” at 59e59, and “Waiting for Ikea” at Times Square Arts Center — both received raves at the Dublin Fringe. Many others sound delightful, do let me know if you try them, since I haven’t a free night!
More Irish — BAM’s New Wave Festival $20 tickets go fast, so you might want to book Mark O’Rowe’s classic, “Howie the Rookie,” although it doesn’t begin until December — here’s the review which I can confirm, having seen Tom Vaughan-Lawlor’s awe inspiring performance in Edinburgh.
The GOOD news: “The Object Lesson,” our Best of Edinburgh winner and also part of BAM’s Festival, is sold out for all its announced performances. The VERY, VERY GOOD news: there will be an additional matinee performance on Saturday, November 8th. THERE ARE VERY LIMITED SEATS — PLEASE CONFIRM YOU’D LIKE TO COME, TO ME: CAROL@BESTOFEDINBURGH.ORG
Back to current plays I’ll be trying: “The Money Shot” at MCC Theater’s Main Stage by the ever sly, ever entertaining Neil LaBute; “The Fatal Weakness”: the “best comedy” of 1946, resurrected by the Mint; another worthy arriving revival is from Keen Theatre Company — “A Walk in the Woods” by Lee Blessing. Read Frank Rich’s 1988 review here.
Coming to The Theatre for a New Audience is, “The Valley of Astonishment,” which was very well received in London. Here’s the Guardian review. It promises to be, yes, astonishing!
If you become a member of just one theatre company this year — do look at the spectacular line up at New York Theatre Workshop which includes: “Scenes From a Marriage,” by the Award-winning Flemish director Ivo Van Hove; “The Invisible Hand” by Ayad Akhtar, who not only wrote Disgraced (which won the 2013 Pulitzer for Drama) but also the best novel about the Muslim-American experience I’ve yet to read — “American Dervish.” And — THE 2013 BEST OF EDINBURGH AWARD winning “The Events” by David Greig, which will be starting in February.
Just one more — don’t miss “When January Feels Like Summer” — a sold out hit at Ensemble Studio Theatre several months ago. It will be back next month. If you don’t believe me, read the NYTimes’ review and then run and buy tickets.
Have fun, and happy hunting!
Carol Tambor publishes a monthly newsletter, which announces worthy shows coming to New York, along with occasional information about London theatre and, of course, the Edinburgh Fringe.