Reports & Analysis by Investigative Journalist Lucy Komisar
This play by prominent feminist playwright, the late Wendy Wasserstein, was presented on Broadway in 1997. It got mixed reviews then. It’s been rewritten. But looking at the old reviews, it appears flawed from the start. It is a soap opera, but even some melodramas may be convincing. This one is not. Its characters are caricatures and its plot is full of holes.
The stuff of this play is over 40 years old, perhaps an avatar of what became a staple of a certain dark corner of the entertainment industry, vulgar sex-themed comedy. This is why I don’t go to comedy clubs. Boring silly stuff, lots of crude jokes. Most aimed at 13-year-old boys or people of that mental age. This show is on stage because Whoopi Goldberg is now famous, but she didn’t get there…
Can Marilyn Maye sing the blues? You’ve never heard anything like it! This past weekend at Don’t Tell Mama, the brilliant cabaret singer took a detour from the traditional American Songbook and dove headfirst into the gospel-tinged grit of "Don't Nobody Bring Me No Bad News," the showstopper from The Wiz, music and lyrics by Charles Emanuel Smalls. And the lady didn’t just sing it—she sermonized…
Pilobolus' “Trips” is surreal, fantastical, sometimes jokey, and more movement and acrobatics than what one is used to in modern dance. “Pseudopodia” my favorite, a fiery red tumbleweed choreographed by Jonathan Wolken and performed by Hannah Klinkman. She twirls and somersaults, her body glows, it indeed seems like a tumbleweed, ethereal, charming.
There are moments when history doesn't just surround you—it carries you with it. On July 7, 2026, I will experience exactly that when I step aboard the Schooner America 2.0 for a narrated harbor cruise through what organizers are calling the largest maritime spectacle in American history.
The story of the New York State “justice” authorities prosecution of Lenny Bruce in 1964 would be surreal if it weren’t for the fact that the iniquity of the officials who attacked him and the courage of his defenders continues apace, most obviously the attack on the free speech of critics of Israel.
May 17, 2026 - New York City’s annual Dance Parade is a gorgeous testament to the colorful diversity and talent of its citizens, with 10,000 people marching and dancing down a route from Sixth Avenue and 17th Street to Tompkins Square Park in groups that largely display ethnic dances and costumes and the joyous talents of school kids. Yes, a lot of people do rock and pop dancing but they don’t…
May 15, 2026 - At a recent Council on Foreign Relations meeting on U.S. foreign policy, Rahm Emanuel, on the long list for the Democratic nomination for president, didn’t mention Gaza, the only international issue that galvanizes Democratic voters, except to say the Trump-Netanyahu strategy didn’t work: “You unilaterally acted in Lebanon and in Gaza, and you got Hezbollah and Hamas.”
The lights rise on a high gray space, nondescript and suffocating. Pillars with chipped tiles flank the stage. Metal furniture doubles as kitchen table, office chair, restaurant booth. Then headlights cut through the dark—a burgundy Studebaker pulling into a garage. The year is 1949. When I first saw this powerful play, I thought it was a critique of capitalism, which has been a theme of Arthur…
"Mexodus," written and performed by Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson, is an historical musical that feels urgent, inventive, and moving. Directed with clarity by David Mendizábal and performed with raw conviction by its two actor-musicians, this off-Broadway production reclaims a forgotten chapter of American history — the thousands of enslaved people who escaped not north, but south to Mexico,…