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Don't use if allergic to Skyrizi. Serious allergic reactions, increased infections or lower ability to fight them may occur before treatment. Get checked for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor about any flu like symptoms or vaccines.
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Now a disclaimer. If my voice sounds a little hoarse, maybe a little bit congested, if the area underneath my eyes looks a little bit sleep dep, that is because I just got back last night at 11pm from two weeks in New York where I saw in the space of two weeks 23 shows at final tally, some of which I absolutely loved, some of which I did not, and five of which I'm about to tell you about right now. Specifically, this is everything that I saw off Broadway. But just before I let you know what I thought of these shows, a quick introduction to me for those of you who may be meeting me for the very first time. Oh my God. Hey. Welcome to my theatre themed YouTube channel. Or hello to those of you listening to these reviews on podcast platforms. Name is Mickey Jo and I am obsessed with all things theatre which is why I do ridiculous things like this. I am an independent theatre critic here on social media as well as a content creator. I travel around the world seeking out the very best theater that I can find and right now some of that is in New York. I had a great time. I'm also very pleased to have returned and be back in my usual office. Yes, thank you for bearing with me. Good audio and video quality have been restored and while this trip specifically was very much about the spring openings on Broadway, at the very end of the season, it's always worth paying attention to hidden Off Broadway gems or sometimes almost sold out off Broadway success stories. Not just because two of this season's new Broadway Tony Award hopefuls, Catch the Jellicle Ball and Titanique, originated as Off Broadway runs, but also because you can find on occasion a very different quality of theatre in terms of how creative it is, how risk taking it is, how innovative, how immediate, how intimate, how uniquely staged, how profoundly affecting. Those are some words that you will hear throughout the reviews of these five different productions. We are going to be talking about well, I'll Let yout Go at Studio Seaview. We are going to be talking about Mexico, which has returned to New York and is running at the Daryl Roth Theater. We're going to be talking about no Singing in the Navy, which recently concluded its run at Playwrights Horizons. We're going to be talking about 11 to midnight, which continues to run at the Orpheum Theatre downtown, and Bigfoot, which also recently finished at the Manhattan Theatre Club's New York City Centre space. Plenty for me to tell you about all of those shows and if you have had the chance to see any of them for yourselves, I would love to know what you thought in the comments section down below. Share all of your opinions about those shows. In the meantime, if you enjoy listening to these and would like to hear more of my reviews of shows in New York as well as in London, elsewhere around the world, you can find many more of them wherever you are seeing my face or hearing my voice. You can also stay up to date with every piece of theatre that I go and see and every piece of content that I share online by subscribing to my free weekly email substack newsletter at the link in the Description but with nothing else to plug, let's talk about some great Off Broadway theater. Okay, I'm gonna do this in reverse chronological order because that kind of puts the ones that are still running in a preferential spot. And I want to make sure that I tell you about these before you get bored and go away. Beginning with the show I saw on the final night of our trip, which happened to be its first preview. So only just did we have the opportunity to catch this. This is the New York return of well, I'll Let yout Go, written by Bubba Wyler, directed by Jack Serio, Prod Regular People. It is now at Studio Sea View. This had a run previously, but not too long ago at the Irondale in Brooklyn. It is now back with what I believe is largely the same company in a new configuration. Now, ordinarily, critical standards would dictate that I don't review preview performances, especially not the first preview performance, because the show is not yet as tight, as fully formed as it is inevitably going to be after a few performances. However, in this instance, I absolutely had to tell you about this play. I'm not reviewing its star rating all that Jazz necessarily, but I had to share this with you because this was probably one of the top five, if not the top three theatrical experiences of the trip. And it's a one act play exploring both individual and collective grief. And it takes place in an economically deprived midwestern town which is described to us as a get by sort of a town in which most people do everything about. The way that this is framed to us by a narrator character who we come to find out a little bit more about, reminded me very much of Thornton Wilde as our town. But it's our town for a contemporary time because we learn that this particular town's economy has become reliant on Amazon fulfillment centers, which speaks less to the plot of the thing and more so to the quality of life for the characters to whom we are introduced, about eight of them in this play, which is structured quite neatly as eight or so back to back one on one conversations, all of them held between Maggie, a widow in her own home, and a guest who has arrived to speak to her Quincy Tyler Bernstein breathes complex, weary life into Maggie as she is navigating all of these conversations in the immediate days following the death of her husband. And she is navigating this complex grief that she is wading through, as well as trying to come to terms with the very specific and notable circumstances of his death, which we find out more and more about steadily. This is a play that reveals itself to you and its secrets to you very slowly and very purposefully over the duration. And so, after a little introductory narration, we first encounter her in conversation with a troubled local man who was always looked after by her husband. This speaking to the character of her late husband. We then see her receiving a house call from the slightly eccentric organizer of the funeral to be arranged subsequently, as she navigates an array of bouquets and casseroles, she is visited by one of her oldest friends, as well as her brother in law, who happens to be that woman's husband. After which it all gets a little more complex and a little more specific to some of the revelations within the narrative. But as much as it's about, you know, finding out what really happened here and the truth of this situation and what it means for Maggie to find out about that as well, I think it's really about the profound experience of trying to contextualize a human being, especially one with whom you've shared an enormity of your life in their absence. She is, for so much of this, really trying to reckon with her complicated feelings about a man who lived by her side for their entire adult lives and who is no longer there. That plays out in so many of the early moments of this play, in her slightly evasive expression and characterization as she rejects the idea of having a funeral, even in the face of demand from the local community to celebrate him as a hero. Many questions are being raised among the audience at this point. We don't yet know why this is. She's also a perhaps puzzlingly calm presence, especially opposite Will Dagger's Wally or Constance Schulman's Joanie. And my takeaway from this beautiful production, so well directed by Jack Serio, with just extraordinary scene work and the occasional aesthetic surprise. Just when we think it's beginning to get a little predictable in the way it's visually presented to us is the emotional immediacy of the whole thing and the raw honesty and transparency of it. This is utter, painful, complicated humanity on stage. I do think in many ways, in the way that it speaks about mortality and the way that it is structured and presented, that it is very familiar of our town. I think it's not only our town for a new generation, but also a better our town, if I'm being completely honest. And they filmed me saying something similar to this for the show's social media after the performance. But if you go to the theater in pursuit of these opportunities for empathy for these occasionally painful but also cathartic and ultimately uplifting encounters with the human condition presented with such authenticity, this is the piece of theater that you need to see in New York right now. I thought it was just extraordinary. It's only going to continue to get tighter. The early comedy moments are going to get funnier, the twists are going to get even more shocking as they progress through the preview period. But go and check this out at Studio Seaview. Incredible theatrical experience. Next up, we have Mexican A Hip Hop Musical, currently playing at the Daryl Roth Theater. I believe this is the fifth time this show has been performed. It was in New York last year at the Minetta Lane Theatre. It has been recorded with Audible, which is fantastic because so often when I talk about shows in New York, I know people are watching who are hearing me describe this compelling, exciting theater, which this very much is, and thinking, oh no, I can't get there. That is prohibitively far for me to travel to. You can listen to this on Audible, so go and check out Mexodus. I'm about to tell you why it's so good. Now, it is a hip hop musical. I don't think it bears much of a sonic similarity to hip hop musicals you may have heard before. It tells the fascinating fictionalized story of a former enslaved man named Henry who flees bondage in Texas. And instead of journeying north, which is talked about and depicted in other works currently on Broadway right now, Joe Turner's Come and Gone would pair very well with Mexico for a two show day, now that I think about it, decides to travel south, crossing the Mexican border. Now, very early in the exposition, the two performers share that it is estimated that historically between 4,000 and 10,000 former enslaved people fled to Mexico. And they, as they do that, they say, did you know that shit? We didn't know that shit. And that is what the show shines a spotlight on. But it's also telling an emotional story that's bigger than that as well. Because this is both performed and co written by two actors, Nigel D. Robinson and Brian Quijada. And as such it's sort of a very meaningful artistic exploration of cultural collaboration between the Latinx and African American backgrounds. It's a story of historic ancestry on multiple frontiers, speaking not only about the escape of former enslaved persons, but also speaking about the historic relationship between the United States and Mexico. When Henry flees, he eventually is somewhat reluctantly taken in and somewhat protected by a man named Carlos, who was a former veteran of the US Mexican War. At the beginning of this show, the fourth wall broken exposition is so charismatic and so explosive. Then the beginning of the story is so compelling as we lay all of this out, as we are acquainted with the circumstances in which Henry fled from slavery. Subsequently, once the two of them meet, it slows right down somewhat unexpectedly. And it took me a few minutes to kind of come to terms with the new pace of the production, because I figured the scope of the whole thing would remain, as it was outlined, that this was going to be a big story. Only it isn't. It is a deliberately small story, the likes of which we are seeing finding success across New York at the moment. And rather than depicting the entirety of this man's life, even the entirety of this escape from bondage and what that would go on to be, it very much focuses on the relationship discovered between these two individuals, the sort of cautious friendship that they enter into and the humanity and dignity that they offer each other via mutual respect. And I think what the show is able to emotionally articulate without actually saying it, through that relationship, through this storytelling, through this creative collaboration, is not only brilliant and emotionally impactful, it's also timely in times of ice, in times of social division, in times of oppression. None of which tells you anything about what really makes this show unique, which is the way in which it is performed. They are playing a whole bunch of instruments on stage, and they are using live looping in order to build and layer the kind of sonic infrastructure of the whole thing. In other words, they'll start laying down a beat. They will loop it so that it continues. They will add a little bass riff on top of that, they build it up with more instruments. There is, like, I think there was beatboxing. There are so many microphones placed around the stage. I have to tell you about the music team and the sound team who helped to make this possible, because as much as anything else, as striking as a story as it is, you know, just to watch this being done is quite remarkable. And the musicianship of both of them, it's really brilliant as well. Who do we have here? Mikhail Fixel is credited as the looping systems architecture and sound designer, clearly a very important role in making this happen. While we're talking creative contributions, I also thought the set Design by Riwa Rakulchon was gorgeous, delicious, detailed, atmospheric, complemented really well by the video projection design credited to Johnny Marino. I saw this on a Tuesday afternoon, which by the way is reason enough to go and see this show. If you're going to be in New York seeing theater, like what else are you doing on a Tuesday afternoon? Certainly you're not seeing another show on a Tuesday afternoon. Fair enough. If you have a job that you need to go to, I can respect that. I can understand it. But if you are in town looking for, you know, as many shows to see as possible, go and check out Mexico's Tuesday matinee. Anyway, at the end of this performance they spoke about their indispensable hard working crew, so I wanted to mention them as well. But it's a really creatively rich production. It's fascinating storytelling that reminds me of like the emotional heft of a come from away even. But to compare this to anything, to compare this to a Hamilton wouldn't do it justice. This is such a uniquely exciting piece of theater that everyone should go and check out fantastic, moving performances, transformative performances from these two as well because they introduce themselves as they are at the beginning and then they really shift into these characters, which is great to watch. It is only a little bit of a pun to say that I was moved by me
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exodus. So speaking of utterly unique storytelling, we now segue into a couple of productions that took me out of my usual theatrical comfort zone. And there's so many different types of theatre you can see, even within the sub genres of like plays and musicals and dance pieces, because you can then explore different styles of writing tonally and you can get abstract, even absurdist works such as this written by Milo Kramer. This was no singing in the Navy at Playwrights Horizons. I believe it has recently concluded its extended limited run at the venue. And absurd and abstract are not qualities with which I traditionally get on. Well, it may surprise you to learn that I didn't hate this. I didn't all the way love it either. Let me tell you a little bit more about this show. It is directed by Ayshan Chelik and I had read the note inside from the playwright beforehand, which made me really excited about the performance because it speaks a lot about unpacking the relationship between classic golden age musical theater shows like on the Town, quite specifically referenced here and throughout this production, but also the likes of South Pacific, the relationship between that and the military, specifically the frequent historic support of the US Military by historic golden age musical theater. And while this achieves some moments of pathos into which we can dig and infer some kind of a commentary on that whole idea, I would say by and large it's just not something that this spends an awful lot of its time exploring because for the most part we are doing what what feel like acknowledged silly inside jokes between collaborators who were also friends, and bits about a singing crab and a conflicted romantic sea captain essentially. And this is not a straightforward plot for me to try and explain to you. Three sailors are on the eve of being dispatched for a non specific war, allowed 24 hours of leave ashore ferry on the town, right? And so they decide together what it is that they are going to do, how they are going to spend their time or what little money they have between the three of them. The only instruction that they are given is that they are not to sing. There is no singing in the Navy. Meanwhile, and simultaneously a young crab is escaping a pot of other crabs, including members of their family in order to find a better life for themselves. And you know, as I'm saying, we can read into the metaphorical meaning of all of these things, but the presentation of it is just, just so relentlessly silly and deliberately silly. This is a show that doesn't necessarily take itself seriously enough in order to have the kind of conversations that it is contending with. It doesn't mean that it couldn't grow and be refined into something resembling that, because the premise is there, the allegory is there. It's just that it seems, for the most part, to concern itself more with making us chuckle than making us think. With the unfortunate occasional sensation that its premiere focus is actually making itself chuckle. And the trio of performers here, Bailey Lee, Ellen Nickback and Elliot Sagay, lack nothing whatsoever in commitment or camaraderie. There is an occasional moment of surprise and innovation in staging. Nothing that necessarily all the way amounts to a coup d', theatre, but maybe something that you could describe as a theatrical sneak attack taking place once or twice. I do wonder, when it comes to the company, and they're clearly incredibly talented, expressive character actors, whether again, the thesis would be more impactful and gain more clarity if it were delivered by very classic golden age musical theater types. At which point I think you would also have to have a conversation unpacking what that means in and of itself. A lot of the lyrics had a real wit, as it seemed to spoof various different musical theatre moments. Not all Golden Age, actually, some more kind of. Kind of contemporary stuff. There was a moment that seemed like it might be speaking to Contact from Red Jonathan Larson. There are ways in which. And it's a completely different vibe, but this paired quite well with Schmigadoon, which I had seen earlier the same day. Both are kind of winking to that traditional musical theater world. Ultimately, though, this feels like the kind of madcap musical I would encounter at the Edinburgh Fringe and conclude that it has promise that it is exploring interesting territory, but it needs to continue to push and refine that a little further. The tone doesn't need to shift. It can still be absurd. I would just love it if it were both absurd and meaningfully articulate. That was no Singing in the Navy. Now, continuing in the realm of styles of theater, I don't necessarily get on with. We have a contemporary dance show, but it's not a non narrative contemporary dance piece, which would be, you know, one of my circles of hell. Well, no shade to the contemporary dance community. It's just not my thing. This one has a narrative. This is very theatrical. This is Coston Mayor's 11 to Midnight playing at the Orpheum Theater. And I was not necessarily familiar with Costenmayer and their social media content beforehand, but these are very much tick tock famous dancers. They are a famous duo who have put together this live like 80 minute performance off Broadway with a handful of other talented performers. There is a shifting roster of dancers in the company. They have been bringing different talented people in and out of the show. And I dare say that there is probably slightly more to take from this. If you are not necessarily a fan of their work, but even aware of some of the identity of their work beforehand, that's what I came to discover afterwards. The name Coston Mayor is I guess to the first syllables of their names. Austin and Meredith Telenko as Jellicle Cats is to dear little cats. And they are very compelling dancers on stage individually, but particularly when they come together. At the heart of this show is a story about a relationship between two characters that they portray who meet, who fall in love, who experience friction. This is articulated in the show, and stay with me here by her consistently leaving the fridge open. And that's sort of emblematic of the problems that they have. And a lot of the these non dance scenes, because there are non dance scenes in between. The choreographed numbers exist as flashbacks to the past, the narrative unfolding over one night leading up to midnight New Year's Eve, 11 to midnight, you get the idea. But we're flashing back to the past and they lip sync to the occasional bit of dialogue, which I can't say I was necessarily a fan of. And as they're telling this story about these two lovers coming back together after navigating a fridge based argument, I kept thinking about the show Illinois and the incredible emotional capacity of that dance show. And I just think again, not to try and tell this show what it is, but if it's going to purport to be a meaningful story expressed through contemporary choreography, then the scope could be even bigger. We could tell the story of a relationship that's navigated, you know, real challenges rather than representing that through like you left the fridge open again. Especially when they come back together and do this sort of a reunion forgiveness dance. And the fridge is open the entire time and it's like yay. That we've moved past that enough to value each other and the relationship more than the temperature of the dairy products. But salmonella is still a reality. The show is of course also choreographed by Austin and Meredith and perhaps controversially, and I'm certainly not the best person to speak to this, but it didn't necessarily at all times feel like a style of choreography that lent itself to this kind of emotional storytelling. Again, I'm thinking about the Illinois of this world and I'm thinking about like contemporary ballet and a lot of this sort of TikTok adjacent. Edgy, dynamic, fast paced choreo doesn't necessarily carry all that much meaningful emotional heft. To me it doesn't incite as much emotion. Which is perhaps why my favorite moments of this production take place in the modern day party scenes when we are just doing fun vibey choreography. There is also a fascinating relationship between this show and the audience. There is at one point a game that takes place on stage when they're doing like the equivalent of musical chairs or like they have to like turn into statues. As soon as the music gets turned off, they invite an audience member to come and be in control of the music and they have to freeze on the spot spot and people get disqualified until it's the last person still standing. There's also a moment of audience participation where an audience member gets pulled onto the stage. There's another moment very much nodding to their content creator identities when they are filming a piece of group choreography on stage. I like that. I wish that there was a way for us to see what was being captured simultaneously or subsequently. But that was probably my favorite number in the production. Oh. As was this one visual moment when they created a whirlwind of colored pieces of paper swirling around the performers on stage. Very clever how they managed to do that. I want to tell you about every member of this company. We had an understudy performance. Kristalyn Gill was playing the role of her old roommate. I couldn't necessarily tell you, like I couldn't connect the names given to these characters and the people who I saw on stage. Which suggests a little something about the clarity of the narrative. Tyson Hill, I really enjoyed. That's a very talented, captivating dancer. As was Ashe Richardson. So much personality on stage. Katie Simon, Melissa Beecroft. There was an extended number that seemed to go to a sort of a Dungeons and Dragons kind of a place about like fictional fantasy wizardry that I wasn't necessarily vibing with personally. Famously. It's a fine line for me with fictional wizards. And listen, I don't think you're ever going to hear me telling you that I had the most sensational, overwhelming response to a show like this, to a piece of dance theater. But I'm really glad I had the chance to see it. It's very entertaining. There's an awful lot of talent on stage. It's visually captivating. I think it falls somewhere between a safer version of what it could be by trying to be a little more ambitious, and the even more ambitious version of that that could be realized where the plot is just a little bigger and, you know, has some bigger conversations and makes us feel something a little more meaningful. What they are quite clearly going for though, is vibrant, fun, and that much I think they do achieve. If you would like to see this, if this is your kind of a show, go and check it out at the Orpheum Theatre. And also go and check out what the dance community is saying about this show, because I dare say they will perhaps have more valuable responses than mine.
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My perfect day has sand, salt water and friends, but my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis can take me out of the moment. Now I all in with clearer skin thanks to Skyrizi Risankizumab RZA a prescription only 150mg injection for adults who are candidates for systemic or phototherapy. With Skyrizi, Most people saw 90% clearer skin and many were even 100% plaque free. At 4 months. Skyrizi is just 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses.
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Now. We began with the final night of our trip. This was the first. This I thought would be a great jet lag show and I stand by that because when you're traveling across the Atlantic and you've landed in New York and you have time to go and see a show that evening. I think you want to go and see something that is light hearted, silly and fun. And that is absolutely what this is. I got to attend the press preview for this months ago back in January, so I was thrilled to get the chance to actually see the show. Wasn't sure that I was going to be able to. And at the time I theorized that maybe it would live in the same neighborhood as musicals such as Bat Boy or the Toxic Avenger. And certainly Bigfoot lives on the same street. It's maybe like the younger kid in the neighborhood compared to those two who follows them around and asks if they can play with them. It has been written by Amber Ruffin, whose work you may know from comedy on tv, as well as being a co writer for the book of the musical Some Like It Hot for this, Amber has contributed the lyrics, the music and the book in collaboration with David Schmoll on the music and Kevin Suretta on the book. And you remember Shucked and the early discourse about Shucked, specifically when people were saying like the script is really funny. The songs aren't necessarily comedy songs, like an Avenue Q kind of a show. They're just like sincere, good country song. I would say Bigfoot is similar where the script is side splittingly hilarious, but I'm sort of sorry to say, imagine a version of Shucked where the songs were not funny but also weren't necessarily good. I could not recall for you any of the music from this show, not only how it sounds, but also really where those songs even happened. The moments that are embedded in my memory are dialogue between characters are these hilarious characterizations. It would have been unusual to just do this as a play. Everything about it is screaming musical. I wish there were a slightly stronger score because right now the songs are functional and they move us along, but we grow fatigued of them within the first couple of minutes. Because what we really want to get back to is the great script and the bonkers premise which takes place in the fictional town of Mud Dirt. Having told you I couldn't remember the songs, this is the one song I can remember. Mud, Dirt. Mud Dirt. That is an earworm, I grant you, an earworm in the mud and all the dirt. And this town lies between a. A factory and a nuclear waste facility. Or like a power plant and a nuclear wet. Like it's. They're having some challenges in the town of Mud Dirt and they are encountering these repeated mudslides. And it's not A great place to live. The mayor is corrupt, and he is trying to attain personal wealth by having the entire town be converted into a water park. It's very much an episode of the Simpsons, only there is resistance within the community, spearheaded by one local woman named Francine, who is, like, mortally unwell, which, weirdly enough, is played as, I think, the show's funniest repeated gag, when she just talks about how sick she is. Constantly in conjunction with a doctor character called the Doctor. And in order to try and distract from the opposition being brought against him by Francine's campaigning, the mayor decides to scapegoat this mysterious creature living in the woods just outside of town called Bigfoot, who, by this point, we have already been introduced to because he is actually Francine's son. And in a hilarious inversion of Dr. Seuss's how the Grinch Stole Christmas, he is living outside of this town of dejected, grumpy individuals with this sunny, giddy personality. It's a little Quasimodo Hunchback of Notre Dame, not just because he has a little diorama of the entire town, but also because he so desperately wants to meet them and spend a day among them and just make conversation. Bigfoot is played very lovably by Broadway talent Gray Henson, with a characterization very much familiar of his previous stage work, familiar of Mean Girls and Shucked and Elf most recently. And there are two designers on the creative team I want to talk about in conjunction with Bigfoot. They are Ricky Reynoso for costume design, and J. Jarajanis and Cassie Williams for wig hair and makeup design. Because I don't know necessarily whose remit Bigfoot was, because he is head to toe in long, silky hair. He kind of looks like the yasified version of Chewbacca or like if a Labrador stumbled into the machine from the Fly. If I'm really nitpicking, there is a texture difference between the head hair and the body hair, and it's sort of meant to be continuous, but it makes that head hair feel just slightly more like a wig. But it's a great design choice because there is no way to look at this character played with charm by Gray Henson, and not be in hysterics the entire time. There is no way to take any of this seriously. And we have to talk about the rest of this very funny company, particularly Crystal Lucas Perry, who runs away with the damn show playing his mother, Francine. She is so brilliantly funny. I don't think I've had the joy of seeing her on stage before. But I think she's remarkable. I also want to shout out Alex Moffat who since his time as a cast member on Saturday Night Live has been making a sort of a deliberate segue into theater and musical theater. I saw him in the Cottage, I saw him Off Broadway at the Orpheum Theatre. Actually this is my favourite role of his yet. And again he just has ridiculous styling choices with this biblical mullet. But I had no idea having seen him on stage previously of the dance like physicality of which he was capable. So much of his comedy is just, just needlessly ridiculous high concept, elaborate physical comedy that he is doing on stage while playing this very Simpsons kind of a mayor character. We also have some fantastic cover performers to shout out as well. Jake Letz and Carla Ross were both brilliant at this performance in the roles of the Doctor and Joanne. You find out who they are. But another potential MVP here is Jade Jones who is credited as as cast and plays is a bunch of different characters doing all of this multi rolling and is really in there amongst the silliness and the ridiculousness of the whole thing. And also to its credit, as I'm about to sit here and say, you know, why not create a silly comedy Bigfoot musical for us to go to with jet lag and laugh at and enjoy and the cartoonishness of all of it and all of that stuff, there is actually some sincerity beneath the surface and there is a message being conveyed here about, you know, your neighbors and the people who live just beyond the border of the town and the people who are scapegoated, the people who maybe look a little bit different, the people who you are encouraged to think of a certain type of a way and like the mob mentality that arises subsequently, we can all learn something from Bigfoot. But that finally brings me to the end of this Off Broadway review roundup. Let me know what you thought of any of these shows if you had the chance to see them in New York and I hope you enjoyed listening to my thoughts. If you did, make sure to subscribe right here on YouTube and turn on notifications. There will be many more New York Theatre reviews coming over the next couple of weeks, as well as my predictions of and reactions to the Tony Award nominations. Plus, if you want to find out more about the theatre going experience for any of these productions, stay tuned for the rest of the my three part New York vlog series coming very soon to YouTube. In the meantime, thank you so much for listening to these reviews. I hope that you enjoyed and as always I hope that everyone is staying safe and that you have a stagey day. For 10 more seconds I'm Minky Jo Theatre. Oh my God. Hey thanks for watching. Have a stagey day. Subscribe.
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In this episode, Mickey-Jo of MickeyJoTheatre delivers an in-depth roundup of five Off-Broadway shows recently seen during a whirlwind two-week New York theatre trip. With his signature enthusiasm, clarity, and honesty, Mickey-Jo provides lively commentary on each production, ranging from heartfelt new plays to madcap musicals and avant-garde dance. The reviews are aimed at both seasoned theatregoers and curious newcomers, with particular attention to creativity, innovation, and emotional impact.
"At the very end of the [Broadway] season, it's always worth paying attention to hidden Off-Broadway gems or almost sold-out Off-Broadway success stories... you can find a very different quality of theatre." (03:40)
"This is utter, painful, complicated humanity on stage." (09:37)
"If you go to the theater in pursuit of these opportunities for empathy ... this is the piece of theater that you need to see in New York right now. I thought it was just extraordinary." (10:40)
"Timely in times of ICE, in times of social division, oppression." (14:40)
"To compare this to a Hamilton wouldn’t do it justice. This is such a uniquely exciting piece of theater that everyone should go and check out." (15:47)
"It seems, for the most part, to concern itself more with making us chuckle than making us think—with the unfortunate occasional sensation that its premiere focus is actually making itself chuckle." (20:57)
"If it's going to purport to be a meaningful story expressed through contemporary choreography, then the scope could be even bigger." (24:40)
"There is actually some sincerity beneath the surface, and there is a message being conveyed here about, you know, your neighbors and the people who live just beyond the border of the town and the people who are scapegoated." (36:07)
“You can find a very different quality of theatre in terms of how creative it is, how risk taking, how innovative, how immediate, how intimate, how uniquely staged, how profoundly affecting.” (03:30)
“This is utter, painful, complicated humanity on stage.” (09:37)
“To compare this to a Hamilton wouldn’t do it justice. This is such a uniquely exciting piece of theater that everyone should go and check out.” (15:47)
“It seems, for the most part, to concern itself more with making us chuckle than making us think—with the unfortunate occasional sensation that its premiere focus is actually making itself chuckle.” (20:57)
“If it's going to purport to be a meaningful story expressed through contemporary choreography, then the scope could be even bigger.” (24:40)
“The script is side-splittingly hilarious, but I could not recall any of the music from this show… The moments embedded in my memory are the dialogue, these hilarious characterizations.” (32:05)
Mickey-Jo closes by encouraging listeners to share opinions in comments, subscribe for more content, and look out for his upcoming Tony Awards analysis and New York vlog. He remains his trademark enthusiastic self, striving to shine a light on “hidden gems” and meaningful moments beyond the glitz of Broadway.
“Thank you so much for listening to these reviews. I hope that you enjoyed and as always I hope that everyone is staying safe and that you have a stagey day.” (37:50)
MickeyJoTheatre’s reviewing style balances honest critique, effusive enthusiasm, and a desire to connect theatre to audiences new and old. This episode is an accessible but detailed survey of what makes Off-Broadway thrilling, bizarre, and unmissable.
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