NewCity Stage

1 week ago | newcitystage.com | TED FISHMAN

RECOMMENDEDThis production of Brian Friel’s celebrated, poignant and cerebral play brings forth all the magic that a great playwright, a smart director—Writers Theatre artistic director Braden Abraham—and a masterful cast can wring out of a stationary set, a few props and a whirlpool of ideas that grows ever deeper with each line of dialogue. It’s a stunning production that should be seen at least once, though I, for one, wish I could see it a dozen times or more.

1 week ago | newcitystage.com | Carl Kozlowski

W. Kamau Bell is a comedian who’s got plenty of perspectives on life in America today.

1 week ago | newcitystage.com | Mary Wisniewski

RECOMMENDED“Grace says I’m a work in progress,” a man says about his wife. “And I say you’re a piece of work,” his son responds. The son is Buddy, an ex-soldier looking for a job. He’s come home to ask for help from his father, Vet, though he knows Vet is an abusive bully. Vet is a Homeland Security officer patrolling the Texas/Mexican border with excessive rigor—he gives Buddy a cold welcome and dangles promises he may not keep.

2 weeks ago | newcitystage.com | Amanda Finn

RECOMMENDEDHave you ever watched James Cameron’s “Titanic” and thought, “Wow, this would be really great played as camp?” If you have, we must have the same brain. If you haven’t, I strongly advise you to reconsider because, let’s be honest, it was begging for campification. Luckily, the minds behind “Titanique”—Marla Mindelle, Constantine Rousoul and Tye Blue—were ready and armed with every inside joke you could imagine. At the helm of this jukebox musical is none other than Céline Dion herself.

3 weeks ago | newcitystage.com | TED FISHMAN

RECOMMENDED“The Listeners” is a new opera. It’s an orchestral masterwork composed by American Missy Mazzoli, who from 2018 to 2021 was the Chicago Symphony’s composer-in-residence. Mazzoli has created a bright and terrifyingly complex, often startling, soundscape. Her music demands all from the Lyric’s always superb orchestra under conductor Enrique Mazzola, and gets it.