Stranger Things The First Shadow

Does the Stranger Things-verse translate to Broadway? My review of The First Shadow is up at the NY Times.

Jeremy Jordan

I've long been a fan of Jeremy Jordan and finally got to talk to him — about Floyd Collins and other things. My feature for the NY Times is here.

Jinkx Monsoon interview

It's hard to think of a more engaging interviewee than Jinkx Monsoon. I hope I did her justice in this interview.

The Shrouds

The first David Cronenberg movie I ever saw was Videodrome, right when it came out. I didn't know what hit me! Here we are, decades later, and I reviewed his latest for the NY Times. Click here for my take on The Shrouds.

A French mother-daughter duo does Gypsy

Natalie Dessay and her daughter, Neïma Naouri, just sang Rose and Louise in Paris! I wish I'd been there. Second best was talking to them about it for the Times. Click here for the story.

Paddling the Delaware

Last year I joined the first three days of the Delaware River Sojourn: about 9-12 miles of kayaking daily and camping at night. That last part is what was making me nervous beforehand as I'd never slept under a tent before that trip. Read on to see what happened — oh, and by the way, by sheer coincidence, the green tent in the foreground in that misty photo is mine!

Five sci-fi movies for April

I've started mulling over the May column and so I probably link to the current one — I'm so behind in those posts, which are pretty much a running tally of what I publish! Here you go: 5 under-the-radar sci-fi movies to stream this month!

Revisiting the college years with the cast of All Nighter

Natalie Margolin has a real playwright's voice and I'm there for it. I talked to the cast members of her new comedy, All Nighter, about what they were up to in the mid-2010s, when the play takes place. Click here for our chat (and their playlist).

The Cherry Orchard

Only one week left to see the Benedict Andrews production of The Cherry Orchard at St. Ann's Warehouse: go, go, go! Here's my enthusiastic review for the NY Times. I cannot recommend this show enough. Chupa Chups forever!

Love Life

The Encores! series revived Kurt Weill and Alan Jay Lerner's obscure musical Love Life, and I had mixed feelings about it: appealingly bizarre narrative and songs, but the staging that overcompensated with sentimentality. My review is here.

Being Maria

There is a bit of a Maria Schneider moment going on, and the new movie Being Maria, which I just wrote about, is part of it. I also highly recommend Vanessa Schneider's book My Cousin Maria (translated by Molly Ringwald!) Here's my NY Times feature about Jessica Palud's film.

Mayhem

I know that this post's subject line will draw some Gaga fans but it's the Norwegian band I'm talking about. Bucket-list interview for me! Thataway for my story on the ur-black metal band. 

The rites of spring skiing

Kooky outfits, wacky races, cold drinks on warm decks: I wrote about the rites of spring skiing for the Washington Post. Click here for a gift link.

Off Broadway and streaming

I wrote two theater roundups for the NY Times this month. The first one covers new shows that are playing Off and Off Off Broadway. The second features streaming theater. Since we've extended the net to theater-centric film and television, I included the 1982 made-for-TV movie Who Am I This Time? Trust me, you want to see that gem with the young Christopher Walken and Susan Sarandon.

Five sci-fi movies for March 2025

Here's my latest batch of streaming sci-fi movies you may have missed. Oh, let's face it: You're extremely likely to have missed them!

Buena Vista Social Club

I didn't actually use that term in my review, but Buena Vista Social Club is a jukebox musical, and a good one. My write-up for the NY Times is here.

The Electric State

Watching The Electric State, I wondered what the writers and directors understood from their nominal source material (an illustrated novel by Simon Stålenhag), because the movie is pretty much the polar opposite in terms of both content and aesthetics. Just baffling. My review for the NY Times is here.

O'Dessa

I reviewed the offbeat sci-fi musical (as if a sci-fi musical could be anything else) O'Dessa for the New York Times — one of my two reviews of movies starring Stranger Things alums in a single week. Click here for my take on this Sadie Sink vehicle.

Mary Said What She Said

There's an expression for actors like Isabelle Huppert in France: "monstre sacré." And wow did she live up to it in this show at Skirball. It was a demonstration of rigor and virtuosity the likes of which we don't often see in the US. So yeah, I was impressed, as you can tell from my review for the NY Times.

Dakar 2000

Rajiv Joseph's new play is described as a thriller but for that it'd need suspense or menace or sexual tension or something. My review is here.

Five sci-fi movies for February

Life comes at you fast…and you forget to post link to your own articles! I've been working on my selection of streaming sci-fi movies for March and remembered that I hadn't posted the February one so here goes.