Match Play

BY CHRISTOPHER BYRNE | Julia Cho’s complex and engrossing new play “Office Hour,” now at the Public, is a boldly theatrical examination of a harrowing, contemporary issue: random violence, or more to the point, the fear of random violence and its impact on our culture. Dennis is a creative writing student at a college where the […]
Time and Love, Everybody

BY CHRISTOPHER BYRNE | If we could understand time in a non-linear fashion, how would that change our lives and choices? That’s the question posed by “Time and the Conways,” J.B. Priestley’s 1937 play now getting a sublime and gorgeously heartbreaking production at the Roundabout. Taking place in 1919 and 1937, it chronicles a family […]
The Past Is Prologue

BY CHRISTOPHER BYRNE | The new revue “Prince of Broadway” has its charms, notably in the high power talent on the stage singing their hearts out in a progression of songs from shows spanning six decades. It should be enjoyed for its variety show appeal rather than as a coherent musical — or a thematic revue, […]
Modern Morality

BY CHRISTOPHER BYRNE | “You have to allow less intelligent people to hate you. It’s their destiny, and it costs you nothing.” So says Jenny, a partner in a high-end investment banking firm to her colleague/ competitor/ partner Seth when he expresses discomfort at the acquisition deal Jenny is proposing that will put a lot of […]
Sounds and Sweet Airs

BY CHRISTOPHER BYRNE | “The Tempest” is a difficult play, to say the least. A great grab bag of Shakespeare’s recurring themes, it encompasses the argument between the natural and the supernatural, revenge, romance, and –– plotted, if not realized –– regicide. As plays go, it’s really kind of a mess. The plot is thin and […]
Jonathan’s New Brain

BY DAVID NOH | Though actor Jonathan Groff’s HBO show “Looking” was recently canceled after just two seasons, he has definitely landed butter side up, with the fun and juicy role of King George in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s brilliantly soulful, burgeoning theatrical juggernaut “Hamilton,” set to open on Broadway this season. In the meantime, he is […]
Nature Studies

BY CHRISTOPHER BYRNE | Nature is so strong a theme in both the poetry and plot of “King Lear” that at first it’s surprising to walk into Central Park’s Delacorte Theater and see the bucolic surroundings virtually obscured by John Lee Beatty’s dominating, monochromatic wall. Mostly known for lavish interiors and finely wrought details, here […]
The City Council’s One Lesbian Speaks Up

BY PAUL SCHINDLER | Rosie Mendez, the Lower East Side City Council veteran first elected in 2005, has been passionate about tenants’ rights her entire career. An attorney by training, she worked at Brooklyn Legal Services and then for the People’s Economic Opportunities Project on the Lower East Side before becoming chief of staff to former […]