‘THE BALUSTERS’: (clockwise from left) Ricardo Chavira, Carl Clemons-Hopkins, Richard Thomas, Anika Noni Rose, Jeena Yi, Marylouise Burke & Kayli Carter. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

THE BALUSTERS
By David Lindsay-Abaire
Directed by Kenny Leon
Through June 21, 2026
Manhattan Theatre Club at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
261 West 47th St.
https://www.manhattantheatreclub.com/shows/2025-26-season/the-balusters

By Scott Harrah

Everyone in Vernon Point thinks they are progressive and open-minded. That is the first misconception and the most revealing one in this blisteringly funny look at bigotry, bias, and 21st-century culture wars. The play draws big laughs even as it cuts close to the bone. In The Balusters, playwright David Lindsay-Abaire sets the scene for a neighborhood association meeting where civility feels carefully staged. At first, the group debates mundane topics like safety, zoning, and aesthetics. Soon, the tone shifts.

What begins as a polite discussion about community values quickly turns into a competition over who can sound the most enlightened, while revealing just the opposite. Brooks (Carl Clemons-Hopkins) recounts a visit to a local store and describes a man’s glare as “an I-hate-gay-people look.” The comment sets off a wave of narrow-minded conclusions about religion, identity, and intent. Vernon Point may be fictional, but The Balusters mirrors modern American tensions around prejudice and identity. As a result, the satire lands with uncomfortable precision. Laughter ripples through the audience. Often, a brief hush follows as the implications sink in.

Civic pride and prejudice

The play opens in the stately Victorian home of Kyra (Anika Noni Rose), a newcomer eager to make a good impression. She and her housekeeper Luz (Maria-Christina Oliveras) prepare for the meeting. Luz knows the neighborhood well because she has worked for several families, including association president Elliot (Richard Thomas).

Kyra’s hopes for a pleasant evening dissolve quickly. First to arrive is Melissa (Jeena Yi), the sharp-tongued vice president, whose awkward misstep with Luz sets the tone. Penny (Marylouise Burke), a well-meaning but often oblivious longtime secretary, follows. Then comes Ruth (Margaret Colin), the blunt and dry-witted treasurer who says what others avoid.

Soon, the room fills with clashing personalities. Isaac (Ricardo Chavira) bristles at political correctness. Alan (Michael Esper) tries to be the “nice guy” but retreats when challenged. Willow (Kayli Carter) polices language with earnest intensity. Brooks observes it all with dry, knowing detachment. Elliot, the self-appointed guardian of the neighborhood’s traditions, arrives ready to preside. As Brooks puts it, “It’s not too late, Kyra. You can still escape.”

Biases simmer beneath the surface

At first, the meeting sticks to routine business. Then an innocuous conversation about safety and whether or not to put up a stoplight exposes deeper biases. What begins as practical concern quickly turns personal. A passing remark about suspicious activity spirals into a debate over racial profiling. Meanwhile, attempts at inclusive language spark their own tensions. The terminology some use starts petty squabbles. For example, one character pushes back against being labeled “Latinx,” calling it “retro woke bulls**t.” Another character objects to the term “lame” as being “ableist.”

The script spares no group. It shows how quickly good intentions give way to defensiveness.

Gavel down, gloves off

Under Kenny Leon’s direction, tensions build steadily before everything unravels into something far messier. Mr. Lindsay-Abaire’s rapid-fire, overlapping dialogue creates strong momentum. Punchlines land in quick succession and often overlap, as if the characters are racing to outdo one another. The staging turns Kyra’s stately home into a pressure cooker. As a result, polite conversation gives way to barely concealed hostility. Each character struggles to maintain composure.

The ensemble is uniformly strong. Anika Noni Rose anchors the production with quiet authority and holds her ground as the room spirals around her. Richard Thomas balances Elliot’s easy charm with an undercurrent of control. Carl Clemons-Hopkins delivers the evening’s driest humor. Marylouise Burke finds both comedy and pathos in Penny’s well-meaning obliviousness. Margaret Colin is especially sharp as Ruth and lands her barbed observations with precision. Together, the cast maintains cohesion even as their characters pull in opposite directions.

Nothing off-limits

By the end, The Balusters shows that nothing is off-limits. Early jabs at anti-fur activism, introduced with Ruth’s arrival, establish the tone for a play that steadily widens its target. Mr. Lindsay-Abaire takes aim at everything from debates over Muslims and gays to casual bigoted perceptions of Jews, Black, and Latino communities. As a result, the play becomes an equal-opportunity lampoon where no one is spared. The humor is relentless and at times uncomfortable. It underscores how true to life the story feels.

Few recent Broadway comedies land laughs this consistently or this uncomfortably.

The Balusters plays like a sharply observed slice of American life. The effort to be thoughtful, inclusive, and aware often veers into something far messier. Mr. Lindsay-Abaire captures both good intentions and high-wire tension in a culture that talks over itself. Every word is scrutinized and every misstep is amplified. In Vernon Point, everyone wants to get it right. That may be the problem. David Lindsay-Abaire’s The Balusters may be the funniest and most incisive look yet at political correctness in American life.

Published April 21, 2026
Reviewed at press preview on April 19, 2026.

‘THE BALUSTERS’: (seated) Jeena Yi, Marylouise Burke & (standing) Michael Esper & Richard Thomas. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘THE BALUSTERS’: Anika Noni Rose & Carl Clemons-Hopkins. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘THE BALUSTERS’: Carl Clemons-Hopkins, Margaret Colin, Michael Esper & Jeena Yi. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘THE BALUSTERS’: Kayli Carter, Carl Clemons-Hopkins, Anika Noni Rose & Jeena Yi. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘THE BALUSTERS’: Anika Noni Rose & Marylouise Burke. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘THE BALUSTERS’ (collage, left to right): Margaret Colin & Maria-Christina Oliveras. Photos: Jeremy Daniel.

‘THE BALUSTERS’: Ricardo Chivira & Margaret Colin. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘THE BALUSTERS’: Richard Thomas & Anika Noni Rose. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

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‘OUR TOWN’: Ephraim Sykes & Zoey Deutch. Photo: Daniel Rader.

OUR TOWN
By Thornton Wilder
Through January 19, 2025
Directed by Kenny Leon
Ethel Barrymore Theatre
242 West 47th Street
www.ourtownbroadway.com

By Scott Harrah

The latest revival of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town bears little resemblance to the classic drama often produced in high schools. Director Kenny Leon has reinvented the renowned story set in Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire into a modern-day look at small-town life that reflects 21^st century America instead of the early 1900s (the original period for the play).

The show opens with characters onstage singing a hymn that combines Jewish prayers in Hebrew, Muslim prayers in Arabic as well as Christian references. The Stage Manager (Jim Parsons) who narrates the story is still an integral part of the show, but Mr. Leon has added many of the touches that European directors insert into American stage classics to give a “new” twist, such as audience members seated on the stage. Characters in the show enter via running down the aisles through the audience and hop on stage. Although these directorial choices are often effective, they may not please purists of the show.

Our Town has always been produced with minimal sets and props, and in this version the biggest part of the set is a group of lanterns hanging above the stage. Minimalism has always been front and center in the play, and director Kenny Leon has trimmed down everything from the sets to the show’s running length. Our Town is a three-act play, but here it has been condensed into a brief one act that runs about 100 minutes. Since there is no intermission, one of the Stage Manager’s classic lines at the end of Act I—“That’s the end of Act I, folks. You can go and smoke, now. Those that smoke”—has, of course, been cut.

Act I focuses on the daily life of people in Grover’s Corners. The Stage Manager talks about the mundane happenings in the town, from births, marriages, deaths, the paper boy’s route, what people eat for breakfast, folks gossiping, and so on. Our Town centers on two families: First, Mr. Webb (Richard Thomas), the local newspaper editor, and Mrs. Webb (Katie Holmes). They have a young son, Wally (Hagan Oliveras) and daughter, Emily (Zoey Deutch). The second family in focus are the Gibbs, including Dr. Gibbs (Billy Eugene Jones) and Mrs. Gibbs (Michelle Williams). The Gibbs also have a son, George (Ephraim Sykes) and daughter, Rebecca (Safiya Kaijya Harris). Emily and George soon develop a budding romance.

Other townsfolk include the gossipy Mrs. Soames (Julie Halston) and choir director Simon Stimson (Donald Webber, Jr.), a man who is also the notorious local alcoholic. In addition, the dairyman Howie Newsome (John McGinty) is deaf, and characters use sign language to communicate with him.

In Act II, it is three years later, and Emily and George are planning to get married. George decides against leaving town to attend college and decides to stay in Grovers Corners to marry Emily. Despite some hesitation, the two eventually wed.

Act III is set nine years later and takes place in a cemetery outside town. Without giving too much away, many townsfolk have died. One died of pneumonia, one of a burst appendix, and another died by suicide. We meet the local undertaker Joe Stoddard (Anthony Michael Lopez) and Sam Craig (Doron Jepaul), a man who has returned to Grover’s Corners for a cousin’s funeral. We soon realize the deceased cousin is one of the play’s main characters. The Stage Manager talks in detail about death and the probability of an afterlife, but without any religious interpretation.

Overall, director Kenny Leon has added many nice touches, such as the smell of bacon wafting out into the audience when Mrs. Webb is cooking breakfast.  Mr. Leon gets primarily effective performances from the cast.  Mr. Parsons is outstanding as the Stage Manager. Mr. Thomas and Ms. Holmes portray a great married couple as Mr. and Mrs. Webb, and the same holds true for Mr. Jones and Ms. Williams as the Gibbs. Ms. Halston is often hilarious as the town busybody Mrs. Soames. Mr. Sykes is believable and often touching in his role as George Gibbs. Ms. Deutch as Emily is consistently good, but her final “good-bye” speech—one of the play’s most iconic moments—comes off somewhat strained. This is hardly the best Our Town revival, but fortunately the modern touches and tweaks do not diminish the timeless story of community and life’s ups and downs in small-town America.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published October 18, 2024
Reviewed at October 15, 2024 press performance

‘OUR TOWN’: (left to right) Anthony Michael Lopez, Safiya Kaijya Harris, Shyla Lefner, Billy Eugene Jones, Michelle Wilson, Jim Parsons & Katie Holmes. Photo: Daniel Rader.

‘OUR TOWN’: Billy Eugene Jones & Michelle Wilson. Photo: Daniel Rader.

‘OUR TOWN’: Ephraim Sykes, Katie Holmes & Richard Thomas. Photo: Daniel Rader.

‘OUR TOWN’: The cast. Photo: Daniel Rader.

‘OUR TOWN’: (left to right) Ephie Aardema Sarnak, Julie Halston, Richard Thomas & Hagan Oliveras. Photo: Daniel Rader.

‘OUR TOWN’: Zoey Deutch. Photo: Daniel Rader.

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‘THE GREAT SOCIETY’: Brian Cox. Photo: Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade, 2019

THE GREAT SOCIETY
Written by Robert Schenkkan
Directed by Bill Rauch
Through November 30, 2019
Vivian Beaumont Theatre
150 West 65th Street
(212-239-6200), www.ltc.org

By David NouNou

The Great Society is a continuation of Robert Schenkkan’s 2014 Tony Award-winning play All the Way, which focused on Lyndon Baines Johnson’s first-term presidency taking over for the assassinated John F. Kennedy. The triumph of that play was Bryan Cranston’s outstanding Tony-winning performance as LBJ which gave the show its gravitas. Mr. Cranston may not have looked like LBJ, but his stature and tone gave us the essence of the man.

All the Way ended in 1964 where LBJ wins the presidency and the beginning of his wheelings and dealings, especially when it came to working with Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement. It centered on a critical juncture in American history and was focused on the subject. The Great Society picks up in January 1965 with LBJ (Brian Cox) giving his inaugural speech. His message dealt with civil rights, healthcare, welfare and education. Does that sound familiar 54 years later?

The Great Society, in addition to dealing with MLK (Grantham Coleman), now goes into the riots in Selma, Alabama, Watts in Los Angeles and the advent of “Black Power” as well as Chicago and its corrupt mayor Richard Daley (Marc Kudish). LBJ has his supporter, Hubert Humphrey (Richard Thomas) and rival Bobby Kennedy (Bryce Pinkham). It goes further in depth with the involvement of America in Vietnam and its strong advocate, Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, (Matthew Rauch). It all leads up to 1968 as the death toll and casualties in Vietnam escalate and LBJ decides not to run for a second term as president, and the chilling conclusion of Richard M. Nixon (David Garrison) being elected president. Of course, the audience gets a chuckle because we all know how that turned out.

Mr. Schenkkan has certainly crammed a lot of American history into one night. He has shown us a parallel perspective of the chaos then, that seems almost parallel but tame to the chaos ensuing these days on a daily basis. The fatigue quotient is overwhelming. Because of the abundance of material here, the subject matter is unfocused and the multitude of scenes seem more like vignettes than actual historical moments. He is not aided by his director Bill Rauch. Mr. Rauch could have edited the play more and added focus to the scenes instead of having them all run into each other.

Brian Cox, the renowned British actor, is an odd choice to follow Mr. Cranston as LBJ. He lacks the stature and the tone of the 36^th president of the United States and what you are left with is a gruff exterior and blustery caricature, thus starting the evening on a wrong note. What you do have are admirable performances by Marc Kudish as Mayor Daley, Richard Thomas as Hubert Humphrey, Bryce Pinkham as Robert Kennedy, Matthew Rauch as Robert McNamara and David Garrison as Richard Nixon as smarmy as ever. Since Nixon plays a central figure in the end of The Great Society, one has to wonder if Mr. Schenkkan is planning a third part for a trilogy?

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published October 3, 2019
Reviewed at October 2, 2019 press performance.

‘THE GREAT SOCIETY’: Marc Kudisch & Brian Cox. Photo: Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade, 2019

‘THE GREAT SOCIETY’: (left to right) Brian Cox, Richard Thomas, Gordon Clapp. Photo: Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade, 2019

‘THE GREAT SOCIETY’: (left to right) Marchant Davis, Brian Cox, Bryce Pinkham. Photo: Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade, 2019

‘THE GREAT SOCIETY’: Grantham Coleman & cast. Photo: ‘THE GREAT SOCIETY’: Brian Cox. Photo: Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade, 2019

‘THE GREAT SOCIETY’: Barbara Garrick & Brian Cox. Photo: Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade, 2019

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JERRY SPRINGER—THE OPERA
Music & lyrics by Richard Thomas
Book & additional lyrics by Stewart Lee & Richard Thomas
Choreography by Chris Bailey
Directed by John Rando
The New Group at the Pershing Square Signature Center
The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre
480 West 42nd Street, (212) 279-4200
www.thenewgroup.org

By Scott Harrah

Jerry Springer—The Opera was originally produced in Britain back in 2003 and received an Olivier for Best Musical. Other than a two-day concert staging at Carnegie Hall a decade ago, this profane, sung-through parody of the infamous tabloid TV talk has been absent from the New York stage until now. It’s certainly been worth the wait because this off-Broadway production is original and marvelously entertaining.

Some of the subject matter—from tap-dancing Ku Klux Klansmen to strippers, a transgender tramp and a man with a diaper fetish—was probably shocking 15 years ago, but not in modern-day America, with the wackiness of Washington and our reality TV star president giving us a daily dose of surrealistic news that is more bizarre than anything on Jerry Springer’s show.

Theater veterans Terrence Mann as Jerry Springer, and Will Swenson as his Warm-Up Man, play the leads with comic precision. Act I is basically a musical version of over-the-top staples from Springer’s show: a man, Dwight (Luke Grooms) cheating on his fiancé, Peaches (Florrie Bagel) with her best friend, Zandra (Beth Kirkpatrick) and a midriff-bearing transsexual, Tremont (Sean Patrick Doyle). There’s also a redneck, Chucky (Nathaniel Hackmann) and his wife Shawntel (Tiffany Mann), a woman with dreams of becoming a pole dancer. Plus, a man in a diaper and his girlfriend, a character called Baby Jane (Jill Paice), and more.

F-bombs abound in the numerous hilarious songs written and composed by Richard Thomas, from “Talk to the Hand” and “Mama Gimme Smack” to “Put Your F***in’ Clothes On.” Act I breezes by with scatological glory, but just like watching an episode of Springer’s show, the shock value eventually wears thin by Acts II and III. These later acts of the musical are set in Purgatory and Hell, with Mr. Swenson doubling as Satan himself. Of course, there are characters poking fun at Jesus and the Virgin Mary with blasphemous zeal. After the seamless first act, the show unravels a bit and makes little sense, but it’s all so much fun that one doesn’t mind. Just enjoy the insane ride.

Why did it take so long for Jerry Springer—The Opera to arrive on this side of the Atlantic? Who knows. The British invented the tabloid press and nurtured the concept of reality TV long before us, so perhaps one could say the U.K. has a bigger appetite and appreciation for “schlock” than America.

Theater purists and the easily offended may argue that Richard Thomas and Stewart Lee’s creation simply wasn’t good enough for a mainstream U.S. production, but it must be noted they wrote this foul-mouthed “opera” eight years before the derisive, impudent Book of Mormon became a phenomenon. For this fact alone, the show was ahead of its proverbial time.

There are numerous standouts, especially Terrence Mann as Jerry Springer and Will Swenson as Warm-Up Man/Satan. The cast is uniformly superb, with strong and melodic voices. In particular, Tiffany Mann as Shawntel is in especially fine voice doing her show-stopper “I Just Wanna Dance.” Tony winner John Rando directs all the insanity with amazing precision, and that’s no easy task in a small venue with a 17-member cast in a production as ambitious as this, with performances that are consistently and beautifully outrageous in all the right places.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published February 25, 2018
Reviewed at February 24, 2018 performance.

‘JERRY SPRINGER: THE OPERA’: Will Swenson & Terrence Mann. Photo: Monique Carboni

‘JERRY SPRINGER: THE OPERA’: Tiffany Mann. Photo: Monique Carboni

‘JERRY SPRINGER-THE OPERA’: (left to right) Terrence Mann & Jill Paice & cast. Photo: Monique Carboni

‘JERRY SPRINGER-THE MUSICAL’: Terrence Mann (far left) & cast. Photo: Monique Carboni

‘JERRY SPRINGER-THE OPERA’: Nathaniel Hackmann, Tiffany Mann & (top right) Billy Hepfinger. Photo: Monique Carboni

‘JERRY SPRINGER-THE OPERA’: (left to right) Florrie Bagel, Luke Grooms & Terrence Mann. Photo: Monique Carboni

“JERRY SPRINGER-THE OPERA’: Jill Paice (center) & cast. Photo: Monique Carboni

The post ‘Jerry Springer—The Opera’: Lowbrow meets high art appeared first on StageZine.

‘THE LITTLE FOXES’: Laura Linney & Darren Goldstein. Photo: Joan Marcus

THE LITTLE FOXES
Written by Lillian Hellman
Directed by Daniel Sullivan
Through July 2, 2017
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
261 West 47th Street
(212-239-6200),www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com

By Scott Harrah

Greed is the primary deadly sin among the many that run rampant in Manhattan Theatre Club’s brilliant revival of Lillian Hellman’s most enduring play The Little Foxes. There is jasmine in the air, mint in the juleps and backstabbing at every turn in this tale of the Deep South. Cotton is king and the family plays each other as pawns to get the biggest share from the ill-gotten gains.

The Little Foxes is Ms. Hellman’s most accessible drama because it is so intricately constructed, timeless, and a classic. The show was first produced on Broadway in 1939 with Tallulah Bankhead, and has featured everyone from Elizabeth Taylor and Anne Bancroft to Stockard Channing over the years. This outstanding revival showcases Laura Linney and Cynthia Nixon, alternating the roles of Regina Giddens and Birdie Hubbard with the “blue” cast (Ms. Linney as Regina) and “green” cast (Ms. Nixon as Regina). It’s a winning gimmick indeed (this review is of a performance with Ms. Linney as Regina and Ms. Nixon as Birdie), but the true beauty of the show is how Ms. Hellman’s story holds up nearly 80 years after it was first mounted. Greed and family dysfunction have not changed much since 1900 Alabama (when the play is set).

This Southern Gothic tale is set in a small Alabama town, centering on the struggle for controlling a family business. Regina Hubbard is a formidable villainess, a woman wanting to gain financial control of her life because her ailing husband Horace (Richard Thomas) is in a Baltimore hospital with a heart condition and she must rely on him for money. Meanwhile, her brothers Oscar (Darren Goldstein) and Ben (Michael McKean) live well off the inheritance from their father and his profitable plantation and cotton fields, with money made off the backs of low-paid African-American workers.

The brothers want to build a new cotton mill and they ask Regina for money (an additional $75,000), but she has to get the funds from her sick husband Horace. The three-act drama has a riveting narrative filled with family machinations as we see the lengths the family goes to due to their avarice, including suggesting a marriage between first cousins Leo (Michael Benz) and Alexandra (Francesca Carpanini).

Birdie Hubbard (a role alternated in this production by Ms. Linney and Ms. Nixon) is the alcoholic wife of Oscar. She’s a delicate flower indeed, physically abused by her husband, dependent on his wealth, with a penchant for elderberry wine and clinging to the fading gentility of the old South. In the “blue” cast, Ms. Nixon’s portrayal of Birdie is haunting and heartbreaking.

The show is flawlessly directed, designed and acted. Laura Linney as Regina is evil incarnate, and Cynthia as Birdie Huddard, Regina’s sister-in-law, is the charm that was the South. The production is ably supported by Michael McKean and Darren Goldstein as Regina’s conniving brothers. Richard Thomas as her husband Horace is simply wonderful. Caroline Stefanie Clay as maid Addie, and Francesca Carpanini, as Alexandra, are also noteworthy. This is a play that resonates today as it did in 1939 when it was first presented. The Little Foxes, directed by Daniel Sullivan, is one of the year’s best revivals.

Edited by David NouNou
Published April 24, 2017
Reviewed at press performance on April 23, 2017

‘THE LITTLE FOXES’: (left to right) Francesca Carpanini as Alexandra & Laura Linney as Regina. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE LITTLE FOXES’: Laura Linney as Regina. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE LITTLE FOXES’: Cynthia Nixon as Birdie & Francesca Carpanini as Alexandra. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE LITTLE FOXES’: Darren Goldstein & Michael Benz. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE LITTLE FOXES’: Richard Thomas & Caroline Stephanie Clay. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE LITTLE FOXES’: Michael McKean. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE LITTLE FOXES’: Darren Goldstein. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE LITTLE FOXES’ (Green Company): Cynthia Nixon as Regina & Laura Linney as Birdie. The two actresses alternate the roles at certain performances. Photo: Joan Marcus

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