Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo (Joyce, 175 Eighth Ave., closes Jan. 2). The Trocks are an all-male ballet company whose “women” dance in drag. Sometimes they do the classics more or less straight, sometimes they dance brilliantly witty parodies, and sometimes they do out-of-left-field works like Merce Cunningham’s Patterns in Space, which is on the first of the two programs that they’re dancing during their current New York season. No matter what they’re doing, the results are at once uproariously funny and mysteriously illuminating. To spend an evening with the Trocks is to think twice–or more–about what ballet is and how it works. Very strongly recommended, even to those who (like me) are usually allergic to drag acts (TT).
Archives for December 16, 2010
TT: So you want to see a show?
Here’s my list of recommended Broadway, off-Broadway, and out-of-town shows, updated weekly. In all cases, I gave these shows favorable reviews (if sometimes qualifiedly so) in The Wall Street Journal when they opened. For more information, click on the title.
Warning: Broadway shows marked with an asterisk were sold out, or nearly so, last week.
BROADWAY:
• La Cage aux Folles (musical, PG-13, adult subject matter, reviewed here)
• Driving Miss Daisy * (drama, G, possible for smart children, extended through Apr. 9, reviewed here)
• A Free Man of Color (epic comedy, PG-13/R, adult subject matter, closes Jan. 9, reviewed here)
• Lombardi (drama, G/PG-13, a modest amount of adult subject matter, reviewed here)
• The Merchant of Venice * (Shakespeare, PG-13, adult subject matter, closes Jan. 9, reviewed here)
• Million Dollar Quartet (jukebox musical, G, reviewed here)
OFF BROADWAY:
• Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps (comedy, G, suitable for bright children, closes Jan. 16, original Broadway production reviewed here)
• Angels in America (drama, PG-13/R, adult subject matter, extended through Mar. 27, reviewed here)
• Avenue Q (musical, R, adult subject matter and one show-stopping scene of puppet-on-puppet sex, reviewed here)
• The Fantasticks (musical, G, suitable for children capable of enjoying a love story, reviewed here)
• Play Dead (theatrical spook show, PG-13, utterly unsuitable for easily frightened children or adults, reviewed here)
CLOSING SOON IN MADISON, N.J.:
• I Capture the Castle (comedy, G/PG-13, suitable for unusually precocious children, closes Jan. 2, reviewed here)
CLOSING SOON IN WASHINGTON, D.C.:
• Oklahoma! (musical, G, suitable for children, closes Dec. 30, reviewed here)
CLOSING SOON ON BROADWAY:
• Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (musical, PG-13/R, closes Jan. 2, reviewed here)
• Fela! (musical, PG-13, adult subject matter, closes Jan. 2, reviewed here)
• The Pee-wee Herman Show (comic revue, G/PG-13, heavily larded with double entendres, closes Jan. 2, reviewed here)