Ms. Gardner has written about theater and music for The New York Times, The Village Voice, Town & Country, Time Out New York, Entertainment Weekly and other publications. She is a board member of the Drama Desk and has served on the jury for the Pulitzer Prize for drama twice, most recently as chair.
In response to the pandemic, Knock at the Gate since 2020 has provided immersive audio presentations that theater lovers can enjoy from anywhere virtual entertainment can be accommodated.
By ELYSA GARDNER
||Culture
Good and bad things happen in Mona Pirnot’s story, but her deliberately impersonal approach and capacity for navel-gazing can make at least some of them less compelling for an audience than they clearly were in her experience.
By ELYSA GARDNER
||Culture
Now having its off-Broadway premiere, Sarah Gancher’s play is inspired by her research in the wake of our 2016 election. The action unfolds that year at the Internet Research Agency, a real organization based at St. Petersburg.
By ELYSA GARDNER
||Culture
Puzzlingly, while the importance of ‘truth’ is repeatedly invoked, no real connection (pun intended) is made to ongoing debates over ‘disinformation’ and ‘fake news’ that have popped up on both sides of the political divide.
By ELYSA GARDNER
||Culture
The real protagonist of Rachel Bonds’s sometimes slow-moving but beguiling one-act piece is its sole female character, a young woman named Ana.
By ELYSA GARDNER
||Culture
Sean Daniels’s journey of struggle and self-discovery while dealing with a deep drinking problem winds up being more compelling and heartening than one might expect at first.
By ELYSA GARDNER
||Culture
Both performers have repeatedly proven their capacity for challenging drama, in musicals and straight plays alike, dating back to the adaptation of ‘Sweet Smell of Success’ that first paired them on stage more than 20 years ago.
By ELYSA GARDNER
||Culture
The original Broadway production of this witty and charming takeoff on Hans Christian Anderson’s ‘The Princess and the Pea’ opened in 1959, starring Carol Burnett. The new concert production is high-spirited and frequently hilarious.
By ELYSA GARDNER
||Culture
Set in the mid-’70s, this play from Ireland’s answer to Chekhov is a study in the decline not just of a family but of a class and culture.
By ELYSA GARDNER
||Culture
Now in her early 70s, she has joined forces with writer and director Josh Ravetch to craft the 75-minute ‘Beverly Johnson: In Vogue.’ It’s ultimately a survival story, a celebration of its subject and co-creator’s resilience.
By ELYSA GARDNER
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Off-Broadway was the year’s star, with new works and fresh interpretations of established pieces spotlighting seasoned and rising artists alike. Here are 16 productions — including several Broadway entries — that stood out.
By ELYSA GARDNER
||Culture
The new production of Brendan Jacobs-Jenkins’s play features something you seldom see on a Broadway stage these days: an all-white cast. Black people figure prominently, but we never see them.
By ELYSA GARDNER
||Culture
