Helen ShawStaff writer It’s a new year! Hurrah! Time to kick off our fluffy slippers and blast away our winter daze to start 2025 correctly—by watching a metric ton of experimental theatre and dance. Thanks to a barrage of January performance festivals, there’s suddenly a lot going on. Under the Radar, Prototype, Live Artery, and … Read more
Brian SeibertSeibert has covered dance for Goings On since 2002. New York dance in December is all about “The Nutcracker,” the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, and the joy they both bring. But the Ailey company’s encampment at City Center this year (through Jan. 5) is tinged with sadness, because Judith Jamison died in November. … Read more
Hilton AlsStaff writer It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost twenty years since I first saw the great director David Cromer’s work. You don’t notice time passing when you’re in the presence of a bona-fide theatrical genius: you long for what’s next while pondering what you’ve just seen. “Orson’s Shadow” was the first piece … Read more
James Ijames has three genres in mind for “Good Bones,” directed by Saheem Ali. First, it’s a haunted-house thriller: Aisha (Susan Kelechi Watson) walks around her new home—a restored manse shrouded in construction plastic—disturbed by unearthly laughter. Second, it’s a relationship drama: Aisha flirts with her contractor, Earl (Khris Davis), and quarrels with her wealthy … Read more
Hilton AlsStaff writer The ever-astonishing eighty-one-year-old vocalist, composer, theatre-maker, and performer Meredith Monk comes from a family of voices—four generations of singers—or one voice. Her mother was a talented commercial singer on the radio, but Monk chose a different way to make sound. As a student at Sarah Lawrence, in the nineteen-sixties, Monk, who sang, … Read more
.jpeg "Basil Twist’s “Dogugaeshi,” and More Exhilarating Theatre from Abroad")
Helen ShawStaff writer Catching the fleeting international theatre offerings in New York can be like chasing after fireflies—the minute someone points out some wonderful work, the brief engagement is already dark and gone. These are the shows most worth the hunt, though; some of the world’s most adventurous, exhilarating, and galvanizing work will be in … Read more
Jackson ArnThe New Yorker’s art critic Outside of “immersive experience,” I think the two saddest words in my industry are “public art.” You’ve heard the old joke that love is giving something you don’t have to someone who doesn’t want it? That’s how I feel about ninety per cent of the sculptures, murals, performance pieces, … Read more
Sheldon PearcePearce has covered music for Goings On since 2020. To call T-Pain’s journey back to the center of pop culture a redemption arc might be underestimating his influence, even at his most marginalized, but in recent years the singer and rapper has become a case study in successful second impressions. Once the purveyor of … Read more
Photograph courtesy Siren – Protectors of the Rainforest Most years, alongside a bazaar, the honoring of elders, and performances from local groups, BAM’s long-running festival DanceAfrica celebrates the mother continent by zeroing in on a country or region. This time, it’s Cameroon. The guest company was supposed to be Cie la Calebasse, a notable troupe … Read more
Alex BaraschCulture editor When I was a teen-ager, the discovery of Anthony Minghella’s “The Talented Mr. Ripley”—a 1999 adaptation of the Patricia Highsmith novel of the same name—left an indelible imprint on my brain. The charge between Jude Law’s Dickie Greenleaf, a wealthy layabout who’s decamped to Italy against his father’s wishes, and Matt Damon’s … Read more
