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Helen Shaw

Theater Critic
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@helen_e_shaw

Helen Shaw has written about theater in New York since 2005, and for New York since 2019.

  1. movie review
    Derek DelGaudio’s In & Of Itself Is a Bit of Truth and a Lot of NonsenseThe emotion in the oddly tearful mentalism-and-magic show is all manipulation, but there’s still quite a bit of loveliness to delight you.
  2. theater review
    It’s Theater-Festival Season, in a Year When Everything’s Avant-Garde AnywayThe January of the Weird has arrived.
  3. movie review
    In a Year Without Live Performance, Regina King’s One Night in Miami SingsThe intimate Amazon Studios film, based on a play, re-creates a historic motel-room meeting between Sam Cooke, Malcolm X, Jim Brown, and Cassius Clay.
  4. streaming theater
    How Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical Came to Be (and Yes, Disney’s Okay With It)A benefit for the Actors Fund brought everyone together.
  5. best of 2020
    The 10 Best Theater Moments of 2020Our favorite live, streamed, Zoomed, and Sims’d plays from Joshua William Gelb, Natalie Palamides, Eboni Booth, and more.
  6. theater review
    The Holidays Are a Drag: Taylor Mac and Joshua William Gelb Dress for ItReviews of Taylor Mac’s Holiday Sauce: Pandemic!, and Joshua William Gelb in Heather Christian’s I Am Sending You the Sacred Face.
  7. all that ann
    The Dazzling Razzle of Ann Reinking and Where to See ItSlinking and popping like no one else.
  8. institutions
    The Artists vs. the Flea: ‘We Will Burn It All Down’The downtown theater company is in crisis.
  9. live tv
    Is It Still Broadway If It’s Hosted by Tina Fey and Aired on NBC?Let’s discuss that Best of Broadway special.
  10. the quarries
    The First (And Dear God, It Better Be the Last) QuarriesIn which we award the most original, absurd, scrappy, and ingenious works that shaped our year in quarantine.
  11. movie review
    Netflix’s The Prom Isn’t the Party We Hoped ForLet’s just say, I think that there’s room in the universe for another attempt at putting this beloved and big-souled property on film.
  12. how-to
    Circle Jerk’s Recipe for a Viral Theater Hit“If it gets screwed up, that’s part of the energy.”
  13. theater review
    The Best Online Staging of Chekhov’s The Seagull Is in The Sims. Really.“We were giddy.”
  14. q&a
    Jeremy O. Harris Is Spending HBO’s Money on Producing PlaysOn streaming productions like ‘Circle Jerk’: “Look, this is doable … We don’t actually have to sit around watching Zoom for the rest of our lives.”
  15. theater review
    Circle Jerk’s Theatrical Erudition Includes a Dose of The O.C.A streaming production that doesn’t feel stripped-down.
  16. movie review
    What the Constitution Means to Me Film Unleashes a Boiler Full of FlamesWhen everything feels too overwhelming to watch at home, Heidi Schreck’s Broadway show (streaming on Prime Video) hits the right chord of anger.
  17. streaming theater
    Transcript Turned Script: A Preview of Why Would I Dare’s Courtroom DramaThe Crystal Mason voting-rights case comes to the stage in a streaming production by the Commissary.
  18. review
    Mortality Plays: Two Live Performances in New York Look Steadily at DeathLive, in-person performances are springing up everywhere.
  19. movies
    Why Wait for Death?In her new film, Kirsten Johnson documents the loss of her father to dementia — while “killing” him over and over again.
  20. theater
    At Soho Rep, a Revolutionary Idea: Put the Creative People on SalaryThe directors feel their job program is more a continuation than a pivot.
  21. streaming theater review
    Almost the Real Miracle: Brian Friel’s Faith Healer, Streaming From the Old VicIt feels a little like … theater!
  22. theater review
    Andrew Scott Is Extraordinary in Three KingsThe performance is a demonstration of the actor’s charismatic power.
  23. theater on tv
    Coastal Elites Is As Distanced As Its SubjectMonologues that play to a crowd don’t work without that audience.
  24. fall preview
    Allow Natalie Palamides to Dominate YouWith her genre- and gender-bending comedy special, Nate.
  25. Theatre for One Wants You to Sit Up Straight and Pay AttentionOne-on-one, face-to-face theater performances in a digital window.
  26. theater review
    How Parents, Children (and Playwrights) Made Oedipus Rex and Antigone at HomeSophocles in Staten Island is a family affair.
  27. flops
    ‘Within Fifteen Minutes, It Became Unbearable’The bloody Broadway mess that was Dance of the Vampires.
  28. theater review
    These Two New Theater Works Need You to ListenOne of the surprises of pandemic theater-making has been this embrace of audio work.
  29. streaming theater
    Go Small and Go Home: Tiny Theater Made in QuarantineThe 7th voyage of egon tichy was streamed from an apartment closet.
  30. crisis 2020
    Does Arts-Funding Advocacy Need a Famous Face?Many are working behind the scenes, but no one’s willing to get in the spotlight.
  31. theater review
    This Sceptered Dial: Richard II on the RadioShakespeare in the Park in your headphones.
  32. theater
    Gee, Officer: Why Are There So Few Plays About Cops?They’re all over TV and movies. But there are almost no police dramas onstage.
  33. theater review
    Uses for a Dull Knife: Productive Boredom in Three ZoomertainmentsState vs. Natasha Banina, And So We Come Forth and Zero Cost House
  34. movie review
    The Hamilton Movie Swings Open the Doors of BroadwayThe Disney+ version of the musical is in-your-face at a moment when nothing is allowed to be in your face.
  35. theater
    Gradually and Then All at Once, Racial and Labor Reckoning at the Flea TheaterAfter years at a simmer, the situation suddenly reached a boiling point.
  36. theater review
    Does Interactive Theater Work on Zoom? Two Theaters Switch On the VideoWhat exactly makes something feel “live”?
  37. theater
    Building Trust After Inclusivity Failed: Lessons for the TheaterAfter years of talk, minimal progress. So what now?
  38. theater
    Props? Trombone Zones? Dressing Rooms? A COVID Theater Think Tank Plans AheadProp-handling rules? Dressing-room airflow checks? Trombone-free zones? What will it take to open safely?
  39. the longest lives
    What I’ve Learned So FarLessons from artists and thinkers.
  40. obituary
    On Larry Kramer, The Normal Heart, and Playwriting As Screed“I had internalized that meat-ax political drama was a synonym for ‘clumsy.’ But it dismantled all my craft preconceptions.”
  41. dance
    Where to Stream Great Dance PerformancesA little starter set for the enthusiast who wants to feel like leaping again.
  42. streaming theater review
    Molly Sweeney Returns: A Dark Play Brightens the ScreenBrian Friel’s triple intertwined monologues, in a streamed revival of the 2011 production at the Irish Rep.
  43. the lost season
    What Would Ren Dara Santiago’s The Siblings Play Have Been?The first in a series devoted to the Lost Season.
  44. streaming theater review
    The Online By Jeeves Is Lousy, and Still Reminded Me How Much I Miss TheaterIt made me realize I’ve even missed the eat-your-spinach parts of being a critic.
  45. streaming theater review
    Richard Nelson’s Apple Family Is Muted in Grief and Unmuted on ZoomIn What Do We Need to Talk About?
  46. podcasts
    Broadway Stars in Blanket Forts: Reimagining a Musical As a PodcastAn audio production of a show, written in 2011, that’s about being afraid to go outside.
  47. theater
    Live-Online-Theater Tips From the Stream Team Behind Buyer & CellarHow to light, how to stage, which phone camera to use.
  48. theater review
    A Benefit Buyer & Cellar Is Proof-of-Concept for Streamed TheaterMichael Urie’s short-run online benefit performance that works.
  49. obit
    There Was One Great Role Brian Dennehy Never Got to PlayRobert Falls talked about the great American actor, who died on Wednesday at 81.
  50. theater review
    A Play for Your Ears Only: Heather Christian’s Prime: A Practical BreviaryAn audio-only play (but not exactly a radio drama) for our particular time.
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