Reviews

I saw Don’t Vape! The Grease Parody at the Nov 29, 2025 matinee Off-Broadway at Theater 555 and I laughed more in its 90 minutes than in most shows I’ve seen all year. This is exactly what a parody needs to be. It leans into the source material with full enthusiasm and sharp satire, updating the world of Grease for today while staying loyal to the feel of the original. The energy was constant and the comedy nonstop, making it an ideal distraction for anyone who just wants to have a great time at the theater.

The show’s premise is delightfully absurd. Same beloved characters and familiar plot beats, only now everyone vapes instead of smokes, social media runs the social hierarchy, and the world of Rydell High has been recast through a modern lens where classic tropes are gleefully skewered. It clearly understands what made Grease iconic and what makes it ripe for parody, and then it pushes both in directions that are silly, clever, and often hilariously true to life.

One of the funniest moments for me was when the cast sang about how they always get cast in parodies, which is absolutely true for many of them in real life. Audience energy was alive and loud, with laughter rolling through every quick joke and song twist.

The cast was incredible. SLee as Rizzo was riotous. She hit every gag with perfect timing and powerful vocals, layering in physical comedy and sharp wit in a way that never let the parody slack. Scott Silagy as Danny blended classic swagger with modern self awareness. His moves and reactions felt fresh and energized but still rooted in the original character’s essence. Lara Strong as Sandy found surprising moments of emotional truth in the chaos while still driving the humor home. Ryan Avoux as Kenickie gave a cool yet playful turn that kept me laughing. Dante Brattelli as Sonny had a perfect comic energy that supported every gag. Kristen Amanda Smith as Frenchy was a delightfully offbeat presence. Jen Clark as Jan and Meg Guiney as Marty round out a group that feels tight and versatile.

The writing by Catie Hogan and sketch group Sketchworks Comedy with lyrics and additional book by Billy Recce and Danny Salles is smart, rapid, and full of pop culture truth. The satire never feels shallow or mean. It feels affectionate and wise to both the source material and the world we live in now. The jokes flow fast, and if you miss one because you were laughing at the last, another is right behind it.

The musical arrangements by Lena Gabrielle and the direction by Jack Plotnick kept the show tight and moving. Even though the show riffs off beloved songs we all know, it spins them into something ridiculously new while still honoring the rhythms we remember. Choreography is playful and snappy, helping keep the pace brisk and the laughs continuous.

I wanted to see this show largely because of one of my favorite performers SLee, who I first saw in Stranger Sings!. She absolutely killed it here again. This cast feels like a family with great chemistry, and that makes the parody work onstage and in the room.

Don’t Vape! made me laugh from start to finish and reminded me why parody works when it is clever, fast, and loving. It never drags. Every gag lands with energy. I walked out smiling and still laughing a bit at some of the lines.

I saw Romy and Michele at Stage 42 on November 28, 2025, and I left extremely disappointed. I went in wanting to like it. I love the original movie and I am always open to stage adaptations that find a new angle or emotional depth. This one did not.

The biggest issue was how lazy it felt. Large chunks of dialogue were lifted verbatim from the film with no theatrical justification. The projections looked AI generated and cheap. One of the worst moments involved a video generated wardrobe where an actor mimed flipping through clothes while the images moved on a screen. It was awkward, unconvincing, and honestly embarrassing to watch. The songs did nothing to elevate the material. A few weeks later, I cannot remember a single one.

There were a handful of funny moments, but most of the humor leaned on low effort gay jokes and jock stereotypes that felt dated and shallow. It never found a fresh voice or a point of view that justified its existence onstage. My ticket cost under five dollars, and even at that price, I felt let down. The show closed early, and based on what I saw, I understand why. This one missed the mark almost entirely, and I walked out sad rather than entertained.

I saw The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at New World Stages and it was an absolute joy. This revival is funny, warm, generous, and deeply human in a way that sneaks up on you. I walked in already liking this show and walked out fully in love with it again. I also immediately bought a magnet and started planning when I could come back.

The cast is phenomenal from top to bottom. Jasmine Amy Rogers as Olive Ostrovsky is extraordinary. After her far too short stint as Betty Boop, which closed way too early, seeing her here felt like a gift. She steals every scene she is in. Her Olive is open, vulnerable, funny, and devastating when it needs to be. When she sang “The I Love You Song,” the entire theater seemed to hold its breath. Moist eyes everywhere. It was one of those moments that reminds you why live theater matters.

Kevin McHale was hilarious as William Barfée, with razor sharp timing and a “Magic Foot” that brought the house down. Philippe Arroyo, who I first saw in & Juliet, absolutely kills it as Chip Tolentino. He is funny, earnest, and incredibly easy to root for. “My Unfortunate Erection” lands with the exact balance the show needs. Bold, uncomfortable in the right way, and still weirdly sweet. He commits fully and it works.

Leana Rae Concepcion is excellent as Marcy Park, and “I Speak Six Languages” was one of the biggest highlights of the night. She sings it with precision and intensity, making it funny, impressive, and quietly heartbreaking all at once. Justin Cooley was wonderful as Leaf Coneybear. Yes, it is very much the same sweet, awkward energy he brought to Kimberly Akimbo, and that is exactly why it works so well here. He is genuinely funny and completely lovable.

The rest of the cast is just as strong. Lilli Cooper is confident and grounded as Rona Lisa Peretti. Jason Kravits is perfectly dry and sarcastic as Vice Principal Douglas Panch. Autumn Best brings sharpness and emotional specificity to Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre. Matt Manuel adds warmth and sincerity as Mitch Mahoney, grounding the show when it needs it most.

The audience participation remains one of the great joys of this piece. Bringing audience members onstage as additional spellers adds a communal, unpredictable energy that makes each performance feel special. It never feels gimmicky. It feels like the show opening its arms wider.

Director and choreographer Danny Mefford did an amazing job with this revival. The staging is clean, playful, and emotionally clear. Nothing feels overworked. Every choice serves the story and the characters. This production understands the delicate balance of comedy and sincerity that makes Spelling Bee work, and it nails it.

All my favorite songs landed hard. “Magic Foot” was electric. “I’m Not That Smart” hit deeper than expected. “I Speak Six Languages” was pure delight. And “The I Love You Song” stopped time. The show is currently set for a limited run through February 15, 2026, and I truly hope it gets extended. I loved it and am already planning to see it again as soon as I possibly can.

I saw Pygmalion presented by Gingold Theatrical Group at Theatre Row on October 30 at 7pm, and I really enjoyed it. I went in not knowing the play well, but I am familiar with the work of George Bernard Shaw, which is what pulled me in. The piece holds up beautifully. It is smart, sharp, and surprisingly accessible.

At its core, Pygmalion tells the story of Eliza Doolittle, a working class flower seller with a strong Cockney accent who becomes the subject of a social experiment. Professor Henry Higgins, a phonetics expert, claims he can teach her to speak like an upper class woman. He treats this as a technical puzzle rather than a human relationship. A bet drives the action. If Eliza can pass as a duchess in high society, Higgins wins. Eliza, meanwhile, is the one who bears the cost of the experiment.

On the surface, the play is about language and class. Shaw makes it painfully clear how speech controls access to power, money, and respect. Accent shapes how people are treated far more than intelligence or character. Watching this play now, that observation still lands hard. The idea that sounding and acting “right” opens doors while everything else is secondary feels as relevant as ever.

Dig a little deeper and the play becomes a critique of arrogance and casual cruelty. Higgins never really sees Eliza as a person. He sees a project. Eliza’s transformation is not just external. She gains self respect and begins to understand her own worth, which is something Higgins never anticipates or fully understands. The play argues that class divisions are artificial and that true growth comes from being treated as fully human, not from successfully imitating someone else’s status.

Most of the cast was strong, with only a few minor hiccups. Performances felt grounded and clear, and the language was delivered in a way that made Shaw’s ideas easy to follow without sanding off their bite. The production trusted the text, which I appreciated.

The set was simple but very effective, looming in a way that subtly reinforced the power dynamics at play. Nothing felt overdesigned. The focus stayed where it belonged, on the ideas and the people caught inside them. This was a thoughtful, well acted production that reminded me why Shaw endures and why Pygmalion continues to be worth revisiting.

I saw Exorcistic: The Rock Musical at The Asylum NYC on September 24, 2025, and I had a great time. This show is a campy, self-aware parody of The Exorcist that blends horror, rock, comedy, and chaos into a uniquely wild night of theater. It has a show-within-a-show structure where a struggling troupe stages a parody rock musical of the classic horror film and ends up literally summoning demons in the process, which makes for an outrageous and unpredictable ride.

The creative mind behind it is Michael Shaw Fisher, who wrote the book, music, and lyrics and even performs in the piece. The talented ensemble included Emma Hunton as the possessed “Megan,” Ethan Crystal and Jesse Merlin as the priest characters, Leigh Wulff as Megan’s mother, Steven Cutts in various roles, Jaime Lyn Beatty as the Stage Manager, Richardson Cisneros-Jones, and Hannah Bonnett rounding out the company. Their energy and commitment are infectious. They lean into the material fully, and you can feel them having fun onstage in a way that translates directly to the audience.

The show plays with the Exorcist legacy by pulling the audience into its self-aware joke machine. There are moments of fourth wall breaks, audience interaction, and rapid swings between rock, cabaret, and outrageous comedy. Some genuinely clever riffs on the source material kept me engaged, and when the production leans into its absurdity, it is hilarious. The rock-infused score is loud and shameless in all the right ways, giving the parody teeth while honoring the deranged spirit of the original.

A big part of what made this particular performance memorable was the special guest of the night: Golem from Golem Owned a Tropical Smoothie. Yes, that Golem. The musical Golem Owned a Tropical Smoothie tells the story of a non-copyright infringing creature who owns a non-copyright infringing smoothie shop in Panama City Beach, Florida, and must rally his loyal crew to save it from a smoothie-empire CEO. The show has been building momentum for a while and actually won SoHo Playhouse’s 4th Annual Lighthouse Series, which means it will get a full production in 2026. That success highlights just how fun and inventive the work is, and seeing that character drop into Exorcistic felt like a perfect crossover moment of off-beat theatre worlds.

It is by no means perfect. On some nights the sound mix can bury the lyrics under the band, and the chaos can feel crowded. Even so, the campiness and sheer inventiveness carried me through. The guest star element adds an extra layer of fun, and on the night I saw it, the energy was alive and electric. Exorcistic is messy in the best possible way — it is loud, it is ridiculous, and it knows exactly what it wants to be. If you love horror spoofs, parody musicals, and wild theatrical experiments, this is one worth keeping an eye on as it continues to evolve.

I saw Heathers: The Musical at New World Stages on the evening of September 5, 2025, and I had a good time. This was my first time seeing the show (I hadn’t seen the movie either), and the energy in the room was so strong that it became part of the experience. The cast was great and really pulled energy from the audience in a way you could feel throughout the performance, which made the whole thing fun. It’s not one of my favorite shows overall, but it definitely has some standout moments.

The show follows Veronica Sawyer as she navigates the cutthroat social world of Westerberg High and gets tangled up with the clique of ruthless, scrunchie-wearing girls known as the Heathers, then the mysterious new boy J.D., all set to catchy songs and sharp satire. The writing combines biting humor with emotional numbers, and this revival brings a mix of nostalgia, dark comedy, and surprisingly heartfelt moments.

Two scenes that really stuck with me and felt electric in performance were “Candy Store” and “Dead Girl Walking.” “Candy Store” is this big, showy ensemble number where the Heathers explain their power and status with swagger and color, and the audience loved every second of it. “Dead Girl Walking” is another fan favorite where Veronica decides to throw caution to the wind after a social blowup, and it really brought the house together with energy and laugh-through-the-roof moments.

I didn’t buy a magnet, but I still had a good time. The show knows what it is, and when it hits those big numbers with the audience feeding back into the performers, it becomes a lively night at the theater.

I saw Ginger Twinsies on August 27, at 7pm at the Orpheum Theatre, and I loved it. This is a parody of The Parent Trap, and as a 90s teen, this show felt custom built for my brain.

Russell Daniels and Aneesa Folds were perfectly cast as the twins. Their chemistry, physicality, and timing sold the entire premise. Beyond them, the whole cast was incredible. Everyone had at least one standout moment, and no one faded into the background. It felt like a company firing on all cylinders.

The comedy landed consistently. The references came fast and sharp. I caught every single one. The person I saw it with did not, coming from a different generation, and that was honestly fine. The jokes still worked even if you missed some specifics. The theater itself was dressed to pull you straight into summer camp mode, and that environmental touch really helped set the tone before the show even started.

Though it is a play, there are a couple of musical moments that absolutely brought the house down. They were smart, unexpected, and perfectly placed. This show knows exactly what it is and who it is for. I had a blast. This one hit me right in the nostalgia and did not let go.

I saw Lord Nil at Stage 42 at 7pm on August 18, 2025 with a friend who is a professional magician. I also dabbled in performance magic back in college, so I went in curious and open minded.

Here’s the problem. Even with my limited background, I could see how most of the illusions were done. That alone is not a dealbreaker. Good magic is about presentation, timing, and control of attention. This show had none of that. The methods were exposed through sloppy staging and weak framing. Worse, I spoke with several audience members afterward who had zero magic experience and still figured out multiple tricks. That is a major failure for a show built around danger and suspense.

The persona of Lord Nil did not help. He came across flat and disengaged, with no command of the room. There was no charisma, no tension, no sense that anything was actually at risk. The show insists these stunts are terrifying and life threatening. We were never scared. We were laughing. Not because the show was funny, but because the illusions were so transparent that the seriousness collapsed in on itself.

The Playbill claimed the show was headed for a Las Vegas residency. My friend and I looked into that and found no evidence beyond the performer saying it himself in interviews. It felt self promotional in a way that did the show no favors.

We shared a few laughs, but not the kind the show was aiming for. If you are presenting danger based magic, the audience has to believe you. This production never earned that belief. Instead of awe or fear, it landed somewhere between confusion and unintentional comedy.

I saw Bear Grease on July 13, 2025, at St. Luke’s Theater, formerly Playhouse 46. This is a hard review for me to write because I wanted to enjoy it. I love Grease, and I genuinely appreciate cultural reinterpretations of familiar material. On paper, this felt like something I should be rooting for. In practice, it did not work for me at all.

The biggest issue was the sound. The volume in that very small theater was overwhelming. It felt calibrated for an arena, not an intimate space. Multiple people around me commented on it during intermission. By then, my ears were already ringing. That ringing turned into tinnitus that lasted for nearly three months. It was painful. I made it halfway through the second act and had to leave. I rarely leave shows early, but I physically could not stay. Worse, the mix made the vocals hard to understand most of the time. I lost the story, the characters, and any emotional throughline because I simply could not hear the lyrics clearly (or get over how painfully loud it was).

There were also frequent meta video segments that broke immersion. These "backstage" scenes clips were clearly not filmed in the space and felt disconnected from the live performance. The show kept stopping to remind us that it was a show, but without any payoff. It did not deepen the story, sharpen the satire, or add insight. It just pulled focus away from what was happening onstage.

I believe this show is well intentioned. The concept has value, and the performers clearly care about what they are doing. But the execution worked against them. Maybe in a different venue with a radically better sound mix, my experience would have been different. I honestly do not know. I just know I left disappointed and genuinely sad about it.

I saw Joy on July 6, 2025 at the 3pm matinee at the Laurel Pels Theatre. This is an uplifting, heartfelt musical that wears its optimism proudly. It has real charm, emotional punch, and a clear desire to leave the audience feeling better than when they walked in.

I fell in love with Betsy Wolfe in & Juliet, and she is the beating heart of this show. She brings warmth, grit, and genuine likability to the role, making Joy feel human rather than mythic. Her performance carries the evening. You believe her frustration, her determination, and her refusal to give up. She makes the triumphs feel earned, not manufactured.

The musical is based on the true story of Joy Mangano, the Long Island single mother who invents the Miracle Mop and builds a business empire against overwhelming odds. The story follows her strained family dynamics, financial pressure, and the uphill battle of being taken seriously as a woman with an idea. Much of the plot centers on persistence, self belief, and carving out space in a world that constantly underestimates her. It is very much an American success story, but one grounded in exhaustion, doubt, and stubborn resilience.

What surprised me most was how emotionally connected everything felt. The scenes flowed cleanly, the storytelling was clear, and the show never lost sight of Joy’s inner life. That cohesion made the experience especially engaging. The one element that did not work for me was the cowboy western flavored music. Those songs were fine on their own, but they felt stylistically out of place with the rest of the score and the story being told. The audience around me seemed to enjoy them, so this may very well be a personal taste issue.

Overall, Joy is full of heart and sincerity. It feels like a show with real potential that could absolutely find its way to Broadway after some tightening and tonal adjustment. I left uplifted, impressed, and rooting for it to keep growing.

I bought a magnet.