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      ‘The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse’ Review: Down the Y2K Clickhole

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      In Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley’s fizzy new musical, an internet sleuth searches for a pop star wannabe who went missing along with her low-rise jeans.The image is instantly familiar: Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears crammed into a car, caught in a paparazzi flash, on the cover of The New York Post. That iconic photograph, from 2006, and the inside article’s headline — “3 Bimbos of the Apocalypse” — conjures a time when Calvin Klein boxers peeked out from low-rise jeans, pop star aspirants pinned their hopes on MTV’s “Total Request Live,” and a juicy tabloid meltdown could end a career.In “The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse,” a deliciously fizzy new musical from Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley that opened Tuesday at the Pershing Square Signature Center, something is different in this version of the photo. The painted tableau of the three bimbos that looms briefly onstage contains a previously unnoticed detail: a slim wrist, at the edge of the frame, dangling a charm bracelet that spells out “Coco.”Now, in 2025, a Zillennial internet sleuth who goes by Brainworm (Milly Shapiro) fills us in: Coco was a one-hit wannabe who had uploaded her own music videos to YouTube in the hopes of going viral, or at least bacterial, before she disappeared. We see the red-maned Coco (Keri René Fuller) appear onstage in a midriff-exposing top, belting out a murderously upbeat tune. “I don’t think therefore I am!” she sings before needling her listeners: “the less you try / the more they cry out for ur bag of tricks / (they’re dumb as bricks).” The song is catchy as hell, and plays like an underdog bid for MTV immortality.Brainworm enlists the help of two other “worms” — teenage shut-ins who also spend their waking lives online — to track down Coco: Earworm (Luke Islam), who sports cat ears and decodes pop culture and fashion, and Bookworm (Patrick Nathan Falk), who sifts through media and politics from his Nebraska bedroom. Like Brainworm, who identifies as an “intersectional feminist” and specializes in tracking down missing girls, they are descendants of PerezHilton.com and Tumblr true-crime threads.Soon, they fall into a clickhole of clues. An obituary for Coco surfaces, which mentions that she “went on a bender and spiraled out of control.” Grainy flip-phone photos are studied. Is that a knife jammed into a clothing rack? Could it have been used as a murder weapon? And what to make of the “Coco” charm bracelet Brainworm received from an anonymous sender? Is it a hoax?In their search, the worms leave no monogrammed outfit unturned. (Cole McCarty’s costumes revisit the era’s rhinestone-studded jeans, velour tracksuits and garish, faux-glam accessories.) And lyrics to Coco’s song are obsessively analyzed. The best of the musical’s tunes, which includes Coco’s ecce bimbo opener as well as more speculative numbers sung by the worms in places like Walmart, have the tingle of soda pop reaching a tender spot at the back of your throat. (The music director Dan Schlosberg leads a small but mighty band upstage.)We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      In ‘Irishtown’ and ‘The Black Wolfe Tone,’ Where Are the Rolling Hills?

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      Two plays at Irish Repertory Theater, one featuring a “Derry Girls” star, explore the real and the mythical in cultural identity.In the rehearsal room of the Irishtown Players, the posters on the walls are a sampler of the company’s performance history: 20th-century classics, almost all. Brian Friel’s “Dancing at Lughnasa” is up there, of course, and Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot.” Martin McDonagh’s “The Beauty Queen of Leenane,” too, and Conor McPherson’s “The Weir.”The only unfamiliar title, “The Happy Leper of Larne,” almost winks from its frame, suggesting a maudlin-cheery cousin to “The Cripple of Inishmaan.”For the Irishtown Players — the fictional Dublin troupe at the center of Ciara Elizabeth Smyth’s new backstage comedy, “Irishtown” — “The Happy Leper” was a hit. Now some producers are bringing the company to Broadway in the author’s follow-up play. But with mere weeks until they leave for New York, the playwright, Aisling (Brenda Meaney), has gone rogue. Her just-delivered script is a contemporary legal drama about sexual assault, set in England.To Constance (a flawlessly funny Kate Burton), the ranking company member, such a play is not Irish at all.Poppy (Angela Reed), the play’s British director, points out that by definition it is, because Aisling is.“Yes,” Constance allows, her voice rising theatrically, “but where are the rolling hills, where is the bar, why is everyone alive?”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Review: Hugh Jackman in a Twisty Tale of ‘Sexual Misconduct’

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      A new play about a middle-age professor and his teenage student forces you to ask: Who’s grooming whom?We first see the willowy Ella Beatty, half of the cast of “Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes,” lugging furniture onto the stage of the Minetta Lane Theater. If you’ve heard that the play, by Hannah Moscovitch, is part of an Off Broadway experiment called Audible x Together — featuring big names, spare décor, short runs and rock-bottom prices — you may find yourself wondering whether the backers had penny-pinched on a crew. If so, they might have let the other half of the cast do the lugging: Hugh Jackman has the guns.But the backers — Audible is a division of Amazon and Together is Jackman’s venture with the hugely successful producer Sonia Friedman — are not exactly impoverished. Art, not parsimony, is the source of Beatty’s labors. Setting the stage for the terrific, tightly plaited knot of a play, the curious opening will pay off later. So will every seemingly casual moment of Ian Rickson’s long-game staging, from lighting (by Isabella Byrd) that often, weirdly, illuminates the audience, to Jackman’s manhandling of an actual lawn mower.Jackman plays Jon Macklem, a critically acclaimed yet best-selling author who teaches literature at a “world class college.” He has not had as much success in his domestic career, being the kind of Kerouac cliché who spends years, as he puts it, “racking up ex-wives like a maniac.” Currently he is separated from his third.Soon another cliché enters: the “grossly underwritten” sex-object character that lust-addled novelists (a description Macklem cops to) write about to “expose their mediocrity.” That’s Beatty’s Annie. Though she is a 19-year-old student in one of his classes, and he is starting to grizzle at the edges, their affair begins.“The erotics of pedagogy,” Macklem, only half-mortified by the phrase, explains.It is here you may say to yourself: I’ve seen this before. The questionable relationship between male mentors and female students is almost its own genre in plays (“Oleanna”) and novels (“Disgrace”) — perhaps because it is almost its own genre in life. (I immediately thought of Joyce Maynard and J.D. Salinger.) But Moscovitch clearly wants to complicate that narrative by shaping it almost entirely from the man’s point of view. Macklem speaks perhaps 80 percent of the words in the play, spinning long, disarming, verbally dexterous monologues. Annie’s lines are more like this: “I shouldn’t / I don’t know why I / Said that / Sorry I’m mm.”The thrill of this production, our critic writes, is that it doesn’t tell you what to think but, in its big payoff, gives you plenty to consider.Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Review: Will ‘The Death of Rasputin’ Have a Cult Following?

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      The immersive production on Governors Island is an attempt to fill the void left by “Sleep No More” and “Life and Trust.”There was an orgy in the next room. Or possibly a riot. Upstairs the aristocracy colluded. Downstairs the workers plotted. Norms were flouted, alternative medicine practiced. The world tumbled toward anarchy and decadence. Honestly, there are worse ways to spend an evening.This was “The Death of Rasputin,” an immersive event created by the collective Artemis Is Burning and staged in an arts building on Governors Island. The much delayed closing of “Sleep No More” in January and the more abrupt shuttering of “Life and Trust” last month have left a vacuum in the immersive scene. “The Death of Rasputin,” which runs through the end of May, is one attempt to fill it. (The bar offerings — pierogi, spicy pickles, an elevated White Russian — are another.) With 10 performers, this show is smaller in scale than those others, but even on a limited budget, it glimmers like a Fabergé egg. Especially if you don’t look too closely at the jewels.Jake Ryan Lozano, center, as Grigory Rasputin, the Russian mystic.Maria BaranovaConceived and directed by Ashley Brett Chipman and written by Chipman and three others, the show is set, loosely, in St. Petersburg (a.k.a. Petrograd) in 1916. Most of the scenes, even the more outré ones, have some basis in fact, though Artemis takes a relaxed approach to language and chronology. Broadly, the shows is in thrall to Grigory Rasputin, the mystic who exerted an unhealthy influence on the Romanov royal family in the years just before the Russian Revolution. His sway unsettled several aristocrats, who conspired in his murder. Legend has it that he was poisoned, shot, bludgeoned, then finally drowned in the Neva River. (The real story is probably duller.)The performance begins with a ride to the island. Ticket holders are instructed to wear black and embrace Romanov chic, albeit in comfortable shoes, which looks a little funny in the electric light of the ferry, a cult afloat. After coat check and perhaps a drink at the bar, there is an introductory scene, then participants can roam at will across two floors and a dozen or so environments in a single building.In structure and style, “The Death of Rasputin” doesn’t diverge too much from recent immersive offerings. There are drawers to poke through, letters to read, eldritch items to caress, a secret passage or two, performers to chase. (Unless you are very, very fast, sightlines remain a problem.) There is also lots of dance fighting and hanky-panky, though in a welcome departure, the characters speak and pains have been taken to offer audiences a coherent experience.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      13 Off Broadway Shows to See in May

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      Hugh Jackman in “Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes” and Maya Hawke in the title role of “Eurydice” — here’s what’s on New York stages this month.‘Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes’ / ‘Creditors’Together, a new company founded by Hugh Jackman and the producer Sonia Friedman, kicks off with two plays presented in repertory at the Minetta Lane Theater, in collaboration with Audible. Jackman himself stars in Hannah Moscovitch’s “Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes” alongside Ella Beatty — and when was the last time we saw him in such an intimate space? Starting May 10, the show will alternate with a new adaptation of August Strindberg’s “Creditors” by Jen Silverman (“The Roommate”), starring Liev Schreiber, Maggie Siff and Justice Smith. Both productions are directed by Ian Rickson. (Through June 18, Minetta Lane Theater)‘Goddess’Michael Thurber and Saheem Ali’s new musical, with additional book material by James Ijames, is set in a nightclub in Mombasa, Kenya. Ali directs at the Public Theater, where he staged Ijames’s hit play “Fat Ham” before it transferred to Broadway. Amber Iman (“Lempicka”) plays Nadira, a singer who actually is the title deity, Marimba, the ruler of music. (Through June 8, Public Theater)‘Bowl EP’Skating? Been there, done that onstage, from “Starlight Express” to “Kimberly Akimbo.” Skateboarding is a much rarer beast. Now the Vineyard Theater is getting an in-the-round makeover to accommodate Nazareth Hassan’s new play about hip-hop and the culture that gave us ollies and airwalks. A co-production with National Black Theater in association with the New Group. (Through June 8, Vineyard Theater)‘Lights Out: Nat “King” Cole’Daniel J. Watts, left, and Dulé Hill in “Lights Out: Nat ‘King’ Cole.”Marc J. FranklinYou can’t blame Colman Domingo (“Rustin,” “Sing Sing”) for focusing on acting these past few years — he’s getting the recognition and roles he’s long deserved. Still, it’s nice to see him return to playwriting, in collaboration with Patricia McGregor (who also directed). The story — enhanced with musical numbers — takes place in 1957, on the last night of the TV show hosted by the silky voiced Nat “King” Cole (Dulé Hill). He has just quit after enduring constant bigotry and pressure from the network and national advertisers, and has a lot on his mind. Daniel J. Watts also stars as Sammy Davis Jr. (Through June 29, New York Theater Workshop)‘The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse’The title of this new musical by Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley (“Circle Jerk”) is a reference to a New York Post headline from 2006 about Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears. The show imagines that the unholy trinity actually was a quartet — but whatever happened to the last member? An internet sleuth is played by Milly Shapiro, herself one of the four little girls who won Tony Honors for Excellence in Theater in 2013 when they alternated in the lead role of “Matilda the Musical.” (Through June 8; The New Group)We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Branden Jacobs-Jenkins on Winning a Pulitzer for ‘Purpose’

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      “It’s the most surreal day ever,” the playwright said as he learned the news while getting ready to attend his first Met Gala.Branden Jacobs-Jenkins was getting ready for his first Met Gala on Monday afternoon when he got the news: his latest play, “Purpose,” which is now on Broadway, won this year’s Pulitzer Prize for drama.The Pulitzer board described “Purpose” as “a play about the complex dynamics and legacy of an upper middle class African-American family,” and praised it as “a skillful blend of drama and comedy that probes how different generations define heritage.”The other finalists were Cole Escola’s “Oh, Mary!,” which is also running on Broadway, and “The Ally,” by Itamar Moses, which had an Off Broadway run last year at the Public Theater.Jacobs-Jenkins, 40, has been a Pulitzer finalist twice before, for “Gloria” in 2016 and for “Everybody” in 2018, and last year he won a Tony Award for “Appropriate.” In 2016 he also won a so-called genius grant from the MacArthur Foundation.He grew up in Washington, D.C., and now lives in Brooklyn. “An Octoroon” and “The Comeuppance” are among his other well-received works.“Purpose,” directed by Phylicia Rashad, was first staged last year by Steppenwolf Theater Company in Chicago, which had commissioned the play; Jacobs-Jenkins wrote it for the company’s actors. The Broadway production opened in March, and has been nominated for six Tonys, including best play.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘The United States vs Ulysses’ Review: The Case That Won’t Go Away

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      When James Joyce’s masterpiece faced banning, the American justice system came to the rescue. A new play wonders if it would today.Though it was a civil case, the defendant faced capital punishment.Or so the defendant’s attorney, Morris Ernst, argued, because his client was a book. And not just any book, but a particular copy of James Joyce’s “Ulysses” that had been impounded at U.S. Customs and charged with obscenity.“If the book loses,” Ernst proclaimed, “it will be destroyed — burned — hanged by the neck until it is dead.”Ernst’s florid oratory in United States v. One Book Called Ulysses was successful. On Dec. 6, 1933, as soon as the judge, John Munro Woolsey, delivered his decision finding “Ulysses” not obscene — thus permitting a hardback of the French edition to pass through customs — Random House began typesetting an American version, the first to be published in an English-speaking country. Woolsey’s landmark order, along with a foreword by Ernst calling it a “body-blow for the censors,” is included in most copies of “Ulysses” to this day.Lawyers and judges are not typically heroes in literature, and of late almost never in plays. They are mostly depicted as preening and eely. Yet in “The United States vs Ulysses,” a play by Colin Murphy now at the Irish Arts Center in Manhattan, Ernst and Woolsey (if not Samuel Coleman, who represented the government) are offered as paragons of progressivism in action. Indeed, the playwright has elevated them almost to the level of Joyce himself.And yet for all its worthiness, liberal uplift and pressing topicality, the play, directed by Conall Morrison, proves just how unmatchable Joyce remains. Murphy’s complicated schema, though less complicated than that of “Ulysses,” is ultimately less expressive, as nearly anything would be. Its account of the trial, drawn from transcripts and other historical sources, is but the middle of three shells. The innermost shell is “Ulysses” itself, represented by passages either specifically mentioned in court (like the scandalous “Nausicaa” episode) or thematically relevant to the proceedings (like the fantastical trial of Leopold Bloom, the novel’s main character, in “Circe”).The outermost shell introduces another unlikely hero these days: the media. The play is set two days after Woolsey’s verdict, as the five-person cast of the CBS radio program “The March of Time” awaits the scripts for that evening’s live episode. With the help of sound effects from the foley table — gavel bangs, telegraph taps — the voice actors will play all the roles, both in the courtroom and in the dramatized “Ulysses” segments. Even their director will chip in, playing Bloom.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Goddess’ Brings Kenyan Folklore to New York

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      In “Goddess,” an original musical about a mysterious singer in Mombasa, Kenya, Moto Moto is not just an Afro-jazz nightclub, it’s a great equalizer, where Kenyans of all faiths, tribes and social classes shake and spin their bodies in rapture.“I’ve literally met the loves of my life on dance floors,” the director Saheem Ali said. “So I understand the power of a life-changing event that happens in a space of communal dancing and joy.”It’s that electric sense of belonging that Ali sought to recreate in “Goddess,” now in previews at the Public Theater after an 18-year development process.“My first child is Liban,” Ali said to his cast on the first day of rehearsal for “Goddess.” “He was born in 2006.”“My second child is ‘Goddess,’” he said, referring to the musical. “And she was born in 2007. Eighteen years, never again for one show.” (It arrives on the heels of his Broadway production of “Buena Vista Social Club,” the lively stage adaptation of the beloved 1997 album that is set in Havana nightclubs and was nominated for 10 Tony Awards, including for Ali’s direction.)Creating an original musical from scratch is its own tall order. And at the heart of this passion project is the African folklore myth of Marimba, the goddess of music who created songs from heartbreak. It took Ali years to find the right collaborators and hone the plot.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More