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      Troubled Volksbühne Theater Announces Another New Director

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      Matthias Lilienthal will take over running the Berlin playhouse, which has been lurching from crisis to crisis for years.Berlin city officials announced Friday that the theater maker Matthias Lilienthal would take over leadership of the Volksbühne, one of Europe’s most influential playhouses.Lilienthal is an established figure in German theater, having previously led major institutions in Berlin and Munich. He is set to take up the role in 2026, with a contract until 2031.At a news conference, Lilienthal announced plans to expand the theater’s dance offering. He also said he planned to feature a slate of works by international directors — a decision he described as “a conscious resistance” to rising nationalism in Germany.“Hopefully it is a joyful resistance,” he added.Many theater lovers are hoping that Lilienthal’s appointment marks the end of a prolonged period of turmoil at the Volksbühne, which has long been known for its formally daring and politically provocative works. But in recent years, the theater has been plagued by scandal and tragedy, as well as vicious conflicts about its creative direction that have mirrored broader debates about Berlin’s identity.Lilienthal is no stranger to the Volksbühne. He served as its chief dramaturg in the 1990s, when it was led by Frank Castorf, a towering figure in German theater. It was Castorf, the Volksbühne’s director from 1992 to 2017, who put the playhouse on the international map and established its reputation for high-minded, no-holds-barred performance.Matthias Lilienthal at a news conference at the Volksbühne on Friday.Soeren Stache/picture alliance via Getty ImagesWe 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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      Rami Malek and Brie Larson Try Sophocles in London

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      Sophocles is suddenly everywhere on the city’s stages. In concurrent shows, Rami Malek is playing Oedipus and Brie Larson is taking on Elektra.At the Old Vic theater in London, a tenebrous stage is lit now and again with deep, yellowy-orange hues; at its center is a stark solar orb. The effect is soothing, like being gently woken by an enormous sunrise alarm. The setting is a drought-stricken Thebes and the play is a reimagining of Sophocles’ tragedy, “Oedipus Rex,” first performed around 429 B.C. and relevant as ever in our era of vainglorious leaders.King Oedipus, played by the movie star Rami Malek — best known for his Oscar-winning performance in “Bohemian Rhapsody” — wants to figure out who killed his predecessor, Laius, in hopes that solving the mystery will bring an end to the drought. In the process, he stumbles upon a series of revelations that bear out the truth of the Oracle’s infamous prediction: that he is destined to kill his father and sleep with his mother.In this production, running through March 29, the story is set in a featureless, vaguely postapocalyptic landscape and told through a blend of drama and dance. (The Israeli choreographer Hofesh Shechter shares the directorial credit with the Old Vic’s artistic director, Matthew Warchus.) Between scenes, a chorus throws beautifully unsettling shapes to a soundtrack of moody electronic beats and pounding drums.Remi Malek, left, as Oedipus and Indira Varma as Jocasta in “Oedipus” at the Young Vic.Manuel HarlanThe dancers’ twitchy, convulsive movements and supplicatory body language evoke the plight of a suffering populace, but once the truth is out and the gods appeased, the rain comes and the chorus moves with unburdened grace under a glorious drizzle. (Set design is by Rae Smith, lighting by Tom Visser.)Malek’s assertive drawl and blithe, can-do rhetoric carry hints of President Trump. (“Whatever the Oracle gives us. … I can work with that!”) And Indira Varma brings a suitably regal poise to the role of Jocasta, who was long ago forced by Laius to abandon her baby. That child was Oedipus himself; he was rescued, adopted and went on to marry Jocasta.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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      ‘Urinetown’ Review: More Than Toilet Humor

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      The Encores! revival of the musical from Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis seems even more relevant today.About halfway through the first act of “Urinetown,” the characters Hope Cladwell and Bobby Strong reveal their emotions and desires in “Follow Your Heart.” Their names could have been lifted from a Depression-era musical, and the song itself evokes such romantic classics of that time as “I Only Have Eyes for You.”“We all want a world / Filled with peace and with joy,” Hope (the comic revelation Stephanie Styles) and Bobby (an effortlessly charismatic Jordan Fisher, fresh from a stint as Orpheus in “Hadestown”) sing in the Encores! revival that opened Wednesday night at New York City Center. “With plenty of water for each girl and boy,” they continue.You see, our lovebirds, whom Fisher and Styles portray with a precisely calibrated mix of earnestness and goofiness, live in a dystopian world where water is scarce. Exacting payment for the privilege of peeing has become a profitable business for Hope’s tycoon father, Caldwell B. Cladwell (Rainn Wilson, not quite villainous enough), the head of the Urine Good Company corporation.Bobby, on the other hand, is very much from the downtrodden side of the tracks. More specifically he’s the assistant custodian at the public toilet known as Amenity No. 9, run by the imperious Penelope Pennywise (Keala Settle, amped up to 11 as if rehearsing for Norma Desmond).The jarring reference to a commodity perhaps more essential than peace and joy in such a lovely number confirms that the “Urinetown” team of Mark Hollmann (music and lyrics) and Greg Kotis (book and lyrics) was not just a new version of Harry Warren and Al Dubin, the bards of 1930s Warner Bros. musicals. A bespoke pastiche of a specific vintage style, “Follow Your Heart” also contains a streak of modern sarcasm and political commentary that helps explain why “Urinetown” has aged so remarkably well since its premiere a little more than a quarter of a century ago.The show, which started life at the International New York Fringe Festival in 1999, had an Off Broadway run in the spring of 2001 and reopened on Broadway on Sept. 20 that same year. It won the Tony Awards for best book, original score and direction of a musical, and ran for two and a half years. The inclusion of “Urinetown” — an unlikely hit but nevertheless a hit — in Encores! underlines the mission drift of a series that used to be dedicated to flops and obscurities but nowadays simply “revisits the archives of American musical theater.”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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      ‘Urinetown’ and Other Plays and Musicals to See in February

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      Also onstage in February: Calista Flockhart in a Sam Shepard revival, boldface names in Joy Behar’s “My First Ex-Husband” and a marionette made of ice.Let some brilliant theater artists — like Jeff Hiller in “Urinetown,” Susannah Flood in “Liberation” and Tonya Pinkins in “My First Ex-Husband” — tell you a story this month. Here are 10 shows to tempt you, Off Broadway and beyond.‘Urinetown’If you are allergic to bathroom humor, Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann’s Tony Award-winning musical satire probably is not for you. Winkingly Brechtian, with echoes of Ibsen’s “An Enemy of the People,” it’s set in a dystopia where private toilets are illegal and public facilities charge for use — a situation ripe for rebellion. Directed by Teddy Bergman (“KPOP”) for New York City Center Encores!, this brief revival stars Jordan Fisher, Rainn Wilson, Keala Settle and Jeff Hiller. (Through Feb. 16, New York City Center)‘Anywhere’Ashwaty Chennatt as Antigone with a melting Oedipus in Théâtre de l’Entrouvert’s “Anywhere” at Here.Richard TermineA marionette made of ice plays a wandering, melting, disappearing Oedipus accompanied by his daughter Antigone in this puppet piece by the French company Théâtre de l’Entrouvert, which uses bits of text from Henry Bauchau’s novel “Oedipus on the Road.” Conceived and directed by Élise Vigneron, whose interest in ephemerality has led her to work repeatedly with ice puppets, it is presented with the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival as part of Basil Twist’s Dream Music Puppetry program. Recommended for ages 11 and up. (Through March 2, Here)‘My Man Kono’The New York Times once described Charlie Chaplin’s longtime assistant, Toraichi Kono, as “the keeper of his privacy.” An immigrant from Japan who made fleeting appearances in Chaplin films, this “combination valet, bodyguard and chauffeur” is the title character of Philip W. Chung’s historically based play, which follows Kono’s fortunes as he is suspected of espionage and imprisoned in an internment camp during World War II. Jeff Liu directs the world premiere for Pan Asian Repertory Theater. (Through March 9, A.R.T./New York Theaters)‘Grangeville’This new two-hander by the Obie Award winner Samuel D. Hunter (“A Case for the Existence of God”) stars Brian J. Smith and Paul Sparks as estranged brothers with different fathers, discrete wounds and far-flung lives — one in their Idaho hometown, the other in a city thousands of miles away. But they have a shared filial task: caring for their sick mother. Jack Serio (“Uncle Vanya”) directs for Signature Theater. (Through March 16, Signature Theater)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 Choreographer Chris Gattelli Sends Love Letters to His Dance Heroes

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      The dance humor in Christopher Gattelli’s shows, like “Schmigadoon!” and “Death Becomes Her,” is underpinned by affection for musical theater and its excesses.If Christopher Gattelli’s choreography looks familiar, that’s probably the point. A veteran of more than 20 Broadway shows and a devotee of movie musicals, he has an encyclopedic dance brain, a catalog of musical theater references he deploys throughout his work onstage and onscreen. Homage is his calling card.And that makes him a very clever satirist. His two current projects — the stage adaptation of the television show “Schmigadoon!,” in the Broadway Center Stage series at the Kennedy Center in Washington through Sunday; and Broadway’s “Death Becomes Her,” at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater — both feature wickedly detailed sendups of “musical theater dance.”For Gattelli, 52, those scare quotes might as well be hugs. Barbed as his dance humor can be, it’s underpinned by his affection for the genre, in spite and because of its excesses and quirks.“It’s easy to get snarky when you’re spoofing something you’re so familiar with,” he said in an interview. “It’s easy to get all the digs in. But I’m truly writing love letters to all of my dance heroes.”In his choreography for “Schmigadoon!” on AppleTV+, he all but addressed those letters by name. For the show’s first season — which followed a 21st-century couple stranded in a world where every day is a Golden Age musical — Gattelli channeled the knee-slapping, heel-clicking ebullience of the choreographers Agnes de Mille and Michael Kidd. For the second season, set in the grittier environs of “Schmicago,” he brought in the pigeon-toed slinkiness of Bob Fosse and the splayed-fingers jazz of Michael Bennett.A scene from “Schmigadoon!” at the Kennedy Center.Matthew Murphy and Evan ZimmermanWe 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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      Fun Things to Do in NYC in February 2025

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      Looking for something to do in New York? Enjoy laughs with Liza Treyger, learn about Clara Schumann, or see the Urban Bush Women in a Great Migration love story.ComedyLiza Treyger, above in her new Netflix comedy special, “Night Owl,” will host a “Show and Tell” at Union Hall on Friday.Netflix‘Show and Tell With Liza Treyger’Feb. 7 at 10 p.m. at Union Hall, 702 Union Street, Brooklyn; unionhallny.com.Hot off the heels of the debut of “Night Owl,” her hourlong comedy special on Netflix, Liza Treyger is presenting this showcase in which her funny friends joke about their most cherished possessions.Treyger, who was born in the former Soviet Union and grew up on the outskirts of Chicago, has made a name for herself in the New York City comedy scene over the past decade through her blunt appraisals of herself and society’s sexual politics. This reputation earned her an appearance on Netflix’s “Survival of the Thickest” and a consultant gig on “The Eric Andre Show.” She recently had a supporting role on an episode of the Amazon Prime Video series “Harlem.”Taking part in Treyger’s “Show and Tell” on Friday are Tommy McNamara, Drew Anderson, Marie Faustin and Molly Kearney. Tickets are $15 on Eventbrite. SEAN L. McCARTHYMusicFrom left, Why Bonnie’s Blair Howerton on guitar, Josh Malett on drums and Chance Williams on bass, in Boston in 2022. The band will be at Night Club 101 on Friday.Olivia LeonPop & RockWhy BonnieFeb. 7 at 8 p.m. at Night Club 101, 101 Avenue A, Manhattan; dice.fm.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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      A Tennessee Williams-Marlon Brando Tango, and Other Riffs on Classics

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      Three new plays onstage in Manhattan, “Kowalski,” “Mrs. Loman” and “Nina,” mine treasures of theater history.In the summer of 1947, when Marlon Brando was young, beautiful and not yet famous, the director Elia Kazan gave him $20 to get himself to Provincetown, Mass., from New York to audition for Tennessee Williams.Less than three years after bestowing “The Glass Menagerie” on the world, Williams had a new play on the fast track to Broadway: “A Streetcar Named Desire,” which needed a Stanley Kowalski. But Brando, at 23, was in no hurry to get to Cape Cod. He pocketed the travel funds, hitchhiked there and turned up at Williams’s rented beach house days late.Enticing little anecdote, isn’t it? Gregg Ostrin has taken that historical reality and run with it in “Kowalski,” a diverting new comedy that blends fact with speculation. Brandon Flynn stars as a rough and clever Brando opposite Robin Lord Taylor as a Williams whose default setting is high dudgeon.“Let me make something clear,” the playwright tells the actor in a Southern lilt that stays, thank goodness, well this side of sorghum. “You can be late for Thornton Wilder. You can be late for Bill Inge. You can even be late for Arthur Miller. But you cannot be late for me.”Directed by Colin Hanlon at the Duke on 42nd Street, “Kowalski” neatly sidesteps the largest trap lying in wait, because neither Taylor nor Flynn is doing an impersonation. Each is after an essence of his character, and finds it, satisfyingly.That’s a crucial achievement, since mining treasures of theater history to make new work is always a double-edged endeavor. Audiences, like artists, love the prospect of a show that speaks a language we have already learned; familiarity helps at the box office. But our preexisting notions of who the characters are — whether because they were real-world celebrities or because they are borrowed from canonical dramas — can make us awfully tetchy about other artists’ riffs on them.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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      Merle Louise Simon, a Sondheim Mainstay, Is Dead at 90

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      She originated roles in four of his Broadway musicals between 1959 and 1987, and won a Drama Desk Award for her performance in “Sweeney Todd.”Merle Louise Simon, an award-winning stage actor and the only person to play roles in the original Broadway productions of four Stephen Sondheim musicals, died on Jan. 11 in Lake Katrine, N.Y., in Ulster County. She was 90.Her daughter Laura Simon confirmed the death, in a nursing home.Ms. Simon — who worked for most of her career under the name Merle Louise — began her run in Sondheim shows with “Gypsy,” in 1959, and continued with “Company” (1970), “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (1979) and “Into the Woods” (1987), Mr. Sondheim and James Lapine’s interpretation of fairy tales. (Mr. Sondheim wrote the lyrics for “Gypsy” and the music and lyrics for the other shows.)Ms. Simon in 1987, in the Broadway production of the Sondheim musical “Into the Woods.”Martha Swope, via Billy Rose Theatre Division/New York Public Library“Steve had a real history with Merle,” Mr. Lapine, who directed Ms. Simon in three roles, including the Giant in “Into the Woods,” said in an email. Mr. Sondheim, he added, “loved the energy she brought to the rehearsal room and the stage. Merle was usually the smallest person in the room but always the most ebullient and with the most glorious voice.”When “Gypsy” opened, Ms. Simon had a minor role. But she was promoted in early 1960 to be the understudy to the actress playing June, one of two daughters pushed into show business by their ambitious mother, Rose, played by the powerhouse Ethel Merman.Soon after becoming the understudy, Ms. Simon went on for the actress in the role, who was ailing, and ended up becoming the full-time June.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