REVIEW: “Of Mice and Men” at the New York State Theatre Institute

Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, November 2008 The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ menGang aft agley,An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,For promis’d joy! – Robert Burns When Of Mice and Men was first published in 1937, it was termed a “novella” – a little novel – and it was,…

REVIEW: “Arsenic and Old Lace” at the New York State Theatre Institute

Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, October 2007 Alas, poor Mortimer Brewster (Jason Marr). A recalcitrant theatre critic for a major New York newspaper, on the very night he has to go and review “Murder Will Out” he “outs” several murderers in his own extended family. Of course, as Mortimer says,…

REVIEW: “The Cat, The Sun, and The Mirror” at the New York State Theatre Institute

Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, June 2006 It is a sad comment on how we prioritize our arts dollars that I am used to seeing even the very best children’s theatre presented with fairly low-budget production values. So NYSTI’s top-flight production of The Cat, the Sun, and the Mirror, a new…