David Cote, New York Observer

David Cote

New York Observer

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Recent:
  • Unknown
Past:
  • New York Observer
  • Time Out New York

Past articles by David:

Review: To Be or Not to Be at the Public’s ‘Hamlet’ in Central Park?

Singing! Rapping! Demonic possession! Kenny Leon’s direction of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy has welcome, lively touches, but overall the staging feels undercooked. → Read More

Review: Alex Edelman Noshes With The Enemy In The Hilarious ‘Just For Us’

In this one-man autobiographical show, an Orthodox Jewish comic attends a white supremacist meet-up and comes away with thoughts (and jokes) about “the way the world is right now.” → Read More

Review: ‘Once Upon A One More Time’ Won’t Leave Britney Alone!

This family-friendly jukebox musical cobbled around Britney Spears songs see a group of classic fairytale princesses rebelling against a faithless Prince. But it's more marketing gimmick than fractured, feminist fairytale. → Read More

Review: Broadway’s ‘Grey House’ Raids the Grave for Horror Clichés

There’s a point here — men do terrible things and the universe will have revenge — but it’s buried in a pretentious trauma-drama using horror tropes to diminishing effect. → Read More

Review: In ‘Primary Trust,’ Grief Is the Thing with Tiki Bars

Eboni Booth’s portrait of one man’s loneliness and the danger of coping mechanisms will restore your faith in theater’s elemental storytelling powers. And make you cry. → Read More

Review: Soggy Film-to-Stage ‘Monsoon Wedding: The Musical’

Director Mira Nair turns her own layered 2001 film into a sitcom that transitions awkwardly into musical numbers. → Read More

Review: Jodie Comer Sees Both Faces of the Law in the Powerful Prima Facie

Comer’s astoundingly fluid, musical and passionate performance leaves nothing on the field. → Read More

‘Peter Pan Goes Wrong’ Is a Magical Comedy Disaster

This play-within-a-play is full of topsy-turvy chaos that makes you think of Basil Fawlty stumbling into a community theater. Comparisons to British comedy icons—from Monty Python to Mighty Boosh— are inevitable. → Read More

Camelot’s Round Table Looks Pretty Square at Lincoln Center

This revival — with a new book by Aaron Sorkin — is spare, drab and somehow takes the Lerner and Loewe classic both too literally and not seriously enough. → Read More

Review: A Decluttered Doll’s House Speaks to Our Alienated Times

A chilly, restrained minimalism marks this Broadway adaptation of Ibsen, starring Jessica Chastain. → Read More

Spring Opera and Dance Preview: 12 Reasons To Jump And Sing

From an opera about a rising boxer to dance inspired by Kandinsky’s watercolors, this season pushes boundaries in all directions. → Read More

Spring Theater Preview: A Dozen Great Shows Bloom On Broadway (And Off)

A pop star becomes a demon barber, a TV assassin turns attorney, and Hamlet gets a Black, queer makeover — those are just a few of the miraculous transformations the theater has in store the next few months. → Read More

Review: Send West Village Café Musical ‘Cornelia Street’ Back To The Kitchen

A talented cast is trapped by cringe material in this show about quirky urbanites trying to survive in New York City, with songs from Mark Eitzel of American Music Club and a book by British playwright Simon Stephens. → Read More

‘Pictures From Home’ Review: Unfocused And Underexposed

Sharr White's Broadway adaptation of Larry Sultan's photo memoir is part sitcom — with laugh lines for Nathan Lane — and part family weepie. There's no intimacy amidst the broad strokes and bathos. → Read More

Review: God And Man At Applebee’s In ‘Field of Mars’

Riffing on the origin of humanity, Richard Maxwell crams a lot into a family restaurant. → Read More

Review: ‘A Beautiful Noise’ Is A Portrait of The Rock Star As Depressed Senior Citizen

This sloppy Broadway embrace of Neil Diamond is a jukebox musical in search of a plot. → Read More

Review: Robert Icke’s ‘Oresteia’ Skillfully Brings Greek Tragedy to Today’s Crises

At Park Avenue Armory, writer-director Robert Icke transforms Greek tragedy ‘Oresteia’ for a more postmodern audience. → Read More

Review: A Weak Adaptation of a Rapidly Aging ‘The Kite Runner’ at Hayes Theater

The bestselling novel ‘The Kite Runner’ has been adapted marvelously for screen and now for stage yet a weak adaptation does it no justice. → Read More

Review: Danai Gurira Carves a Bloody Path Through an Otherwise Lacking ‘Richard III’

Shakespeare adaptations come with a certain pressure, with some more successful than others. ‘Richard III’ struggles to make the cut. → Read More

Review: ‘Into the Woods’ Still Casts a Sensational Spell on Broadway

Revivals of Sondheim can be mixed business due to the pressure of his legacy yet some revivals. ‘Into the Woods’ does his legacy justice. → Read More