DoubtAfter winning everything in sight last year, John Patrick Shanley’s pedophilia thriller-drama-parable has turned to new actors to keep running, […]
The Trouble With HarryIn The Pajama Game, Harry Connick Jr. is a stiff (with great pecs).
But he sure can work that piano.
Red Light WinterThe frequently
profane, occasionally graphic play about two old friends and their shared hooker has
rich characters, finely tuned writing, a […]
Barefoot in the ParkIt probably wasn’t in director Scott Elliott’s power to wrest a really transcendent night from this material, but he does make it a diverting one.
Straight Outta BroadwayA quarter century on, hip-hop has barely cracked the theater.
But it could be its salvation.
Offstage DramaRabbit Hole would have made a fine screenplay—so why bother putting it on Broadway?
One Is Just EnoughIn Bridge & Tunnel, Sarah Jones
avoids the solo-show death trap by brilliantly conveying more than multitudes.
Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s LifeThe Dancer’s Life turns the story of Chita Rivera’s life and career into a kind of meta-musical, with biography giving way to a mix of new and r […]
You Can’t Handle the TruthO’Neill’s A Touch of the Poet
examines our ability to delude ourselves—and what we do when we can’t.
TheaterSondheim killed as Broadway showed
a taste for butchery—not to mention molestation. Cherry Jones flew high as
a nun, while Ethan Hawke wallo […]
Metropolitan OprahThe Color Purple, polished too smooth, has nothing left but heartfelt uplift.
Seascape/Mr. MarmaladeThe couples’ relationships generate no emotional appeal, and the weighty subjects they throw around tell us little we don’t know.
Less Than ZeroThe Woman in White proves that
minimalist Lloyd Webber is
as problematic as overblown Lloyd Webber.
HamletLike two teenagers at the prom, New York’s embrace of Shakespeare is at once touching and ridiculous.
Inspiration PointThe Ruby Sunrise and RFK
prove that politics doesn’t have to mean lousy theater.
Raucous in SecaucusJersey Boys, the musical about Frankie Valli
and the Four Seasons, is surprisingly
satisfying. You got a problem with that?
The Gore CampaignSweeney Todd and See What I Wanna See pump some much-needed blood into an anemic season.
Double or NothingIn The Odd Couple, Lane stretches, Broderick cramps up, and the audience gets pretty much what it paid for.
A Soldier’s PlayAs an investigator puzzles out a black soldier’s murder in the South in 1944, Fuller shows how all of us, individually and collectively, are pri […]
Absurd Person SingularIf future Alan Ayckbourn productions seem comparatively pallid, well, it’s his own unhappy fault. In June, the playwright directed his own Priva […]
Latinologues‘We finally succeeded in making the Great White Way a little less white,” said Jujamcyn’s Jack Viertel as the company renamed a theater for Augu […]
My Life Is a DogJoe Brooks’s vanity musical is not terrible enough to be campy fun, but it’s pretty lousy all the same.
Tall HorseAt this point, who isn’t sick of puppets? They’ve been used grandly (Julie Taymor’s The Lion King), full-frontally (Avenue Q), and ingeniously ( […]
‘Naked’ AngelRichard Greenberg, warts and all, may be the best comic playwright alive.
‘Night MotherIn Fran’s Bed and Colder Than Here, families that grieve together cleave together.
Red BeadsA happy paradox: Sometimes, the more machinery you throw onstage—wires and harnesses and stagehands and puppets—the more complete the illusion s […]
SpiritThe evening’s real charm lies in its spontaneity, the sense that the actors might say or do anything, at any time.
Ms. RobotoThe witty Intelligent Design of
Jenny Chow embraces
its weirdo technophiles.
Is Tony Kushner Psychic?Amid the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, his 2003 musical ‘Caroline, or Change’ seems even more eerily prescient. “There ain’t no under ground […]
Nothing But NyetA revival of Silk Stockings brings back nostalgic memories of
Porter and Kaufman and little else.
Theater of the New EarIt was as rewarding a night as I’ve spent in the theater this year, all the more remarkable for being his stage debut.
Dedication or the Stuff of DreamsLovers of drama will have to admire the sentiment. Then they will have to wonder what in the name of precious metaphors McNally is trying to do […]
Rip. Mix. BurnLennon doesn’t work. But that’s no reason to reject the potential
of the jukebox-musical genre.
Blind FaithOedipus at Palm Springs finds the Five Lesbian Brothers in
an unusually realistic mood.
LostLe Dernier Caravansérail proves it’s
possible to mount a play about
refugees that doesn’t feel like homework.
PrimoAt the Music Box, Antony Sher walks onstage and starts talking, and 90 minutes later walks off. No scene changes, costume swaps, or co-stars ass […]
Garden of Earthly DelightsWith Central Park as its idyllic
backdrop, As You Like It is at once deeply
flawed and totally disarming.
State of the UnionIn this lively production, Somerset Maugham’s comedy of marital manners feels surprisingly modern.
The Cherry OrchardThe lively treatment lacks some emotional punch, failing to convey the full sadness of a Russian family about to lose its home. But Donaghy does […]
Gallic SymbolsJon Robin Baitz’s The Paris Letter inverts tragedy, punishing its
hero for conforming too much.
Report from LondonA tale of two musicals: The very British Billy Elliot and
the great American Guys and Dolls.
Musical SquaresElaine May’s After the Night
and the Music is sadly off-key, except for a few poignant moments.
