Curtainup Founder & Editor Elyse Sommer's Epilogue -- I've passed the torch for reviewing and editing new theater productions on and off-Broadway and elsewhere. However, I'll continue to sound off here with my take on Live and Onscreen Entertainment. As for Curtainup's extensive content since 1996-- it's all sill available at www.curtainup.com

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Graeter's Ice Cream: The real star of Dead Accounts

Dead Accounts Dead Accounts - Theresa Rebeck's you can/can't go home agan tragi-comedy is likely to make you wish Graeter's would open an ice cream chain in Manhattan

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

A Kosher Story with Universal appeal. . .

My Name is Asher Lev My Name is Asher Lev - You don't have to be Jewish to relate to Asher Le's conflict of reconciling his allegiance to and comfort in his ultra orthodox upbringing and his need to fulfill his extraordinary gift as an artist. . . . Read More

Friday, November 23, 2012

Curtainup'.com in London


The Dark Earth and the Light Sky
The Dark Earth and the Light Sky - Richard Eyre directs Nick Dear’s biographical play about the Edwardian poet Edward Thomas who started writing poetry in 1914 and who died in 1917 in the First World War. . . . Read More


Sweet Smell of Success
Sweet Smell of Success - It’s sadly easy to see why success eluded the show on Broadway; one can only hope for the sake of the hardworking team behind this latest incarnation that the title is a little more apt this time. . . . Read More

People
People Nicholas Hytner directs Alan Benett's assuredly and the performances are outstanding. - . . . Read More

Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya - This production yawns from the first interminable act. . . . Read More

Sunday, November 18, 2012

A winning revival of Augustw Wilson's Pulitzer Prize Winner

The Piano LessonĀ  The Piano Lesson  - the 1990 Pulitzer Prize–winning drama by August Wilson, that is now having a stirring revival at the Signature Theater. . . . Read More

Saturday, November 17, 2012

We review Cusi Crum's new play



Radiance
Radiance - not Labrynth Theater Company's usual dramatically gritty play, but a worthy dramatic consideration of how the dark side of man’s nature was able to forever change the course of human destiny. . . .

Friday, November 16, 2012

A mercifully quick death for The Performers

The Performers The Perfomers - To an early grave-- closing 11/18 , 7 days after it opened . . . Read More

A thriller that fails to thrill




The Good Mother
The Good Mother - Gretchen Mol is compellingas the title character. If only the play she's in were more compelling. . . . Read More

At last, a substantial new musical

 Giant Giant - In a season dominated by musical revivals, a new musical that more than lives up to its title, has finally opened . . . Read More

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

My candidate for the best theatrical bargain around



 Disgraced
Disgraced - Ayad Akhtar may see his reputation as a playwright soar by this gripping, unsettling play that shows us how easy it is for well-educated, socially sophisticated, politically savvy people to loose their cool and their sense of perspective when it comes to matters concerning religious beliefs, social standing, and cultural identity

Hwang's play better now than the original




 Golden Child
Golden Child - Whether you've seen it before or not, Golden Child at the Signature is a golden opportunity to catch two hours of solid, entertaining theater. . . .

My candidate for the most fun new/old show




The Mystery of Edwin Drood
the Mystery of Edwin Drood - It's more mischievous than mysterious, but it offers, a couple of wonderfully undemanding hours of entertainment in the grand old tradition of the English music hall. . . . Read More

My candidate for most unnecessary new play



The Performers
The Perfomers - Blessed as this new comedy is with a first-class cast, the insipid story with its desperate to titillate porn film background simply isn't the edgy, Broadway worthy comedy it aims to be — unless you adjust H. L. Mencken's famous quote to "you can't go wrong underestimating the taste of Broadway theater goers." . . . Read More

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Chekhov's first play well worth seeing

 Ivanov Ivanov Though even the cleverest and most Chekhov savvy director can't transform Ivanov from being a duckling among Chekhov's swans, Classic Stage has given its production the swan treatment. . . . Read More

Monday, November 5, 2012

A whale-sized man is hard to look at-- or away from

 The Whale The Whale - Samuel D. Hunter's touching yet repellent, sad but also funny new play, with a riveting performance by Shuler Hensley . . . Read More

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Movie & Masterpiece stars Make The Heiress new again

 The Heiress - while we've had a plethora of revivals, this one makes a strong case for not relegating the well-made genre — at least not the one with solid literary roots — to the theatrical dustbin. At close to three hours, this revival flies by, more satisfyingly than a lot of today's stylishly trim ninety-minute plays . . . Read More