Spring Awakening's Sater & Sheik premiere a new-old play in the Berkshires

Arms On Fire - It's quite a coup for the theater company that calls the Chester Town Hall home to be presenting the world premiere of Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik's latest collaboration . But, while the play's very brief run clearly has its eye on a longer life, this production is

A new life for a NYMusic Festival hit

Unlock'd -Prospect Theater Company's family friendly, tuneful musical at the DukeRead More

David Morse makes this mini-Madoff saga worth seeing

The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin- Steven Levenson's terrific play focuses on Tom Durnin's return from prison hoping to find a way back into the livesof his immediate family, who might prefer to never see him again.Read More

A rarely done Williams play-- well done

Tennessee Williams'Two Character Play - How fortunate we are to have this under-valued play back with these players and this director.Read More

A foolproof good time with the Bard in Central Park

The Comedy of Errors -Daniel Sullivan and his collaborators, both on stage and off, have committed no errors in this fine rendition of The Comedy of Errors. Perhaps as easily accessible as any of Shakespeare's works, and also as overflowing with genuinely entertaining fun as any, it's a pretty foolproof play to pull off successfully. Some people crave challenges, however, and Sullivan and company have thus added several challenges of their own invention to the mix. Happily, they meet all of them. Read More

Barringston Stage's stunning season opener

On the Town - Barrington Stage Company's salute to the great American Broadway musical tradition is a stunning production. Its soaring and, at times, almost operatic score by Leonard Bernstein with book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, beats its way onto the stage in a lusty, good natured throb of acrobatic dancing, double entendres and romantic longing played against the backdrop of the always wakeful and pulsating New York City . . . Read More

DC Tweet Peeks

Anything Goes- The national tour of the Roundabout's Tony-winning and audience-pleasing production is docked at Washington's Kennedy Center until July 7 th. . .

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The Hampton Years - Theater J is to be commended for its Locally Grown program that nurtures plays by Washington playwrights who deal with issues that go beyond the Jewish experience. . . Read More

Company - Matthew Scott, a very fine actor, glorious singer and good dancer is perfectly cast as Bobby in this une

Review of play about James Joyce

Gibraltar - Given up on reading James Joyce's Ulysses? Well, take heart. Patrick Fitzgerald has taken on the formidable task of adapting this literary juggernaut into a two-character play that scratches beneath the surface of Leopold and Molly Bloom's inglorious marriage and turns it into a life-affirming theater portrait. Read More

You don't have to like hip-hop to enjoy Venice

Venice - I've seen my share of Shakespeare plays at the Public Theater. But but never as a rap and hip hop driven musical. This very loose take on Othello now at the Public's Anspacher is a far cry from Liev Schreiber's riveting Iago also seen at the Public's Anspacher, though a dozen years ago. Like that production, this one will rank high on my list of most memorable shows. Eric Rosen's book locates his Othello-inspired characters in a war-torn Venice some time in the near future. Composer Matt Sax has managed to marry the pulsating beat of hip-hop, rock and quieter more traditional musical theater melodies plus his and Rosen's rap-infused lyrics had me rethink my lack of enthusiasm for hip-hop. . . . Read More

Our coverage of the EST one act play marathon

Curtainup critic   william Coyle has now completed  his coverage of the annual EST  Marathon of One-Act Plays.  www.curtainupmarathon2013c.html

CurtainupNewLinks: A new little Mermaid in NJ

CurtainupNewLinks: A new little Mermaid in NJ: The Little Mermaid - Whatever were the major issues that plagued the stage version of the popular 1989 cartoon featu...

A new little Mermaid in NJ

The Little Mermaid - Whatever were the major issues that plagued the stage version of the popular 1989 cartoon feature when it first opened on Broadway in 2008 seem to have been mainly and commendably resolved in this newly conceived staging at the Paper Mill Playhouse.

Octegenarian Tony Winner

The Trip to Bountiful -. Cicely Tyson nabbed a Best Actress TonyExtended for an additional 8 weeks, to Sept.1st!. . .

Peek Tweets at Curtainup's recent London reviw

Rutherford and SonNorthern Broadsides' production stars its Artistic Director Barrie Rutted as the brutal patriarch of the glassworks now set in Halifax, Yorkshire. This has been translated for this production from playwright Githa Sowerby's home in the north east but the family set up is recognisable everywhere. Read More

Midsummer Night's Dream - Dominic Dromgoole directs a new production at Shakespeare's Globe on the South Bank starring Michelle Terry in the dual roles of Hippolyta and Titania and John Light as her consort, Theseus and Oberon. . Read More

Chimerica - Lucy Kirkwood's play satisfies at many levels. Political ideas are discussed, facts given about business and pollution, Chinese population policy and the crackdown by the Chinese police against information supplied to Western journalists shown, while never letting go of the search for the man with the shopping bags who stopped the tanks. It's also very exciting visually. . . Read More

Disgraced - Ayab Akhtar's Pulitzer

Neal LaBute's latest look at blue collar lives

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Reasons to Be Happy - Neil LaBute devotees will find plenty of reasons to be happy that he's re-visiting the messy lives of two working class couples in an anywhere USA suburb. . .Read More

Another off-Broadway review

The Silver Cord - Mrs. Phelps in Sidney Howard's 1926 play is far from a stereotypical cartoon. This mother is pathologically possessive, taking mother love for her two sons dangerously over the top. . .Read More

3 latest OffBroadway reviews

Reasons to Be Happy - Neil LaBute devotees will find plenty of reasons to be happy that he's re-visiting the messy lives of two working class couples in an anywhere USA suburb. . .Read More

Cornelius - J.B. Priestley's play about a British import company's obsolescence in the face of a changing business practices and the Great Depression, is a highlight of this year's Brits Off-Broadway Festival. Like An Inspector Calls, it was written for Sir Ralph Richardson but the play does not need a world renowned star to bring fresh life to the play's title character, one of the partners of the firm in its death throes. . Read More

A Picture of Autumn - The Denham family of Winton Manor in N.C. Hunter's play might bring to mind the Crawleys of Downton Abbey three decades later and considerably poorer. England has struggled through industrialization, growing cities, and the ri

Far From Heaven --mostly for new, poperatic musical fans

Far From Heaven - The changes between the show's trial run at Williamstown and its arrival at Playwrights Horizon while not enormous, are substantial enough to make my second viewing a more emotionally compelling and generally engaging experience