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, July 25, 2013

Hunky Jeff McCarthy is a hunky lady named Lola. . .

Southern Comfort Southern Comfort - despite the provocative subject of transgender life, this isn't a show sizzling with sex. Instead the sizzle comes from the tenderness and warmth of the various one on one relationships; also from the overall closeness of this group of people who have formed a "chosen family" un

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

In a world full of religious strife, Potok's memoir still resonates

The Chosen The Chosen - Though set in a narrow Brooklyn community between 1944 and 1948, the divide between different beliefs and life styles is mor

Monday, July 22, 2013

3 new reviews from our London critic



A Season in the Congo
A Season in the Congo - Joe Wright is making political history accessible through the medium of theatre and Chiwetel Ejiofor's towering performance will have many researching Patrice Lumumba. . . Read More
 The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart
The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart -David Greigs's witty text is clever and insightful, lifting the show above the merely silly and the energy of the performances allow it to rattle along at a great pace. . . Read More
Dusa, Fish, Stas and Vi
Dusa, Fish, Stas and Vi - The Finborough has a knack for brilliant scheduling and in this revival of Pam Gems' 1970s play, Dusa, Fish, Stas and Vi I fou

Shaw would love this Pygmalion-- and so will you

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Pygmalion
Pygmalion - The exceptionally well cast and staged revival of Shaw's most popular play is closing next week. If you don't want to miss having a genuinely " loverly" time, get thee to the main stage of the Williamstown Theatre Festival as fast as you can. . . Read More

A new genre: the chamber-ama at Shakespeare & Co.


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None But the Lonely Heart: The Strange Story of Tchaikovsky and Madame von Meck
None But the Lonely Heart: The Strange Story of Tchaikovsky and Madame von Meck - if you're a music lover, and especially fond of Tchaikovsky's "Piano Trio in A Minor," rejoice. You're going to hear it all, plus several other of the Maestro's works, performed by live musicians in this concert-arama. . . Read More

We continue to graze the NYMusic Festival

The NY Music Festival 2013: - Pirates of Finance. . .Bend in the Road. . . The Awakening of Angel DeLuna . . . Life Could Be a Dream. . . Julian Po. . . Songs for a More Funnier World. . . The Brontes

3 hours of Wallace Shawn-- a trea, but not for the fainthearted

The Designated Mourner The Designated Mourner - this is a show about the imponderables, and yet we leave it with much — some would say too much — to ponder.. . . Read

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

a still timely play about a rape victim vanquishing her attacker


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Extremities
Extremities -Thrills and chills and emotional and legal quandaries! Be prepared for plenty of all in this revival of William Mastrosimone's extremely violent and tense 1980 drama about a rape that turns into a trial of the rapist, and the relationship of the intended victim and her two roommates. - Read More
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Tuesday, July 9, 2013

You don't have to know Mandarin to enjoy all this "monkey business" at Lincoln Center Summer Festival


Monkey: Journey to the West
Monkey: Journey to the West - There is more than monkey business, although there is lots of that, in this spectacular, reality cartoon re-telling of the classic 100 chapter Chinese novel. . . Read More

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Who says good live theater has to cost an arm and a leg?


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Choir Boy - The sheer dramatic and musical power that drives Choir Boy is anything but an obstacle for a theatergoer in search of a very good play Read More

Monday, July 1, 2013

An enduring crowd pleaser in Storckbridge


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The Lion in Winter
The Lion in Winter -The response at the opening night performance of James Goldman's 1966 play proves that the appeal of an evening providing a cross between a dramatic history lesson and a Spamalot-like comedy is undiminished . . . read more