An all female, senior cast revitalizes old favorite

I Remember Mama - If you've been following the Transport Group's work, you'll recognize this re-conceptualized revival as yet another example of the company's mission of "visually progressive productions of emotionally classic stories"

The crooked spider in a Mandarin version

Richard III - Shakespeare in Mandarin . . Read More

House of Cards scribe with so-so off-Broadway play

Breathing Time - House of Cards writer Beau Willimon's play has a compelling premise, but whether the play delivers in the execution is another story. . . Read More

Pennington outLears all Lears

King Lear at TFNA - For a Lear that speaks to the domestic home front, don't miss English classical actor Michael Pennington .

A lively take on an old literary feud

Hellman V. McCarthy - Dick Cavett adds to the fun of this new drama about the literary feud that began on his TV talk show. . Read More

Early Durang play fails to sizzle

Beyond Therapy - The Tony winning cleverness of Christopher Durang's Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike has not rubbed off on his once shocking absurdist comedy

A truly funny Shakespeare ripoff-mashup

These Paper Bullets - Ripoffs, mash-ups and re-imaginings of works by the Bard are nothing new, but rarely has the marriage between the classic and the contemporary been such fun . . . Read More

Angela Lansbury Wows the Brits. . .

Blithe Spirit - Noel Coward's script is well conceived and stands the test of time, and so does Angela Lansbury as his eccentric spiritualist Madame Arcati. . . Read Mo

A stunning new Les Miz

Les Miserables - A superb cast and fabulous new stage concept give this mega musical an exciting new life . . Read More

This magic carpet should transport families to Broadway for quite a spell

Disney Theatrical's bright, lively, tuneful and also very funny stage adaptation of its hugely successful 1992 cartoon film Aladdin, unapologetically asserts itself as a spoof-enhanced stage cartoon. No

Bracing for the pre-Tony rush. . .

two more Off-Broadway shows -- TACT's  revival of  Beyond Therapy,  and Dick Cavett  re-hosting his famous  Hellman/McCarthy interview.  Then, it's  the big pre-Tony crush of Broadway opening  to  have me dancing as fast as I can:   to Les Miz  (yes, again!),   Mothers & Sons,  the stage version of Disney's  animated hit, Aladdin  (which actually  has its originals long before Disney!)

An old-fashioned period drama--& it's got Nina Arianda

Tales From Red Vienna - An old-fashioned costume drama, complete with two intermissions . . Read Mo

A devilishly clever new look at the dysfunctional family drama

Appropriate -an original and funny yet serious take on the much done dysfunctional family genre. .

The dysfunctional family reigns at Pershing Square Signature Center

The dysfunctional  family is alive and well at the Pershing Square Signature  Center.   Just followed  up my  visit with Will Eno's   dysfunctional  foursome  in  Open House C(www.curtainup.com/openhouse14.html)  with  a visit to   Branden Jacobs-Jenkins'  aptly and ironically titled  serio-comedy  Appropriate.   My  review  after the official opening.

To some Stockholm just means Ikea. . .to others????

Stockholm - Even at its most exaggerated, Bryony Lavery's play is a fun house mirror is tragically accurate. . . Read More

Critics may ve divided-- but Rocky's a crowd pleaser

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Rocky - the hugely successful Academy Award-winning 1976 movie hit that spawned five sequels has been marvelously re-conceived as a Broadway musical. . . Read Mor

All the way indeed--with this LBJ!

All the Way - In a season dominated by that most successful borrower from history, William Shakespeare, it's a real treat to have a freshly minted, full-bodied history play on Broadway. . . Read More

Not quite as scary as the genre once was, but Philadelphia staged Southern gothic is still amusing

Not quite as  scary as  the genre once was,  but Philadelphia  staged  Southern gothic  is  still amusing




Skin & Bone - As a comedy of retro Southern Fried horror, Skin & Bone is amusingly outré . But these days this sort of thing is not as disturbing as it once was... O

Too many cooks spoil this theatrical broth. . .

The Architecture Of Becoming - If the advance publicity about this multi-authored production have theater goers expecting to see an entertaining history of City Center, they're in for a surprise. Unfortunately, a disappointing one..

This puppet show is NOT for kids

Hand to God - Robert Askins'quirky religion flavored comedy is reborn at MCC's West Village home . . Read More

Alegria Hudes' middle play in DC

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Water by the Spoonful - The middle of Alegria Hudes's trilogy in DC, as the finale runs in New York . . . Read More

speed dating inspires 2-character musical in NJ

Date of a Lifetime - a breezy ninety-minutes of music and fun Read More

3 new postings from our London critic

Good People - David Lindsay-Abaire's play has landed in London, at Edward Hall's Hampstead Theatre and it's a sellout. . . Read More

The Knight of the Burning Pestle - The new production at Shakespeare's Globe in the indoor Sam Wanamaker Playhouse is Francis Beaumont's The Knight of the Burning Pestle played as a whacky comedy. . . Read More

Do I Hear a Waltz? - The Park Theatre's first musical sounded more promising than it s . . Read More

Jean Paul Sartre's 1944 play makes a fine comeback at the Pearl

No Exit - Jean-Paul Sartre's play at the Pearl Theatre Company charmingly grapples with heavy existential questions by skipping ahead to the afterlife. . . Read More

The end of a trilogy by Pulitzer Prize winner

w York Off-Broadway

The Happiest Song Plays Last - An imperfect but impressively staged and acted conclusion to Quiara Alegra Hudes's trilogy. . . Read More

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XTRA WEEKS TO CATCH 2 SHOWS I RECOMMENDED

The Open House - Will Eno's funny-sad play about how families get to be as odd and dysfunctional as they often are  Extended 2 weeks . . Read More

Stage Kiss - Extended to April 6th! Sarah Ruhl's breezy and smartly satiric dialogue and a stellar cast save this backstage romantic comedy from being just another addition to a genre done often enough to risk being a cliche. . . Read More

A star-studded solo memoir

Character Man - Valentine's Day has come and gone, but it isn't too late to open up your heart to Jim Brochu's warmly commemorative and winningly presented Valentine to some of the theater's most cherished character men (and women): Read More

This Antony &Cleopatra make love in Haiti

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Antony & Cleopatra - This visually stunning production with its Afro-Caribbean beat feature just nine actors, most of whom adeptly take on multiple roles. . . . Read More

John Douglas Thompson saves Satchmo from bio-solo stasis

Satchmo at the Waldorf - Solo bio play about Louis Armstrong. John Douglas Thompsan impresses even though he doesn't play the trumpet . . Read Mo

Reviewing without spoilers is not hard

Spoilers  CAN  be avoided  easily  when reviewing  for online  readers. . .




The Open House - Will Eno's funny-sad play about how families get to be as odd and dysfunctional as they often are . . Read More

Plays our London critics have seen

The Act - A social and political exploration of the illegality of homosexuality in the 60's, transfers from a successful run at the Ovalhouse Theatre to Trafalgar Studios. . . Read More

Versailles - Peter Gill's new play looks at the terms of the Treaty of Versailles which apportioned reparations from Germany at the end of the First World War. It is both a personal and political . . Read More

Ghost Stories - Scary fun for a new audience in th

Will Eno's funny-sad play

The Open House - Will Eno's funny-sad play about how families get to be as odd and dysfunctional as they often are . .

Our London critic liked this Bard-ian bio-solo

o not miss it! . . Read More
Being Shakespeare - Jonathan Bate's one-man play about Shakespeare's life is an impressive biographical account, juxtaposing the informative with the dramatic as we hear how the Bard came to write his folio of works .

The Full Monty stil has what it takes in London

The Full Monty - This production ticks all the boxes for me with its humour, pathos, social realism. Do not miss it! .

A family friendly Measure for Measure

cliche. . . Read More Measure for Measure - a lively pesentation by Fiasco for New Victory's young audience . . Read More

A kiss can be more than just a kiss-- at least in Sarah'Rule's backstage comedy

Stage Kiss - Sarah Ruhl's breezy and smartly satiric dialogue and a stellar cast save this backstage romantic comedy from being just another addition to a genre done often enough to risk being a cliche. . .