American Dance Machine for the 21st Century-- a Wow!

#American Dance Machine For the 21st Century - with so many styles beautifully executed by ADM21ers, it's hard to single out any one of these interpreters of astounding ballet leaps, characterizing gestures, jazzy high kicks and synchronized ensemble movements. Suffice it to say that under #Wayne Cilento's direction, this team not only taps into the original context but somehow give even the best known numbers, a newly minted flavor. . .

Our DC critic raves about this West Side Story

#West Side Story - The small Signature Max theater has 276 seats, arranged on three sides increasing the intensity of the performance for the dancers and for the audience who are practically in their faces. . .

A Wilder Christmas--2 early 1-acts by Thornton Wilder

A Wilder Christmas - a family-friendly entertainment tailored to the season and appropriate food for reflection at the outset of a new year

The Paper Bullets -great fun, great talet

These Paper Bullets -# Roland Jones' hilarious parody of1 #Shakespeare's Comedy of Error makes a fine landing at the #Atlantic Theater .

Take Care-- if you don't like audience participation, take care

familiar every day reality. . . . . Read More

Take Care - #The Flea takes on modern states of emergency with the help of audience participation. Read More

You don't have to speak or even be Jewish to enjoy The Golden Bride

ar every day reality. . . . . Read More

#The Golden Bride - Super titles mean you don't have to speak Yiddish to enjoy this operetta. And you don't have to be Jewish. All you need is an open heart, a sense of humor and a love of life . . . .

Jackie Hoffman & Company make Once Upon a Mattress fun once again

Once Upon a Mattress - For good wholesome family fun, you can't top Once Upon a MattressRead More

The Color Purple: John Doyle's scenery free, emotionally rich revival

The Color Purple - a rewarding show thanks to some powerful performances . .

Invisible Thread: a musical with African-American & Broadway sounds

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Invisible Thread - a traditional book musical featuring a vibrant score with African, African-American, and Broadway sounds. The libretto conveys Griffin's odyssey with utmost economy, one scene blending fluidly into the next. Peter Nigrini's dynamic projections, varied and beautiful to behold, . . . . Read

2 Across: 2 crossword puzzlers ride the same train

2 Across - Jerry Mayer's witty salute to crossword puzzle fans . . . Read More

An Annotated List of Plays about Art and Artists

An Annotated List of Plays about Art and Artists Reviewed at Curtainup

By Elyse Sommer

. The film Woman in Gold  & # Hannah Rothschild's The# Improbability of Love inspired me to  re-examine   art-related plays at curtainup.

Lazarus:: triple threat creativesBowie-VanHove-Walsh make it a hot ticket

Lazarus - This collaboration of the famous and formidable Rock composer David Bowie, playwright Enda Walsh and avant-garde director Ivo van Hove has extended and expanded upon the vision of the novel The Man Who Fell to Earth . . . . Read More

School of Rock hits the stage with a super-talented band of kids

School of Rock - It's a large, loud show with a totally improbable plot but it;s impossible not to root for its ensemble of super talented kids . . . . Read Mor

China Doll -- Al Pacino is still a presence- likely to make China Doll critic proof

China Doll - David Mamet wrote this play for Al Pacino. While Pacino isn't looking a gift horse in the mouth , all his charisma, verbal and physical quirks can't save this horse from being lame-footed. . . . Read More

Fugard's Painted Rocks & Miravel in LA

The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek - A lovely production of Athol Fugard's latest play at the Fountain Theatre. . Read More

Miravel, or The Promise of Alphonso Bloch - a musical treat at Sacred Fools . . Read More

New & Noteworthy

View From the Bridge-- no scenery but lots of emotional sizzle

View from the Bridge -# Ivo Van Hove's down sized, sizzling take on #Arthur Miller's kitchen sink drama . . . .

This Of Kiss Me Katerevival worth a trip to DC

Kiss Me Kate - Rarely is a revival as perfect as this one now playing at Washington's Shakespeare Theatre/Harman Center. It has all the elements that keep you smiling for days: . . Read More

A rime traveling romp about the humble Sweatshirt: Important Hats of th Twentieth Centurye

I#nportant Hats of the Twentieth Century - Playwright #Nick Jones combines Sci-Fi and #Fashion in two time zones in #Manhattan Theatre Club's studio space . . .

A beutiful landmark eternally remembered in a small play

The# Eternal Space - a poignant consideration of the old# Pennsylvania  station's legacy and its grandeur . . . Rea

Judy Dench & Kenneth Brannagh triumphantly ;aunch his new company

The Winter's Tale - #Kenneth Branagh opens the theatre season of his company at the Garrick with the brilliant Dame# Judi Dench as Paulina, in a role made for her, the must see theatre event of the decade. . . . Read

2 plays about not so rosy gay marriages

Steve - midlife crises of two having-it-all gay couples . . . Read More

Dada Woof Papa Hot - Another affluent group of Gay Dads stylishly staged at Lincoln Center's Mitzi E Newhouse . . . . Read More

Dada Woof Papa Hot-- silly title for affluent gay dad's play

Dada Woof Papa Hot - Another affluent group of Gay Dads stylishly staged at #Lincoln Center's Mitzi E Newhouse . . . . Read More

An all female Henry IV at St. Ann's in Brooklyn

orld War II drama . . . . Read More

Henry IV - The #Donmar's condensed all-Female production initiate's #St. Ann's new venue

The Second Mrs. Wilson a beautiful slice of history play in New Jersey

The Second Mrs. Wilson - the best play about a President and his First Lady since Sunrise at Campobello . . . . Read More

Incident at Vichy -- a stirring revival of Arthur Miller's WWII play

Incident at Vichy - a stellar production of Arthur Miller's too rarely seen World War II drama . . . . Read More

Misery on Broadway trades ch ills for chuckles

Misery - #Laurie Metcalf and #Bruce Willis are now playing #Stephen King's cat-and-mouse game for more laughts than thrills . . . . Read More

Curtainup feature on Arthur Mille as newsmaker in his centennial year

Arthur Miller Still a Newsmaker In the Centennial Year Of His Birth . . .
with a buzz-y new version of his classic A View From the Bridge and the less familiar Incident at Vichy and a Yiddish Death of a Salesman

Shear Madness--A nation wide hit lands Off-Broadway

Shear Madness - This long running romp is now storming the barricades of Off-Broadway with hurricane velocity.. . . . Read More

Lost Girls-- which Curtainup found a find. . .

Lost Girls - John Pollono explores a blue collar family's pattern of self-entrapment in bad choices.. . . Read

HIR an absurdist look at multiple issues by performance artist Taylor Mac

HIR - Performance artist Taylor Mac's wildly ambitious "straight" play . . . . R

Allegiance a musical about a dark chapter in our history

Kudos to George Takei for inspiring Marc Acito, Jay Kuo and Lorenzo Throne to turn his family's history into a meaningful original musical . . . .

An originally commissioned play by and at NAATCO-- entertaining and provocative

Charles Francis Chan Jr.'s Exotic Oriental Murder Mystery - Lloyd Suh's play commissioned by NAATCO evokes plenty of laughter with its portrayal of ignorance and bigotry but, ultimately, in this mystery, it's the age-old stereotypes that are put to death and given the burial they deserve . . . Read More

On Your feet-- the built in audience makes this jukebox bio-musical critic proof

On Your Feet - A jukebox musical with heart and the funky rhythm of the Estefan sound that's sure to get you on your feet . . . . Read More

Long live this King Charles III-- Mike Bartlett's imaginative Shakespearian tomorrow-history play

King Charles III - Mike Bartlett uses the living, breathing British Royals for his own Shakespearian history drama . . . . Read More

Zola's gloomy Therese Raquin gloomier than ever with Keira Knightley

Thérese Raquin - Keira Knightley makes her Broadway debut in Zola's gothic passion play . . . . Read

Songbird- a musical adaptation of Checkov's Seagull-- great singing-- but a bit too much

Songbird - Chekhov's Seagull with a twang. . . . Read More

A.R. Gurney's long popular dog romance on Broadway at last

Sylvia - a delightfully inane/canine-comedy Read M

Hasan Minhaj's solo show about the outsider experience

Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King - A solo show by the young Daily Show correspondent offers a humorous take on being an outsider. Read More

The Gob Squad 's Before Your Very eyes -- a remarkable experience

ad More .

Before Your Very Eyes - a sublime reflection of our lives as seen through the eyes and the perceptions of the young Read More

The Humans- a Thanksgiving dinner stuffed with affection-- and problems

The Humans - Stephen Karam returns to a lower middle class family from Scranton, but this time brings them to New York's Chinatown . . . Read More

Empanada Loca-- A riveting Daphne rubin-Vega worth a visit to Bank Street

Empanada Loca - the Grand Guignol concoction brewing at the Labyrinth Theater Company this Halloween season, is a nine-character thriller in which Daphne Rubin-Vega plays all the roles. . . . . Read More

First Daughter Suite- -- the visit to the last suite is best

First Daughter Suite - Michael John LaChiusa's follow-up to the brilliant First Lady Suite. . .

Perfect Arrangement-- great idea, but not all that perfect

ore

Perfect Arrangement - Topher Payne takes a look at life for gay government employees in the 1950s . . . Read More

TravelsWith My Aunt--- the tour-de-fource cast makes it worth seeing

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Travels With My Aunt - Graham Greene's comic novel ingeniously told by just four actors playing more than twenty roles Read More

Paula Vogel's fascinating new play in Ct.

Indecent -Paula Vogel's moving, full-scale, sometimes overstuffed, always fascinating new work at Yale Rep . . . Read More

The Gin Game finds 2 splendid new players

The Gin Game - Cicely Tyson and James Earl Jones bring D.L. Coburn's back to its original Broadway home. Read More

Danai Guria' riveting Eclipse

Eclipsed - Danai Gurira's moving history-based play gets a superb cast at the Public Theater . . . Re

Fool for Love-- Gripping neew strar-crossed lovers

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Fool for Love - Its rhythmic quality gives Sam Sheperd's 1983 play the feeling of a musicalized fight dram. . .a R

Barbecue: hilarious and full of surprises--

Barbecue -Robert O'Hara's uproarious satire is sure to be another hit for the hit-making Public Theater. . . . .

Pinter's Old Times still intrigues--esp. with current star cast

Old Times - a play that has intrigued audiences since it first opened on Broadway in 1971 Re

Caryl Churchill's gender bending satire gets a rare revival

Cloud Nine - Caryl Churchill's early play still worth watching, though the reconfigured Atlantic Theater is likely to put you into a cloud nine comfort zone . . R