Monday, March 26, 2012
Greg Mullavey stars in National Jewish Theater’s “The Soap Myth,” Jeff Cohen’s Holocaust drama, which has intelligence but seems too much a lecture.
SOURCE: Backstage at 08:00AMTuesday, March 20, 2012
Playwright Riti Sachdeva and Maieutic Theatre Works' impressive production make for an involving drama about the British partition of India and Pakistan.
SOURCE: Backstage at 06:41AMTuesday, March 6, 2012
Tragedians of the City and Northwest Passage Theater Collective unite for an engrossing and passionate all-male "Romeo and Juliet."
SOURCE: Backstage at 05:14AMFriday, February 24, 2012
In Ed Malin's quirky and earthy "Judge, Yuri & Executioner," part of Frigid New York, Mac Rogers plays a suicidal masochist taking stock of his life.
SOURCE: Backstage at 06:41AMThursday, February 23, 2012
Bryant Martin writes himself a meaty role as a young cockney thug in "The Other Man," a thriller-cum–love story he co-authored with Mark Botts.
SOURCE: Backstage at 03:11AMSunday, February 12, 2012
A slave auctioneer meets a runaway slave in a desolate swampland in this ultimately powerful two-hander, reminding us of the horrors of slavery and man's potential for inhumanity to man.
SOURCE: Backstage at 07:07AMTuesday, February 7, 2012
This dramatization of nine short stories by Anton Chekhov has fluid staging, aptly defined performances, handsome period costumes, and evocative music, but soul is in short supply.
SOURCE: Backstage at 07:00AMSaturday, January 28, 2012
Overflowing with colorful detail and smartly observed anecdotes, this one-man show is an affectionate, funny, and spicily authentic collage of growing up Puerto Rican in the Bronx of the 1…
SOURCE: Backstage at 05:07AMMonday, January 9, 2012
Although there’s an abundance of straightforward narration, this Spanish-language production is smartly written and details in absorbing fashion the lives of four Argentineans over a…
SOURCE: Backstage at 02:42AMFriday, January 6, 2012
Co-writer and director Hideki Noda illustrates his misogynistic belief in man's inherent unkindness to man in this unsettling but arresting play of feverish theatricality and escalating gr…
SOURCE: Backstage at 08:41AMIn this quirky and surprisingly funny play, Japanese writer-director Toshiki Okada portrays the quiet malaise of his country's young office workers caught in an economic downturn.
SOURCE: Backstage at 08:33AMFriday, December 9, 2011
Shakespeare's violent tragedy gets an even more brutal reworking in this production, in which the evil, chaos, and physicality are both unrelenting and enthralling.
SOURCE: Backstage at 12:44PMThursday, December 8, 2011
Intense performances and imaginative visual imagery give theatrical fervor to this production, which consists mainly of fairly oblique monologues meditating on mortality and the impact of …
SOURCE: Backstage at 03:51AMFriday, November 18, 2011
While John Malkovich portrays a real-life serial killer, sopranos sing arias from composers such as Mozart and Beethoven between his monologues, lifting the jukebox musical to rarified hei…
SOURCE: Backstage at 02:44AMMonday, November 7, 2011
Robert Askins' comedy is a provocative stew of religiosity, teenage angst, and sex, and the solid production fully mines its comedic value if not its darker dimensions.
SOURCE: Backstage at 07:00AMFriday, November 4, 2011
The problems of wounded soldiers returning from war are portrayed in Rich Rubin's play with tepid comedy that doesn't come anywhere near reflecting the complexity and importance of the sub…
SOURCE: Backstage at 08:00AMSaturday, October 29, 2011
Stella Adler Studio of Acting does itself proud with this powerful rendering of Israel Horovitz's drama, the school's first Off-Broadway production.
SOURCE: Backstage at 07:30AMMonday, October 24, 2011
There are deeply affecting passages in Alan Lester Brooks' drama of Holocaust survivors, but it's burdened with a twisty plot that strains credibility to the breaking point.
SOURCE: Backstage at 08:00AMFriday, October 14, 2011
Five musical performers get to show off their spectacular talents in this immensely enjoyable concert-style production, loaded with show tunes, pop and exhilarating dancing.
SOURCE: Backstage at 11:53AMMonday, October 10, 2011
There are poetic pretensions aplenty, but Sylvan Oswald's drama tells an arresting story of an unlikely love affair set against the racial strife of 1960s Philadelphia.
SOURCE: Backstage at 08:00AMThursday, October 6, 2011
This show invites comparisons with "Company," but that's the least of the problems afflicting this musical tale of an unhappily single Manhattanite and his concerned pals.
SOURCE: Backstage at 03:29AMMonday, September 19, 2011
Playwright James Haigney attacks the thorny issues of religious extremism with commendable seriousness and smarts, but his overly complicated plotting delivers too much of a good thing.
SOURCE: Backstage at 04:39AMThursday, September 8, 2011
Two soul-baring performances and vivid writing elevate this story of boy meets girl in the slums of Dublin into theater that has both power and charm.
SOURCE: Backstage at 05:10AMSunday, August 21, 2011
Carol Lempert's affecting one-woman show celebrates how Anne Frank's story has shaped her life while also questioning whether there has been a "commercialization of the Holocaust."
SOURCE: Backstage at 01:32AMThursday, August 18, 2011
In recounting his family's escape from Cuba, Jay Alvarez brilliantly performs a one-person show that celebrates the courage of his father and resonates with love of country and family.
SOURCE: Backstage at 01:52AMWednesday, August 17, 2011
This tale of love between two sisters surviving chaotic family dysfunction isn't totally satisfying, but it is elevated by some impressive writing and two particularly fine performances.
SOURCE: Backstage at 11:38AMAvner Kam brings a quirky interpretation to his portrayal of Jeffrey Dahmer, but it's still the serial killings and related gruesome details that make up the substance of this show.
SOURCE: Backstage at 01:36AMThursday, August 11, 2011
Watching the magnetic energy and smart staging brought to this rendering of Shakespeare's buoyant history is like being courtside at a great basketball game—and there's great languag…
SOURCE: Backstage at 03:56AMWednesday, August 10, 2011
The jokes sometimes have a familiar ring, but they come fast and funny enough in this one-man show, which despite its title is simply 90 minutes of well-hewn standup.
SOURCE: Backstage at 07:00AMSunday, July 24, 2011
This sassy irreligious musical is provocative and funny but commits one major sin: the lead performance by the author of its book, music, and lyrics.
SOURCE: Backstage at 06:04AMSaturday, July 23, 2011
Washington Irving's legendary tale gets weighed down with a lot of philosophical pondering, but this musical has a rewarding score that's impressively realized by a talented cast.
SOURCE: Backstage at 05:48AM 
