All stories by BEN BRANTLEY on BroadwayStars

Friday, October 18, 2013

The Week Ahead | Theater: Cracked Sondheim, Newly Repaired by Ben Brantley

The Menier Chocolate Factory will present “Merrily We Roll Along,” Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s 1981 musical, Wednesday in movie theaters.    

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:05PM
Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Theater Review: ‘Romeo & Juliet’ With a Twist at Classic Stage Company by Ben Brantley

The Classic Stage Company’s production of “Romeo & Juliet” is Tea Alagic’s interpretation of the Shakespeare classic, featuring a sumptuous and seething Lady Capulet.  &nbs…

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:00PM

Theater Review: ‘The Model Apartment,’ by Donald Margulies, Returns by Ben Brantley

“The Model Apartment,” Donald Margulies’s drama from 1995, returns in an impeccably mounted Primary Stages production.    

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:29PM
Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Theater Review: ‘The Model Apartment,’ by Donald Margulies, Returns by Ben Brantley

“The Model Apartment,” David Margulies’s drama from 1995, returns in an impeccably mounted Primary Stages production.    

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Theater Review: ‘The Model Apartment,’ by David Margulies, Returns by Ben Brantley

“The Model Apartment,” David Margulies’s drama from 1995, returns in an impeccably mounted Primary Stages production.    

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:00PM
Friday, October 11, 2013

Theater Review: ‘Honeymoon in Vegas’ Opens at the Paper Mill Playhouse by Ben Brantley

“Honeymoon in Vegas,” a musical that just opened at the Paper Mill Playhouse, is set in a surreal time-warp version of that city yet evokes classic Broadway tradition.   &…

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:18PM
Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Theater Review: Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’ by Women of Donmar Warehouse by Ben Brantley

Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” in an all-female British production, at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn.    

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:00PM
Sunday, October 6, 2013

Theater Review: Susan Stroman Directs ‘Big Fish’ on Broadway by Ben Brantley

Norbert Leo Butz plays a whopper-spinning traveling salesman in this Broadway musical celebrating tall tales, based on a the novel and film.    

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Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Ruth Maleczech, Beacon of Stage Avant-Garde, Dies at 74 by Ben Brantley

Ms. Maleczech, a fearless performer and director, was a founder of the experimental theater troupe Mabou Mines.    

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:16PM
Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Theater Review: ‘The Film Society’ Is Revived by Keen Company by Ben Brantley

In Jon Robin Baitz’s “Film Society,” set in 1970s South Africa, a young teacher tries to stay above the political fray by burying himself in his extracurricular film club.  &…

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Thursday, September 26, 2013

Theater Review: ‘The Glass Menagerie’ Stars Cherry Jones and Zachary Quinto by Ben Brantley

John Tiffany’s stunning production of Tennessee Williams’s “Glass Menagerie” promises to be the most revealing revival of a cornerstone classic for many a year to come.  &n…

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Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Theater Review: ‘Arguendo’ by Elevator Repair Service at the Public Theater by Ben Brantley

“Arguendo,” which brings together strippers and Supreme Court justices, is an argument for the right to free expression within an argument for the right to free expression.  &n…

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Thursday, September 19, 2013

Theater Review: Orlando Bloom and Condola Rashad in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by Ben Brantley

David Leveaux’s production of “Romeo and Juliet,” with Orlando Bloom and Condola Rashad, has opened at the Richard Rodgers Theater.    

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Theater: The Lives Lived Outside History by Ben Brantley

“Not What Happened,” by the playwright and performance artist Ain Gordon, opens on Wednesday as part of the Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.    

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Sunday, September 15, 2013

Theater Review: ‘Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play,’ at Playwrights Horizons by Ben Brantley

“Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play,” by Anne Washburn at Playwrights Horizons, imagines a postdisaster world where the retelling of a “Simpsons” episode helps create security and cultu…

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Thursday, September 12, 2013

Theater Review: ‘The Old Friends,’ a Horton Foote Play in, and of, the ’60s by Ben Brantley

In Horton Foote’s “Old Friends,” a clutch of “Mad Men”-era swingers find their lives becoming unmoored when a local beauty returns home after a long absence.    

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Sunday, September 8, 2013

Theater Review: Garry Kasparov Faces Deep Blue in ‘The Machine’ by Ben Brantley

The cavernous Park Avenue Armory is the host stage for “The Machine,” a British play about a 1997 chess match.    

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:17PM
Friday, September 6, 2013

Theater Review: ‘The Hatmaker’s Wife,’ a Comedy by Lauren Yee by Ben Brantley

The whimsical “Hatmaker’s Wife,” by Lauren Yee, brings to the stage a talking wall, a Cheeto-eating golem and other deviations from reality.    

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:03PM
Thursday, September 5, 2013

The New Season: Scene Partners Step into the Void by Ben Brantley

Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart will team up in “No Man’s Land” and “Waiting for Godot” on Broadway this season.    

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Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Theater Review: In ‘Everything Is Ours’ an Old Story Is Updated by Ben Brantley

In “Everything Is Ours,” a couple’s life changes when a child suddenly arrives.    

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Monday, August 26, 2013

Theater Review: David Auburn Stages ‘Anna Christie’ in the Berkshires by Ben Brantley

In his revival of “Anna Christie” at the Berkshire Theater Group, the director David Auburn finesses Eugene O’Neills creaky plot with a calm, persuasive production.   &n…

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Sunday, August 25, 2013

Critic’s Notebook: Luminous Julie Harris, Close Up and Afar by Ben Brantley

Ben Brantley remembers ways Julie Harris affected his life professionally and personally.    

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Friday, August 23, 2013

Theater Review: In ‘Stockholm,’ the Blades Are Drawn From the Start by Ben Brantley

Bryony Lavery’s “Stockholm,” at Stageworks/Hudson, follows a close, loving couple, with passions of several sorts.    

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The Week Ahead | Theater: In a Room to Talk by Ben Brantley

In times of crisis, it is perhaps better to listen to walls than climb them.    

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Monday, August 19, 2013

Critic’s Notebook: Watching ‘Mother Courage’ and ‘Beauty Queen of Leenane’ by Ben Brantley

In the Berkshires, Olympia Dukakis in “Mother Courage,” and Tina Packer in “The Beauty Queen of Leenane” soften harsh and mean maternal instincts.    

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Sunday, August 18, 2013

Theater Review: ‘King Lear’ in an Enchanted Setting Along the Hudson River by Ben Brantley

In the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival production of “King Lear,” a sylvan world surrounding the Boscobel House and Gardens is transformed from enchanted daylight into deepest night.&…

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:51PM
Monday, August 12, 2013

Theater Review: ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost,’ Loosely Speaking, in Central Park by Ben Brantley

Alex Timbers’s romping adaptation of “Love’s Labour’s Lost” is part of Shakespeare in the Park.    

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Monday, July 29, 2013

Critic’s Notebook: Creating Barbra Streisand in ‘Buyer & Cellar’ by Ben Brantley

“Buyer & Cellar,” whose subject is a really, really big star, considers the great divide of renown that separates the idol from the idolized.    

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Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Critic’s Notebook: ‘The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable’ in London by Ben Brantley

“The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable” is an immersive theatrical production in London.    

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:05PM
Sunday, July 21, 2013

Theater Review: ‘The Designated Mourner’ by Wallace Shawn, at Public Theater by Ben Brantley

“The Designated Mourner,” Wallace Shawn’s unflinching look at New York intellectuals, has been given a not-to-be-missed revival at the Public Theater.    

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Friday, July 19, 2013

Theater Review: ‘Master and Margarita’ Is Staged at Bard College by Ben Brantley

In “The Master and Margarita,” an adaptation of the Russian masterwork at Bard College, the Devil pays a troublemaking visit to 1930s Moscow.    

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:48PM