All stories by BEN BRANTLEY on BroadwayStars

Monday, March 24, 2014

Theater Review: ‘Mothers and Sons,’ an AIDS Tale Starring Tyne Daly by Ben Brantley

In Terrence McNally’s new play, “Mothers and Sons,” Tyne Daly’s character has an uncomfortable reunion with Frederick Weller’s, who was her son’s lover.    

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Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Theater Review: Nina Arianda Stars in ‘Tales From Red Vienna’ by Ben Brantley

“Tales From Red Vienna,” David Grimm’s new play, set in 1920 Austria, throws together a widowed gentlewoman and a brash Hungarian journalist.    

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Monday, March 17, 2014

Theater Review: Julie Atlas Muz and Mat Fraser Reinvent a Fabled Couple by Ben Brantley

The performance artists Julie Atlas Muz and Mat Fraser unfold a bona fide X-rated fairy tale in “Beauty and the Beast,” at the Abrons Arts Center.    

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Sunday, March 16, 2014

Theater Review: In ‘Appropriate,’ Branden Jacobs-Jenkins Subverts Tradition by Ben Brantley

In “Appropriate,” the playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins brings together dissatisfied relatives for one last angry feast of guilt and recrimination.    

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Thursday, March 13, 2014

Theater Review: ‘Rocky,’ the Musical, Brings Songs to a Film Story by Ben Brantley

“Rocky,” the mostly torpid new musical at the Winter Garden Theater, counts on its audience’s residual affection for the film on which it is based.    

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Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Theater Review: ‘Stockholm,’ by Bryony Lavery, Dissects a Marriage by Ben Brantley

“Stockholm,” by Bryony Lavery, at 59E59 Theaters, unmasks a couple’s brittle stylishness.    

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:00PM
Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Theater Review: An ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ Set in the Caribbean by Ben Brantley

Tarell Alvin McCraney’s squishy, misbegotten “Antony and Cleopatra” resets Shakespeare’s tragedy on the island of Hispaniola during the reign of the French.    

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The Week Ahead: Her Beloved Beast, Loved Just as He Is by Ben Brantley

The performance and burlesque artists Julie Atlas Muz and Mat Fraser are appearing in “Beauty and the Beast.” But don’t expect G-rated material.    

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:45PM
Sunday, March 2, 2014

Theater Review: ‘Measure for Measure’ Full of Dual Natures and Hard Choices by Ben Brantley

Even the jerks become likable in Fiasco Theater’s charming production of “Measure for Measure,” one of Shakespeare’s creepiest plays.    

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:23PM
Thursday, February 27, 2014

Theater Review: In ‘Ode to Joy,’ Characters Are Bonded by Addictions by Ben Brantley

In Craig Lucas’s new play, “Ode to Joy,” Kathryn Erbe and Arliss Howard play lovers who bond over a tidal wave of vodka.    

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

Theater Review: ‘A Doll’s House,’ With Hattie Morahan’s Frantic Nora by Ben Brantley

In the Young Vic’s production of “A Doll’s House,” at the Harvey Theater in Brooklyn, Hattie Morahan brings out Nora’s manipulative side.    

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Thursday, February 20, 2014

Theater Review: ‘Bridges of Madison County’ Brings Iowa to Broadway by Ben Brantley

Kelli O’Hara confirms her position as one of the most exquisitely expressive stars in musical theater in “The Bridges of Madison County” on Broadway.    

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Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Theater Review: ‘Love and Information,’ by Caryl Churchill, at Minetta Lane by Ben Brantley

Caryl Churchill’s new play, “Love and Information,” unfolds with miniplots that deal with the ways we lust for, process and reject knowledge.    

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Spring Preview: ‘Aladdin’ and ‘Rocky’ Among Movies Inspiring Musicals by Ben Brantley

The stage keeps looking to the screen for its musicals — this season, “Rocky,” “Aladdin” and “Bullets Over Broadway.”    

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:08PM
Sunday, February 9, 2014

Theater Review: Charles Busch’s ‘The Tribute Artist’ Is at 59E59 Theaters by Ben Brantley

In Charles Busch’s “The Tribute Artist,” a female impersonator assumes the identity of his dead landlady to keep his coveted Greenwich Village apartment.    

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Thursday, February 6, 2014

Theater Review: ‘Little Me’ at City Center Stars Christian Borle by Ben Brantley

The 1962 musical “Little Me,” starring Rachel York, Judy Kaye and Christian Borle, begins the season for the Encores! concert revival series.    

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:32PM
Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Critic’s Notebook: ‘Ghosts,’ ‘Blurred Lines’ and ‘The Pass’ in London by Ben Brantley

Three plays onstage in London — “Ghosts,” “Blurred Lines” and “The Pass” — are rooted in sexual hypocrisy and double standards.    

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:25PM
Monday, February 3, 2014

Theater Review: ‘Adult’ by Christina Masciotti, at Abrons Arts Center by Ben Brantley

The playwright Christina Masciotti puts together a father and college-age daughter in the gentle comedy “Adult” at Abrons Arts Center.    

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Thursday, January 30, 2014

Screen Actors Embody Shakespeare’s Leaders Onstage by Ben Brantley

Jude Law, David Tennant and Tom Hiddleston have recently lent a screen-god glow to Shakespeare’s portraits of uncommon men, creating the hardest tickets to get in London.   …

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Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Theater Review: Thomas Bradshaw’s ‘Intimacy’ Makes Sex Neighborly by Ben Brantley

In its breezy blandness, Thomas Bradshaw’s new play, “Intimacy,” is neither your everyday sex comedy nor a sendup of one.    

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Sunday, January 26, 2014

Theater Review: ‘King Lear’ on an Epic Scale, Starring Simon Russell Beale by Ben Brantley

Sam Mendes sets his “King Lear,” starring Simon Russell Beale at the National Theater, in a modern dictatorship.    

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Thursday, January 23, 2014

ArtsBeat: London Theater Journal: Stripped of Illusions, but Still Glittering and Gay by Ben Brantley

The Menier Chocolate Factory’s production of the famously hard-to-stage musical “Candide” suggests that life may just be endurable — as long as we have the pluck to put on a show abo…

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Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Theater Review: Royal Shakespeare Company Adapts 2 Hilary Mantel Novels by Ben Brantley

Hilary Mantel’s best-selling novels about Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII have been adapted for the stage at the Royal Shakespeare Company.    

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ArtsBeat: London Theater Journal: Running Their Mouths by Ben Brantley

A revival of Jez Butterworth’s 1995 “Mojo,” with Ben Whishaw, and three Beckett monologues “Not I/Footfalls/Rockaby” are reminders of the complex artistry required to distill words…

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Monday, January 20, 2014

Critic’s Notebook: London’s Dark Musicals ‘American Psycho’ and ‘Stephen Ward’ by Ben Brantley

Two dark new London musicals, “Stephen Ward,” about the 1963 Profumo scandal, and “American Psycho,” show men and their libidos behaving badly.    

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Thursday, January 16, 2014

Theater Review: Frank Langella, Roaring at Defiance in ‘King Lear’ by Ben Brantley

In “King Lear” at the BAM Harvey Theater, Frank Langella manifests a tyrant’s reflexes in a multitude of keys.    

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Theater Review: ‘Machinal’ Examines a Wife Driven to Kill by Ben Brantley

A desperate life blazes amid devouring shadows in the Roundabout Theater Company’s intensely stylish revival of “Machinal.”    

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Theater Review: ‘I Am the Wind,’ by Jon Fosse, Features Men Alone at Sea by Ben Brantley

Jon Fosse’s “I Am the Wind,” at 59E59 Theaters, finds two men in a boat, lost on the ocean.    

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:00PM
Sunday, January 12, 2014

Theater Review: ‘Beautiful: The Carole King Musical’ at Sondheim Theater by Ben Brantley

“Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” traces the singer-songwriter’s bumpy road to stardom, song by song by song.    

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Friday, January 10, 2014

Critic’s Notebook: Bedlam Theater’s ‘Saint Joan’ and ‘Hamlet’ by Ben Brantley

The young company Bedlam Theater is presenting two four-actor plays — Shaw’s “Saint Joan” and Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” — in repertory at the Lynn Redgrave Theater.  &…

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Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Quite Dead, but Up for Grabs - NYTimes.com by Ben Brantley

THE WEEK AHEAD The Red Bull Theater, which has demonstrated a stylish affinity for Grand Guignol, seems the proper troupe to exhume Orton’s improper attack on conventional pieties.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:34PM