Wednesday, August 24, 2011
In Mark Jason Williams' new play about dealing with terminal illness, the prognosis is not great when lead roles are less interesting than supporting characters.
SOURCE: Backstage at 01:57AMTuesday, August 23, 2011
Tweets, texts, and status updates are the unlikely subject matter of this insightful overview of coming of age in the digital era.
SOURCE: Backstage at 05:42AMMonday, August 22, 2011
Simon Russell Beale demonstrates that he's one of the most sensitive actors working on either side of the Atlantic in this intensely moving profile of a lonely taxi driver.
SOURCE: Backstage at 07:30AMSaturday, August 20, 2011
Theater and reality make a powerful mix in this searing documentary on the effects of violence on children in Mexico's border towns.
SOURCE: Backstage at 12:00PMFriday, August 19, 2011
Clumsily directed, broadly acted, and feebly written, this lame comedy featuring a gay couple and a phony religious beauty pageant resembles an underrehearsed sitcom.
SOURCE: Backstage at 05:15AMThursday, August 18, 2011
Playwright-director Tony Georges tries for "August: Osage County" territory with this deep-fried melodrama but only comes up with an overcooked mess.
SOURCE: Backstage at 10:03AMPlaywright Stan Werse constructs an intricate tribute to the moody detective movies of the late 1940s and early '50s, delivered by a snappy cast who treat the material seriously—dead…
SOURCE: Backstage at 03:32AMWednesday, August 17, 2011
This parody of Broadway's most expensive musical and its controversial director is worth a few insider laughs, but the plot web is stretched too thin.
SOURCE: Backstage at 09:27AMThis parody of two popular teen genres is just short enough not to overstay its welcome, and the able cast overcomes technical problems.
SOURCE: Backstage at 05:27AMThursday, July 28, 2011
Vaudeville comedy blends with epic despair in Tony-winning director Garry Hynes' chilling and funny production of Seán O'Casey's rarely seen 1928 anti-war play.
SOURCE: Backstage at 06:09AMTuesday, July 26, 2011
The worlds of opera and musical theater merge in a lovable and full-bodied production of this Irving Berlin classic. Once she relaxes, soprano Deborah Voigt delivers a warm-hearted Annie.
SOURCE: Backstage at 03:41AMSunday, July 24, 2011
It's easy to see why Danny Aiello was attracted to this superficial tearjerker. The lead is a showy part, but the play reduces Sept. 11 and the Holocaust to soap-opera fodder.
SOURCE: Backstage at 07:00AMThursday, July 14, 2011
This clichéd thriller claims to satirize gay stereotypes but only presents them without satire or irony. The average episode of "Law & Order" has more suspense.
SOURCE: Backstage at 05:34AMWhen a three-character play is co-directed by two of the cast members and the third is the playwright, you know you're in trouble. A shallow examination of art and love.
SOURCE: Backstage at 04:45AMWednesday, July 13, 2011
The touring company of the hit 2009 revival makes an electrifying summer stop on Broadway, with the largely new cast retaining the intensity and spontaneity of its predecessor.
SOURCE: Backstage at 08:00AMDespite a backstage injury, the Royal Shakespeare Company's blazing production of Shakespeare's classic tragedy skillfully mixes time periods and conveys the brief, intense passion of its …
SOURCE: Backstage at 05:27AMSaturday, July 9, 2011
The Royal Shakespeare Company begins its ambitious five-play repertory with a rollicking, love-drunk production featuring one of the best Rosalinds in recent memory.
SOURCE: Backstage at 07:25AMFriday, July 8, 2011
An especially encouring trend was the number of new American plays including David Henry Hwang's "Chinglish," Theresa Rebeck's "Seminar," Lydia R. Diamond's "Stick Fly," and the triple pla…
SOURCE: Backstage at 04:27AMWednesday, July 6, 2011
Combining autobiography and standup, Judy Gold compares her life to her favorite TV shows in this light, fun, yet also heartfelt and touching show.
SOURCE: Backstage at 08:00AMSaturday, July 2, 2011
Director Howard Davies lets us see Chekhov's classic with new eyes in this fresh and sensitive stage production from London's National Theatre filmed live for international audiences.
SOURCE: Backstage at 03:13AMThursday, June 30, 2011
David Esbjornson's production is split between a complex examination of sexual politics and a light comedy but somehow still satisfies. Danai Gurira and Michael Hayden lead a powerful cast.
SOURCE: Backstage at 08:00AMSaturday, June 25, 2011
Daniel Sullivan's straightforward staging of one of Shakespeare's problem plays fails to overcome the fanciful plot machinations, but the supporting cast delivers many pleasures.
SOURCE: Backstage at 08:00AMSunday, June 19, 2011
The familiar marital-battlefield scenario is given new life in Michael Weller's insightful two-hander, with Joely Richardson and Cotter Smith as a pair of formidable combatants.
SOURCE: Backstage at 07:00AMTuesday, June 14, 2011
The tangled plot threads that made this comic-book musical spectacle a sticky mess have been unraveled and rewoven into a web of wonder.
SOURCE: Backstage at 03:18AMWednesday, June 8, 2011
The Tony winner from "Miss Saigon" proves she is much more than a Disney princess in a smashing set at the Carlyle. We need to see more of her on our stages.
SOURCE: Backstage at 06:21AMTuesday, June 7, 2011
This bizarre musical based on the true story of an awful teen rock group is a rough, raw, and weirdly beautiful examination of America's obsession with fame.
SOURCE: Backstage at 07:00AMSunday, June 5, 2011
As he did with "Xanadu," Douglas Carter Beane mixes Greek legends with modern pop culture for a witty, fun show in this updating of an Aristophanes classic.
SOURCE: Backstage at 08:00AMThursday, May 26, 2011
The stories of the women behind the gunslingers of the O.K. Corral could have made for a fascinating musical. Unfortunately, this isn't it.
SOURCE: Backstage at 07:15AMThe 2010-11 Broadway season has been one of the busiest and most diverse in recent memory. This year Back Stage celebrates this amazing season with one of our biggest Tony Awards Spotlights …
SOURCE: Backstage at 02:34AMFriday, May 20, 2011
A play consisting of nothing but two-person conversations in the same restaurant booth could be static, but this is a moving and funny rumination on fatherhood.
SOURCE: Backstage at 05:07AMThursday, May 19, 2011
The story is silly and contrived, but Willard Beckman's campy little musical is a hilarious spoof and bravo for Varla Jean Merman.
SOURCE: Backstage at 05:45AM 
