Thursday, 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 05:45AMTuesday, May 17, 2011
Kristoffer Diaz's "The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity" was honored as the best new American play of the 2010-2011 season at the 56th annual Obie Awards on Monday night.
SOURCE: Backstage at 02:40AMFriday, May 13, 2011
The married Broadway stars deliver a professional and polished set in this cabaret tour through their romance, but there aren't many surprises.
SOURCE: Backstage at 06:50AMMonday, May 9, 2011
Lynn Nottage follows up her shattering play "Ruined" with a scathingly funny satire on showbiz stereotypes of African-American women.
SOURCE: Backstage at 07:00AMFriday, May 6, 2011
Derek Jacobi will rip your heart out with his definitive performance in this forceful, stripped-down Donmar Warehouse production of Shakespeare's greatest tragedy.
SOURCE: Backstage at 03:12AMTuesday, May 3, 2011
Harry Potter's magic did not work on the Tony Nominating Committee. The biggest news out of this morning's nominations is the snub of Daniel Radcliffe for "How to Succeed in Business Witho…
SOURCE: Backstage at 11:23AMDirector Charlotte Moore manages to squeeze lots of action, laughs, and a full Irish wake onto the tiny Irish Rep stage in this rollicking revival of an 1874 comic melodrama.
SOURCE: Backstage at 03:08AMSunday, May 1, 2011
David Ives puts a modern spin on a classic of weight and size, and you'll never find a more enchanting "School for Lies."
SOURCE: Backstage at 06:04AMFriday, April 29, 2011
The British company Punchdrunk creates a hypnotic nightmare of a show suggestive of Hitchcock and "Macbeth" from which you won't want to wake up.
SOURCE: Backstage at 05:43AMThursday, April 28, 2011
Book writer and lyricist Iris Rainer Dart tries too hard for our tears and laughter in this melodramatic musical about a former Yiddish theater star.
SOURCE: Backstage at 07:00AMWednesday, April 27, 2011
Beth Leavel strives mightily to save this mishmash of a jukebox musical, but she can't perform miracles.
SOURCE: Backstage at 07:00AMMonday, April 25, 2011
Director David Cromer emphasizes the darkness in John Guare's 1971 sad-funny farce, while leading man Ben Stiller fails to convince as a schlubby would-be songwriter.
SOURCE: Backstage at 07:00AMAnne Bogart and a brave company of nine manage to make some sense out of Charles Mee's bizarre collage of a play about an ever-changing America.
SOURCE: Backstage at 05:05AMMonday, April 18, 2011
One has to admire the Belarus Free Theatre for its dedication and courage, but its offstage story of getting to the United States is more gripping than its Harold Pinter program.
SOURCE: Backstage at 10:00AMSunday, April 17, 2011
This update of Lewis Carroll's classic children's books fuses "The Wiz" with self-help psychobabble for a gloppy mess of a musical.
SOURCE: Backstage at 06:00AMSaturday, April 16, 2011
Tony Glazer's slim comedy could have been a pointed satire of our media-mad age but settles instead for 90 minutes of unfunny jokes.
SOURCE: Backstage at 08:00AMThursday, April 14, 2011
At the 35th annual Humana Festival of New American Plays at the Actors Theatre of Louisville, which runs through April 17, none of the full-length works featured more than six actors.
SOURCE: Backstage at 11:43AMMonday, April 11, 2011
A miscast Chris Rock throws off the balance of Stephen Adly Guirgis' provocative and profane comedy-drama, but there is still plenty to praise.
SOURCE: Backstage at 07:00AMSunday, April 10, 2011
Mona Mansour's moving play, centered on a family of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, has a familiar theme and a few structural flaws but displays plenty of promise.
SOURCE: Backstage at 07:00AMThursday, April 7, 2011
Thanks to Kathleen Marshall's sleek staging and joyous choreography and a heaven-sent cast, this Roundabout revival of Cole Porter's classic is just about perfect.
SOURCE: Backstage at 07:30AMTuesday, April 5, 2011
Marisa Tomei and Frank Whaley find subtle shadings in Wallace Shawn's battling couple, but this 1979 dispatch from the frontlines of marital discord is too bleak to bear.
SOURCE: Backstage at 08:00AMThursday, March 31, 2011
Robin Williams focuses his manic energy in a fiercely intense performance, but it's not enough to save Rajiv Joseph's weird and confusing play.
SOURCE: Backstage at 07:05AMWednesday, March 30, 2011
Last week, screen legend Elizabeth Taylor died Wednesday, March 23, at 79; character actor Helen Stenborg died just a few hours earlier at age 86.
SOURCE: Backstage at 02:45AMMonday, March 28, 2011
Almost a year later, the Menier Chocolate Factory revival of the Jerry Herman–Harvey Fierstein musical retains its raw appeal, and Fierstein admirably fills Douglas Hodge's pumps.
SOURCE: Backstage at 08:00AMThursday, March 24, 2011
The gleefully sophomoric sensibilities of "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone perfectly mesh with the Broadway brio of Robert Lopez and Casey Nicholaw in this raw and riotous …
SOURCE: Backstage at 08:23AM 
