Tuesday, December 12, 2017
Inspired by Henri Becque’s notorious 1885 "La Parisienne," credited as the first Naturalistic French play, Willimon has taken its plot, characters and themes of sex, adultery, betrayal and…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 01:38PMMonday, December 4, 2017
In the central character of Buffalo Bill Cody, Michael Hardart plays only the one role. The play seems to be his coming to terms with the mythologizing of his achievements. Although twice he…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 10:01AMThursday, November 30, 2017
There is nothing much very wrong with Susan Miller’s '20th Century Blues" that a few more revelations or dustups wouldn’t solve. Beth Dixon, Franchelle Stewart Dorn, Polly Draper, Kathry…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:29PMMonday, November 27, 2017
While this is not a Bedlam production as was Hamill’s hugely successful stage version of Austen’s second published novel, "Sense and Sensibility," director Amanda Dehnert has staged the …
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:56PMSaturday, November 25, 2017
Such changes as Captain Hook being a woman or Tinker Bell speaking French are neither explained nor meaningful, while some of the doubling simply makes the play hard to follow as the charact…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:56AMMonday, November 20, 2017
Not only is Julia Cho’s "Office Hour" rivetingly acted by Sue Jean Kim and Ki Hong Lee, it is one of the few plays in recent memory to tackle a major social problem and offer an explanatio…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 09:27PMFriday, November 17, 2017
The conversations revolve around the topics of the New York Shakespeare Festival’s poor finances in 1958, Vaughan’s defection to the Phoenix Theatre which was paying a living wage while …
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 08:48AMWednesday, November 15, 2017
Inspired by the true case of an affair between French diplomat Bernard Boursicot and Chinese opera singer Shi Pei Pu from 1960 – 1986 which led to a trial for espionage, Hwang’s problem …
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:12PMMonday, November 13, 2017
There is a fascinating story to be told in Franz Kafka’s involvement with the Yiddish theater in Prague during 1912 but Lu Hauser’s play isn’t it. "Prague, 1912 (The Savoy Café Yiddis…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:33PMFriday, November 10, 2017
The problem is that under Albert Bonilla’s stolid and matter-of-fact direction, Elizabeth Ingham and Zack Calhoon's characters never come alive. Just trading quips is not a sophisticated s…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 09:53PMLeave it to George S. Kaufman and collaborator Morrie Ryskind (the Marx Brothers’ "The Cocoanuts," "Animal Crackers," "A Night at the Opera" as well as the Gershwins’ "Strike Up the Band…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:05PMWednesday, November 1, 2017
While the script describes the setting as simply a “rural place,” British and European productions apparently have set the play in medieval times. It is definitely pre-industrial as the …
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:51PMMonday, October 30, 2017
Well-meaning and sincere," Occupied Territories" is both generic and stereotyped, offering a story television and the movies have been offering for years: the traumatic effect of a father’…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:50PMThursday, October 26, 2017
King’s "Dolores Claiborne" would seem a strange choice for dramatization as the book is a monologue told entirely by its protagonist at a police interrogation over a murder on Little Tall …
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:20AMTuesday, October 24, 2017
Boycott gets to sing a bounty of scintillating songs including “It’s A Perfect Relationship,” “Is It A Crime?,” “I’m Goin’ Back” and her duets with Heuser in “Better Than…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 01:00PMMonday, October 23, 2017
In Jonathan Silverstein’s production, Arnie Burton and Matt McGrath as two friends who handle their fears of an unnamed epidemic in opposite ways do not seem to connect as real friends wou…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 10:52PMSaturday, October 21, 2017
Director John Collins, founder of ERS, has set the play in an office or conference room with three long tables (in Jim Findlay’s design which eventually grows tiresome) and a great many …
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 09:45AMThursday, October 19, 2017
It is possible to enjoy Brian Friel’s "The Home Place" without knowing the background to this historical play set in rural Ireland in 1878 as a Chekhovian representation of a world about t…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:34PMWednesday, October 18, 2017
While the acting is compelling, the threesome does not reveal many layers to their characters; they establish a persona and stick to it, without divulging any further information. As Mae, Ni…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:21PMFriday, October 13, 2017
While not all musicals from Shakespeare have worked and updates are particularly risky, "Desperate Measures" avoids all of the pitfalls and is a refreshing and satisfying work in its own rig…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:14PMDirector Ralph Lewis, apparently not trusting the material – or finding the play too dated – has staged a carnival-esque version (adapted by S.M. Dale in June 2016) which includes 16 son…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:37PMTuesday, October 10, 2017
Part of the problem is the lack of innovation in Ray Roderick’s staging in this show which calls out for invention and clever handling of sets and props. Devin Vogel’s colorless stage de…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 09:40PMAlthough director Kimberly Senior who also piloted the Chicago production has staged the play with elegance, she never really turns up the heat so that there are not many sparks in Carter’…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:29AMThursday, October 5, 2017
The central character is actually Mrs. Fisher who worries about her children and plots to open Amy’s eyes to her husband’s faults. Unfortunately, Annette O’Toole has been directed to p…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:42PMWednesday, October 4, 2017
The new story concerns Wayne Hopkins, an American boy whose parents die tragically and his Uncle Dave informs him that he is a wizard and must attend a special school in England. Wayne is so…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 04:53PMMonday, October 2, 2017
Known as the Shakespeare play with the most song lyrics, the production also includes a deliciously bouncy new score by Stephen Schwartz in different musical styles from the 1920’s – 195…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 08:40PMThursday, September 28, 2017
Chicago playwright Philip Dawkins makes a memorable New York debut with an involving and engrossing play which at the performance under review you could have heard a pin drop, so rapt was th…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 04:33PMSaturday, September 23, 2017
The play isn’t just about social climbers but those who want to game the system and live beyond their income, and their sense of entitlement rivals that of the 1990’s. However, this is 1…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 05:20PMThursday, September 21, 2017
Neil Pepe’s production of Simon Stephens’ "On the Shore of the Wide World" will not please all. The pace is consciously slow – like the life lived by these characters. However, the wai…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:28PMSunday, September 17, 2017
This 1877 operetta, now celebrating its 140th anniversary, has been reduced to the nine major roles and the chorus has been eliminated. The result is a streamlined version that moves along a…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 06:35PMAlthough the plot has been reset in Loveless, Texas and New Orleans, Louisiana, circa 1929, it is an improvement over the original story as a romantic comedy: Shakespeare’s version ends wi…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 01:44PM 
