Saturday, November 5, 2016
Whether you see one or both of Gurney’s "Two Class Acts," these are provocative plays of ideas on topics of the day. The playwright continues to demonstrate that he has a wise and discerni…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 05:08PMFriday, November 4, 2016
"Hoi Polloi" was Coward’s tribute to the London working class that was trying to get back on its feet after the devastation of World War II. Partly out of his element and partly as Coward …
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 04:43PMMonday, October 31, 2016
Introducing what he dubbed a pair of “Comedies of Crime,” NYGASP’s artistic director Albert Bergeret offered what he said was a first of a new series for the company: intimate performa…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 10:03PMSaturday, October 29, 2016
In his Broadway productions, David Leveaux has often used a strong directorial concept such as his Chekhovian 'Fiddler on the Roof" and his interracial "Romeo and Juliet" which did not work …
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 05:04PMThursday, October 27, 2016
Company XIV has applied its inimitable Baroque-Burlesque style to the Greek myth of the Judgement of Paris for the second time and come up with Paris, an exotic and erotic adults-only entert…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 04:23PMTuesday, October 25, 2016
The play is both satiric and trenchant. The conversations of the men are laced with profanity much like David Mamet’s real estate men in Glengarry Glen Ross. Eliza is called everything in …
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:23PMDirected by high profile new British director Simon Godwin, associate director of the U.K.’s National Theatre, making his New York debut, this "Cherry Orchard" seems to have no interpretat…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 01:05PMMonday, October 24, 2016
Aside from the syncopated, bouncy score, the single best element is the sensational choreography by director Colgan whose dances also impressed in his revival of Oh, Kay! last year. While th…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:27PMSaturday, October 22, 2016
While S. N. Behrman was one of the leading Broadway playwrights from the twenties through the early sixties, he went into an eclipse after his death in 1973. Since 2000, however, there have …
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 10:59PMTuesday, October 18, 2016
Music Director/Conductor Steven Reineke chose three fine singers, Colin Donnell, Laura Osnes and Nathan Gunn, to animate the Lerner and Loewe songbook, along with the terrific choir, Essenti…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:04AMSunday, October 16, 2016
Ibsen’s "An Enemy of the People" is a classic of modern drama but at times it can seem musty in a poor translation. David Harrower’s "Public Enemy" is not only a shrewd, accessible adapt…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 06:36PMPlaywright Helen Edmundson whose stage plays have been mostly adaptations of famous literature ("The Mill on the Floss," "War and Peace," "Anna Karenina," as well as "Coram Boy" and "Thérè…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:16AMMonday, October 10, 2016
Cirque du Soleil's "Kurios: Cabinet of Curiosities" has a wonderful premise and an eye-filling mise en scène. However, without the needed narration or program notes, the idea remains still …
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:49PMSunday, October 9, 2016
The problem with Peter Dobbins’ productions is not the quaint spiritual underpinnings of the plays but the fact that they are directed too leisurely and consequently do not generate any la…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:35PMThursday, October 6, 2016
The live action elements of the show are performed on various platforms and screens on which are projected Deco Dawson’s designs which give the dramatization a 3-D look. In addition to 2 -…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 01:58PMFriday, September 30, 2016
The two women size each other up, first by Sister Rosetta singing such gospel numbers as “This Train,” “Rock Me” and “Sit Down,” while Marie demonstrates her style with “Were Y…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:13PMSaturday, September 24, 2016
The single disadvantage of director Patricia McGregor’s approach is that in cutting so much text, the events of the play seem to occur one on top of each other, making the play a bit melod…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 08:38PMUnder Bob Moss’ vigorous and energetic direction, the cast of 20 young actors grab hold of the show and never let up for a moment playing a multitude of colorful New York types with energy…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 05:36PMThursday, September 22, 2016
Director Austin Pendleton made some choices which don’t help the now creaky play. Although Peter is described as ten years younger than Helen, Pendleton has cast the ever reliable Bradford…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:56PMWednesday, September 21, 2016
Like his "Apple Family Plays," Nelson’s "The Gabriel" cycle all take place in a kitchen on a specific day in almost real time using the same six actors to play the family members. These ar…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 05:36PMFriday, September 16, 2016
Unlike the original short story which was set on a rural farm in Cornwall, England, and the film which was reset in Bodega Bay, California, the play takes place entirely in the main room of …
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:48PMMonday, September 12, 2016
While the New York City Opera’s staging of "Aleko" could not be called a major rediscovery, it was an admirable attempt to offer a non-standard repertory work that had probably not been se…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 02:52PMSaturday, September 10, 2016
The show includes pole vaulting, giant flowers that rise up out of the ground, the building of the bone structure of the totemic Thanator, the high flying of the Toruk, a flock of birds play…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 09:50PMTuesday, September 6, 2016
Following "Bachelorette" and "Assistance," Leslye Headland’s latest play, The Layover, is a taut psychological thriller told in an updated film noir style. Trip Cullman, who has directed a…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:52PMMonday, September 5, 2016
Taub’s eclectic score to original lyrics includes jazz, rhythm and blues, pop, Broadway and ragtime. Among Kwei-Armah’s ingenious touches were his use of a series of community cameo grou…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:00PMSunday, September 4, 2016
Written in 415 B.C. as a criticism of the Athenian capture of Melos and the subjugation of its population earlier that year, "The Trojan Women" has remained relevant throughout the last 2,50…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 06:26PMTuesday, August 30, 2016
Now that we have been through all the angry play movements, literate writers like N.C. Hunter and Terence Rattigan are once again ripe for revival. While in his own time, Hunter was criticiz…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:09PMSaturday, August 27, 2016
Toni Press-Coffman’s "Touch" is a rather challenging play both in that a great deal of it is narrated in recollection and also that it deals with much naked emotion. The cast led by Peter …
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 08:19PMSaturday, August 20, 2016
While "LUNT AND FONTANNE: The Celestials of Broadway" is a fine and concise review of their careers for people who have never heard of them, Murphy and Lang make them seem more superficial t…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 10:11PMThursday, August 18, 2016
Laden with jokes, sight gags and flamboyant characters, Mr. Free’s well-constructed and startling work combines the outrageous sensibilities of John Waters’ films with the social conscio…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:17PMMonday, August 15, 2016
Richard Alfredo’s 'The Dark Clothes of Night," a brilliant parody/homage to film noir and hardboiled fiction, the third play of Summer Shorts – Series B, is so good it alone is worth the…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 09:32PM 
