Theater Review | 'Troilus and Cressida': The Cynical Side of Shakespeare, but With a River View by Ben Brantley

At the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, a “Troilus and Cressida” that doesn’t shortchange the title characters.

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Been Back to the Old Neighborhood? by Ben Brantley

David Lindsay-Abaire’s “Good People,” a very fine new play starring Frances McDormand and Tate Donovan, is one of the more subtly surprising treats of this theater season.

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Theater Review | 'Vision Disturbance': Seeing in Just 2 Dimensions as Her Marriage Breaks Up by Ben Brantley

In Christina Masciotti’s “Vision Disturbance,” a Greek-born woman experiences a strange eye disorder while going through a divorce.

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Theater Review | 'In the Wake': A Whirlwind of Words and Passions by Ben Brantley

Lisa Kron’s “In the Wake” at the Public Theater is a more conventionally naturalistic play than Ms. Kron’s memoir pieces, “Well” and “2.5 Min…

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Theater Review: No Doubt, Not a Typical Singing Nun by Ben Brantley

Charles Busch sends up some old films, and serves up a Mother Superior with a journalistic past, in his new comedy.

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ArtsBeat: Theater Talkback: A Master Class With Christine Ebersole, a Singer of Many Voices by Ben Brantley

Ms. Ebersole, I was reminded with renewed force, is a rarity among musical comedy stars.

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Hath Not a Year Highlights? Even This One? by Ben Brantley

In a year that recapped some of New York theater’s least appealing aspects, a few productions made us remember the singular power of theater to astonish.

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Theater Review | 'The New York Idea': Love in City of Intemperate Mores by Ben Brantley

David Auburn’s version of “The New York Idea” updates a 1906 comedy of mores.

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Theater Review | 'Three Sisters': Russian Ennui, American Idiom by Ben Brantley

A fresh and affecting Classic Stage Company production of Chekhov’s “Three Sisters” features Jessica Hecht, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard.

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Theater Review | 'Brief Encounter': Arm’s-Length Soul Mates, Swooning but Stoically Chaste by Ben Brantley

The acrobatics of love are performed in high style in “Brief Encounter,” which is surely the most enchanting work of stagecraft ever inspired by a movie.

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All Over London, Love Hurts by Ben Brantley

Keira Knightley, Elisabeth Moss and Rebecca Hall have taken to the London stage and audiences are lining up.

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Theater Review | 'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark': Good vs. Evil, Hanging by a Thread by Ben Brantley

This show is not only the most expensive musical ever to hit Broadway, but it may also rank among the worst.

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Theater Review | 'The Interminable Suicide of Gregory Church': Prolific Communication From an Isolated Man by Ben Brantley

The British monologist Daniel Kitson comes to know a dead man through his correspondence.

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Theater Talkback: Just When You Think You Know Somebody . . . by Ben Brantley

Sometimes performers make you see familiar characters in new ways.

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ArtsBeat: Theater Talkback: When Political Theater Feels Truly Dangerous by Ben Brantley

The idea of theater as an act (and an instrument) of political defiance is a strange one these days to most Americans.

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The Importance of Being Astonished by Ben Brantley

Brian Bedford, who seems to pick up a Tony nomination whenever he steps foot on a Broadway stage, has returned to portray Lady Bracknell in "The Importance of Being Earnest."

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Theater Review | 'Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson': Ideal President: A Rock Star Just Like Me by Ben Brantley

There’s not a show in town that more astutely reflects the state of this nation than “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson,” the rowdy political carnival that opened on Broadway.

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Under The Radar Review: 'Diciembre' by Ben Brantley

"Diciembre," at Under the Radar Festival, is a witty, sharply focused vision of a time well past celebration.

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Theater Review | 'The Pitmen Painters': Stoking a Fiery Passion for Art by Ben Brantley

Lee Hall’s drama “The Pitmen Painters” explores the meaning of art through a group of aesthetically adventurous miners in Northern England during the 1930s and ’4…

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Theater Review | 'The Break of Noon': He’s Born-Again but Still Obnoxious by Ben Brantley

The road to salvation is flat and narrow in “The Break of Noon,” Neil LaBute’s single-tone study starring David Duchovny.

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Theater Review | 'Driving Miss Daisy': Stooped and a Bit Slow, but Still Standing Tall by Ben Brantley

A revival of “Driving Miss Daisy” at the Golden Theater shows off two titans of Broadway: James Earl Jones and Vanessa Redgrave.

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Theater Review | Two Plays by Harold Pinter: Essence of Pinterland, a Terrain Both Warm and Flecked With Ice by Ben Brantley

In first-rate productions of two Harold Pinter plays, five performers quietly send off distress signals with a fluency that leaves you grinning at such stylishly realized discomfort.

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ArtsBeat: Theater Talkback: When Page Meets Stage by Ben Brantley

The production of "Gatz" has stirred memories of other shows adapted from well-known literary works. And it has made me appreciate how hard it is to capture a novel's sensibility on stage.

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Critic’s Notebook: In Boston, Listening to a Young Playwright Adept at Silence by Ben Brantley

Annie Baker’s distinctively bittersweet sounds of silence are echoing throughout the Boston Center for the Arts, where three of her plays are being performed, with considerable skill …

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Critic’s Notebook: Ah, Hamlet, I Thought I Knew You Well by Ben Brantley

Hedda and Hamlet, Nora and Blanche. Once in a while, an actor will shake your preconceptions of these classic characters.

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