Theater Review | 'The Old Masters': Showdown at the Italian Villa, Easels Drawn by Charles Isherwood

“The Old Masters,” by Simon Gray, depicts a showdown in Italy in 1937 between the art historian Bernard Berenson and the leading art dealer Joseph Duveen.

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Theater Review | 'The Human Scale': Israelis vs. Palestinians: The 90-Minute Version by Charles Isherwood

The journalist-performer Lawrence Wright takes to the stage to shed light on the thorny conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

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Theater Review | ‘Lost in the Stars’: Pursuing a Prodigal Son, Who’s Strayed to the City by Charles Isherwood

“Lost in the Stars,” part of the City Center Encores! series, revives the 1949 musical, an adaptation of the novel “Cry, the Beloved Country.”

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Theater Review | 'The Pee-wee Herman Show': Older, but No More Mature by Charles Isherwood

Pee-Wee Herman, the adorable man-child in the skinny suit and red bow tie, has parked his playhouse on Broadway.

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Theater Review | 'The Walk Across America for Mother Earth': Protesters Armed With Wigs and Sequins by Charles Isherwood

“The Walk Across America for Mother Earth” is a playful but perceptive comedy by the downtown writer and performer Taylor Mac.

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ArtsBeat: Thinking About ‘Gatsby’ After ‘Gatz’ by Charles Isherwood

My reaction to “Gatz” moved from full emotional engagement to a wondering admiration at the bracing beauty of Fitzgerald’s writing, to a distanced appreciation of the th…

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ArtsBeat: Rock Stars Heading to Broadway by Charles Isherwood

Will Broadway be a rehab center for established (or aspirational) rockers absent too long from the charts?

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Theater Review | 'Orlando': Who’s Afraid of Fluid Gender and Time? by Charles Isherwood

Sarah Ruhl’s adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s novel “Orlando” at the Classic Stage Company cannot be accused of taking any undue stylistic or thematic liberties.

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Theater Review | 'The Importance of Being Earnest': A Stylish Monster Conquers at a Glance by Charles Isherwood

Brian Bedford’s Lady Bracknell drives an effervescent Broadway production of “The Importance of Being Earnest,” which he also directs.

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Theater Review | 'Elling': A Couple That’s Odd in More Ways Than Two by Charles Isherwood

Fitfully funny, thanks primarily to the energetic efforts of Denis O’Hare, the new Broadway comedy “Elling” is mostly just a puzzling fizzle.

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Theater Talkback: Stepping From The Rock Arena to the Broadway Stage by Charles Isherwood

Will Broadway be a rehab center for established (or aspirational) rockers absent too long from the charts?

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Theater Review | 'Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles on Broadway': Another Long and Winding Detour by Charles Isherwood

“Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles on Broadway” is basically a cover-band concert at the Neil Simon Theater.

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Sometimes There Are Second Acts in Broadway Casting by Charles Isherwood

Sometimes replacement casts in Broadway shows are an improvement over the originals.

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Theater Review | 'Throne of Blood': Sprawling Cinema, Tamed to a Stage by Charles Isherwood

Were it not for the gorgeous costumes, Ping Chong’s “Throne of Blood” would be as boring to look at as it is to listen to.

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Theater Review | 'Absolution': One Man’s Wrathful Vengeance by Charles Isherwood

A man seeking vengeance murders priests who sexually abused boys in Owen O’Neill’s “Absolution,” from the Gúna Nua Theater Company.

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Theater Review | 'In the Footprint': A Brooklyn Civics Lesson, Offered in Word and Song by Charles Isherwood

The conflict over the redevelopment of the Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn is rhapsodized in song with style and wit in the spirited new show from the Civilians.

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Theater Review | 'Black Tie': Patrician Clan That Clings to Its Foibles by Charles Isherwood

A.R. Gurney’s “Black Tie” is one of this prolific writer’s most enjoyable plays in years.

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Theater Review | 'underneathmybed': Immigrants Who Import Their Trauma by Charles Isherwood

Florencia Lozano’s “underneathmybed” comes across as yet another raucous dysfunctional family play, Latin American style.

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Theater Review | 'Spirit Control': Four Seven Whiskey, We’ve Got a Problem: A Controller’s Life in a Tailspin by Charles Isherwood

Jeremy Sisto plays an air-traffic controller who falls out of balance in “Spirit Control.”

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Theater: New Light, Long After His Sun Set by Charles Isherwood

For the centennial year of Tennessee Williams’s birth a few enterprising companies are attempting rehabilitation of his unsuccessful later works.

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Theater Review | 'Panic! Euphoria! Blackout': Wall Street: 60 Goats and a Soft Shoe by Charles Isherwood

Ellen Maddow’s play “Panic! Euphoria! Blackout” lampoons Wall Street with vaudeville-type skits.

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Theater Review | 'Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?': Watch It, Martha: This George Is a Stealth Bomb by Charles Isherwood

The revelation of Steppenwolf’s production of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” in Chicago is Tracy Letts’s spellbinding performance of George.

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Theater Review | 'The Hallway Trilogy': Love Thy Neighbor? Yeah, Right by Charles Isherwood

In “The Hallway Trilogy” by Adam Rapp, a nondescript passageway in a Lower East Side tenement becomes a carnival of the desperate, the grotesque, the outrageous.

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Critic’s Notebook: Nothing Left to Lose, or Too Dark to Contemplate by Charles Isherwood

The Live Arts Festival in Philadelphia offers a play drawing parallels between 1865 and 2015, and another work that brings cardboard characters to life.

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ArtsBeat: Theater Talkback: Missing Maggie Smith by Charles Isherwood

Anyone who has had the good fortune of seeing Ms. Smith at the theater can only hope that she will find the stamina — or maybe it’s just the desire — to return to the me…

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