At this peak, his plays were popular in a "Hamilton" sort of way, but that didn't necessarily earn Neil Simon respect among theater writers. The Times' theater critic looks at the trajectory…
In his critics notebook, Charles McNulty opines that Heath Ledger's short legacy as a screen actor offers us enough evidence of the rarity of his talent.
Two new Broadway musicals with commercial hooks have opened this summer, one progressive in its approach to gender and sexuality, the other regressive about such matters. But the same proble…
The rom-com magic that propelled the Julia Roberts movie and the progressive gender politics the drive the Go-Go's jukebox musical can't quite overcome fundamental flaws in two of Broadway's…
The gender bending in the New Swan Shakespeare Festival production of 'Midsummer Night's Dream' is pulled off with aplomb, and if the comic approach goes a little too far, at least the shena…
The gender bending in the New Swan Shakespeare Festival production of 'Midsummer Night's Dream' is pulled off with aplomb, and if the comic approach goes a little too far, at least the shena…
The playwright of "Cost of Living" and "Ironbound" invites us into worlds that theatergoers have been trained to look past: domestic workers with foreign accents, factory laborers who strugg…
Martyna Majok, the Polish-born American playwright whose play "Cost of Living" won the Pulitzer Prize for drama this year, invites us into worlds that theatergoers have been trained to look …
Capitalism and its discontents: Two new plays chronicle worlds undone by money " Ben Power's brilliantly acted adaptation of the origin story for the company too big to fail, with Sam Mendes…
Beyond being two of the most anticipated new dramas in London this summer, Ben Power's English adaptation of Italian playwright Stefano Massini's "The Lehman Trilogy" at the National Theatre…
The Geffen Playhouse premieres Peet's play, which centers on a 10-year-old tennis phenom, her mother and her coach and which stars Mamie Gummer, Abigail Dylan Harrison, Caroline Heffernan, T…
Amanda Peet, an actress whose conventional beauty is spiked with a refreshing awkwardness, has branched out into writing. Her play "The Commons of Pensacola" made a respectable showing at Ma…
Kate Burton portrays the parental magician in a gender-flipped take on Shakespeare's "The Tempest," directed by Joe Dowling, at the Old Globe.
Casting a woman as Prospero in William Shakespeare's "The Tempest" is no longer a novelty. Helen Mirren starred as Prospera in the 2010 Julie Taymor film and, more recently, Harriet Walter p…
First things first: Let's have a round of applause for Reprise 2.0, the reboot of Reprise Theatre Company, which officially closed in 2013. Lovers of old musicals " baby boomers and their el…
The Reprise series is back after a five year absence, this time branded Reprise 2.0. It opens at the Freud Playhouse with Kathleen Marshall dusting off an old defunct gem.
Stephen Karam's drama, winner of the 2016 Tony Award for best play, has come to Los Angeles with its Broadway cast almost completely intact, including Tony winners Jayne Houdyshell and Reed …
If there's a better acting ensemble working in America right now than the extraordinary cast of "The Humans," which opened Wednesday at the Ahmanson Theatre with nearly the entire Broadway c…
Dominique Morisseau, the playwright of "Detroit '67" and also a writer for Showtime's "Shameless," delivers a powerful drama about the working class " and what happens when their work is tak…
The handwriting is on the wall for the workers at one of the last standing small auto plants in Detroit. They know management is planning to shut down the operation, but they don't know when…
Lesley Manville is breathtaking as Mary Tyrone, the wife and mother imprisoned in addiction. Jeremy Irons is suave and subtle as James Tyrone, the husband and father helpless as his family f…
There are two main reasons to once again undergo Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night," which opened Sunday at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills…
The Tony Awards have closed the book on the 2017-18 season, and now that "The Band's Visit" has won 10 trophies and "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" has won six, producers and press agent…
Revivals redeemed a lackluster Broadway year. But now that the Tony Awards have closed the book on the 2017-18 season, it will be easy for producers and press agents to spin a self-congratul…
Staging a sprawling, two-part Shakespearean drama outdoors is a brave task, so credit to the Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles for pulling it off with a cast that includes Rondi Reed, Raffi …