1,324 stories by "Charles McNulty"
"There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide."
In my recent critic's notebook on the Shakespeare in the Park production of "King Lear" with John Lithgow, I listed the illustrious actors I've seen take on this fearsome role in the last 10…
Now that baby boomers are reaching their seniority, it's no surprise that there has been a rush on "King Lear." Graying actors of a certain magnitude want their crack at the greatest role le…
Cate Blanchett is spectacular in Sydney Theatre Company's patchy production of Jean Genet's 'The Maids' in New York. Isabelle Huppert is also fierce, but seemingly at odds with the rest of t…
The tourist shops dotting the streets of downtown Ashland may leave the impression that this picturesque town was designed by Martha Stewart in a chichi Western mood, but a weekend spent her…
The kitsch factor was high, but "Hair" proved to be a congenial choice for the Hollywood Bowl, where this counterculture classic from the late 1960s breezed in for three performances this pa…
When last seen in Robert Schenkkan's "All the Way," Lyndon B. Johnson was being serenaded with "Happy Days Are Here Again." After brokering the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with a…
Critics often grouse about James Lapine's script. Some find Stephen Sondheim's music too muted. But a beautifully balanced production in Oregon shows how strongly connected the two parts are…
At last, a Broadway show that doesn't feel the need to conk its audience over the head with hollow flash and empty dazzle. "Once," the Tony-winning musical based on John Carney's 2006 indie …
After the lights are dimmed on Broadway in honor of Elaine Stritch, who died Thursday at 89, I'm not sure that they'll ever burn quite as fiercely again.
Plays, regardless of when they were written, take place in the eternal present. Updating a classic " for example, resetting Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" in late-1920s Los Angeles, as Sha…
Some actors are too good for stardom.
David Suchet, best known for his television portrayal of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, plays another canny scrutinizer of nefarious human behavior in Roger Crane's "The Last Confession,"…
David Suchet, best known for his television portrayal of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, plays another canny scrutinizer of nefarious human behavior in Roger Crane's "The Last Confession,"…
"A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder," the musical with no marquee names or obvious marketing hook, won big at the Tony Awards on Sunday night, proving that a droll Edwardian tale of homici…
"A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder," the musical with no marquee names or obvious marketing hook, won big at the Tony Awards on Sunday night, proving that a droll Edwardian tale of homici…
In a Broadway season in which revivals have eclipsed new plays it was still a surprise that the American drama that spoke most urgently to our time was Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the …
New York (and L.A. and the U.S.) snap into focus when CTG's Michael Ritchie, Pasadena Playhouse's Sheldon Epps, the Geffen's Randall Arney and South Coast Rep's Marc Masterson gather.New Yor…
The Tony Awards will be handed out Sunday, and the safe money is on "A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder" for best musical and "All the Way" for best play. But nothing is guaranteed in a Br…
The Tony Awards will be handed out Sunday, and the safe money is on "A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder" for best musical and "All the Way" for best play. But nothing is guaranteed in a Br…
Last weekend my theatergoing got off to an especially bloody start at the Sacred Fools Theater, where I caught one of the last performances of "Taste," the world premiere of Benjamin Brand's…
The exclamatory title of Sheana Ochoa's biography of legendary acting teacher Stella Adler invokes Marlon Brando's tormented cry in "A Streetcar Named Desire." It's a fitting allusion: Brand…
One of the great interests in any revival of the Tennessee Williams classic "A Streetcar Named Desire" is seeing how a production will negotiate the balance of theatrical power between Blanc…
NEW YORK " If you happened to notice hell freezing over this Broadway season, please don't assume that it was another fluky manifestation of climate change. There's something I need to confe…
Every great dramatic masterpiece poses a question about a protagonist that expresses the "darker purpose," to borrow a phrase from "King Lear," of a playwright's vision. The classic example,…
