First Nighter: Alice Birch's 'Revolt, She Said, Revolt Again' Introduces the Feminist Absurd by David Finkle

Yoo-hoo, theater cognoscenti! Remember Theater of the Absurd, the new strain of writing that--to fall into reviewer's clichés--burst on the scene in the 1950s? That's when playwrights lik…

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 10:48pm on April 19, 2016☆⚑

First Nighter: Agatha Christie's "and Then There Were None" in Smashing New Treatment by David Finkle

According to some statistics, And Then There Were None is bestselling Agatha Christie's all-time bestseller. It's been filmed more than once, perhaps the favorite adaptation until recently b…

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 4:24pm on April 19, 2016☆⚑

First Nighter: Dena Blizzard's "One Funny Mother," Neal Brennan's "3 Mics" by David Finkle

It's been a while since Roseanne Barr flaunted her domestic-goddess self before the public. Therefore, room should exist for...

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 9:37pm on April 14, 2016☆⚑

First Nighter: Dena Blizzard's 'One Funny Mother,' Neal Brennan's '3 Mics' by David Finkle

It's been a while since Roseanne Barr flaunted her domestic-goddess self before the public. Therefore, room should exist for Dena Blizzard, as Miss New Jersey of 1995, no less, who's now cr…

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 9:37pm on April 14, 2016☆⚑

First Night: Van Gogh Lovers Will Want to See Leonard Nimoy's 'Vincent' by David Finkle

If you're searching for an example of genuine brotherly love, you don't start with Cain and Abel. Perhaps the choicest place to look is Vincent and Theo Van Gogh.

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 5:26pm on April 13, 2016☆⚑

First Nighter: Ike Holter's 'Exit Strategy' About Failing Public Schools Not Sufficiently Strategic by David Finkle

The picture of the astonished, speechless faculty members is accompanied by a devastating sound effect that designer Daniel Perelstein unleashes. Once and for all, the deafening blare drive…

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 10:43pm on April 12, 2016☆⚑

First Nighter: The Royal Shakespeare Company Turns Four Shakespeare History Plays into Solid Gold by David Finkle

Anyone devoted to William Shakespeare and, specifically, to his history plays had better make plans instantly to see The Royal Shakespeare Company's King and Country: Shakespeare's Great Cyc…

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 4:14pm on April 5, 2016☆⚑

First Nighter: The Royal Shakespeare Company Turns Four Shakespeare History Plays into Solid Gold by David Finkle

Anyone devoted to William Shakespeare and, specifically, to his history plays had better make plans instantly to see The Royal Shakespeare Company's <em>King and Country: Shakespeare's…

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 2:25pm on April 5, 2016☆⚑

First Nighter: A. Rey Pamatmat's Two-Families Drama "House Rules," Peter Mills Teams With Long-Gone Carlo Gesualdo in "Death for Five V by David Finkle

Pamatmat clearly believes the family that fights intramurally together eventually comes right together and demonstrates the

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 11:00am on April 4, 2016☆⚑

First Nighter: A. Rey Pamatmat's Two-Families Drama "House Rules," Peter Mills Teams With Long-Gone Carlo Gesualdo in "Death for Five V by David Finkle

Why deal with one dysfunctional family when you can handle two? A. Rey Pamatmat apparently considered the question...

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 11:00am on April 4, 2016☆⚑

First Nighter: Ivo van Hove Skews Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" by David Finkle

It's only a few months since Ivo van Hove brought his startlingly strong production of Arthur Miller's A View From the Bridge from London to Broadway.

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 7:22am on April 1, 2016☆⚑

First Nighter: Ivo van Hove Skews Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" by David Finkle

It's only a few months since Ivo van Hove brought his startlingly strong production of Arthur Miller's <em>A View From the Bridge</em> from London to Broadway.

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 7:22am on April 1, 2016☆⚑

First Nighter: Tarell Alvin McCraney's 'Head of Passes' Is the Play of the Year, With Phylicia Rashad Giving the Performance of the Year by David Finkle

If superlative acting interests you -- and you probably wouldn't be reading this if it didn't -- you're well advised to make every effort you can to see Phylicia Rashad as Shelah in Tarell A…

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 10:50pm on March 28, 2016☆⚑

First Nighter: Tarell Alvin McCraney's 'Head of Passes' Is the Play of the Year, With Phylicia Rashad Giving the Performance of the Year by David Finkle

If superlative acting interests you -- and you probably wouldn't be reading this if it didn't -- you're well advised to make every effort you can to see Phylicia Rashad as Shelah in Tarell A…

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 10:50pm on March 28, 2016☆⚑

First Nighter: Patrick Wilson in Nassim Soleimanpour's "White Rabbit Red Rabbit," Andrew Schneider in "Youarenowhere" by David Finkle

The thin program for Nassim Soleimanpour's White Rabbit, Red Rabbit, at the Westside Theatre, includes a prominently...

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 12:42pm on March 24, 2016☆⚑

First Nighter: Lucy Prebble's "The Effect" Smartly Questions Scientific Experimentation by David Finkle

Lucy Prebble, who fiercely took on big business in the rousing Enron, is now grappling with science and scientific experimentation. She targets it in The Effect, an impressive, if not entire…

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 3:46pm on March 21, 2016☆⚑

First Nighter: Timothy Olyphant in Kenneth Lonergan's "Hold On to Me Darling," Marin Ireland in Martyna Majok's "Ironbound" by David Finkle

With his new Hold On to Me Darling, at the Atlantic, Kenneth Lonergan has written one of the season's most head-scratching plays. That's if it's not the most head-scratching entry, as direct…

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 9:57am on March 19, 2016☆⚑

First Nighter: George Bernard Shaw's Little-Seen "Widowers' House" Viewed Smartly Now by David Finkle

When George Bernard Shaw, who had strong opinions about what constituted potent theater, wrote his first play,...

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 7:34pm on March 13, 2016☆⚑

First Nighter: Anna Ziegler's 'Boy' Is a Smart, Fresh Transgender-Play Twist by David Finkle

The current trend towards transgender plays gets a heart-jolting spin by way of Anna Ziegler's Boy, another of her Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan-backed plays and now under Keen Com…

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 10:23pm on March 10, 2016☆⚑

First Nighter: 8 Plays Worth Seeing in London Now by David Finkle

Like New York City there are good productions and bad productions. The rambling I've done this trip has ranged broadly, as the following round-up of offerings outside the National Theatre an…

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 3:08pm on March 4, 2016☆⚑

First Nighter: Shakespeare Globe Smartly Does the Bard's Jacobean Works by David Finkle

LONDON--During the winter months the Shakespeare's Globe crowd--as the current artistic director Dominic Dromgoole...

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 3:14am on March 3, 2016☆⚑

First Nighter: Hot Times Right Now at London's National Theatre by David Finkle

LONDON--For whatever reason--recent artistic director Rufus Norris's enthusiastic approach?--things at the National...

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 3:28am on March 2, 2016☆⚑

First Nighter: Mike Birbiglia Thanks God for Jokes, Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs by David Finkle

Mike Birbiglia is an immensely likable guy, the sort you think would make a great friend. Anyway, that's what I was considering throughout his current--and third--stint at the Lynn Redgrave …

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 10:04am on February 13, 2016☆⚑

First Nighter: Frank Basloe's Please Continue a Top-Drawer Examination of the Primacy of Order-Giving, Guilt and Little Remorse by David Finkle

In the early 1960s, social psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted a series of preliminary experiments with Yale undergraduates prior to a more elaborate version, the results of which are now…

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 1:32pm on February 12, 2016☆⚑

First Nighter: Len Cariou Grandly Celebrates 'Broadway & The Bard' by David Finkle

Cariou no longer has his second- or third-age voice. The sixth-age one, however, is well worth hearing. The veteran performer continues to exert masterful control over the lines in Shakespea…

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 10:46pm on February 4, 2016☆⚑