First Nighter: Lucy Thurber's Five Hill Town Plays Progress From Must-See to Less-Need-to-See by David Finkle

There's nothing wrong in presenting a cycle about a character progressing from damaging childhood to escape from psychological entrapment adulthood. Indeed, it's a great idea. But the over…

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 6:57pm on September 5, 2013☆⚑

Julie Harris: A Devoted Fan Remembers by David Finkle

She loved Theater, and Theater requited the long affair.

SOURCE: Clyde Fitch Report at 12:11pm on September 2, 2013☆⚑

First Nighter: "Soul Doctor" Celebrates Singing Rabbi Carlebach by David Finkle

Consider it my embarrassing oversight that Shlomo Carlebach was news to me when I showed up for Soul Doctor, the new musical

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 2:26am on August 16, 2013☆⚑

First Nighter: "Soul Doctor" Celebrates Singing Rabbi Carlebach by David Finkle

Consider it my embarrassing oversight that Shlomo Carlebach was news to me when I showed up for Soul Doctor, the new...

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 2:26am on August 16, 2013☆⚑

First Nighter: "Love's Labour's Lost" Loses More Than Wins in the Park; Downtown's "Under the Greenwood Tree" As You'll Like It by David Finkle

It would be a pleasant chore to report that Shakespeare in the Park's Love's Labour's Lost is an amusingly silly musical

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 11:16pm on August 12, 2013☆⚑

First Nighter: "Love's Labour's Lost" Loses More Than Wins in the Park; Downtown's "Under the Greenwood Tree" As You'll Like It by David Finkle

It would be a pleasant chore to report that Shakespeare in the Park's Love's Labour's Lost is an amusingly silly musical...

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 11:16pm on August 12, 2013☆⚑

First Nighter: "The Designated Mourner" Still Wallace Shawn's Masterpiece, Only More So by David Finkle

Wallace Shawn's darkly sublime three-hour play--and worth every devastating minute of it--The Designated Mourner was done

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 3:34pm on August 8, 2013☆⚑

First Nighter: "The Designated Mourner" Still Wallace Shawn's Masterpiece, Only More So by David Finkle

Wallace Shawn's darkly sublime three-hour play--and worth every devastating minute of it--The Designated Mourner was...

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 3:34pm on August 8, 2013☆⚑

Is the New York Musical Theatre Festival Musical Enough? by David Finkle

NYMF works gangbusters in theory, but what about in reality?

SOURCE: Clyde Fitch Report at 10:42am on August 5, 2013☆⚑

First Nighter: Tina Howe, Alan Zweibel Take 59E59 Theatre's "Summer Shorts" One-Act Cake by David Finkle

The old saw about saving the best for last is honored during Summer Shorts 2013 at 59E59. The Series A post-intermission

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 9:01pm on August 4, 2013☆⚑

First Nighter: Tina Howe, Alan Zweibel Take 59E59 Theatre's "Summer Shorts" One-Act Cake by David Finkle

The old saw about saving the best for last is honored during Summer Shorts 2013 at 59E59. The Series A post-intermission,

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 9:01pm on August 4, 2013☆⚑

First Nighter: "rogerandtom" Clever but Maybe Too Clever; "I Forgive You, Ronald Reagan" Partially Forgivable by David Finkle

Playwriting as therapy is hardly a new concept. It might even be a challenge to find a single work in the annals that doesn't

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 3:02pm on August 2, 2013☆⚑

First Nighter: "rogerandtom" Clever but Maybe Too Clever; "I Forgive You, Ronald Reagan" Partially Forgivable by David Finkle

Playwriting as therapy is hardly a new concept. It might even be a challenge to find a single work in the annals that...

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 3:02pm on August 2, 2013☆⚑

First Nighter: City Center's "I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road" Hits Bumps by David Finkle

Two-thirds of the way through I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road--revived for the Encores! Off-Center series...

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 2:56pm on July 25, 2013☆⚑

First Nighter: City Center's "I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road" Hits Bumps by David Finkle

Two-thirds of the way through I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road--revived for the Encores! Off-Center

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 2:56pm on July 25, 2013☆⚑

First Nighter: Beatles Tribute "Let It Be" Disappoints, as Does "Nobody Loves You" Tuner by David Finkle

On behalf of Let It Be, described as "a celebration of the music of the Beatles," I don't have much to say. Why would I? I'm a longtime, dyed-in-the-vinyl Beatles fan.

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 6:47pm on July 24, 2013☆⚑

First Nighter: Joe Orton's Astute Loot, Matthew-Lee Erlbach's Probing Handbook by David Finkle

Can it be that one of the funniest and one of the most anarchic comic writers of the 20th century, a true member of the exclusive Sui Generis Club, is already forgotten? Not at the Westport …

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 6:57pm on July 22, 2013☆⚑

First Nighter: Sutton Foster, Jeanine Tesori, Brian Crawley Make Violet Red-Hot by David Finkle

So extraordinarily good was the one-night Encores! Off-Center staged concert reading of the Jeanine Tesori-Brian Crawley Violet, directed by Leigh Silverman, that it calls for some serious t…

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 1:45pm on July 18, 2013☆⚑

First Nighter: Simon McBurney's "Shun-kin" Mustn't Be Shunned at Lincoln Center Festival by David Finkle

To begin his Shun-kin note for the 2013 Lincoln Center Festival program, Complicite director Simon McBurney writes, "In...

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 3:29pm on July 12, 2013☆⚑

First Nighter: Blitzstein's 1937 "Cradle Will Rock" Rocks 2013 Encores! Off-Center by David Finkle

The cast of the Encores! Off-Center concert production of Marc Blitzstein's once highly controversial first musical...

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 6:58pm on July 11, 2013☆⚑

First Nighter: John Malkovich Futzes Dangerously With "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" by David Finkle

It would be a pleasure to report that what John Malkovich has come up with as part of the 2013 Lincoln Center Festival is a refreshing aperitif. It isn't.

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 4:36pm on July 10, 2013☆⚑

Are Theater Focus Groups the Future? Ken Davenport Thinks So by David Finkle

Is Dial-a-Show the way to go?

SOURCE: Clyde Fitch Report at 3:58pm on July 8, 2013☆⚑

First Nighter: London Glowing Thanks to Daniel Radcliffe and Playwrights James Baldwin, Alan Ayckbourn, Lucy Kirkwood by David Finkle

Daniel Radcliffe is out to prove something, and he's doing a bang-up job of it. Set for life as the #1 Harry Potter alumnus,...

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 2:40pm on June 27, 2013☆⚑

First NIghter: Sam Mendes's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" Needs Sweetening by David Finkle

London--If you're a chocoholic like me, you're hoping Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will be as delectable as...

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 8:08pm on June 25, 2013☆⚑

…And Now a Word or Two About The Theatre World Awards by David Finkle

Check out the hands-down, no-contest awards show winner.

SOURCE: Clyde Fitch Report at 11:35am on June 24, 2013☆⚑