122 stories by "David Kaufman"
Bahareh Yaraghi as Mrs. Laura Cheveley and Brad Hodder as Lord Arthur Goring in a scene from "The Ideal Husband" (Photo credit: Emily Cooper) David Kaufman, Critic Though The Importance of B…
Both Kevin and Cara are single parents, which is only the beginning of the many parallels and contrasts at the heart of "Dan Cody's Yacht." Though it might come to seem overly formulaic, bot…
Though A.R. Gurney chose a familiar definition of the theater as the title for his 1992 play, "The Fourth Wall" ultimately proves less about the theater than about its four characters. And a…
The Cast of "Stage Life" (Photo credit: Courtesy of Creative Arts Lab) David Kaufman, Critic As conceived and adapted by Martin Tackel, Stage Life is too ambitious by half. While it attempts…
While director David Mercatali has them continually circling each other like boxers in a ring--sparring emotionally, if not physically--Sophie and Tom never really connect or even touch each…
While it's meant to be helpful, a glossary of local jargon ("Operation Crucible" is set in Sheffield, England) in the program is usually a surefire sign that you're going to have difficulty …
With an enormous painted backdrop depicting London and featuring St. Paul's Cathedral and a lamppost (the glorious sets have been designed by Michael Yeargan), the musical begins as Covent G…
When Tennessee Williams started writing "Summer and Smoke," his working title for the play was "Chart of Anatomy," taken from a poem by Hart Crane. An anatomical chart becomes one of the ver…
After "Ruined" and then last year's "A Doll's House, Part 2,"Â Condola Rashad is fast establishing herself as one of our finest young actresses. She is presently back on Broadway, offering…
To add that "The Metromaniacs" also contains a play within the play, in which all of the characters are apparently playing themselves, might begin to suggest how confusing it all becomes, es…
If it seemed like no staging could ever top London's National Theatre production (which was directed by Nicholas Hytner and came to Lincoln Center in the mid 1990's), this newer version epit…
After the first song, "We are in the house where I grew up," says Abigail, with the bacon and eggs and toast and tea in the morning, on the first day of a new school year. Adding to the conf…
If you pay any attention to the Rialto, then you knew that Jackson was going to be in the play--the play that salvaged Albee's reputation in 1993 and won him his third Pulitzer Prize--since …
Nathan Lane as Roy M. Cohn and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett as Belize in a scene from Tony Kushner's "Angels in America" (Photo credit: Brinkhoff & Mögenburg) David Kaufman, Critic Full discl…
Any further comparisons with the Broadway musical "Come From Away" end with the Nova Scotia setting as Chaim and Chaya quickly settle in Montreal where the 19-year-old Chaim marries the 24-y…
In an "Author's Note" to his play "Later Life," A.R. Gurney explains that it was inspired by "The Beast in the Jungle," a famous novella by Henry James, about a man who leads a "guarded" lif…
Despite some terrific acting, it's hard to root for any of the four characters in Kings, even if the play is one long competition between all of them. This smart new work by Sarah Burgess ("…
Thus begins the unique show, "Black Light," which is a concert cum confessional. In her sequenced gowns--and there are five costume changes during the 90-minute performance--and with her red…
But "Reference" is also about issues of gender, race, age, celebrity, politics, economics, and the inescapable impact of the Internet--and more specifically, social media--on the ways busine…
The sense of good, old-fashioned suspense is heightened by director Matthew Dunster, who also helps delineate the spot-on performances by the four remaining cast members--and regulars at Har…
Though the production has been designed by its director, John Doyle, there is no scenery to speak of, except for a gold framed mirror on the rear wall, another framed mirror angled and dangl…
... in Deen's mad dash to portray Shireern's elderly Indian father and mother--who live in Connectictut--her girlfriend, Molly, and so many other figures, including even a housecleaner at a …
Though there's a major surprise lurking at the top of the second act, and though it's about how sins of the past can impinge on the present, Scott Organ's "The Thing with Feathers" is ultima…
But in John Lithgow: Stories by Heart, Lithgow tells an even more compelling tale about growing up with his father Arthur Lithgow, an actor who taught Shakespeare even as he opened and ran S…
Steve Martin's old/new wonderful comedy, "Meteor Shower," is about two California couples getting together for the first time--again, and again, and again. Like "Groundhog Day," it keeps sta…
