1,783 stories by "ELISABETH VINCENTELLI"
“Varekai” is billed as Cirque du Soleil's "newest arena show," but it actually was created back in 2002, for the big top. While the acts are as tight as we...
The Second Stage production of the new dramedy "Sex With Strangers" is polished and stylish. It also boasts superior casting, with the excellent Anna Gunn (Walter White's long-suffering wife…
Second Stage Uptown scored big a few years ago with "Bachelorette," which became a movie and launched the career of playwright Leslye Headland. Now the company's unearthed another gem with...
You can't accuse Theatreworks USA of lacking ambition in its shows for young audiences. Its 26th season's production, "The Lightning Thief," is an action-packed musical filled with heroic ba…
Warren Leight found a nifty way to sum up 20 years' worth of Knicks agony: In "Sec. 310, Row D, Seats 5 and 6," the Tony-winning writer of "Side Man"...
Stories that pop on the big screen can fizzle when they hit the stage. For every hit like "Once" there are a dozen misfires like "Bullets Over Broadway," the latest...
Encores! Off-Center has done a bang-up job reviving obscurish off-Broadway musicals, some of which, on the strength of these productions, later made it to Broadway. "Pump Boys and Dinettes" …
Randy Newman's only musical, "Faust," is an odd bird: It's never been staged in New York, yet it's spawned a couple of famous-ish songs. You may have heard Bonnie Raitt's...
No matter what Benjamin Scheuer talks or sings about in his solo musical, "The Lion," he sticks to a monotone that's polite at best, bland at worst. Which is pretty...
Jonathan Larson's legacy usually boils down to "Rent." But the Encores! Off-Center series is making a strong case for his lesser-known "tick, tick…BOOM!" with a high-energy production …
The thing with reunions is that they always boil down to the same big ideas: Nobody's the way they used to be, friendship is treacherous, and you can't go home...
'The Old Woman" is pretty much a live-action version of "The Itchy & Scratchy Show" starring Mikhail Baryshnikov and Willem Dafoe. This new theatrical piece has all the vaudevillian shti…
Rap on Broadway? Purists, relax " "Holler If Ya Hear Me," the Tupac Shakur musical that opened Thursday night, is endearingly traditional. Yes, there's gangsta anger and lots of profanity,...
Th3 strapping Jane Lynch came up short in only one way Wednesday night: Her cabaret debut " "my maiden voyage," she quipped " ended too soon. Even with two encores,...
No wonder more and more members of the casts of the eight "Harry Potter" films are turning up onstage: After all, most of Hogwarts' teaching staff seems to have been...
Two generations face off in off-Broadway's "When We Were Young and Unafraid." The older, wiser woman is Agnes (Cherry Jones), a former military nurse who runs a B&B that doubles...
Ron Weasley's coming to Broadway! Rupert Grint " the ginger-haired Hogwarts kid from all eight Harry Potter movies " will make his New York stage debut in the revival of...
Shakespeare’s "Much Ado About Nothing" is the original romantic comedy " its leads are very vocal about how much they can't stand each other. In other words, they're destined to...
A couple of years ago, Ayad Akhtar won the Pulitzer Prize for "Disgraced" " which is headed to Broadway this fall, with "How I Met Your Mother" star Josh Radnor....
The new musical "Fly by Night" is off-Broadway's answer to "The Fault in Our Stars" " earnest, enthusiastic and possibly requiring a tissue or two by the end. Romance doesn't...
In a shocker of an opening scene, Daniel takes a large knife from the kitchen and prepares to slice off his ear. Blackout. It's a heart-stopping way to begin a...
Greta Gerwig could have found a much easier vehicle than "The Village Bike." But no, the blond star of "Frances Ha" and other indie films picked a doozy of a...
Mary Bridget Davies Stars as: Janis Joplin in "A Night with Janis Joplin" "I based my dressing room on [photos from Janis' life]: tapestries, candles, 1930s lamps, two of my...
Two epically awkward dates make a satisfying finale to the off-Broadway comedy "When January Feels Like Summer" " they're a long time coming, though. Playwright Cori Thomas enjoys her charac…
For his New York stage debut, Kenneth Branagh could have gotten away with anything. A solo reading of takeout menus? It's a hit! Instead, the Shakespeare expert brought over a...
