1,783 stories by "ELISABETH VINCENTELLI"
There are two ways to score a Broadway hit: Load up on name stars and make a mint during a limited run, or bank on good bones that can get through years of cast changes.
Anything involving …
What do Fantasia Barrino, Constantine Maroulis and Clay Aiken have in common? "American Idol," of course " but also Broadway: They're just three of the former contestants who have successful…
Much like its subject, the new Broadway musical "Soul Doctor" is terminally earnest and relentlessly sunny. Both also share a fish-out-of-water quality.
The show's central character was a m…
Aptly enough, "Einstein" " the inept new drama about the father of the relativity theory " makes time slow to a crawl. When it finally ends, you're not sure if you've been at the theater for…
'it's the first time together and I'm feeling kinda horny/Conventional methods of makin' love kinda bore me."
You may have guessed this lyric " crooned, R&B-style, in "Love's Labour's Lost" …
By the end of Broadway's "First Date," Zachary Levi has won over the entire audience " you can feel everybody, women and men, young and old, swooning. If someone happened to smuggle in a sma…
Part of Young Jean Lee's appeal is that you never know what she's going to do. The downtown playwright's recent works include a look at African-American stereotypes ("The Shipment"), a king-…
Timing is everything in this free "Richard III." The show runs 2 1/2 hours without intermission, which means you may want to hit the bathroom before it starts. Which in turn means a trip to …
Donna, of the new dramedy "Harbor," gabs like one of the cool kids. She tosses off insults as if they were cute and endearing, and pleads, "Come on, don't be a biatch."
Except that Donna's n…
It's hard to believe there isn't a metaphor lying around under "Rubble" " a comedy about a TV writer stuck in a pile of debris after an LA earthquake. After all, it's by TV writer Mike Reiss…
Donna, of the new dramedy "Harbor," gabs like one of the cool kids. She tosses off insults as if they were cute and endearing, and pleads, "Come on, don't be a biatch."
Except Donna's neithe…
'Shida" may last just over an hour, but it's so action-packed, you feel you're watching it in fast-forward. This could actually be fun, except that this new solo musical vaults from one melo…
The most distinctive thing about "Dancing on Nails" is how old-fashioned it is. It's as if playwright Paul Manuel Kane had never heard of modern theater trends. You're not going to find anyt…
It takes a strong woman to step into Sigourney Weaver's boots. But that's what Julie White's about to do tomorrow, when she debuts in "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike," the Tony-winning …
Cozy mysteries in the Agatha Christie mold don't require hard-boiled suspense. What they need is kooky characters " and the new off-Broadway musical "Murder for Two" has plenty of them.
The…
Seeing "I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road" is like stepping into a hot-tub time machine. Under Kathleen Marshall's direction, this Encores! Off-Center presentation takes …
Seeing "I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road" is like stepping into a hot-tub time machine. Under Kathleen Marshall's direction, this Encores! Off-Center presentation takes …
A little less than three years ago, "Rain" strung together Beatles hits, hired impersonators to cover them and brought the whole shebang to Broadway.
Now "Let It Be" has landed on the Great…
Audiences are known to break into applause at the sight of a cool set. By those standards, the one in the new off-Broadway play "The Capables" deserves a standing ovation.
The stage looks as…
'The Designated Mourner" is now acknowledged not just as Wallace Shawn's masterpiece, but as a major achievement of political American theater.
But the most remarkable thing about the reviva…
Television dating shows are an easy target for satire " almost too easy. After all, it's hard to outdo bird-brained youths looking for true love in hot tubs.
But the wonderful new pop music…
"Violet" didn't create much of a stir when it opened at Playwrights Horizons in 1997. Composer Jeanine Tesori went on to high-profile Broadway productions like "Shrek" and "Caroline, or Chan…
My name's Bill W., and I'm an alcoholic." Spontaneous response: "Hi, Bill!"No, we weren't at a 12-step meeting but at a recent performance of "Bill W. and Dr. Bob" at the Soho Playhouse, com…
There's a reason we have a revue like "Forever Tango" and not "Everlasting Jitterbug" or "Always Rumba." Since its beginnings in lower-class Argentine neighborhoods, tango has enjoyed global…
Nothing says jarring like people in tuxes and gowns praising unions and singing lines like "there's something so damned low about the rich!"
This odd juxtaposition takes place at City Center…
