1,783 stories by "ELISABETH VINCENTELLI"
Crystal looks sharp in her black business suit and red pumps. Appearances are doubly important for her: She's a car saleswoman and she's dead broke. Projecting confidence means a lot.
In fac…
By the time you take your seat, the cast of "Not by Bread Alone" is already onstage, kneading dough and splitting it into loaves at long tables. So begins a process " and a show " that ends …
Maggie is young and attractive, and she just wants to have sex with her hot husband " is that too much to ask? You can hardly blame her for being on edge: The man would rather spend his time…
The new off-Broadway show "Midsummer (A Play With Songs)" proves that you can still get a lot of great mileage out of boy-meets-girl. Hollywood has cranked out so many awful romantic comedie…
Just like "Amour" " Michael Haneke's austere movie about aging and death " could never have been made in America, "Opus No. 7" had to be imported from overseas. It's not just the subject mat…
In William Inge's bittersweet 1953 hit "Picnic," a hunky charmer appears out of nowhere to unsettle the women of a small Kansas town " especially the local beauty, aimless and bored with her…
'The Other Place" is billed as "a riveting new thriller." That's putting it loosely.
The play is less riveting than it is reasonably engaging. It's not entirely new, either, having premiere…
When the curtain drops on "Water by the Spoonful," the first thing that comes to mind is: This fine but innocuous show won last year's Pulitzer Prize? Over "Other Desert Cities" and "Sons of…
This isn't your daddy's Chekhov.
Popping up twice this month alone, the melancholy Russian continues his run as New York's most popular dead playwright. But don't expect anything traditional…
Patti Page, the subject of the new jukebox musical "Flipside," was one of the most popular acts of the 1940s and '50s. Over a 65-year career, the canary " now 85 and still singing " sold mor…
Being showbiz pros, Marc Kudisch and Jeffry Denman know full well the secret to a good comedy team is opposing personalities. You suspect they exaggerate their differences for their goofy ne…
In most crime novels, you try to figure out who did the deed. In Amy Herzog's new drama, "The Great God Pan," the big question is whether the deed even happened.
The play opens with the awk…
We're lucky that this year brought several excellent options for family entertainment: "A Christmas Story, The Musical," "The Radio City Christmas Spectacular" and "Elf " The Musical" spring…
Peter Jackson spent gazillions of dollars to tell the story of "The Hobbit." For the new off-Broadway epic "P.S. Jones and the Frozen City," playwright Robert Askins and director José Zayas…
Jackie Hoffman should know better than mixing things that shouldn't be mixed.
In this case, it's not dairy and meat but pills, which her stage alter ego washes down with a splash of Manisch…
Don't go to "What Rhymes With America" expecting a traditional plot, or even a satisfying explanation for the title. Melissa James Gibson's quirky play meanders gently from cryptic scene to …
'working" is best described by the subtitle of the book it's based on, Studs Terkel's 1974 oral history: "People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do." In the…
It's nice to see the folks behind the new Broadway revival of "Glengarry Glen Ross" get on the immersive-theater bandwagon. A premium seat is $377, while a cup of soda will set you back $10:…
When the title character in "Volpone, or the Fox" wakes up, his first impulse is to fondle his beloved gold and praise its glories:
"Thou being the best of things, and far transcending/All …
Here's one way you know "Golden Boy" is set in the past: Its hero is torn between idealistic music-making and a lucrative sports career. But instead of micro-managing him to a Nike endorseme…
Every December, seasonal shows take over our local stages, and resistance is futile. But which one is right for you " and your finicky friends and relatives?
Help has arrived! Let this selec…
Some Christmas tales are so straightforward and intimate, you can tell them around a fireplace with a cup of cocoa."A Civil War Christmas" isn't one of those stories. Set in December 1864, P…
Opera has been very good to Terrence McNally. He scored one of his biggest hits with "Master Class," inspired by Maria Callas' infamous voice lessons. "Golden Age," which opened last night, …
Broadway prefers comfort food: a familiar classic here, a new comedy there, maybe a hot-button-issue drama to look relevant. So David Mamet's "The Anarchist" stands out as a new play of idea…
A lot of eating takes place in the new Broadway comedy "Dead Accounts," but there's little for the audience to chew on. While the producers were busy signing up Katie Holmes and Norbert Leo …
