1,122 stories by "Frank Scheck"
The four scientists in "Instinct" spend most of the play's 85-minute running time debating parenthood, religion and sexual identity.
Oh, and they're also trying to halt an epidemic killing h…
A Midwestern mother and her businesswoman daughter travel to a small American city. Their purpose? To identify the body of a family member who committed suicide.Hilarity ensues.If that sound…
Reunited with his American Beauty director, Sam Mendes, Kevin Spacey pulls out all the stops with his devilishly entertaining turn in the title role of the Bridge Project’s production …
The plays of Athol Fugard often require heavy lifting on the part of an audience. That’s particularly true of his 1987 drama The Road to Mecca, now being given its Broadway premiere in…
I* capturing the monotony and anger that marks the daily life of New York City cops, "Newyorkland" makes a powerfully compelling film.The problem is, it's supposed to be a theater piece. The…
Why does every show set in Dublin seem to take place in a bar? Hot on the heels of the Broadway-bound "Once" " where you can step up onstage and buy a pint of Guinness before the show and at…
Composer Stephen Sondheim will probably be appeased when he sees The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, the reconceived revival of the classic opera by George and Ira Gershwin and, oh yes, lib…
Flip around the radio dial lately? You probably won't find anything as entertaining as the programming put on by Soviet Free Radio Order. Especially its "At Home Field Guide," a homespun com…
Bridesburg is a run-down neighborhood in south Philadelphia. If Victor Kaufold's drama set there is any indication, you won't want to go there . . . or to "Bridesburg," for that matter.To it…
The Chinese language is all that one seems to be hearing lately. Not only did presidential candidate Jon Huntsman resort to Mandarin while rebuking Mitt Romney during a recent debate, but Da…
Imagine a cross between "Inherit the Wind" and David Mamet's charged student-versus-teacher drama "Oleanna," and you have some idea of "How the World Began."
Catherine Trieschmann's new piec…
Let's say you've flipped through a newspaper, reading this or that; sponged the breakfast crumbs off the table, loaded the dishwasher and wrestled your child into a car seat for a trip to yo…
The Under the Radar festival is a much-needed showcase for adventurous theater companies whose work isn't exactly commercial " for better or worse. Two recent cases: the New York troupe the …
The tourists may have left, but the city's about to be invaded by a new force of thousands. And Mark Russell is ready. The arts festival he produces may be called Under the Radar, but there'…
By any measure, this year was a real roller-coaster ride for Jeremy Jordan. Like the Frank Sinatra song, the 27-year-old actor's been up and down and over and out, having made a splash with …
David Hyde Pierce somehow always manages to project a vaguely uncomfortable, awkward quality in his characters. It feels totally appropriate for Close Up Space, the uncomfortable, awkward ne…
In what surely must be purely coincidental timing, Farm Boy has arrived for a holiday engagement at 59E59 Theaters. Michael Morpungo’s “sequel” to his War Horse has opened …
The cavernous St. Ann’s Warehouse provides the perfect theatrical environment for Misterman, Irish playwright Enda Walsh’s one-person play starring Cillian Murphy in his U.S. sta…
You'll probably head straight for a deli after "Shlemiel the First," the delightful morsel of a 1994 klezmer musical based on Isaac Bashevis Singer's "Chelm" stories. In this world, food is …
Good luck scoring an invitation to the most exclusive social reception in town. It’s being held at the palatial and luxurious Fifth Avenue townhouse belonging to the very wealthy Mrs. …
The near demise of commercial off-Broadway has resulted in a plethora of unsuitable Broadway productions of tiny shows that look awfully wan in big theaters. The latest example is Lysistrata…
Had enough Sugarplum Fairies to last you a lifetime? Tired of seeing the Rockettes kicking up their heels again? Bah, humbug, indeed.
Hey, this is New York City, so no problem. There's plen…
In the musical On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, we learn that the central character experienced a past life and suffered an untimely end, only to be reborn in a new incarnation. Such is t…
If there was ever a show that should begin with the disclaimer, "Kids, don't try this at home," it's the Cirque Shanghai's "Bai Xi." This Chinese acrobatic spectacle " the title, not exactly…
It’s a long weekend’s journey into night at Stick Fly, Lydia R. Diamond’s overstuffed play about an African-American family’s tumultuous reunion at their summer home …
