1,122 stories by "Frank Scheck"
No one plays intense, irascible char acters better than Mandy Patinkin. The former "Criminal Minds" actor is perfectly cast in Rinne Groff's "Compulsion," inspired by writer Meyer Levin's ob…
As Leo Tolstoy famously ob served, "Every unhappy fam ily is unhappy in its own way." For the three siblings in Melissa Ross' "Thinner Than Water," unhappiness takes the form of constant arg…
A sheet of paper, a chair, some rubber balls, fruit and a suitcase. That's about all the props Jamie Adkins needs to create theatrical magic in his family-friendly "Circus Incognitus."
A …
He was the man Oscar Wilde went to prison for: his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, the handsome, overprivileged son of the Marquess of Queensbury whom Wilde and others affectionately called Bosi…
Death-row dramas have been a theatrical staple since the '30s, and "When I Come To Die," Nathan Louis Jackson's new take, adds little that's fresh.
Damon Robinson (Chris Chalk), in prison…
Who, younger readers may wonder, was Michael Rocke feller?
Back in 1961, former Gov. Nelson's 23-year-old son went to Papua New Guinea on an anthropological expedition and never returned.…
Bob Hope and Bing Crosby would be spinning in their graves at the thought of "The Road to Qatar!" -- a lame musical comedy in the style of their classic "Road" movies. Based on its creators'…
JACOBEAN drama is so rarely performed on these shores that any halfway decent production is bound to attract serious theatergoers. So it's doubly satisfying that the enterprising Red Bull Th…
The best way to ap preciate "Molly Sweeney" may simply be to shut your eyes.
As he did in "Faith Healer" a few seasons back, Brian Friel uses three intersecting monologues, this time tell…
If the news makes you want to cry, there's an antidote in town: "NEWSical the Musi cal." This new edition of the topical musical revue does for current events what the late, lamented "Forbid…
The character at the heart of "Carnival Round the Central Figure" doesn't look at all well.
Lying in a hospital bed, his mouth slack, he has a ghastly pallor and dark eyes that make him l…
Anyone who's seen Carol Channing in one of her recent appearances -- say, at the Kennedy Center Honors -- knows that she's remarkably spry for an almost-90-year-old. But she's even more dyna…
They say truth is stranger than fiction -- but fiction's often far more entertaining. So it is with British comedian Daniel Kitson's "The Interminable Suicide of Gregory Church," a one-man s…
'Are there more plots to unravel?" complains the title character of Shakespeare's "Cymbeline," and he might as well be speaking for the audience.
Luckily, the Fiasco Theater's charming ne…
If the idea of watching two machines chatting to each other sounds exciting, then "Hello Hi There" is the show for you. Nirvana for computer geeks, this bizarre theater piece by Annie Dors…
No need to bother with that revival of "King Lear" arriv ing in April at BAM. Why sit through the entirety of Shakespeare's classic when you can get pretty much the same story in less than 7…
You'd expect cheeki ness from a theater troupe named Pants on Fire, and that's exactly what you get in this rollicking British import at the Flea Theater.
"Pants on Fire's Metamorphoses" …
Marital difficulties? Try watching Eric Comstock and Barbara Fasano in ac tion. These husband-and-wife performers have so much personal and musical chemistry, they're practically providing c…
The problem with being a cutting-edge theater festival is that it gets harder and harder to keep things sharp.
That's the challenge faced by Under the Radar, presented each year by the Pu…
The first sign that "Baby Uni verse: A Puppet Odyssey" isn't your ordinary puppet show comes in the lobby, when a small, wheelchair-bound robot with a striking resemblance to Stephen Hawking…
Even if you're allergic to mime, Mum menschanz enchants. This durable Swiss troupe makes nonverbal magic with ordinary and not-so-ordinary objects, transforming them into abstract creations …
It's a good thing there's a bar inside the Ace of Clubs basement theater where "Naked Holidays" is playing: You're going to need to down some seriously spiked eggnog to endure this holiday s…
The first time she per formed in New York -- 36 years ago -- Bonnie Langford, then 10, played Baby June to Angela Lansbury's Momma Rose in "Gypsy."
Judging by the manic energy of "Bonnie …
If you've ever sat through a boring wed ding speech, you'll probably wince during the opening scene of "If That's All There Is." But while it captures such moments with comically painful acc…
Like spiked eggnog, "A Child's Christmas in Wales" assaults you with sweetness while adding a bracing kick of something stronger. The Irish Repertory Theatre's production includes an abundan…
