499 stories by "ROB WEINERT-KENDT"
A scene from As You Like It by Francis Hayman (c. 1750)Why do we keep returning with joy to As You Like It, one of Shakespeare's most plotless works? A delightful suspension of action may be…
Does the auteur theory stop at the stage door?The idea that playwrights shouldn't direct their own work is almost axiomatic; you can see it all over the reviews of John Patrick Shanley's Sto…
What happens if you hold an online chat about the Tony Awards and only five people turn up? Could it be a sign that you're in the wrong city?
The cast of Soho Rep's Uncle VanyaIn the spring of 2002 I appeared in an L.A. Classical Theatre Lab production of Uncle Vanya; I don't recall how they found me, but they needed a guitarist b…
An "Uncle Vanya" with living-room comforts: that's one of the aims of the playwright Annie Baker and the director Sam Gold in their latest collaboration.
I've little to add to the encomiums (encomia?) for the late Ray Bradbury, except to recount that he was a source for my first Arts & Leisure byline back in 2006, when Godlight Theatre wa…
by Rob Weinert-Kendt
StageGrade.com Editor
A competitive Tony broadcast? That's something worth looking forward to"and a sure sign that there's a strong season to look back on. Sure, critic…
(cross-posted at Train My Ear)I'm not entirely approving of the Tori Amos-ish direction of Regina Spektor's new record, but there's no arguing with the catchiness of "All the Rowboats." It's…
From crying to giving notes, the best of a month of American Theatre Facebook threads.Eric Grode notes Clybourne Park's possible debt to Norman Lear.Gotta say I'm enjoying the Orange Couch f…
American Theatre has an active and engaged Facebook community, and they're not just using the shared wall to scribble and joke. Yes, there are some wits among our more than 12,000 fans, but …
Giancarlo Esposito is portraying a character with a lot of similarities to himself in "Storefront Church," a new play written and directed by John Patrick Shanley at the Atlantic Theater.
1989, the number, another summer: I fell hard for Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing; I saw it maybe half a dozen times in the theater. For all its tendentious politics, I think what I most resp…
Well, this got my attention this morning:LADCC Award-winning California Repertory Company is thrilled to announce the world premiere of B.S.: Bukowski.Sondheim., featuring the words of Charl…
Food and Fadwa playwrights Jacob Kader and Lameece IssaqI didn't follow the New York Theatre Workshop/My Name Is Rachel Corrie controversy back in 2006 all that closely"I didn't have to, bec…
A seriocomedy about life under occupation, "Food and Fadwa" is the inaugural production of Noor Theater, the Middle Eastern American company in residence at New York Theater Workshop.
photo by T. Charles EricksonNot long after I moved to New York, I was on a bill with other singer/songwriters at a now-defunct Park Slope eatery called Night & Day, and among the standou…
Photo by Brigitte LacombeThough my good friend Jim Martin is no longer the culture editor there, I'm still contributing the occasional theater review to the Jesuit weekly America (and since …
In the current May/June issue of American Theatre, I sit down with Sarah Ruhl and Tracy Letts to talk about playwriting, with the pretext being that they've both recently done "versions" of …
photo by Ozier Muhammad for the TimesDon't have time to really tee this up, but it was my great pleasure to sit down with Clybourne Park director Pam MacKinnon this week for the paper of rec…
A question-and-answer review with the director Pam MacKinnon, who is a Tony Award nominee for her work on Bruce Norris's play "Clybourne Park."
One of the pleasures of having a child is introducing him to my own childhood favorites; just a few days ago, Oliver discovered Spike Jones, and is now requesting songs by name. To hear him …
Forgive me if Emily Nussbaum's walkback on Smash feels like vindication:Since its delightful pilot, the show has taken a nosedive so deep I'm surprised my ears haven't popped. All the cavea…
Is "Another Hundred People" the true New York anthem? Seth Rudetsky makes an excellent case.
"Art is rarely ever the ideal forum for getting one's point across. People who chose the so-called 'shock' route do it because it's the one with greatest likelihood of taking you where you i…
James Corden, in a war of choice with himself.
There's something about being in the presence of performers who will do anything to make us laugh"whose sole aim is to tickle us"that is at on…
