1,126 stories by "Victor Gluck, Editor-In-Chief"
And what of the play which had its world premiere at the Public Theater in 2005? Parsons' uneven production cannot keep this long play from seeming unwieldy. In fact, using so many actors is…
The score which has been drawn from the four previous New York productions of Anything Goes plays like a Cole Porter greatest hits parade and almost all of the songs are among his most popul…
Although the play demonstrates a surface knowledge of the genre and the period, it wants to have it both ways: it takes place in 1840 in a desolate mansion on the Yorkshire Moors but the cha…
Steven Levenson's "If I Forget" is the kind of family drama that doesn't get written much anymore: one that has something to say other than just depicting a dysfunctional situation. Not only…
Sam Gold's revival of "The Glass Menagerie," the fifth major production of the play in New York since 2005, is such a one. He has decided to remove all of the historical relevance as well as…
Thornton Wilder's "The Skin of Our Teeth" with its benign belief in the resilience of the human condition is unlike any other American play you are likely to see. Both heavily influenced by …
In addition to the swiftness of the storytelling and the use of contemporary language, Jackson uses a sort of upstairs-downstairs approach. Aside from what is happening to the royals, we als…
It would be difficult to imagine anything darker than the content of the second musical collaboration by John Kander and Greg Pierce having its New York premiere at the Vineyard Theatre. Pos…
Based on a story by lyricist/bookwriter/producer B.G. DeSylva ("Good News," "The Best Things in Life Are Free," "The Varsity Drag"), this musical satire sends unworldly, teetotaler Oliver P.…
Having played such indomitable women as Mama Rose and Maria Callas, Daly slips into the role of the Madwoman of Chaillot which fits her like a glove with her crisp, authoritative delivery. A…
Nevertheless, while the play is startlingly not politically correct, the acting is of a high caliber. In the title role, Regina Gibson (who appeared last season in the rediscovered operetta …
However, as the title implies it is also a very verbose, long-winded affair giving an excellent cast made up of such veterans as Matthew Broderick, John Epperson (a.ka.a Lypsinka), Jill Eike…
Birney seems to have cornered the market on sensitive, ordinary guys and his performance is similar to his awarding-winning "Erik" in The Humans. However, here he is extremely sympathetic an…
The evening is narrated by Saki (played by an appealing and suave David Paisley) talking to us from the trenches of France, in 1916. His five soldiers (played by Phoebe Frances Brown, Ellen …
Illusionist/actor Geoff Sobelle's show is a combination of happening, art installation, and a meditation on the role objects have in our lives. Using audience participation, objects both hid…
One of the remarkable things about the theater songs of Kurt Weill is that like the later songs of Stephen Sondheim they are all really little one act plays which give the performers a great…
While the play is at times Pinteresque, it is talky in a way Pinter never is, explaining everything over and over, covering the same ground again and again. Nothing much happens other than t…
The only real high-tech exchanges take place only three times during the run of the show. At the performances of February 6, 9 and 17, one of the roles in "Camera Obscura" will be performed …
Unfortunately, Policoff's book is too cluttered with characters too allow for much development. While some of his lyrics are clever, most are prosaic and heavy-handed. As played by music dir…
However, it is Ives' joy in language that is the most infectious. The rhymed couplets keep coming and surprising us over and over again (bitter/twitter; prize/rhapsodize, jocular/interlocuto…
The show began with Arlen's first hit, "Get Happy," 1930, and ended with his 1939 score for the MGM film, "The Wizard of Oz." The first half of the evening was devoted to Arlen's stand-alone…
There are many questions that the author fails to answer. Although the boys have not attended school in years and Bobbie has been diagnosed as ADHD and should be in the British equivalent of…
While the jokes may be hoary, Unger's production has cut down on the show's sentimentality and given it a sharp edge which elevates the material. As the heroine Ruth, Runofsson is genuine, c…
Director Ruben Santiago-Hudson has himself won a Tony Award for his performance in Wilson's "Seven Guitars" and has directed acclaimed Off Broadway revivals of "The Piano Lesson" and "Seven …
One problem is that the play (unlike Noel Coward's "Design for Living" or Somerset Maugham's "The Constant Wife" which cover similar territory) is neither witty not clever, and none of the l…
