8,501 stories from Backstage
The physical grace and visual imagination on display make this a nonstop pleasure to behold.
Full of theatre in-jokes, corny puns, and pop-culture references, "The Grecian Formula" pulls out every conceivable gag and Broadway cliché as it tears through Western theatre history…
This amusing but scattered musical occurs right after the incident in which Spears shaves her head, and when it goes into full-throttle satire, it can be terrific.
Don't laugh, but there are similarities between opera and reality television, and composer-librettist Jeffrey Lependorf combines the two formats in a delightful little guilty pleasure.
Joe Salvatore has fashioned the profoundly moving "III," which anatomizes the enduring and endearing ménage of Glenway Wescott, Monroe Wheeler, and George Platt Lynes, from correspond…
Playwright Patrick Huguenin has taken his experience working for the New York Daily News' Rush and Molloy and transformed it into a very funny and slightly frightening look at the gossip-col…
Though Carol Lempert's Dorothy Parker sparkles more than she glares, sharing cocktails and wisecracks with this woman so ahead of her time does make for an agreeable evening.
A sort of elegant sensuality pervades Wayne Harrison's "Désir," a theatrical circus attraction that uses Schnitzler's "La Ronde" for its inspiration.
Douglas Turner Ward on Signature's celebration of the Negro Ensemble Company
Outrageous and sometimes outrageously funny, "The Deciders" rocks the establishment while preaching to the choir. Too bad it goes off the tracks.
The play juggles ideas on loss and interconnectedness, but we get the point long before the final curtain.
The production's power is in Schönberg's utterances, many of which are factual quotations. They contain elements of good theatre: wit, depth, and a touch of shock value.
As promising as the raw material is, the end result displays too much writerly contrivance and too little dramatic momentum.
"Revolution on the Roof" contains the self-congratulatory nostalgia of infomercials for '60s music compilations but without the slick production values.
This charming dance piece by Lane Gifford is based on the writings of one Fabritio Caroso of Sermoneta (circa 1600 A.D.).
In his revue of black music from the 1950s to the '90s, Movin' Melvin Brown sings and shimmies his way through history with a vitality that will have you dancing in the aisles.
Alan Rickman almost convinces us he's just the average working actor.
There are a few funny lines in Anthony Gelsomino's new absurdist play, but his direction successfully kills most of them.
Playwriting 101: Write what you know. Well, in the case of "KNB: The Romantical, Comical, Nautical Musical" and its creator Christopher Carter Sanderson, intimate knowledge of the subject cl…
How productions ride -- or avoid -- the Fringe's coattails
While neither the most coherent nor the most skilled "Twelfth Night" you'll ever see, Pulse Ensemble's production is still a jolly evening at the theatre.
What with all the interpretations and impressive special effects showing up in Shakespeare's plays, it's refreshing to experience a pared-down version of "Hamlet" that reminds you that you d…
Lower Manhattan suddenly got a lot hotter last week with the return of "Absinthe," the vest-pocket burlesque circus that's probably one of the sexiest events in town.
This show about commerce proves to have one real cost: the audience's time.
