2,251 stories from theater2.nytimes.com
Theater Review: Blackbird
Multiple Characters in a Human Kaleidoscope by MARGO JEFFERSON
Christopher Shinn's play explores the forces that make disparate lives converge — or at least cross briefly — and then go their separate ways.
Afghanistan Still Stirs a Housewife by BEN BRANTLEY
As the title character, Linda Emond dominates this revised and enriched production of Tony Kushner's ambitious, jagged work from 2001.
A Thriller, Yes, a Thriller, All About Tortoises and Evolution by NEIL GENZLINGER
Michael Hollinger's play may be about tortoises, but it sweeps along at a bracing pace more often seen in hares.
You Can Take the Soldier Out of the War, but You Can't . . . by BEN BRANTLEY
John Ortiz's performance as a harrowed veteran of the war in Iraq keeps the blood pressure compellingly high in this otherwise overstated play at the Public Theater.
Three Generations of Advice From Mothers to Daughters by ANITA GATES
Hawthorne and Melville Have it Out in a Basement by ANITA GATES
A Proper Victorian Battle With Greed by MARGO JEFFERSON
In the Theater for a New Audience production of W. S. Gilbert's farce on British society, there is a depressing gap between conception and execution.
When in Boarding School Let the Sunshine In by ANITA GATES
This potentially touching story of two gay boys in love at a co-ed Roman Catholic boarding school has youthful promise written all over it, but isn't quite ready for prime time.
Storm Clouds Ahead for an Immigrant Farmer by LAWRENCE VAN GELDER
Hope, dreams, pride, politics, love, lust and awful guilt drive John C. Picardi's play about a family tending a vegetable farm outside Boston in 1936-37.
Theater and Dinner, Whirred Up in a Blender by ANITA GATES
This show at the Supper Club is an outlet for celebrity-chef worship, so it's too bad that the evening feels like cruise-ship entertainment.
A Breakthrough 50's Drama Revived in a Suspenseful Mood by BEN BRANTLEY
Sean Combs's shadow precedes him in this seriously off-center revival of Lorraine Hansberry's epochal drama of an African-American family in Southside Chicago.
In Case of Recycling, Beware: Black Humor Can Fade to Gray by MARGO JEFFERSON
One generation's groundbreaker becomes another generation's formula. Joe Hortura's second play has this made-over feel.
A Wry Outsider Determined to Endure, Against the Odds by MARGO JEFFERSON
This eloquent, intimate one-man play by the Ugandan-American photographer Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine traces the map of a life and the map of AIDS.
Layups for Love in the Heart of an Arena by MARGO JEFFERSON
Like a fiercely good basketball game, Deb Margolin's play at the Baruch Performing Arts center involves dynamic characters and heart-pacing action.
Setting a Leprechaun Loose, Down in Missitucky by BEN BRANTLEY
The Irish Repertory Theater's delightfully easygoing production includes a beguiling score of Celtic lilt, Southern gospel and bubbling pop and a top-flight cast.
Divided by Scandal, Destroyed by Good Intentions by WILBORN HAMPTON
If the current production of Ibsen's play at the Jean Cocteau Repertory were more subtly polished, it would give the highly metaphorical drama the credibility it deserves.
Three Trips to the Psychiatrist's Couch by ANITA GATES
Manuel Igrejas's collection of one-act plays about the psychiatrist-client relationship doesn't shed much light on the process, but the characters are sympathetic and articulate.
Personal Friends, Political Pawns by BEN BRANTLEY
Eliam Kraiem's dutiful story of the thorny friendship between a Jewish baker and a Palestinian terrorist generates less urgency than your average episode of "Friends."
An Actor Confronts a Wrenching Rite of Passage by BEN BRANTLEY
You may feel you've had enough of confessional one-person shows. But don't rule out Martin Moran's translucent account of a childhood brought to an abrupt end.
Hungry Hearts, Avid Dreams in Crazy Quilt of Old New York by MARGO JEFFERSON
Despite Lynn Nottage's novel approach to putting history on stage and Viola Davis's strong acting, the play at the Laura Pels Theater lags.
Vaudeville's Back on 42nd St., Trick-Filled Sleeves and All by LAWRENCE VAN GELDER
This import from Labyrinth-Circle of Berlin combines music, song, film, dance, acrobatics and clowning in a fast-moving, funny show.
A Silk Purse of a Different Ilk, and This One's Deadly by MARGO JEFFERSON
Kelly Stuart uses Balzac, that genius of novelistic detail, to fashion a haunting high-wire tale of 19th-century Paris.
A Palestinian Blues Singer in Detroit? Her Father Thinks Not by MARGO JEFFERSON
Betty Shamieh's play at The New Group is part tender drama and part searing comedy, all of it beautifully directed by Marion McClinton.
After the War, Before the Slavery, Steeping in Civilization's Tatters by MARGO JEFFERSON
The Classical Theater of Harlem's dynamic and harrowing production of Euripides' play succeeds in making a classic relevant.
