The Unconquered - Reviewed by PAUL MENARD

Torben Betts' play comes off more as a flawed theatrical experiment rather than a successful piece of experimental theatre.

SOURCE: Backstage at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

The Fever Chart: Three Visions of the Middle East - Reviewed by GWEN OREL

Naomi Wallace's play is profoundly depressing, less because of its stories than its stereotypes. It presents three extended scenes that share only one vision: the perspective that sees perse…

SOURCE: Backstage at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

Top Girls - Reviewed by DAVID SHEWARD

James MacDonald's first-rate revival of Caryl Churchill's play is a soaring symphony of ideas and cultures.

SOURCE: Backstage at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

Cherry Docs - Reviewed by JERRY PORTWOOD

The neo-Nazi skinhead evokes both fear and fascination in popular culture. David Gow's two-person play Cherry Docs confronts this revulsion and attraction head on.

SOURCE: Backstage at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

The Hey You Monster: Pokin the Bears in a Zoo and Bring Us the Head of Your Daughter - Reviewed by JERRY PORTWOOD

Playwright Derek Ahonen's perspective on the family unit seems to be both sanguine and deeply cynical.

SOURCE: Backstage at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

Me - Reviewed by RONNI REICH

Through the filter of Kirk Wood Bromley's demented, genius brain, a story that has a placenta as a protagonist becomes all at once a witty musical, a lesson in Chinese mythology, and a dense…

SOURCE: Backstage at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

A Year in the Life of Twenty-Five Strangers Living in a City by the Lake - Reviewed by A.J. MELL

The title pretty much sums it up. Although the quick scene changes, dynamic cast, and vigorous direction from Shaun Colledge ensure that the results are never tedious, the end result is some…

SOURCE: Backstage at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

All Eyes and Ears - Reviewed by JERRY PORTWOOD

The narrative of Rogelio Martinez's new play, set in Cuba in 1961, shortly after Fidel Castro came to power, quickly becomes muddled with too many competing viewpoints, subplots, and biases …

SOURCE: Backstage at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

Glory Days - Reviewed by LEONARD JACOBS

"Glory Days" has two stories. The first is contained within this poorly written excuse for a musical. The second is how the show ever got to Broadway to begin with.

SOURCE: Backstage at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

The Aspern Papers - Reviewed by GWEN OREL

Martin M. Zuckerman's adaptation of Henry James' "The Aspern Papers" is very faithful to the 1888 novella -- not so much to its credit. The mood of muffled suspense fills the stage, but clau…

SOURCE: Backstage at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

Substitution - Reviewed by RONNI REICH

Anton Dudley's new play proves that watching an affair grow between people with nothing in common and no reason to like or to trust one another is bizarre and unsatisfying.

SOURCE: Backstage at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

One of a Kind - Reviewed by GWEN OREL

This children's theatre production is so packed with life, joy, and insight that it makes adult theatre seem flabby.

SOURCE: Backstage at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

The Eccentricities of a Nightingale - Reviewed by DAVID A. ROSENBERG

That Tennessee Williams' drastic rewrite of "Summer and Smoke" eventually works as well as it does here is due in large part to Jenn Thompson's sensitive direction and to the performances of…

SOURCE: Backstage at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

Steve & Idi - Reviewed by ADAM R. PERLMAN

Icy detachment and gooey mess wouldn't seem to be a good fit, but there's a strange logic to their pairing in David Grimm's new play.

SOURCE: Backstage at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

Boeing-Boeing - Reviewed by DAVID SHEWARD

Who would have thought a sex comedy from the early 1960s would become the laugh-riot hit of the 2008 Broadway season?

SOURCE: Backstage at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

Sunrise at the Quarry - Reviewed by RON COHEN

The intensity and fragility of youthful friendship are movingly evoked in this new play that was developed in improvisations and then worked into shape by writer Nick Sanzo.

SOURCE: Backstage at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

The Accidental Patriot - Reviewed by GWEN OREL

With its bright, shiny costumes, boisterous swashbuckling, cheers of "Huzzah," choral singing to the viola, and good-natured mugging, "The Accidental Patriot" resembles a Renaissance Faire i…

SOURCE: Backstage at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

Endgame - Reviewed by DAVID SHEWARD

Director Andrei Belgrader and his expert company remember give the new production at BAM the air of a nightmarish circus, equally side-splitting, scary, and tear-inducing.

SOURCE: Backstage at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

Les Liaisons Dangereuses - Reviewed by DAVID SHEWARD

Though it is more overtly sexual than the original production, the Roundabout Theatre Company's revival is not as sexy as the initial incarnation of Christopher Hampton's play.

SOURCE: Backstage at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

The Set Up - Reviewed by RON COHEN

James Lindenberg's mildly diverting comedy seems knowledgeable about the anxieties and expectations of dating among singles nearing middle age. Unfortunately, it could use help in the dramat…

SOURCE: Backstage at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

Vengeance Can Wait - Reviewed by TOM PENKETH

To say that Yukiko Motoya's wry comedy revolves around a very strange relationship is an understatement. Yet the expertly acted production is a joy to watch, despite several head-scratching …

SOURCE: Backstage at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

Thurgood - Reviewed by DAVID SHEWARD

With the dramatic potential of centuries-old racial barriers crumbling, Laurence Fishburne in the only role, and a skillful director like Leonard Foglia at the helm, George Stevens Jr.'s pla…

SOURCE: Backstage at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

Julie Reyburn - Reviewed by DAVID FINKLE

On paper, the notion of a headliner introing guests sounds magnanimous. In practice, however, important continuity is too often sacrificed. It's something about which performers ought to thi…

SOURCE: Backstage at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

Triumph of Love - Reviewed by SAM THIELMAN

Brian Swasey has staged the musical as if it's being performed at the Lyceum, when his actors are two feet from the audience. Ultimately, this show is on a road paved with good intentions --…

SOURCE: Backstage at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

The Caucasian Chalk Circle - Reviewed by JERRY PORTWOOD

The inequalities laid bare during the current economic crisis in the United States are more than enough reason to prompt a revival of Brecht's social parable.

SOURCE: Backstage at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑