8,501 stories from Backstage
Like a fragrant and pungent onion, this delicious play, wrapped in the guise of a madcap farce, is best enjoyed when you watch it without knowing what is coming next.
Karen Mason has a voice roughly the cabaret equivalent of a 9030T series John Deere tractor. When she lets it go, the only thing for a patron to do is get out of its way.
The producer of Cole Porter's "Paris" cut all but three of Porter's songs. But the admirable effort of Musicals Tonight! to restore the full Porter score only points out that sometimes the p…
Director Christopher McElreon's handsome production brings out the bold strokes of Ty Jones' script.
Jenny Schwartz's moving portrait of a husband and wife's world after their child dies packs a wallop.
It's not that "A Catered Affair" isn't enjoyable -- it's a string of enjoyable moments that never add up to a fully realized entertainment.
Liz Flahive's sadly comic tale successfully walks a knife edge between nervous-making neurosis and caring comedy.
As a multimedia exhibit, "The System of Dr Tarr and Professor Fether" at Theater for the New City can be considered moderately successful. As a play, it cannot.
Helen and Frank are not people you'd want to pass a night with on a rooftop. Even the 90 minutes spent with them in L. Pontius' dank drama "Umbrella" are pretty tough to take.
Celebrating multiculturalism with affectionate curiosity, "The Sejny Chronicles" is a delightful and persuasive piece of theatre.
Oddly enough, this is the New York premiere of these two absurdist Arthur Kopit one-acts, written around the same time as his first hit, 1963's "Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Clos…
Paul Rudnick takes three monologues about disparate people coping with modern life in their own quirky ways and brings them together -- awkwardly.
What do you do when a singer gets two-thirds of the way through a set and then mentions dealing with a little flu problem? You cut the performer some slack.
The intentionally confused acting by a talented international cast keeps the plot from being obvious; the entire performance feels as if it might have sprouted organically in some creative h…
Charles Mee's play attempts to capture the fleeting seduction of a summer weekend in the popular island retreat. In the hands of director Kevin Cunningham, it becomes a Felliniesque video-ar…
The production pulls off an impressive feat by capturing the original film's airless and unsettling tone, as well as its moral and intellectual concerns.
This Candide seems particularly sprightly in the current New York City Opera offering, spiffed up nicely by choreographer Patricia Birch and featuring a trio of performers from the world of Broadway.
Beneath a conventional bio-musical structure, Beth Turner's "Sweet Mama Stringbean" is an intriguing look at Ethel Waters' lifelong struggle between showbiz and religion.
The history alone of this groundbreaking anti-apartheid play would make it a must-see, but history aside, it's warm, funny, troubling, and powerful theatre.
Leonard Bernstein's operetta seems particularly sprightly in the current New York City Opera offering, spiffed up nicely by choreographer Patricia Birch and featuring a trio of performers fr…
Marcus Simeone doesn't get his point across - or that of most of the lyricists whose songs he sang.
Poor Marcy: Not only is she a failed artist pushing 40, she's also trapped in a mediocre musical.
I've never seen a more effective placement of Shakespeare's tale of supernatural destiny and vaunting ambition than Rupert Goold's pre-Iron Curtain staging.
Despite shortcomings, credit director Zachary Forsythe and cast with a game effort to come to terms with an enigmatic text.
While "After the Rain" may never quite grab you, it's a show whose artistic aspirations are palpable and valid.
