Bent to the Flame: A Night With Tennessee Williams<br> Reviewed by RON COHEN

As an actor, Doug Tompos conjures an affecting evocation of the playwright, but the one-man play Tompos has written, while it has its moments, doesn't quite do justice to the innate drama of…

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

Pigeon Man Apocalypse<br> Reviewed by A.J. MELL

It's not hard to imagine a powerful, quietly disturbing production of William Whitehurst's hourlong monologue -- one without all the grimacing and flailing about -- but in this instance we'r…

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

Orientarhythm<br> Reviewed by TOM PENKETH

Though it strains to be a crowd pleaser, this 90-minute dance show fails precisely because it tries too hard to be liked.

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

Leni<br> Reviewed by DAVID A. ROSENBERG

Most of Sarah Greenman's play about Leni Riefenstahl is stale stuff, but the acting and film clips are terrific.

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

The Unusual Suspects<br> Reviewed by RON COHEN

Unapologetic silliness - much of it quite funny - runs rampant through this musical whodunit. More serious-minded audiences may be put off, but others will find this epidemic of craziness in…

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

The Commission<br> Reviewed by DAVID A. ROSENBERG

Steven Fechter's play has a great deal to say about betrayal, war, passion, and much else in a work that is better in short spurts than in its long, dragged-out scenes.

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

Andrea/Agave<br> Reviewed by DAVID A. ROSENBERG

Conflating the story of Andrea Yates, the depressed Texas mother who drowned her five children, with that of Agave, who tore her son Dionysus to pieces in Euripides' "The Bacchae," writer-di…

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

Madonna and Child and Other Divas<br> Reviewed by ROBERT WINDELER

Julie Hamberg's direction can't overcome playwright Tom Johnson's grab-bag approach to a theme better served by straightforward simplicity.

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

Chaser<br> Reviewed by CHRISTOPHER MURRAY

Howard Walter's earnest but often plodding study of two gay men on the verge of a nervous breakdown feels more after-school special than dangerous liaison.

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

Bukowsical!<br> Reviewed by NICOLE VILLENEUVE

While the humor is gregariously delivered by the unquestionably talented cast, they cannot rescue Gary Stockdale and Spencer Green's "Bukowsical!," which is just one long joke with an unsati…

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

Reconstructing Mama<br> Reviewed by NICOLE VILLENEUVE

This overthought and underwhelming musical comes across as therapy for its author-director, Stephen Svoboda, whose attempt to express himself results in a convoluted jumble.

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

The Heart of Lady Day: Kim Nalley Sings Billie Holiday<br> Reviewed by DAVID FINKLE

Nalley delivered with a freshness and conviction that honored Holiday while conjuring her with grace.

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

Theremin<br> Reviewed by CHRISTOPHER MURRAY

What this production is unable in its current form to communicate is the animating passion of two musical innovators-Brian Wilson and Leon Theremin-who suffered for our aural pleasure.

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

In the Shadow of My Son<br> Reviewed by NANCY ELLEN SHORE

Nadine Bernard's new play often seems more of an educational tool about postpartum depression than a theatre piece, especially with its here's-what-you-can-do-to-help ending. At 90 intermiss…

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

Boiling Pot<br> Reviewed by NANCY ELLEN SHORE

A searing exposé of our boiling melting pot, compellingly directed by Milton Justice on a bare stage with two stools, it is definitely worth seeing.

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

Dressing Miss Julie<br> Reviewed by NICOLE VILLENEUVE

While this is an intriguing study, Kull and Perkins do not possess the acting chops to execute it successfully; without the power struggle, Strindberg fizzles.

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

Bucharest Calling<br> Reviewed by IRENE BACKALENICK

Under Ana Margineanu's astute direction, the story plays out in a series of short staccato scenes enhanced by appropriate slides and videos. Bucharest Calling brings a fresh, welcome voice t…

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

A Beautiful Child<br> Reviewed by ROBERT WINDELER

With 20th-century cultural icons Marilyn Monroe and Truman Capote so aurally and visually familiar, it's a risk to play them without physical or vocal resemblance.

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

Married to the Sea<br> Reviewed by A.J. MELL

In the theatre, the only thing more reliably dysfunctional than the American family is the Irish family, and Shona McCarthy offers a prime example of the latter in this low-key, lyrical dram…

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

Lost in Hollywoodland or The Slug Woman From Uranus<br> Reviewed by A.J. MELL

What must be the umpteenth comic reworking of the Faust story never scales the heights of sublime tackiness that would have allowed it, in Mel Brooks' immortal phrase, to "rise below vulgari…

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

Bash'd!: A Gay Rap Opera<br> Reviewed by PAUL MENARD

Bash'd! falls victim to didactic melodrama, coming off like a public school anti-violence assembly. But the arch beats, clever lyrics, and dynamic performances are still enough to make it a …

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

516 (five sixteen)<br> Reviewed by A.J. MELL

Protagonists need not be likable to compel an audience's attention, but it does help if said characters are witty or articulate or darkly charismatic in some way -- qualities which, sadly, d…

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

<cite>Idol: The Musical</cite>, reviewed by Andy Propst

Idol: The Musical aspires to be The Full Monty for the Gen Y crowd—instead it comes off as interminable, amateurish, and headache-inducing.

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

The Tempest<br> Reviewed by JERRY PORTWOOD

Director Alexa Kelly employs a multiethnic cast and has chosen to update the play, inspired by the TV series "Lost." Unfortunately, the efforts to modernize may in fact prove more confusing …

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

<cite>Human Error</cite>, reviewed by Adam Perlman

Keith Reddin's play is both slight and rich, a lingering, unjudging glance into three lives touched by pain.

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