Electra - Reviewed by PAUL MENARD

In the Classical Theatre of Harlem's latest reinterpretation of Sophocles' tragedy, writer-director Alfred Preisser divorces the play from most of its Greek roots, offering a fresh perspecti…

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

Rosebud: The Lives of Orson Welles - Reviewed by ANDY PROPST

In Citizen Kane, Orson Welles delivers a tantalizingly fragmented portrait of a great newspaper man. Playwright Mark Jenkins offers a similarly jagged portrait of Welles himself in the solo …

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

I.E. In Other Words - Reviewed by A.J. MELL

If the cast of Hee Haw were mugged with a linguistics textbook, the result might look something like Mark Greenfield's frantic postmodern musical farce.

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

Fate's Imagination - Reviewed by ANDY PROPST

The strained ambition of Fate's Imagination is matched by its characters' often-unconvincing behavior.

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

Tea - Reviewed by NANCY ELLEN SHORE

Velina Hasu Houston's searing, panoramic Tea, which premiered in New York 20 years ago, has the fearlessness, boldness, and clarity that are the hallmarks of enduring drama.

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

Facing East - Reviewed by KARL LEVETT

With a Mormon in the running for president, the arrival of this small but affecting play fresh from Salt Lake City seems most timely.

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

Romeo and Juliet - Reviewed by RON COHEN

It's hardly what Shakespeare wrote, but this adaptation of Romeo and Juliet by the grand doyenne of downtown theatre, La MaMa's Ellen Stewart, is a rousing good show.

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

Lipstick on a Pig - Reviewed by GWEN OREL

Linda Evans' Lipstick on a Pig is the type of play where characters demand to know "What did happen?" - and that's pretty much all that happens.

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

Stevie Holland - Reviewed by DAVID FINKLE

Stevie Holland is more than an all-around singer; she's an all-around swinger - and another of those sly cats catnipping their pop style with jazz touches in order to slip-skip into a wider …

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

The Jeweler's Shop - Reviewed by SAM THIELMAN

The Storm Theatre is giving Karol Wojtyla's dense, symbolist-inspired drama a sterling production with a terrific, spartan set and some inspired acting.

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

Silverland - Reviewed by ADAM R. PERLMAN

Benjamin Davis' debut play is currently offering a clinic in how not to arouse interest in a matter of vital social and political import.

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

Phallacy - Reviewed by ROBERT WINDELER

The old argument between science and art gets a rehashing in Phallacy - but without added insight. Unfortunately, there's simply too much going on in this 90-minute play.

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

The Jocker - Reviewed by MARC MILLER

Playwright Clint Jefferies is given a wide-open canvas in The Jocker, his compelling drama of Depression bums and the men and boys who loved them. He's to be applauded for bringing it to our…

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

<cite>Kraken</cite>, reviewed by Robert Windeler

Despite its many tentacles, Kraken never gets a firm grip on a through-line. Touted as a one-act encounter between Herman Melville and his friend and idol Nathaniel Hawthorne, Kraken is so overpopulated with dramatis personae that the two mid-19th-century American authors hardly get a word in edgewise.

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

<cite>Clytemnestra's Tears</cite>, reviewed by Kerri Allen

The frustrating thing is that Clytemnestra's Tears, though written in English, is being performed in Greek with English supertitles. Themis Bazaka is a wonderful Clytemnestra, but the language barrier is insurmountable.

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

<cite>Competing Narratives</cite>, reviewed by Andy Propst

A.B. Asher dilutes much of his drama by committing the fatal mistake of having the characters simply tell their stories. As a result, a play that could be intensely provocative becomes a mer…

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

John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey, reviewed by David Finkle

Their music may not have gotten better, but if not, it's only because they've been singing in their own version of sheer perfection for some time.

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

<cite>A Mouthful of Birds</cite>, reviewed by Sam Thielman

In the Breedingground production of Caryl Churchill's A Mouthful of Birds, the use of soundpainting tends to confuse the situation, although there are wonderful moments.

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

<cite>Gaslight</cite>, reviewed by Adam R. Perlman

In Irish Rep's glowing revival of Gaslight, the spellbinding acting of Laura Odeh and her uniformly expert co-stars makes a slightly soggy piece of kindling positively crackle under Charlotte Moore's direction.

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

<cite>Of Mice and Men</cite>, reviewed by Ron Cohen

It would be difficult to imagine a better rendering of John Steinbeck's 1937 classic Of Mice and Men than this revival, the second offering of a group called Cyclops Productions.

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

<cite>Hamlet</cite>, reviewed by Ron Cohen

For most of its intermission-less three-hour-plus running time, Christopher Carter Sanderson's uncut, bare-bones production is highly engrossing, celebrating with alacrity and understanding …

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

Daughter of a Cuban Revolutionary - Reviewed by KERRI ALLEN

Marissa Chibas' one-woman show is more self-examination than pure theatrics, but director Mira Kingsley keeps the action moving.

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

Passing Strange - Reviewed by ADAM R. PERLMAN

In form and content, Passing Strange places music front and center. Staged like an illustrated rock concert, its wonderful score -- trippy, pretty, and rocking -- is a welcome jolt to the th…

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

Cary From the Cock - Reviewed by PAUL MENARD

Downtown party girl Cary Curran's sloppy solo show about "fag hagging" in Manhattan's gay watering holes may have been better off staying in the back room.

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

A New Brain - Reviewed by LEONARD JACOBS

Director Brian Swasey has an ambitious and romantic vision for this revival of William Finn and James Lapine's musical.

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