158 stories from Scheck on the Arts
Uneasily blending an examination into the global effects of climate change with dysfunctional family drama, British playwright Nick Payne’s dark comedy If There Is I Haven’t Foun…
Now playing in Toronto by way of Glasgow and London’s West End—and prior to a hoped-for Broadway run—Backbeat: The Birth of the Beatles is far from the cheery juke-box musi…
Leave it to the Aussies to deliver a rollicking Chekhov.
The Sydney Theatre Company’s new Uncle Vanya being presented by the Lincoln Center Festival is a triumphant rendition that tha…
Much like the 1991 film that inspired it, the new musical Dogfight is a sweet, unassuming and quietly touching tale that has the feel of a tightly constructed short story. While its storylin…
It’s debatable whether the world needed yet another As You Like It, since Shakespeare’s pastoral romantic comedy seems to receive a new production every other week. But thereR…
There’s one thing that can be definitely said about the Soho Rep’s production of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya: You’ll probably again feel so closely involved with its charac…
Jim Parsons works magic in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s revival of Harvey. I had my doubts that this old chestnut would have much impact these days. But Mary Chase’s 1944 com…
It’s appropriate that Gina Gionfriddo’s new play has been compared favorably to Wendy Wasserstein’s The Heidi Chronicles. Like that groundbreaking work, this delicious come…
Sometimes, memories are best left alone. Such is my experience with seeing the new revival of Simon Gray’s The Common Pursuit being presented by the Roundabout Theatre Company. This hi…
It may not sound like much, but take my word for it. An elderly man reciting the lyrics of “Ol’ Man River” in a Yiddish accent is one of the funniest things to be found on …
Good luck searching for meaning in Title and Deed, Will Eno’s latest Rorschach test of a play being presented by the Signature Theatre. This monologue related by a nameless figure abou…
Get your mind out of the gutter.
Yes, the title of Mike Bartlett’s play might seem salacious considering that it concerns a gay couple whose relationship is threatened when one…
Raul Esparza is one of the few leading men who can carry a Broadway musical, but even his formidable talents are adrift in Leap of Faith. This musical adaptation of the little-seen 1992 Stev…
In his first significant effort since his Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning Proof, playwright David Auburn delivers a biographical drama about a once famous figure little known today: Joseph A…
The dissolute playboy played by Matthew Broderick in Nice Work If You Can Get It is frequently inebriated, and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to be in a similar state to enjoy the slight ch…
The current spate of Broadway musicalizations of hit movies hits another nadir with Ghost. This adaptation of the 1990 Patrick Swayze/Demi Moore film is mainly notable for its extravag…
The new Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire presents a particular dilemma. Its multiracial cast could well attract new audiences for this seminal 20th century dra…
Its Pulitzer Prize not withstanding, Clybourne Park still seems to me a better idea for a play than it actually is. Bruce Norris’ dark comedy, which has now arrived on Broadway after h…
With the notable exception of Noises Off, theatrical farce is far more often labored than amusing. But One Man, Two Guvnors, newly arrived on Broadway from London’s West End, is…
Tennessee Williams certainly doesn’t make it easy to be generous.
The common perception about the legendary playwright’s later works is that they were sad reflections of …
“Tasteful” is not a word that springs to mind when thinking about Eva Peron, and it shouldn’t when it comes to Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s musical Evita either…
If you’re going to write a play about two legendary sports figures it would help if more than one of them was interesting. Such is the dilemma of Eric Simonson’s second attempt t…
It may be time to let Judy Garland rest in peace. The beloved entertainer has been a never-ending subject of fascination since her untimely death. Since then, she’s been portrayed on s…
You may be wondering why Gore Vidal’s politically-themed drama The Best Man needed another revival a mere twelve years after its last Broadway outing. The better question is why hasn&#…
It’s a hard knock life for the newsboys in Newsies, the stage adaptation of the flop 1992 Disney musical film that has become a cult favorite. When the ragtag group of orphans and runa…
