Waltzes by Strauss, Philosophies by the Sea Bag By CHARLES ISHERWOOD
John Patrick Shanley's play, a minor work burdened by long-winded rhapsodies on the meaning of life, is imperfectly realized in this Labyrinth Theater Company production.
An Octogenarian 'Hamlet' With a Catskills Flavor By ANITA GATES
London critics applauded Kerry Shale's one-man show about comical residents of an Upper West Side retirement home, but in New York it could not be a more exhausted cliché.
Search-Engine Serendipity and Frequent-Flier Miles By JASON ZINOMAN
Dave Gorman is an inspiration to lazy writers everywhere, and not just because he's a David Sedaris-like storyteller with uncanny timing.
A Russian Couple, Reunited in Texas. Is It Time for Songs? By NEIL GENZLINGER
Mark Harelik's play about his grandfather's relocation to the United States has been turned into a musical, but the songs only underscore the thinness of the original tale.
In the Head of One Man Looking for Dad By JASON ZINOMAN
Michael Raynor's engrossing solo drama, "Who Is Floyd Stearn?," unfolds as a "Rashomon"-style biographical mystery.
Mucking Around in Minds of Marines By NEIL GENZLINGER
The staging is spartan and so are the characters in "Pugilist Specialist," an engrossing, inventive dissection of the American military mind.
A Minimal Meeting of Forster's Twain By CHARLES ISHERWOOD
The Shared Experience stage adaptation of "A Passage to India" reduces E. M. Forster's rich, mysterious novel to a blunt outline.
Daddy Dearest and Home (Call Me When He's Dead) By NEIL GENZLINGER
"God's Daughter," a drama about a woman drawn back to her unhappy childhood home, delivers a jolt that is usually absent from this increasingly overworked genre.
An Indian Father Courage, Using and Losing Women By JONATHAN KALB
"Sakharam Binder," by Vijay Tendulkar, India's foremost living playwright, is being presented in a wonderfully clear and superbly acted production by the Play Company.
Lost in the Joyful Noise of Sophocles By ANITA GATES
When the Blind Boys of Alabama and the Legendary Soul Stirrers break into "Stop: Do Not Go On," the third musical number in "The Gospel at Colonus," it's as if a light has come on.
Slight Variations on a Familiar Theme By JASON ZINOMAN
The SoHo Playhouse's multi-character solo show seems more interested in showing off an actor's capacity for different accents than telling great stories.
Questions of Faith and Fate By NEIL GENZLINGER
Paul Rawlings's play on faith and fate at the Players Theater offers limited insights into the cosmic questions it seeks to explore.
A Lively Don Quixote Fantasy of Shadow Puppets and Stilts By LIESL SCHILLINGER
The Double Edge Theater company's tribute to Cervantes's play is a series of masterfully juggled off-kilter skits that bring the life of the imagination to the stage.
Socking It to Dan Rather: A Nonpolitical Whodunit By JASON ZINOMAN
Paul Allman's playful mystery occasionally summons up the mood of a very silly "X-Files" episode, but never totally succeeds as riveting drama.
Back in a Sweaty Room With 12 Seething Men By BEN BRANTLEY
The stage adaptation of Reginald Rose's drama from the 1950's definitely creaks with age. But somehow the creaks begin to sound like soothing music.
Full of Sound and Fury, Signifying Relentless Pain By BEN BRANTLEY
Words are powerless in the predetermined universe of "4:48 Psychosis," Sarah Kane's breathtakingly beautiful and ugly suicide note of a play.
A Seductive Fellow Returns, but in a Darker Mood By CHARLES ISHERWOOD
The Abbey Theater's centennial production of J. M. Synge's comic masterwork is self-conscious, wayward and dispiritingly grim.
Five Faces of Antigone, From Surfer Babe to Widow By PHOEBE HOBAN
The Women's Project's kaleidoscopic take on Sophocles' Theban tear-jerker fast-forwards its heroine to the present, then offers a Rashomon-ized view of her tragic plight.
The Anguish Is Plausible, but His Eminence Forgets By CHARLES ISHERWOOD
Michael Murphy's quietly disturbing play reveals the dubious role that Cardinal Bernard F. Law, the Archbishop of Boston, played in a tragedy that irreparably damaged hundreds of families.
The Frazzled Anguish of Mothers With Brains By LIESL SCHILLINGER
This smart though unambitious new play about moms may have limited appeal, but it's full of everyday gumption and humanity.
Getting Over Fears, Thanks to a Frog and a Leap of Faith By LAWRENCE VAN GELDER
This inventive and charming puppet and people show from the Netherlands, intended for audiences 4 and older, packs three tales from Max Velthuijs's popular series about Kikker the frog and his friends.
Wiseguys, Huh? Well, Try To Get the Horse Right Here By JASON ZINOMAN
This play, set in an OTB outlet and produced by Michael Imperioli, has enough "Sopranos" actors to satisfy anyone suffering through the series's hiatus.
My Child Is Gay, My Boss Is a Criminal, and Other Bite-Size Slices of Life By CHARLES ISHERWOOD
This snappy production, directed by John Rando, is an assortment of small works from a virtual Who's Who of playwrights, including Paul Rudnick and Wendy Wasserstein.
Prom Night in the 80's? It Was, Like, So Totally Rad By JASON ZINOMAN
Show Business, the Old-Fashioned Way By LAWRENCE VAN GELDER
Give "The Next-to-the-Last Revue" points for trying.