Kiss Me Kate

The original play-within-a-play book by Bella and Sam Spewack that they ingeniously fused with Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew may have a slightly creaky resonance these days, but director…

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

Cry-Baby

Will the snazzy staging and dancing will keep the Marquis filled now that the show has officially opened and the promotional pricing ($54 for orchestra seats, in keeping with the 1954 time f…

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

Honor

It's not easy to reconcile farcical twists and turns with much more somber events. Thus, Peter Mills and Reichel deserve credit for attempting this difficult combination.

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

War and Peace

This mesmeric production simply oozes humanity as the characters engagingly contend with striving, delusion, idealism and disillusion.

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

From Up Here

Liz Flahive has braved the difficult task of investing an essentially tragic story with a strong comic flavor, and looking at the problem of violence in schools through a sympathetic and red…

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

When Is a Clock

With the emphasis on character rather than plot development this could be a half-hour shorter without losing any of its punch.

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

The Walworth Farce

A play within a play, or a farce within a melodrama or a melodrama within a drama. If it defies classification, it also defies comprehension.

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

The New Century

The final and title playlet ends up as a huge plug for Century 21 but before the cast can shop until they drop, director Nicholas Martin wisely ends things with a jazzy ensemble dance. Might…

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

A Catered Affair

Without a marquee boasting actors and a director associated with Broadway, this quiet little period piece might have been more appropriately mounted in an Off-Broadway theater.

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

I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document Given to me by a Young Lady from Rawanda

Phoenix Theatre Ensemble has produced a play that portrays human being who are resilient and resourceful, who stumble toward understanding and forgiveness. It is never demoralizing, always m…

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

Great Expectations

This musical has the advantage of not only hitting all the plot points but providing back story on Miss Haversham's lover not revealed in any other production. It also illuminates psychologi…

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

Fire Island

A rare marriage of material and production which director Kevin Cunningham weaves into an exuberant whole.

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

My Fair Lady

Revisiting the stage production of this classic musical is like going to your high school reunion and finding that high school sweetheart really deserved to be your first love and that there…

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

The Conversation

Harry Caul, the saxophone playing, obsessive loner and technological eavesdropper is a role made to order for David Morgentale who has created a gallery of memorable stage portraits for the …

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

<cite>Sweet Mama Stringbean</cite>, reviewed by Paulanne Simmons

From the moment the company walks down the stairs at the sides of the house and onto the stage, belting out the overture to Sweet Mama Stringbean, it's obvious everyone in the theater is going to have one hell of a good time.

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

<cite>Sizwe Banzi Is Dead</cite>, reviewed by Paulanne Simmons

This work remains a penetrating and painful account of the triumph of the human spirit.

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

Peter Pan El Musical

This musical breaks new heights of dreadfulness.

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

Sweet Mama Stringbean

A marvelous lesson on what can be done on stage without a big budget but with lots of fresh talent combined with the awesome ability of veterans. It is a rare treat, every bit as stirring as…

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

Last Days of Judas Iscariot

At London's Almeida, the Guirgis play gets a wonderful production so that even the difficult scenes do not become tedious.

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

Macbeth

Macbeth's continuing journey with its Broadway arrival coinciding with Rupert Gool's re-envisioning The Last Days of Judas Iscariot in London.

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

South Pacific

I fell in love with South Pacific all over again.

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

Another Vermeer

A play based on a notorious forgery case tried right after World War II is certainly the stuff of drama with its combination of history, scandal and police procedural. But while Bruce J. Rob…

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

An Act of Love

A laugh-out-loud comedy streaked with the distresses of three lifetimes.

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

In the Wings

A dazzling little jewel of a playwritten by veteran character actor Jerry Sroka has just begun its world premiere at the Whitefire Theatre in Sherman Oaks.

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

The Little Flower of East Orange

Stephen Adly Guirgis, Philip Seymour Hoffman and some of the LABrynth theater's best actors have reunited to once again confront serious issues of love and faith reunite through characters w…

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