For Nature or Against, Music Is the Message By EDWARD ROTHSTEIN
In Julie Taymor's production of the "Magic Flute" for the Metropolitan Opera, ritual and artifice eclipse the natural world.
By all accounts, Wendy Wasserstein was a wonderful person, a wonderful teacher, a wonderful advocate for the arts, and a wonderful friend. She also did wonderful things for women who wanted to see more women writing plays and performing in them.
So I can't tell you how much I wish that I thought her plays were just wonderful.
Where Chekhov Left Off by BRUCE WEBER
There was nothing as riveting or as deep at this year's Spoleto Festival USA as "Two Plays After," a delicious and thoughtful pairing of one-acts in homage to and in reconsideration of Chekhov.
A Little Problem With Authority in the West End By BEN BRANTLEY
From David Hare's hotly discussed "Stuff Happens" to the creepy "Festen," the most exciting productions in London vibrate with a tightly strung distrust of people in charge.
Even though 'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark' has delayed its official opening for the fifth time, the L.A. Times' Charles McNulty says critics should weigh in on previews of the expensive mus…
"Brave New World" is the rubric under which four programs are being presented this week to commemorate the somber anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
'Producers': To Ape or Ignore You-Know-Who? by BRUCE WEBER
Mr. Lane's template for Max is the one element of the show that has not been effectively reproduced or replaced by any of the actors who have subsequently played the role. And this is especially pertinent because for the show to return to megahit status on Broadway — last week it was just the fourth highest-grossing show, with Variety reporting that only 83.2 percent of the seats at the St. James Theater were filled — it is likely that name-brand stars will have to take over.
Marshaling His Talent to Battle His Fame By A. O. SCOTT
Marlon Brando had a talent unequaled in his generation, and his rebellion against it made his long career both exemplary and frustrating.
Divas' Harlem Renaissance by BRUCE WEBER
There's a sudden confluence of shows about black divas in Harlem, a historical center of black culture, which is now emerging rather inspirationally from decades of deprivation.
Orwellian Parables for a World in Disarray by WILBORN HAMPTON
Synapse's Orwell Project, a staging of both "Nineteen Eighty-Four" and "Animal Farm," is first-rate and socially relevant.
A Festival Not Resting on Its Laurels by JOHN ROCKWELL
This year's 21st annual installment of the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival turned out to be one of the most interesting in years.
Poet Finds Flamenco in Heaven's Anteroom by BRUCE WEBER
Pulitzer Prize winner Nilo Cruz's new play, which is having its premiere at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, is an unsubstantial tribute to Federico García Lorca.
Freedom Twisted by Corrupt Regimes by MARGO JEFFERSON
While the three plays of corruption in Russia and Poland at LaMama Experimental Theater Club have a lot to teach us, one in particular is a bit overwhelming.
Souls Lost and Doomed Enliven London Stages by BEN BRANTLEY
Morbid and haunting are the themes of London's theater season this year, with high-reaching performances and splendid revivals making it one of the most electric in years.
