|
  Theatre in Review: The Lyons (Cort Theatre)
Nicky Silver has imagined a spectacularly dysfunctional family named The Lyons and it's our good fortune that Linda Lavin is the queen of the pride. She is Rita Lyons, nightmare wife and monster mother, a Chanel-clad ...
|
|
|
|
|
Theatre in Review: Clybourne Park (Longacre Theatre)
Oscar Hammerstein said you've got to be carefully taught to hate and fear, but in the 21st century we know better, or think we do. Words can be weapons, we tell ourselves -- and it's a sin to use racial and sexual epithets. Publicly, we're ...
|
|
|
|
|
Theatre in Review: In Masks Outrageous and Austere (Culture Project)
Most of the characters who populate the cast of Tennessee Williams' In Masks Outrageous and Austere don't know where they are, geographically, morally, or psychologically. In a way, this is appropriate, because David ...
|
|
|
|
|
Theatre in Review: 4000 Miles (Lincoln Center Theatre)
Mary Louise Wilson doesn't just have great timing; she breathes it. As the heroine of Amy Herzog's 4000 Miles, she turns the simplest remarks -- "I was just making conversation," "You're in Manhattan," and "She's ...
|
|
|
|
|
Theatre in Review: You'd Better Sit Down: Takes from My Parents' Divorce (Civilians at Flea Theatre)
"I hope this doesn't send you, you know, to the psychiatrist," a man tells his son in You'd Better Sit Down: Tales from My Parents' Divorce, but by then surely that boat has sailed for those who helped to create this ...
|
|
|
|
|
Theatre in Review: Evita (Marquis Theatre)
Eva Peron has proven to be a polarizing figure in death as in life -- so why not the actress who plays her? The Broadway revival of Evita has sent show fans into a tizzy, endlessly debating, in chat rooms and bars all over ...
|
|
|
|
|
Theatre in Review: Massacre (Sing to Your Children) (Rattlestick Theatre)
There's trouble afoot when the most interesting character in a play is the murder victim, but that's the case with Massacre (Sing to Your Children).His name is Joe, and he is apparently the evil boss of a New Hampshire town. ( ...
|
|
|
|
|
Theatre in Review: A Slow Air (59E59)
Meet Athol and Morna, the two halves of the fractured family portrait that constitutes David Harrower's A Slow Air. They're siblings, close in (middle) age; she lives in Edinburgh and he in Glasgow, although they may ...
|
|
|
|
|
Theatre in Review: Magic/Bird (Longacre Theatre)
Attention sports fans: Magic/Bird is a slam-dunk entertainment, packing a few laughs, a few tears, and plenty of basketball lore into a fast-moving 90 minutes. Attention everyone else: The theatre district is packed with fine ...
|
|
|
|
|
Theatre in Review: End of the Rainbow (Belasco Theatre)
"I could throw up in their laps and they'd still think I was glamorous." So says Judy Garland in End of the Rainbow, a play designed to put that proposition to the severest of tests. It's doubtful there's another show in town ...
|
|
|
|
|
Theatre in Review: Regrets (Manhattan Theatre Club at City Center Stage I)
Matt Charman is a very imaginative playwright -- possibly too imaginative at times. In Regrets, he asks the audience to accept a great many things, seemingly unaware that the smart playwright doles out his ...
|
|
|
|
|
Theatre in Review: The Best Man (Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre)
Some critics have dismissed The Best Man as a potboiler. To them, I say, what's wrong with that? Not every play need be a revelation of the playwright's soul, if he or she has a cracking story to tell. Gore Vidal is ...
|
|
|
|
|
Theatre in Review: The Morini Strad (Primary Stages at 59E59)
Mary Beth Peil has been on a roll lately. She is responsible for many a crackling confrontation as Julianna Margulies' imperious, meddling mother-in-law on the excellent CBS series The Good Wife. Earlier this season, slipping ...
|
|
|
|
|
Theatre in Review: Newsies (Nederlander Theatre)
"I don't need the limp to sell papers; I've got personality!" So says Crutchy, a gimpy-legged newspaper boy in Newsies -- and, oddly enough, he could be speaking about Disney Theatrical's new musical, too. ...
|
|
|
|
|
Theatre in Review: Jesus Christ Superstar (Neil Simon Theatre)
Cards on the table: I am not now, nor have I ever been, a fan of Jesus Christ Superstar. Forty years ago, it struck me as a slick and empty enterprise, and the ensuing decades have done nothing to change that impression. At the time ...
|
|
|
|
|
Theatre in Review: Now. Here. This. (Vineyard Theatre)
Even its many admirers had to admit that [title of show] -- the 2008 musical about the writing of a musical -- occasionally got too self-reflexive for its own good. Charming as it was, it's main achievement was to prove that there ...
|
|
|
|
|
Theatre in Review: Death of a Salesman (Ethel Barrymore Theatre)
If anyone at this late date doubts the power of Death of a Salesman, they need look no further than the current Broadway revival. Mike Nichols' production combines searing insights with some questionable choices, but ...
|
|
|
|
|
Theatre in Review: Once (Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre)
When Once opened Off Broadway in December, it immediately became clear, given the critical and audience reaction, that a Broadway transfer was in the offing. But would this singular, small-scale, and deceptively casual fable ...
|
|
|
|
|
Theatre in Review: Lost in Yonkers (The Actors Company Theatre at Theatre Row)
I am very happy to report that the folks at TACT have mastered the art of speaking Neil Simon. This no small achievement, even for a company that has proved itself adept at the diverse works of Alan Ayckbourn, Sidney Howard, and T. ...
|
|
|
|
|
Theatre in Review: The Big Meal (Playwrights Horizons)
The Big Meal begins with a chance meeting between Sam, a young man, and Nicole, a waitress in a restaurant, and it ends, several decades later, with us contemplating the world they made together. It's a 90-minute mini-epic ...
|
