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  Theatre in Review: Sell/Buy/Date (Manhattan Theatre Club/City Center Stage II)
I didn't see Sarah Jones' debut piece, Bridge and Tunnel, in 2004, so for some of you I may be stating the obvious, but still it needs to be said: When it comes to the multiple-character solo show format, the lady simply has ...
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Theatre in Review: Plenty (The Public Theater)
In his 1978 drama, Plenty, David Hare gave us one of the most fascinating -- and disturbing -- heroines in modern dramatic literature. When we first meet Susan Traherne, we can't be sure she hasn't murdered the naked ...
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Theatre in Review: She Stoops to Conquer (The Actors Company Theatre at Theatre Row)
Everyone involved with TACT's revival of She Stoops to Conquer wants you to have a good time; this may be the most solicitous cast in in town. Before the play begins, the actors drift into the house, welcoming us and thanking us for ...
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Theatre in Review: Communion (Urban Stages)
There's a dark cloud hanging over Urban Stages these nights, in the form of Daniel MacIvor's exceedingly grim three-hander. The characters in Communion are coping with loss -- of life, of faith, or of peace of mind -- and ...
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Theatre in Review: Orwell in America (Northern Stage at 59E59)
Considering that he was such a stickler for the facts, it's fascinating that Orwell in America aims to get at the truth of its title character through an entirely fictional set of incidents. To be clear: George Orwell never ...
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Theatre in Review: Daddy Issues (Theatre at St. Clement's)
One thing you can say about Daddy Issues is that, with its cast of swishy gays, kvetching Jews, and drunken Irish, it serves as a veritable compendium of stage clichés, for easy reference. Drama students could also profitably use it ...
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Theatre in Review: Stuffed (WP Theater at McGinn Cazale Theatre)
Having gone legit for the first time in her career, Lisa Lampanelli hasn't so much written a play as convened a coffee klatsch focused on that troublesome trio: women, food, and body image. Prepare yourself for wisecracks about -- ...
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Theatre in Review: The Cherry Orchard (Roundabout Theatre Company/American Airlines Theatre)
The clock is ticking more insistently than ever in Simon Godwin's production of the Anton Chekhov classic, about a landed family on the verge of being dispossessed of its estate. As the once-wealthy, now-fading Ranevskaya and ...
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Theatre in Review: Oh, Hello On Broadway (Lyceum Theatre)
For some reason, the comedians Nick Kroll and John Mulaney have taken to playing Gil Faizon and George St. Geegland, "legendary bachelors" and superannuated residents of the Upper West Side. Despite being roommates for 40 ...
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Theatre in Review: Chris Gethard: Career Suicide (Lynn Redgrave Theater)
You could say that Chris Gethard's solo piece is about his career in suicide. As he freely admits, from the age of 14 he has been dogged by panic attacks and pervasive feelings of sadness. There was, he insists, no reason for this: ...
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Theatre in Review: Heisenberg (Manhattan Theatre Club/Samuel J. Friedman Theatre)
Heisenberg begins on a meet-cute note when Georgie Burns, a woman in her early 40s, approaches Alex Priest, a man in his 70s, and kisses him on the back of his neck. They are total strangers, in London's St. Pancras Station. ...
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Theatre in Review: Public Enemy (The Pearl Theatre Company)
"Does anyone here have one good word to say about politicians?" So says Jimonn Cole, mic in hand, speaking directly to the audience at the Pearl. He is ostensibly playing Thomas Stockmann, the eye of the hurricane in the Henrik ...
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Theatre in Review: Inner Voices (Premieres/TBG Theatre)
If you need any further proof that musical theatre is in fine fettle these days, try a visit to Inner Voices. This trio of solo musicals brings together new and veteran talents to tackle conventional material, resulting in ...
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Theatre in Review: Slumber (Hideaway/House of Yes)
Everyone wants to run away with the circus, it seems. Even as Cirque du Soleil storms Broadway, the Canadian troupe has passed through New York with two more touring shows. Meanwhile, earlier in the season, St. Ann's Warehouse opened Bia ...
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Theatre in Review: Holiday Inn (Roundabout Theatre Company/Studio 54)
Holiday Inn arrives with such a winning smile and lively spring in its step that I'm sorry to say that it doesn't put one in more of a holiday mood. But in adapting the 1942 film, a classic of its kind, to the stage, its ...
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Theatre in Review: That Golden Girls Show! A Puppet Parody (DR2 Theatre)
Some shows would seem to be beyond criticism; surely this show's title tells you all need to know, right? It certainly leaves one in little doubt about what to expect on arrival at the DR2, and, to be fair, you get what is promised: a ...
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Theatre in Review: The Trial of an American President (Theatre Row)
"What if?" These words are heard repeatedly in The Trial of an American President. What if, indeed: Dick Tarlow's play, written with the research assistance of Bill Smith, imagines a trial of George W. Bush, in ...
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Theatre in Review: I Like It Like That (Puerto Rican Traveling Theater)
Audiences at jukebox musicals can be remarkably forgiving; mostly they just want to hear the songs they know and love. So it is with I Like It Like That, which draws on the salsa hits of the 1970s and stars Tito Nieves ...
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Theatre in Review: Underground Railroad Game (Lightning Rod Special/Ars Nova Theater)
From the Department of Truth is Stranger than Fiction: When Scott Sheppard was in the fifth grade, he took part in a bizarre classroom exercise designed to educate him and his classmates about the horrors of slavery. Known as The ...
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Theatre in Review: The Roads to Home (Primary Stages/Cherry Lane Theatre)
Sometimes I think we have it all wrong when we call Horton Foote a playwright; really, he's a composer, wringing music both merry and melancholy from the everyday conversation of his characters, most of them residents of the ...
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