Sunday, February 12, 2012
This production of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's classic 1928 show turns out to be an accessible entertainment and one of the most enjoyable musicals around.
SOURCE: Backstage at 09:23AMMonday, February 6, 2012
Zulema Clares' masterful portrayal of a woman who puts her family ahead of her art breathes life into Karen Zacarías' moving but predictable play about painters living in a Mexican de…
SOURCE: Backstage at 07:00AMSunday, January 22, 2012
This hourlong children's musical blends bushels of laughs, a clever dramatization of why history matters, and a genuine emotional kick into a show that appeals to all ages.
SOURCE: Backstage at 06:27AMMonday, January 9, 2012
Named after an uncommon sexual practice, this surrealist detective story about the murder of a famous porn star explores notions of power, renegade sexuality, and love.
SOURCE: Backstage at 05:04AMWednesday, December 7, 2011
How Sam Eaton became New York’s most prominent mentalist “My name is Sam Eaton,” says the man standing at the lip of the stage. “And today you have no secrets.”…
SOURCE: TDF at 11:26AMTuesday, December 6, 2011
This intimate musical adaptation of the Academy Award–winning movie of the same name makes for an offbeat but moving look at wounded lives redeemed by love and music.
SOURCE: Backstage at 07:00AMSunday, December 4, 2011
In this dark but vital one-man play from Enda Walsh, Cillian Murphy is a would-be savior living in an abandoned factory who descends from divine messenger to murderous madman.
SOURCE: Backstage at 07:05AMWednesday, November 16, 2011
After a lethargic first act, this revival of a musical that premiered in 1997 wakes up and delivers almost enough heartfelt performances to make us forget its tepid first hour.
SOURCE: Backstage at 08:00AMSunday, November 13, 2011
A hardened gangster attempts to renounce his violent past for the sake of love and honor in this bracing post-modernist revival of a 1929 Japanese play.
SOURCE: Backstage at 08:27AMMonday, October 10, 2011
In this 17th century comedy, a compulsive liar disrupts an entire community and almost destroys his family before he is reined in and order is restored.
SOURCE: Backstage at 06:54AMA mash-up of "Macbeth," "Dracula," and the "Twilight" vampire novels, this improvisation-based musical bristles with delirious ideas and jokes that seem minted on the spot.
SOURCE: Backstage at 01:55AMThursday, October 6, 2011
Powered by a sterling performance from Donna English, "Madame X" tickles us with campy silliness at first and then satisfies us emotionally in the end.
SOURCE: Backstage at 03:25AMFriday, September 30, 2011
"Frustrating" is the word that best describes this uneven musical about a Williamsburg rock band, in which exciting and original scenes and songs alternate with confusing and prosaic ones.
SOURCE: Backstage at 03:57AMMonday, September 19, 2011
This collection of nine 10-minute plays penned by women of color creates a mosaic of contemporary life from authorial voices heard all too infrequently on our stages.
SOURCE: Backstage at 06:09AMWednesday, September 14, 2011
Hoary jokes, a forgettable score, and frantic performances make this musical about famous women performing in a floorshow in hell a trial to sit through.
SOURCE: Backstage at 05:37AMThursday, August 25, 2011
This spectacularly produced musical about a real-life Korean patriot features strong performances and stirring music, but its human values tend to be overwhelmed by its spectacle.
SOURCE: Backstage at 04:58AMWednesday, August 24, 2011
In this sensitive, intelligent, but uneven play, writer-director-star Jezabel Montero asks and then answers the question: Is it possible for a bisexual to be a monogamist?
SOURCE: Backstage at 03:06AMFriday, August 19, 2011
Director-choreographer John Carrafa brings his considerable showbiz skills to bear on this show about a battle of the bands in heaven, and the result is a rousing crowd pleaser.
SOURCE: Backstage at 02:45AMTuesday, August 16, 2011
Writer-performer Randy Noojin turns this one-man show about Woody Guthrie into a stirring call for united action against greed and selfishness by equating Depression-era America with today.
SOURCE: Backstage at 06:15AMSunday, July 17, 2011
Jan Maxwell delivers a riveting performance in Howard Barker's savage and bawdy depiction of England in the turbulent days at the dawn of the Restoration.
SOURCE: Backstage at 06:51AMTuesday, July 12, 2011
Virtuoso a cappella singing combines with old-fashioned vaudeville in this appealing sci-fi–tinged entertainment that's equal parts Blue Man Group and Seven Dwarves.
SOURCE: Backstage at 08:00AMThursday, June 9, 2011
The tragic fates of the Greek warrior Ajax and a female American soldier in Iraq are intertwined in this well-meaning but uneven anti-war play.
SOURCE: Backstage at 02:48AMWednesday, June 8, 2011
The theatrical thriller proves to be alive and well in this tale of a woman suffering from severe sleepwalking problems who becomes involved with her too-good-to-be-true upstairs neighbor.
SOURCE: Backstage at 08:00AMThursday, May 12, 2011
Passionate arias and shaky playwriting combine to tell the story of a nun murdered for her courageous defense of the Amazon rainforest.
SOURCE: Backstage at 07:09AMThursday, May 5, 2011
Suzanne Vega's cool, insinuating voice and smoldering stage presence transform her musical monologue about Carson McCullers into an original and evocative performance piece.
SOURCE: Backstage at 08:00AMWednesday, April 27, 2011
Despite a brace of impassioned performances, Vince Melocchi's play suffers from a contrived plot that ultimately makes it difficult to take seriously.
SOURCE: Backstage at 07:15AMMonday, April 4, 2011
A front-line report from one of America’s most important new play festivals
I touch down in Louisville, Kentucky on a Friday afternoon and board a van that whisks me to my hotel. I dro…
SOURCE: TDF at 04:53PMThursday, March 31, 2011
Triple-threat author Laurence Mark Wythe proves a talented new musical theater artist, but his musical, though smart and pleasant from moment to moment, suffers from unoriginality.
SOURCE: Backstage at 11:44AM 
