All stories by ELISABETH VINCENTELLI on BroadwayStars

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Vintage musical transports us back to the feminist 1970s by Elisabeth Vincentelli

Seeing “I’m Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road” is like stepping into a hot-tub time machine. Under Kathleen Marshall’s direction, this Encores! Off-Center presentatio…

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Wednesday, July 24, 2013

All together now (sort of) by Elisabeth Vincentelli

A little less than three years ago, “Rain” strung together Beatles hits, hired impersonators to cover them and brought the whole shebang to Broadway. Now “Let It Be” has landed on t…

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It’s over the hoarder-line by Elisabeth Vincentelli

Audiences are known to break into applause at the sight of a cool set. By those standards, the one in the new off-Broadway play “The Capables” deserves a standing ovation. The stage look…

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Sunday, July 21, 2013

Mourn the long, dark night by Elisabeth Vincentelli

‘The Designated Mourner” is now acknowledged not just as Wallace Shawn’s masterpiece, but as a major achievement of political American theater. But the most remarkable thing about the …

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Thursday, July 18, 2013

It’s the real deal by Elisabeth Vincentelli

Television dating shows are an easy target for satire — almost too easy. After all, it’s hard to outdo bird-brained youths looking for true love in hot tubs. But the wonderful new pop m…

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A rainbow for the ears concludes with ‘Violet’ by Elisabeth Vincentelli

“Violet” didn’t create much of a stir when it opened at Playwrights Horizons in 1997. Composer Jeanine Tesori went on to high-profile Broadway productions like “Shrek” and “Carol…

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Tuesday, July 16, 2013

AA play gets a B by Elisabeth Vincentelli

My name’s Bill W., and I’m an alcoholic.” Spontaneous response: “Hi, Bill!”No, we weren’t at a 12-step meeting but at a recent performance of “Bill W. and Dr. Bob” at the Soh…

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Sunday, July 14, 2013

It takes two to ‘Tango’ by Elisabeth Vincentelli

There’s a reason we have a revue like “Forever Tango” and not “Everlasting Jitterbug” or “Always Rumba.” Since its beginnings in lower-class Argentine neighborhoods, tango has …

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Thursday, July 11, 2013

Off-Center revives Marc Blitzstein’s agit-prop musical ‘The Cradle Will Rock’ by Elisabeth Vincentelli

Nothing says jarring like people in tuxes and gowns praising unions and singing lines like “there’s something so damned low about the rich!” This odd juxtaposition takes place at City …

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Sunday, July 7, 2013

A call up to Center stage by Elisabeth Vincentelli

For 20 years, New York City Center’s Encores! has breathed new life into semi-obscure or simply unappreciated musicals. A few of those limited-run productions — “Chicago,” “Wonderf…

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Sunday, June 30, 2013

Hair-y tale not the tressed by Elisabeth Vincentelli

The whole plot of “Unlock’d” revolves around a sheltered young woman who’s so obsessed with her hair that she refuses to cut even a small piece of it to give her suitor. This may hav…

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Friday, June 28, 2013

Defrauder knows best by Elisabeth Vincentelli

David Morse may not be a household name, but he’s always a pleasure to watch. With his deceptively kind face and low-boil intensity, the silver-haired character actor has enlivened a wide …

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Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Mark Roberts serves up dark comedy ‘Rantoul and Die’ by Elisabeth Vincentelli

Before anybody’s said a word in “Rantoul and Die,” you have a pretty good idea that the play will be a warts-and-all look at working-class life. First, it’s presented by the Amorali…

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Monday, June 24, 2013

Divine crazy straight from Tennessee by Elisabeth Vincentelli

One of the weirdest, most unclassifiable plays of the year isn’t at a hip Tribeca venue but in Midtown, next door to “The Gazillion Bubble Show.” The writing feels almost avant-garde …

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Thursday, June 20, 2013

Not-so-intrepid explorers find funny bone by Elisabeth Vincentelli

‘The Explorers Club” is the rare comedy that fulfills its mandate: It wants to do nothing more than make you laugh — and that it does. Nell Benjamin’s gleefully goofy new concoction,…

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Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Fun central to park ‘Comedy’ by Elisabeth Vincentelli

You can’t accuse the cast of “The Comedy of Errors” of holding back. Everybody on the Delacorte stage, where this new Shakespeare in the Park production opened last night, exerts thems…

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He prefers pink by Elisabeth Vincentelli

Greg and Alex are a happily married Manhattan couple with a 4-year-old son. Jake is smart, creative — and he loves pretending to be a princess. “We’ve got seven different Cinderella D…

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Sunday, June 16, 2013

A road worth traveling by Elisabeth Vincentelli

‘roadkill” is a fantastic theatrical experience, one you’re unlikely to forget. It also happens to be the feel-bad show of the year. The heavy subject — sex trafficking — is distur…

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Thursday, June 13, 2013

‘Venice’ menace to musicals by Elisabeth Vincentelli

The most popular young-adult novels these days — “The Hunger Games,” “The 5th Wave” — feature hotties entangled in love triangles while trying to survive in a dystopian, dangerou…

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Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Elderly Brits fall on hard times in ‘Autumn’ by Elisabeth Vincentelli

It’s hard to pin down “A Picture of Autumn”: You can see it as either a funny drama or the most depressing comedy of the season. Above all, the show that opened off-Broadway Monday nig…

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Guare’s triple-header boasts only one hit by Elisabeth Vincentelli

The best sits right next to the worst in “3 Kinds of Exile,” the new project by John Guare. The show is made up of three distinct works that share a theme — the experiences of a trio o…

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Forget the troubles, get ‘Happy’ by Elisabeth Vincentelli

With plays like “Fat Pig” and movies like “In the Company of Men,” Neil LaBute made a career out of antagonizing audiences. His usual MO is to expose our baser instincts by throwing …

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Thursday, June 6, 2013

Cheers for comic Lynch-pin by Elisabeth Vincentelli

There’s something to be said about typecasting. What’s wrong with an actor zeroing in on a type and playing brilliant variations on that theme? Nobody accuses a violin virtuoso of not pl…

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Wednesday, June 5, 2013

‘Tutors’ gets B for effort by Elisabeth Vincentelli

There are two or three good plays fighting it out within “The Tutors.” But they cancel each other out, and the show that opened last night at Second Stage Uptown ends up merely promising…

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Putting the ‘Fun’ in funereal by Elisabeth Vincentelli

Like old-fashioned dramas, the new “Somewhere Fun” is staged in three acts with two intermissions. It also boasts two charismatic powerhouses in the leads: Kathleen Chalfant and Kate Mul…

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Monday, June 3, 2013

Sounds ‘Heaven’-sent by Elisabeth Vincentelli

The most important part of any musical is the score. And “Far from Heaven” — about prejudice and repressed desire in 1957 Connecticut — boasts a gorgeously lush and evocative score. …

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Friday, May 31, 2013

Opera mash-up a jukebox zero by Elisabeth Vincentelli

A jukebox opera isn’t a bad idea. The Met pulled it off last year with “The Enchanted Island,” which borrowed plotlines from a couple of Shakespeare plays and stuffed them with baroque…

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Thursday, May 30, 2013

Just a pale ‘Chalk’ outline by Elisabeth Vincentelli

You can see why theater companies are drawn to “The Caucasian Chalk Circle”: Writing at the end of WWII, Bertolt Brecht brought together elements from an old Chinese tale and the Judgmen…

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Friday, May 24, 2013

Bar-stool bores ‘Weir’ out their welcome by Elisabeth Vincentelli

Men hang out in a homey pub. They exchange gruff jokes, down drink after drink, and soon enough start trading tales. Naturally, “The Weir” takes place in Ireland — where else would cam…

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Sermon without a theme by Elisabeth Vincentelli

‘Basilica” is the rare new play that spares us the self-inflated problems of the white, big-city middle class. Set in gritty south Texas, the show deals with the travails of the blue-col…

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Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Slayed by a love song by Elisabeth Vincentelli

Oh no, not another immersive, sung-through rock musical! But “Murder Ballad” first opened at Manhattan Theatre Club last fall, the same time the Russian-inflected “Natasha, Pierre & th…

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