New York

Review: ‘Sunday in the Park with George’ at City Theater Company

Wilmington’s City Theater Company presents Sunday in the Park with George like you’ve never seen it before, in an original deconstruction conceived by Co-Directors Michael Gray and Tom Shade. But if...

Review: ‘Once On This Island’ at the Circle in the Square Theatre

The first Broadway revival of the 1990 Tony-nominated hit musical Once On This Island, with book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and music by Stephen Flaherty, brings an innovative vision to an old...

Review: ‘Where Has Tommy Flowers Gone?’ at The WorkShop Theater

One of the early, less-familiar works by Tony Award-winning playwright and librettist Terrence McNally (famed for his highly-acclaimed Love! Valour! Compassion!, Master Class, Kiss of the Spider...

Review: ‘My Fair Lady’ at Quintessence Theatre

Quintessence Theatre has built a strong reputation as a home for classic drama. But now they’ve dived into the American Musical Theatre canon in a big way by staging one of the most popular and...

Interview: Violinist Tessa Lark Discusses Her Career and Her Upcoming Performance at the Phillips Collection

Don’t just call Tessa Lark a crossover artist. The fast-rising classical violinist may also be known for playing at jazz clubs in New York and elsewhere, and for her country fiddling at bluegrass...

Review: ‘Miracle on 34th Street: The Musical’ at Toby’s Dinner Theatre

It doesn’t exactly live up to its billing as a miracle, but Miracle on 34th Street: The Musical at Toby’s Dinner Theatre has its heart in the right place. It is a lovely way to gather the family...

Review: ‘Brigadoon’ at New York City Center

I was about to resignedly sigh about another tired revival of a favorite musical from the Golden Age, when along came Brigadoon from the remarkable New York City Center “Encores!” series to force me...

Review: ‘Who’s Holiday!’ at Westside Theatre

If your fond childhood memories include Dr. Seuss The Grinch, his dog Max, and a Ville filled with Whos You might like a sequel from 40 years hence Though if you’re a Grinch, too, you might take...

Review: ‘Disney’s Beauty and the Beast’ at The Media Theatre

“Tale as old as time”? If you’re the parent of a young child who has watched a certain Disney animated film on video over and over and over, it might seem that way. But when you take that child – or...

Review: ‘Harry Clarke’ at The Vineyard Theatre

Only on rare occasion have I found a one-man (or woman) play rich enough for my blood. I do recall John Gielgud’s mesmerizing performance in Shakespeare’s Ages of Man, and there have been some plays...

Review: ‘Office Hour’ at The Public

The playwright Julia Cho now has Office Hour on at the Public Theatre, but she has been a steady and welcome contributor to the contemporary scene for some time. Works of hers have been produced at...

Review: ‘The Portuguese Kid’ at the Manhattan Theatre Club

Jason Alexander was a Broadway baby long before he achieved fame on Seinfeld, but he’s had trouble re-establishing himself even though he’d appeared in Merrily We Roll Along, The Rink, Jerome Robbins’...

Review: ‘The Exterminating Angel’ at the Metropolitan Opera

Metropolitan Opera audiences, paying up to $393 for a ticket, can relate to the wealthy party guests in The Exterminating Angel. And so do some prestigious critics, who called this “the one opera to...

Review: ‘Finding Neverland’ at the Academy of Music

I went into Finding Neverland with high hopes. I had been enchanted by the 2004 film from which this musical has been adapted. The story, based on a play by Allan Knee, follows the (highly...

Review: Broadway-Bound ‘Mean Girls’ at the National Theatre

It’s fun, it’s pink, it’s very Tina Fey. The pre-Broadway world premiere of Mean Girls officially opened at the National Theatre last night. Judging from the excitement in the theater (care to wait in...

Review: ‘Harry Clarke’ at Vineyard Theatre

At the core of all great theater is the art of great storytelling. Harry Clarke, a solo show with a compelling story told by a riveting actor in a tour-de-force performance, is just that. Now in its...

Review: ‘What We’re Up Against’ at WP Theater

Office politics, gender-based inequality in the workplace, and self-damning outbursts of flagrant misogyny fuel the flames of Theresa Rebeck’s razor-sharp feminist comedy What We’re Up Against, making...

Review: ‘The Lion King’ at the Hippodrome Theatre

The Lion King is epic. It is so full of throat-tightening spectacle and aural splendor that Baltimore’s grand Hippodrome Theatre can appear at times like a modest host. With Julie Taymor’s magical...

Review: ‘From the Diary of Sally Hemings’ at Unison Media

The New York premiere of William Bolcom’s composition, From the Diary of Sally Hemings, could not be more timely. With so much news focused on racial tensions, as well as the recent uproar over sexual...

Review: ‘The Fight’ at The Storm Theatre Company in New York

Reviewed by Steve Weinstein Stephen Sondheim had it nearly right in his lyrics to “I’m Still Here.” First, you’re a legend, then you’re camp, then you become an icon. As the Founding Mothers of the...

Review: ‘Annie’ at the Walnut Street Theatre

The sun’ll come out tomorrow Bet your bottom dollar that Tomorrow there’ll be sun…. Those familiar lyrics seem fresher than ever in Walnut Street Theatre’s new production of Annie. With its book by...

Report: ‘The Mousetrap,’ ‘A Woman of No Importance,’ ’42nd Street,’ and ‘Ink’ in London

A few weeks ago I found myself hankering to have a look at the London theater season, so I spent a day in the friendly skies of United Airlines to spend a week in which our own NY scene was fairly...

Review: ‘Junk’ at Lincoln Center Theater

A junk bond is a high-yield, high-risk maturity in the financial markets, and a greedy group of investors bought them and enjoyed the 10-12 percent interest that was sent out semi-annually, in most...

Review: ‘M. Butterfly’ at The Cort Theatre

The characters Song Lilig and her consort René Gallinard are back on Broadway. Their play is M.Butterfly and its tale of a romance between a French diplomat (Gallinard, played by Clive Owen in the...

Review: ‘It Takes Two…’ at Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington D.C.

The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC has just offered the DC Metro Theatre Region an alternately wistful, romantic, and humorous cabaret review entitled It Takes Two…. Presented at the Atlas...

Report: ‘Springsteen on Broadway’ Rocks the Theater World at the Walter Kerr Theatre in New York City

To call New York City’s 975-seat Walter Kerr Theatre intimate may seem a bit hyperbolic, but when the artist on stage is Bruce Springsteen, that is exactly how it feels. “The Boss” can sell out...

Review: ‘The Fantasticks’ at The Eagle Theatre

What’s not to like about The Fantasticks? It’s always been a modest, gentle show that goes down easy. The Eagle Theatre’s new production adds a few new wrinkles, putting its own stamp on this...

Review: ‘The New World’ at Bucks County Playhouse

A Thanksgiving musical? We can think of musicals that sometimes involve that observance, but an entire show about how the holiday evolved? Bucks County Playhouse’s The New World may be onto something...

Review: ‘The Band’s Visit’ at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre

David Yazbek has been one of the less publicized composer/lyricists from the generation of writers who followed those who wrote musicals in the “Golden Age” of Broadway. Yazbek has earned nominations...

A Tribute to Joel Markowitz, Founder and Editor Emeritus of DC Theater Arts

We in the theater community lost a great friend with the passing of Joel Markowitz. As many know, Joel was diagnosed with ALS in March of this year. Since then, he dedicated himself to continuing his...

In the Moment: Interview with Desiree Sanchez, Executive Artistic Director, Aquila Theatre

Shedding new light on Hamlet by William Shakespeare is what Aquila Theatre aims to do with its upcoming production at Fairfax’s Center for the Arts. Hamlet has been recognized for centuries as one of...

Review: ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ at the Academy of Music

“I’m not going to take this on the road unless it’s as good as what people have read about, with the same lighting and the same sound. I think that’s my biggest bequest—that I imposed my standards....

Review: ‘Jacques Brel: Songs From His World’ at Source Theatre

Time has not dimmed the impact or abundant love for the musical works of Jacques Brel; even now, nearly 40 years since his untimely death. That is apparent from the audience response and my own...

Review: ‘Broken Stones’ at InterAct Theatre Company

Just because someone says it doesn’t make it true. What exactly are truth and reality? Both are subjective and depend on one’s perspective. In the news, there are often many sides to a story. These...

Review: ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ at Vagabond Players

The timing of Vagabond Players’ production of Little Shop of Horrors is fortuitous, opening Halloween weekend when thoughts turn to the spooky and macabre, and running through November 25, before the...

Book Review: ‘A Body of Work: Dancing to the Edge and Back’ by David Hallberg

In his stirring autobiography A Body of Work: Dancing to the Edge and Back, David Hallberg – a Principal Dancer with the American Ballet Theatre and the first American Principal Dancer with the...

Interview: ‘Mean Girls’ Star Kyle Selig Discusses Playing Aaron Samuels in the Broadway-Bound National Theatre Premiere

Broadway veteran Kyle Selig is no stranger to the role of teen heartthrob. “I was Prom King in high school,” he sheepishly admits, “but it is very important to us in Mean Girls that my character be...

Review: ‘Lonely Planet’ at Keen Company

The setting of Lonely Planet is a “map store on the oldest street in an American city.” I assume the playwright, Stephen Dietz, wrote that into the program to let us know that what we are about to...

Review: ‘Red Roses, Green Gold’ at Minetta Lane Theatre

Calling all Dead Heads! The classic songs of your favorite band have been reincarnated for the stage at Minetta Lane Theatre, in a new jukebox musical Red Roses, Green Gold, directed by Rachel Klein...

Review: ‘Pippin’ at Ritz Theatre Company

One of the most imaginative musicals ever to hit the Broadway stage, the Tony Award-winning Pippin, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and book by Roger O. Hirson, is now dazzling audiences in...

Review: ‘This One’s for the Girls’ at St. Luke’s Theatre

Sociological research project meets PPT lecture meets jukebox musical in Professor and Playwright Dorothy Marcic’s This One’s for the Girls, produced by William Franzblau at St. Luke’s Theatre. Based...

Review: ‘Little Women’ at American Univeristy

Louisa May Alcott’s evergreen tale of female fortitude and family virtues beams its inspiring message once again at American University’s lovely new production of Little Women, the musical. A talented...

Review: ‘Norma’ at The Metropolitan Opera and Live in HD

The new Metropolitan Opera production of Norma, which opened the company’s season, is the most intimate presentation of Vincenzo Bellini’s classic that I’ve ever seen. Norma is an impressive monument...

Review: ‘West Side Story’ staged by The Philadelphia Orchestra

West Side Story has never sounded as good as in last weekend’s performances by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra. It even surpassed Leonard Bernstein’s own recording, which sounds...

Review: ‘Fire’ by Chatillion Stage Company at Theatre 54 at Shetler Studios and Theatres

On March 25, 1911, fire raged through the 8th to 10th floors of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory by Washington Square Park. In less than 20 minutes, it claimed the lives of 146 people, mostly teenaged...

Review: ‘The Color Purple: The Musical’ at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre

Timing could not be better for a professionally mounted, national tour of The Color Purple: The Musical. Call this a reminder-on-wheels that sexual exploitation is not a Hollywood invention. Judging...

Fringe Encore Series 2017 Review: ‘Turbulence!’ at SoHo Playhouse

Musical-comedy improv troupe Robot Teammate has landed in New York with an energetic hour of silly sci-fi fun in Turbulence!, now performing at SoHo Playhouse for the final week of this year’s...

Review: ‘The Home Place’ at Irish Repertory Theatre

Brian Friel’s play, The Home Place, has taken its time to find its way to New York, where it arrived in good hands at the newly renovated Irish Repertory Theatre off Broadway. The play premiered in...

An Interview with Erik Ransom on the Development of His New Play ‘Civil Blood (The Resurrection of Romeo)’

Just back from a production of his musical GRINDR: The Opera in Florida, Erik Ransom organized a private developmental reading of his latest work Civil Blood (The Resurrection of Romeo) for an...

Review: ‘An Act of God’ at Signature Theatre

I was healed. Aches and pains of the day disappeared. Headaches from paying too close attention to Presidential tweets vanished. I might have been saved too. Not sure of that just yet. Will have to...