Theater
2734 results
Page 202
Lanna Joffrey's "Valiant,' by InterAct
War is hell, and what else is new?
Lanna Joffrey's Valiant relates the suffering of 13 women in conditions of war and exile, as if war is an exclusively male activity. The cumulative effect of their recitations is more stultifying than enlightening.
Articles
5 minute read
"Shipwrecked!' at People's Light
A South Seas state of mind
In this entertaining true tale of a man who was either the greatest adventurer or greatest hoaxer of his time, Donald Margulies has fashioned a stimulating piece of children's theater that will appeal to adults as well.
Articles
2 minute read
"Death of a Salesman' on Broadway
The way we were, and still are
Mike Nichols's loving production, historically meticulous in every detail, plays curiously more like a museum piece than a fresh, dynamic new exploration of Arthur Miller's 1949 masterwork. It performs a valuable service nevertheless.
Articles
6 minute read
"Fela!' at Academy of Music (2nd review)
Not your mother's Broadway musical
Pity the Kimmel season subscribers who arrived at Fela! without advance preparation. This is a political musical with some very discomfiting edges— and that's to its credit.
Articles
4 minute read
"Curse of the Starving Class' at the Wilma (3rd review)
The American Dream's last victims
The Wilma's revival of Sam Shepard's Curse of the Starving Class is strikingly relevant to our present Age of Foreclosure, yet dated in its Pinteresque violence. It also suggests the limits of Shepard's notion of the imploding nuclear family as a metaphor for America.
Articles
5 minute read
A few words about ladies' restrooms
A woman's curse (at least in Philadelphia theaters)
It's time for somebody to say publicly what Philadelphia women have been muttering to each other in the line for years: The ladies' rooms at many Philadelphia theaters are deplorable. Join me for a guided tour.
Articles
4 minute read
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Stalin meets George III in London
Between tyranny and lunacy
Two plays in London about Stalin, who died nearly 60 years ago? Maybe it's taken that long to appreciate the full measure of Uncle Joe's tyranny — over Russians in general and artists in particular.
Articles
7 minute read
"Fela!' at Academy of Music (1st review)
Cardboard hero
Fela Anikulapo Kuti became famous first for his catchy music, then as an advocate for human rights in Nigeria. This manipulative if entertaining tribute strips the real Fela of his flaws and contradictions, leaving us with a show bereft of any real drama.
Articles
3 minute read
"Curse of the Starving Class' at the Wilma (2nd review)
California surreal
Sam Shepard's Curse of the Starving Class is a fascinating juxtaposition of realism and surrealism. His characters aren't the type I'd hang out with, and their actions are off-putting to the extreme. Yet there's something mesmerizing about their struggles.
Articles
3 minute read
"Cyrano' at the Arden (1st review)
A Cyrano for our time
The polymath playwright Michael Hollinger has done it again. This time he takes a too-familiar century-old classic tragicomedy and infuses it with new allusions and linguistic flights of fancy suitable for the 21st Century.
Articles
4 minute read