'Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn' in Connecticut

Through the year(s) with Irving Berlin

A classic movie with songs by Irving Berlin provides engaging fun in its belated transfer to the stage.

Steve Cohen

Dec 23, 2014 · Articles · 5 minute read

Two versions of ‘Outside Mullingar’ (2nd review)

Can a hardened pragmatist find romance?

John Patrick Shanley’s sensitive play about Irish families, Outside Mullingar, packs so much depth that it’s effective in two disparate productions.

Steve Cohen

Dec 22, 2014 · Articles · 3 minute read

Looking back at 2014 in New York theater

Eighteen reasons (and more) to celebrate 2014

Four King Lears, six directorial coups, eight new plays, and the real stars of the 2014 stages.

Carol Rocamora

Dec 16, 2014 · Articles · 5 minute read

'Beauty and the Beast' at the Arden

For love or money?

A play about overcoming fears shows that true love can overcome even a witch’s spell. Why then is everyone in the play so concerned about money and success?

Naomi Orwin

Dec 16, 2014 · Articles · 4 minute read

Team Sunshine's 'Sincerity Project'

The thin line between sincerity and artifice

The Sincerity Project takes the notion of sincerity as timeless, self-evident, decidedly apolitical, and fully accessible via performance, which makes the show feel a lot like a game of Truth or Dare at a sleepover: Amusing to an extent, if not slightly phony, and occasionally revealing of a juicy tidbit, but overall limited to the provided guidelines.

Samantha Maldonado

Dec 16, 2014 · Articles · 3 minute read

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s 'Cinderella'

A 21st-century fairy tale

The script of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella is barely recognizable in this new production, but the 1957 music is wonderful and augmented with other gems from those prolific songwriters.

Steve Cohen

Dec 12, 2014 · Articles · 3 minute read

Revival of David Rabe’s 'Sticks and Bones'

Vietnam: Look back in anguish

This timely revival of Sticks and Bones pours salt in open wounds, as we welcome scores of soldiers home from the recent Iraqi and Afghanistan Wars and then find, to our incomprehension, that they are suffering from PTSD. Are we as blind to their suffering as David’s family is to his?

Carol Rocamora

Dec 09, 2014 · Articles · 4 minute read

'Great Expectations' at the Arden Theatre (2nd review)

An unexpected hit at the Arden

For many readers, Great Expectations was an enthralling and transformative epic, while for others it was boring required reading that was filled with convenient coincidences. Whichever your opinion, the Arden’s production provides fast-moving entertainment.

Steve Cohen

Dec 09, 2014 · Articles · 2 minute read

‘The Matter of Frank Schaefer’ at Curio Theatre Company

God loves you — is that why the rest of us should?

Can we tackle contentious social justice issues through a lens that might itself feel exclusionary? The fervent Christians of Curio Theatre Company’s Matter of Frank Schaefer, on both sides of the gay marriage fight, make us wonder.

Alaina Johns

Dec 05, 2014 · Articles · 4 minute read

Shanley’s ‘Outside Mullingar,’ by PTC (1st review)

Humanity and nature on an Irish farm

The four characters in John Patrick Shanley’s Outside Mullingar offer an engaging opportunity to channel the inner Irish that lurks within many of us.

Dan Rottenberg

Dec 04, 2014 · Articles · 4 minute read