McCraney's "Choir Boy' in New York

Coming of age by turning the other cheek

Here's something different: A gay coming-of-age play that reacts to homophobia not with rage but with resilience, humor and song.

Carol Rocamora

Aug 03, 2013 · Articles · 4 minute read

"Natasha, Pierre': A musical "War and Peace'

Heeeere's Napoleon! Or: Why didn't Tolstoy think of this?

A musical War and Peace with a three-course Russian dinner in a carnival tent? This kitschy hybrid of dinner theater, story-telling and campy night club act is the latest example of a new trend: adapting the classics for film and stage, with each production trying to outdo each other in ingenuity, artistic excess and chutzpah.

Carol Rocamora

Jul 27, 2013 · Articles · 5 minute read

Madoff redux: "Tom Durnin' in New York

The swindler's homecoming

The sensational saga of the Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff is the stuff of which powerful dramas are made. But unlike Willy Loman or James Tyrone, the central character here (like Madoff himself) is utterly unsympathetic.

Carol Rocamora

Jul 21, 2013 · Articles · 6 minute read

"Noises Off' at People's Light (2nd review)

Noises off, nothing on, and what's missing?

You have to marvel at Michael Frayn's inventiveness. If only it weren't so cold and calculating.

Steve Cohen

Jul 16, 2013 · Articles · 3 minute read

"Noises Off' at People's Light (1st review)

What Michael Frayn could learn from the Marx Brothers

Michael Frayn's farce about the production of a farce succeeds even while violating a time-honored vaudeville maxim.

Bill Murphy

Jul 16, 2013 · Articles · 2 minute read

Peter Morgan's "The Audience' in HD-Live (2nd review)

A few elegant hours with the ultimate classy lady

Peter Morgan's The Audience provides a civilized speculation into the private conversations of Queen Elizabeth and eight of her prime ministers. Helen Mirren, regal yet refreshingly human and even funny, plays the queen between the ages of 25 and 87.

Steve Cohen

Jul 02, 2013 · Articles · 2 minute read

Shakespeare's "Comedy of Errors' in Central Park

Improving on Shakespeare (in the Jazz Age, yet)

By deftly trimming the fat from Shakespeare's convoluted Comedy of Errors, Daniel Sullivan provides 90 minutes of exuberant theatrical mayhem. The lush Central Park backdrop doesn't hurt, either.

Carol Rocamora

Jul 02, 2013 · Articles · 5 minute read

"Wicked' returns to the Academy

A different kind of wickedness

Wicked, the musical back-story of what happened before Dorothy arrived in Oz, is about to observe its ten-year anniversary as a Broadway hit. Its current touring stars are a delight to eye and ear, but they lack the deviously deceptive charm of the originators. Wicked. Music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz; book by Winnie Holzman, based on the novel by Gregory Maguire; Joe Mantello directed. Through August 4, 2013, at Academy of Music, Broad and Locust Sts. (877) 686-5366 or www.kimmelcenter.org.

Steve Cohen

Jun 29, 2013 · Articles · 2 minute read

When the playwright gets into the act

In search of reality: When playwrights become actors

Every so often in the theater, playwrights wants to get into the act, too— that is, perform in their own plays. A playwright's presence can't help but change your perception of his work in intriguing ways. Sometimes it changes the playwright's perceptions, too.

Carol Rocamora

Jun 25, 2013 · Articles · 6 minute read

Is explicit sex a theatrical disease?

Sex without fear (and right in the middle of Broad Street, too)

You can barely set foot in a theater these days without observing a simulated sex act. Is this phenomenon a bold reflection on an age in which virtual relationships trump real ones? Or is theater itself losing its grasp on reality?

Naomi Orwin

Jun 25, 2013 · Articles · 5 minute read