Lantern's Henry V (2nd review)

None dare call it castor oil

How do you render Shakespeare's histories appealing to folks who attend only because they think it's good for them? Charles McMahon of the Lantern Theater seems to have cornered the formula.

Alaina Johns

Apr 23, 2013 · Articles · 3 minute read

Oscar Wilde's "Salome' at Villanova (2nd review)

Does Salome still work?

Does Oscar Wilde's Salome still hold up as a drama, without Strauss's thunderous score? I went into the play not expecting much, frankly, and came away pleasantly surprised.

Andrew Mangravite

Apr 23, 2013 · Articles · 2 minute read

Oscar Wilde's "Salome' at Villanova (1st review)

A century later, Salome gets her just desserts

Oscar Wilde's Salome is a play critics love to hate, but those disparagements can now be dismissed. Villanova University has revealed Wilde's play for the mesmerizing theater that it is.

Steve Cohen

Apr 20, 2013 · Articles · 5 minute read

An African "Julius Caesar' in Brooklyn

Just how do you topple a dictator?

Director Gregory Doran has made a bold, believable choice in setting his Julius Caesar in today's strife-torn Africa. As a result, he shines new light on the Shakespearean play we all memorized in high school and thought we knew inside and out.

Carol Rocamora

Apr 20, 2013 · Articles · 5 minute read

Nora Ephron's "Lucky Guy' on Broadway

Swept away

The rise, fall, comeback and ultimate demise of the relentlessly ambitious newspaper columnist Mike McAlary makes a great story— but only in the romantic world of the Broadway stage.

Carol Rocamora

Apr 16, 2013 · Articles · 5 minute read

"The Revisionist' in New York

Vanessa in the Village

Just when you thought Vanessa Redgrave had done it all, she turns up in a 200-seat West Village theater, playing a septuagenarian Holocaust survivor from Szczecin, Poland. Needless to add, the part— as well as the intimate venue— fits her like a glove.

Carol Rocamora

Apr 13, 2013 · Articles · 5 minute read

"Everyone and I' at the Kimmel

Lady Day, and the poet who mourned her

Elizabeth Scanlon's Everyone and I is a moving, tender, brief performance piece about the unrequited relationship between the poet Frank O'Hare and his muse, the blues singer Billie Holiday.

Apr 08, 2013 · Articles · 3 minute read

"Old Jews Telling Jokes' in New York

Not your grandfather's Jewish humor

This revue tries to rekindle old memories for new generations of Jews and non-Jews alike. It's raunchier than anything I saw on "Ed Sullivan." But the passage of time imposes a kind of censorship all its own.

Steve Cohen

Apr 02, 2013 · Articles · 4 minute read

"Breakfast at Tiffany's' on Broadway

Holly, we hardly knew ye

The new stage adaptation of Breakfast at Tiffany's is blessed with an appealing story, an evocative setting and an exceptional narrator. Too bad its inimitable heroine is missing in action.

Steve Cohen

Mar 31, 2013 · Articles · 4 minute read

"Macbeth' in London, violence everywhere

There will be blood, or: Can you top this?

Playwrights and directors are devoting more attention to the role of violence in the world, which is good. But some of them seem to be celebrating it rather than condemning it.

Carol Rocamora

Mar 30, 2013 · Articles · 5 minute read