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Jarboe: When Rudi Gernreich played it straight.

Mauckingbird's "The Temperamentals'

The way we were (before we came out)

Where were you at the dawn of the gay liberation movement? Jon Marans's lyrical look back at the '50s made me ask that question for the first time.

Jackie Schifalacqua

Apr 17, 2012 Articles 3 minute read

Bennett as Garland: On the way down, down, down. (Photo: Carol Rosegg.)

"Evita' and "End of the Rainbow' on Broadway

The tragedy of stardom, real and synthetic

Without Patti LuPone's complexity, Evita sinks to the level of caricature. By contrast, the flesh and blood Judy Garland breaks your heart.

Carol Rocamora

Apr 17, 2012 Articles 4 minute read

Naylor (left): Royal misfit. (Photo: David Swanson.)

Gombrowicz's "Ivona' at Swarthmore

A princess with a problem

Witold Gombrowicz wrote with a sneering savagery, most of it directed at aristocrats and their sense of entitlement but also at the middle and lower classes who envied them. Swarthmore's production of Ivona wholeheartedly abandoned itself to his frenetic sense of absurdity.

Merilyn Jackson

Apr 13, 2012 Articles 5 minute read

Cummngs (left), Hissom: Love lost to pride and shame.

"Cyrano' at the Arden (2nd review)

The essential human misunderstanding

Cyrano de Bergerac is the only French play between the 17th and 20th Centuries to hold its place on the international stage. Michael Hollinger's pungent adaptation gets about as much of Edmond Rostand's epic conception as a modern audience can probably digest.

Robert Zaller

Apr 10, 2012 Articles 8 minute read

Lawton (left), Poe, Moseley: Unbearable decisions. (Photo: Mark Garvin.)

Bruce Graham's "Outgoing Tide,' by PTC (1st review)

Why again are we laughing?

Bruce Graham's The Outgoing Tide confronts Alzheimer's disease with wisecracks like, “Are you crazy?” The playwright's immense talent, a first-rate cast of three, and innovative staging create a powerful theater experience nevertheless.

Marshall A. Ledger

Apr 10, 2012 Articles 5 minute read

Ellen Tobie, Jeffrey Coon: What's a priest's desire?

Doubts about Shanley's "Doubt' at Walnut's Studio 3

Without a Doubt

Deep down, even a hard-assed nun is a woman, right? Which means she's a sexual creature. And if a charismatic priest doesn't pay attention to her, well”¦.

Jackie Schifalacqua

Apr 06, 2012 Articles 3 minute read

Summoning the golem, one last time. (Photo: Ian Paul Guzzone.)

EgoPo's "The Golem'

Protector of the Jews

EgoPo previously made its reputation by reviving classic theatrical works; here its ensemble has created a new play, albeit one based on old legends, amalgamating the cultural, spiritual and artistic history of Jewish life in Europe.

Steve Cohen

Mar 31, 2012 Articles 5 minute read

Ortiz and Lekites: So young, so innocent.

"West Side Story' at Academy of Music

Jets and Sharks for a new generation

West Side Story revolutionized musical theater in the ‘50s by virtue of being set in the here and now. That's no longer the case, but the current revival is a revelation in other respects.

Steve Cohen

Mar 31, 2012 Articles 4 minute read

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.