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Theatre

  • The Pirates of Penzance at Barrington Stage

    Swashbuckling Rogues Invade Pittsfied.

    By: Charles Giuliano - Jul 21st, 2016

    In a world gone utterly mad, for a great escape, there is nothing quite like an evening at Barrington Stage and the swashbuckling production of the perennial Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert & Sullivan. It has been masterfully created by that other theatrcal partnership Rando and Bergasse the pair that brought Barrington's On the Town to Broadway.

  • Breath of Kings: Rebellion

    Stratford Festival of Canada

    By: Herbert Simpson - Jul 20th, 2016

    We welcome the distinguished critic Herbert Simpson and his coverage of Stratford Festival of Canada. Here he reviews Breath of Kings: Rebellion Richard II and Henry IV Part 1I which will be performed through September 24.

  • Neil Simon's Broadway Bound

    Stage Door Theatre Florida

    By: Aaron Krause - Jul 19th, 2016

    In “Broadway Bound,” Neil Simon shines a light on people who are flawed. You not only forgive them at the end, you feel as though you’re leaving part of your own family as the curtain closes.

  • Musical 1776 in Palm Beach

    At Don and Ann Brown Theatre.

    By: Aaron Krause - Jul 18th, 2016

    The well-known historical musica "1776" about our founding fathers’ mission to make America independent from England is on stage through July 24 in the intimate, semi-circular Don and Ann Brown Theatre in Palm Beach, Florida.

  • The Chinese Room at Williamstown

    World Premiere of Michael West Play

    By: Charles Giuliano - Jul 17th, 2016

    The hilarious comedy The Chinese Room by the Irish playwright Michael West is having its world premiere at Williamstown Theatre Festival. The current production allows for fine tuning for when the play transfers Off Broadway to Manhattan Theatre Club. It is sure to be a hit in New York.

  • Kanze Noh's Inaugural at Lincoln Center

    Traditional Japanese Theater Intrigues

    By: Susan Hall - Jul 16th, 2016

    Even if you don't know the conventions of Noh Theater, developed over 600 years in Japan, there is great pleasure in its performance. The Kanze Noh troupe sports players whose descent can be traced back 22 generations. Deep emotions are generated by performances of dramas from this rich history.

  • Between Riverside and Crazy at Steppenwolf

    Funny and Poignant Stephen Adly Guirgis Play

    By: By Nancy Bishop - Jul 14th, 2016

    Between Riverside and Crazy is a rowdy, raunchy play with lots of action. (Sensitive ears alert: When I said raunchy, that’s what I meant.) Yasen Peyankov directs it with style and glee.

  • Wastwater at Chicago's Steep Theatre,

    By English playwright Simon Stephens

    By: Nancy Bishop - Jul 12th, 2016

    Wastwater by Simon Stephens is a loosely connected trilogy of stories, skillfully directed by Robin Witt. They’re set near London’s Heathrow Airport, where the village of Sipson is threatened with obliteration for the sake of a new airport runway. The playwright is best known for his Tony-winning adaptation, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

  • Macbeth at Old Globe

    Lowell Davies Outdoor Festival Theatre

    By: Jack Lyons - Jul 12th, 2016

    Under the deft direction of Brian Kulick, this ‘Macbeth’ production has been updated to a visual setting more or less around the time of World War I. However, the language, spirit, and the murderous intrigues that Shakespeare loved so dearly are still present. It’s a clever way to update the core story that is familiar to all without sacrificing any dramatic elements or story points as conceived by the Bard.

  • Merchant of Venice at Shakespeare & Company

    Authentic Production Directed by Tina Packer

    By: Charles Giuliano - Jul 11th, 2016

    A great production of Merchant of Venice requires inspired casting. The Tina Packer production has a truly magnficent Shylock in company member Jonathan Epstein taking on the complex and demanding role for the fifth time. It is his second with Packer. This version also has a first rate Portia in Tamara Hickey and suitably apathetic and melancholy Antonio played with nuance by John Hadden. It was Packer's intent to take the gloves off in attacking issues of race, religion, gender, homosexuality and racism.

  • Little Shop of Horrors Gobbles Audience

    Smash Musical Comedy at Colonial Theatre

    By: Charles Giuliano - Jul 10th, 2016

    A lot of theatre this season is feeding us heavy duty, pc, brain food. But for pure fun release and esape the best show in the Berkshires, Little Shop of Horrors, is presenting a hilarious musical comedy about a man eating plant which is chewing the scenery and devouring audiences at the Colonial Theatre.

  • The Paper Hat Game at 3-Legged Dog

    Torry Bend Blends Media with a Punch

    By: Susan Hall - Jul 08th, 2016

    Scale is an important factor in how we respond to objects, art and theatre. Using the small frame of a puppet theatre, Torry Bend tells the story of a man who distributes paper hats on the Chicago Transit system. We could be anywhere in this intriguing take on urban life.

  • Grapes of Wrath in Chicago

    Gift Theatre Production

    By: Nancy Bishop - Jul 05th, 2016

    The Gift Theatre’s eloquent new production of The Grapes of Wrath is a story of Dust Bowl migrants during the Great Depression of the 1930s, but it bears witness to many of the personal tragedies of today’s ongoing Great Recession.

  • Jessica Lange Wins Tony for O'Neill Play

    Long Day's Journey Into Night

    By: Aaron Krause - Jul 04th, 2016

    The family based Long Day's Journey Into Night is regarded as the masterpiece of Eugene O'Neill. In a Broadway revval now closed Jessica Lange won a Tony Award for the paradigmatic role of the morphine addicted mother Mary Tyrone.

  • Cost of Living by Martyna Majok

    World Premiere at Williamstown Theatre Festival

    By: Charles Giuliano - Jul 04th, 2016

    The powerful drama Cost of Living, by Martyna Majok, having its world premiere at Williamstown Theatre Festival entails two individuals with disabilities and those who provide care for them. The production will transfer to Manhattan Theatre Club during the coming season. It is an evening of theatre that audiences will never recover from.

  • Marisa Tomei in The Rose Tattoo

    Williams in Williamstown

    By: Charles Giuliano - Jul 03rd, 2016

    Based on the casting of Academy Award winner, Marisa Tomei, the production of The Rose Tattoo at Williamstown Theatre Festival is the most anticipated theatre event of the summer season in the Berkshires. For the most part audiences will be thrilled with her perfomance in a sprawling and chaotic production of the Tennessee Williams classic play.

  • New York Theatre Workshop's Hadestown

    To Hell and Highwater with Anaïs Mitchell

    By: Susan Hall - Jul 02nd, 2016

    A brilliant new take on the Orpheus myth by Anaïs Mitchell and Rachel Chavkin. The story of Orpheus and Eurydice was the basis of the first opera written in 1600. It has intrigued artists ever since, from Monteverdi to Christoph Willibald Gluck to Jacques Offenbach. Dramatists too have found the tale impossible to resist, Thomas Pynchon, Salmon Rushie and Tennessee William among them. This may be the first time the audience sits in purgatory.

  • Ugly Lies the Bone in Lenox

    A Searing Play of Renewal at S&Co;.

    By: Maria Reveley - Jun 28th, 2016

    Lindsey Ferrentino has written a play weaving the end of the NASA shuttle program with the return of a severely wounded war veteran. As directed by Daniela Varon, the ensemble group of actors, turns in a bravura performance, with Christianna Nelson at its center, as Jess returning from a third tour of Afghanistan.

  • Disgraced at Mark Taper Forum

    Muslims in America Explored by Ayad Akhtar

    By: Jack Lyons - Jun 28th, 2016

    In playwright Ayad Akhtar’s blistering comedy, “Disgraced” he explores the dark underbelly of the politically correct subject matter of anti-semitism and Islamophobia that is simmering just beneath the surface at first only to boil over later on, dragging its five characters into open verbal warfare.

  • Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in Stockbridge

    Mendacity Prevails at Berkshire Theatre Group

    By: Charles Giuliano - Jun 26th, 2016

    This summer there will be two Tennessee Williams plays in the Berkshires. The first is Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Berkshire Theatre Group in Stockbridge. It is a great play being given a so so production.

  • O'Neill at the Metropolitan Playhouse

    Alex Roe Directs the Playwright's First Stammers

    By: Susan Hall - Jun 25th, 2016

    The Metropolitan Playhouse is producing two early Eugene O’Neill plays as part of their season on the topic of Hope. A satisfying evening of theatre makes a trip to the East Village a must for theatre buffs.

  • American Son by Christopher Demos-Brown

    Black Lives Matter at Barrington Stage Company

    By: Charles Giuliano - Jun 23rd, 2016

    In a ripped from the headlines, award winning play, American Son having its world premiere at Barrington Stage, the theme that black lives matter is explored with riveting power, The company comissioned the play by Christopher Demos-Brown and is flaunting conventional wisdow by opening the main stage season with something other than the usual light summer fare.

  • Fiorello! at Uniciorn Stage in Stockbridge

    Political Musical Soars During God Awful Election Year

    By: Charles Giuliano - Jun 21st, 2016

    Fiorello La Guardia (1882-1947)a true man of the people was a study in contradiction. Of Italian and Jewish heritage he was an Episcopalian Republican who was elected Mayor of New York on a fusion ticket. A small, portly, homely man in a rumpled suit he possessed towering charisma. The 1959 Tony and Pulitzer winning musical Fiorello! is being given a compressed and powerful production at Unicorn Theatre in Stockbridge.

  • The Maxim Gorki Theater - Berlin, Germany

    Small But Look-Out!

    By: Angelika Jansen - Jun 20th, 2016

    The Maxim Gorki Theater is situated in the center of Berlin, just off the boulevard 'Unter den Linden.' Since 2013, after a change in directors, 'The Gorki ' has again become a most vital forum for current socio-political and humanistic themes and plays. We are discussing here some on the 2016 playlist.

  • Kimberly Akimbo at Barrington Stage

    Debra Jo Rupp 60 Going on 16

    By: Charles Giuliano - Jun 20th, 2016

    In Kimberly Akimbo by David Lindsay-Abaire, as played by the masterful Debra Jo Rupp, Kimberly, celebrating her sixteenth birthday is about to die of old age. In a superb performance Rupp conflates giddy youth and the world weary wisdom that comes with time and lifde experience.

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