1,797 stories by "ELISABETH VINCENTELLI"
The best sits right next to the worst in "3 Kinds of Exile," the new project by John Guare. The show is made up of three distinct works that share a theme " the experiences of a trio of East…
With plays like "Fat Pig" and movies like "In the Company of Men," Neil LaBute made a career out of antagonizing audiences. His usual MO is to expose our baser instincts by throwing unpleasa…
There's something to be said about typecasting. What's wrong with an actor zeroing in on a type and playing brilliant variations on that theme? Nobody accuses a violin virtuoso of not playin…
There are two or three good plays fighting it out within "The Tutors." But they cancel each other out, and the show that opened last night at Second Stage Uptown ends up merely promising, ra…
Like old-fashioned dramas, the new "Somewhere Fun" is staged in three acts with two intermissions. It also boasts two charismatic powerhouses in the leads: Kathleen Chalfant and Kate Mulgrew…
The most important part of any musical is the score. And "Far from Heaven" " about prejudice and repressed desire in 1957 Connecticut " boasts a gorgeously lush and evocative score. Composer…
A jukebox opera isn't a bad idea. The Met pulled it off last year with "The Enchanted Island," which borrowed plotlines from a couple of Shakespeare plays and stuffed them with baroque arias…
You can see why theater companies are drawn to "The Caucasian Chalk Circle": Writing at the end of WWII, Bertolt Brecht brought together elements from an old Chinese tale and the Judgment of…
Men hang out in a homey pub. They exchange gruff jokes, down drink after drink, and soon enough start trading tales.
Naturally, "The Weir" takes place in Ireland " where else would camarader…
'Basilica" is the rare new play that spares us the self-inflated problems of the white, big-city middle class. Set in gritty south Texas, the show deals with the travails of the blue-collar …
Oh no, not another immersive, sung-through rock musical!
But "Murder Ballad" first opened at Manhattan Theatre Club last fall, the same time the Russian-inflected "Natasha, Pierre & the Grea…
Shakespeare in the Park doesn't have summer to itself anymore. Pretenders have popped up with all kinds of gimmicks: site-specific environments. Shows where the audience follows the cast as …
One of the things that makes Broadway star Laura Benanti so much fun to watch is the discrepancy between her unassuming behavior and what happens when she starts singing.
Benanti is one of t…
A midlife crisis has devastating consequences in "The Master Builder." This should surprise no one since the 1892 play is by Henrik Ibsen, a Norwegian not known for rom-coms.
But the product…
The program for "Colin Quinn Unconstitutional" claims the show is "a new comedy." That's a bit misleading.
Sure, there's a director (Rebecca A. Trent) and basic staging: a lectern, a kind of…
Last fall's most exciting sensation wasn't a big Broadway musical but a scrappy outsider sneaking in under the radar.
At first glance, "Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812" looked lik…
Nomi Malone is back! In the 1995 camp classic "Showgirls," Elizabeth Berkley's psycho stripper climbed to the topless top of the Strip. Now at long last, Nomi's made her way to a pole near u…
Immersive and site-specific shows are hot right now, and "City Council Meeting" hits both of those sweet spots. Devised by Mallory Catlett, Jim Findlay and Aaron Landsman " all regulars on t…
The last time Philip Seymour Hoffman teamed up with playwright Bob Glaudini, they scored an unlikely hit with 2007's "Jack Goes Boating" " an affectionate depiction of so-called losers looki…
Broadway these days is specializing in famous people played by even more famous people: Tom Hanks as the tabloid columnist Mike McAlary, Bette Midler as super-agent Sue Mengers and Holland T…
Life and showbiz got uncomfortably close in "Bunty Berman Presents . . .," a likable but overlong new musical set in the demented world of Bollywood movies.
As it happened, Erick Avari, the …
According to current conventional wisdom, 1936's "On Your Toes" could never cut it again on Broadway. After all, it features a goofy fun plot, songs by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, and l…
There's no right or wrong way to approach "Old-Fashioned Prostitutes (A True Romance)." Since the late 1960s, Richard Foreman has been creating cryptic, bizarre shows that can be compared on…
It's not fun being the newbie at a party where the other guests already know each other. You watch them chat about their jobs, laugh at old anecdotes, exchange updates about relationships " …
Drag queens and female impersonators have always had a place in theater. Just look at this year's Tonys, where several Best Actor nominees " Billy Porter in "Kinky Boots," Bertie Carvel in "…
