1,115 stories by "Frank Scheck"
Estelle Parsons and Stephen Spinella star in Eric Coble's two-hander Broadway play about an elderly woman who threatens to blow up her Brooklyn brownstone apartment rather than be sent to a …
Jeremy Whelehan's documentary chronicles the world tour of a production of "Richard III" starring Kevin Spacey.read more
Daniel Radcliffe in The Cripple of Inishmaan
(©Johan Persson)
His face may be prominently displayed on the Playbill cover and theater marquee, but Daniel Radcliffe melts seamlessly i…
James Franco and Chris O'Dowd in Of Mice and Men
(©Richard Phibbs)
Review: Of Mice and Men
John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men is a beloved classic that is a staple in high scho…
Audra McDonald in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill
(©Evgenia Eliseeva)
Audra McDonald doesn’t look or sound anything like Billie Holiday. So it’s a credit to t…
Marin Mazzie in Bullets Over Broadway
(©Paul Kolnik)
Imagine a splashy Broadway musical comedy based on a beloved film, written by its original creator who once toiled for Sid Caesar …
You’ll mingle with ghosts in the new "Speakeasy Dollhouse," an immersive show about the Booth brothers, actor Edwin and his notorious brother, Abraham Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Boot…
David Cromer, Bryce Clyde Jenkins, LaYTanya Richardson Jackson,
Anika Noni Rose, Denzel Washington, and Sophie Okonedo
in A Raisin in the Sun
(©Brigitte Lacombe)
If director…
In the Transport Group's new revival of "I Remember Mama," 10 time-tested actresses " ages 67 to 82 " play all 23 characters, including the men and small boys. But...
Stephen Sondheim's spirit hangs heavy over "A Second Chance." One character calls the composer "one of my heroes." And a program note from playwright Ted Shen even thanks him. An...
Idina Menzel in If/Then
(©Joan Marcus)
When a performer’s mere opening utterance of “Hello, it’s me” garners huge sustained applause, you know you’re in …
Cirque du Soleil's "Amaluna" is a mash-up of the Latin words "mother" and "moon." But it's really about girl power, a female-centric production loosely inspired by "The Tempest" with a...
This world premiere play by Beau Willimon ("House of Cards") concerns four ordinary people whose lives become intertwined by fateful circumstances.read more
Off-Braodway’s "Beauty and the Beast" " a critically acclaimed, adults-only affair with explicit sex and nudity " is a fairy-tale love story both onstage and off. Chalk it up to...
Bobby Steggert, Frederick Weller, Grayson Taylor, and Tyne Daly in Mothers and Sons
(©Joan Marcus)
There’s a distressing air of familiarity about Terrence McNally’s Mother…
Ramin Karimloo in Les Miserables
(©Matthew Murphy)
Les Miserables could well refer to more than a few theater critics, this one included, faced with the prospect of yet again seeing …
Courtney Reed and Adam Jacobs in Aladdin
(©Deen van Meer)
When James Monroe Iglehart sings “Friend Like Me” in Disney’s new Broadway musical adaptation of its classi…
Andy Karl in Rocky
(©Matthew Murphy)
You’ll leave the new Broadway musical Rocky humming the score. Unfortunately, it won’t be the wholly unmemorable one by veteran compos…
The sexy young couple in "Stockholm" seem made for each other. Attractive and fit, they dance joyously and indulge in torrid (offstage) sex before he whips up dinner. As they...
In Robert Askins' "Hand to God," a devout Christian teenager is led astray by a demonic hand puppet named Tyrone. At off-Broadway's Lucille Lortel Theatre, where the MCC Theater production...
Michael McKean, Bryan Cranston, and Brandon J. Dirden in All the Way
(©Evgenia Eliseeva)
Playing Lyndon B. Johnson in Robert Schenkkan’s ambitious historical drama All the Way, …
It's sold 100 million copies " and, thanks to its lurid prose, spurred sales of God knows how many electronic readers. Yes, it's E.L. James' "Fifty Shades of Grey" trilogy,...
Gimmicks trump coherence in a new production of "Antony and Cleopatra" that would probably have Shakespeare suing for copyright infringement. Jonathan Cake and Joaquina Kalukango play the il…
The Oscar-winning singer-actress performs songs from her classic movie-musicals "Oklahoma," "The Music Man" and "Carousel" in her cabaret show.read more
As depicted in "Satchmo at the Waldorf," Louis Armstrong seems to suffer from multiple-personality disorder: Not only does John Douglas Thompson play the legendary jazz great, but he also vo…
