1,115 stories by "Frank Scheck"
Three monkeys pounding on typewriters, in the hope they'll eventually produce "Hamlet." Leon Trotsky going about his day with an assassin's ax in his head. A universal, nonsensical but famil…
It's the 1950s, and a black family hopes to buy into an all-white neighborhood. No, the play this time isn't "A Raisin in the Sun" or its modern-day theatrical riff, "Clybourne Park." Rather…
Be careful next time you bring home a stray bunny rabbit, no matter how cute and fluffy he is. For if the new children's show "Bunnicula" is to be believed, he may be a . . . vampire bunny. …
Ethan Hawke directs and plays the title character in this modern-day update of Bertolt Brecht's "Baal." read more
'She's a real drama queen, that one," whispered a shady-looking guy. And I, sipping from the coffee cup a winking bartender had just poured some liquor into, had to agree.
Even as immersive …
It took nearly three decades and countless therapy sessions, but I finally thought I was over the post-traumatic stress of having suffered through the original 1983 Broadway production of "M…
You'll think twice about taking advantage of the Missed Connections section on Craigslist after seeing "The Man Under." Paul Bomba's strained drama about a man who falls in love with a woman…
The veteran pop star and "Justin Bieber of the '70s" returns to Broadway in a hits-laden show. read more
'Totally Tubular Time Machine" bills itself as "NYC's only interactive, intergalactic, pop music experience." That's true enough, but whether you'll want to go back in time to attend this "1…
If the performers onstage at NYU’s Skirball Center seem to be in their own world, that’s because they really are. They’re the members of Israel’s Nalaga’at Thea…
A Brooklyn lug dreams of roller-skating to stardom in "The Jammer," a new comedy that strains so hard for laughs, it makes "Starlight Express" seem weighty by comparison.
It's the 1950s, an…
Anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.
That striking proverb comes to mind while watching "The Suit," the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord's haunting piece at t…
America Ferrera stars in this dark off-Broadway dark comedy about a young single mother struggling to survive in the depths of the financial crisis. read more
There are plenty of fireworks in the new Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, but sadly they’re all offstage. For this production marking Scarlett Johan…
'working on a Special Day" is one of those shows that takes pains to constantly remind you that you're watching THEATER. This is a simple story of an emotionally charged encounter between a …
UNSUNGMusicalsCo.'s mission is to restore and present obscure musicals that merit another look. But their revival of "The Fig Leaves Are Falling" demonstrates that some musicals are better l…
Two women are locked up for decades in a British hospital for the criminally insane. Their crime? Bearing children out of wedlock.
At least, that's how the Irish Rep describes "Airswimming,"…
'is that the sort of thing you find funny?" hisses the title character (and target) of Tim Crouch's solo show, as he endures one humiliation after another.
Well, yes. At least, it's funny i…
The central character in Sharr White’s drama The Other Place is suffering the disorientating effects of a condition she’s self-diagnosed as brain cancer. Her helpless confusion i…
I am not a racist.
And yet there I was, sitting in the audience at "Tar Baby" " comedian Desiree Burch's provocatively titled new show about race " wearing a sticker calling me one.
That lab…
Eager to shed those holiday pounds? You may want to check out "The Diet Show." Not only might it provide some powerful motivation, but it's the only show in town that at one point requires y…
You can say one thing about this year's Under the Radar festival: It has something for every attention span.
Do you suffer from theater-induced attention-deficit disorder? There are three s…
It seems a reasonable request: The dead young soldier standing in front of you forlornly asks for a coin, so he and his men can pay the ferryman to get across the River Styx. It's easy enoug…
Here are 13 things about "13 Things About Ed Carpolotti":
1. It's a solo chamber musical, with Penny Fuller " of Broadway's "Applause" and "Barefoot in the Park" " as a widow who finds her l…
'Are you having a good time?" an actor asked me during the intermission of "Restoration Comedy," the new party " sorry, production " at the Flea Theater.
It was a fair question, considering…
