8,501 stories from Backstage
Tariq Hamami's intriguing dark comedy takes place in a lawless rough-and-tumble town, but it makes for a strangely inviting place to spend an evening.
With four authors, this clichéd New York–centric work has a surprisingly cohesive tone; however, the vignette form impedes character and plot development.
Brian C. Petti's Irish drama is an ungimmicky, affecting exploration of a sad chapter in his family's history that avoids clichés as it keeps us pulling for its likable hero.
Directed with sensitivity and intelligence by playwright David Auburn and acted to a fare-thee-well by a dynamite cast of six, Tennessee Williams' rarely produced foray into situation come…
With verve and wry humor, dancer Anna Sullivan channels the cyberpunk aesthetic to express the way sex and soulless plasticity have become shamelessly intertwined in modern media.
The force is ultimately strong with this fanboy throw-down, which leans on a rotating ensemble of burlesque performers to arbitrate the question of superiority between "Star Trek" and "Sta…
Carol Lempert's affecting one-woman show celebrates how Anne Frank's story has shaped her life while also questioning whether there has been a "commercialization of the Holocaust."
Theater and reality make a powerful mix in this searing documentary on the effects of violence on children in Mexico's border towns.
I haven't the foggiest idea of what author-actor Peter Welch thinks he's up to with this two-hander, but as Noël Coward once sang, 90 minutes is a long, long time.
Writer and performer Ali Kennedy Scott portrays five survivors of a natural catastrophe in Australia, but her delineation of character needs to be deeper and more distinct.
Short on plot and long on preachy monologues, this play by Jackie Ruggiero Jacobson is nonetheless a provocative, intelligent work, rich in thoughtful feminist commentary on current politi…
Playwright Danny Mitarotondo's theater is a lyrical one of splintered poetry and inchoate longing that seems most interested in essences, but they're not jelling as successfully as they co…
Mariah MacCarthy's lesbian take on "Romeo and Juliet" has talented lead actors and some funny moments, but the show is too long for its own good.
Clumsily directed, broadly acted, and feebly written, this lame comedy featuring a gay couple and a phony religious beauty pageant resembles an underrehearsed sitcom.
Stephen Garvey's comic mash-up attempts to cross-pollinate the plots of Bill Shakespeare with the sitcom humor of Sherwood Schwartz, but Garvey doesn't add much that's original.
With this heartfelt epistolary comedy-drama about two very different men who have been best friends since childhood, writer Kevin Cochran has given us a gay "Love Letters."
The audience determines the fate of Shakespeare's famously star-crossed lovers in this frothy romp that, playing strictly for laughs, amuses and irks in equal measure.
A downer of a subject—self-mutilation and suicide—is further rendered stultifying by unleavened drama vérité, relentlessly downbeat songs, and an attempt to give six …
Director-choreographer John Carrafa brings his considerable showbiz skills to bear on this show about a battle of the bands in heaven, and the result is a rousing crowd pleaser.
This new musical is young, foolish, and in love with theater, but it lacks the wit and sophistication to be anything more than a 90-minute inside joke.
John Paul Karliak's breezily insightful take on his two mothers is that rarest of solo autobiographical shows, celebrating what his parents did for him rather than to him.
Playwright Sofia Johnson shows promise in her intriguing and deeply honest work about teenage peer pressure, and the concise production boasts an outstanding cast.
Recounting her life story through the prism of her struggle with weight, talented Aussie comedian Emily O'Loughlin weaves a delightful though somewhat shallow tale.
No need to check Zagat's. Brian Pollack's tiresome restaurant farce "Smoking Section" moves at a glacial pace and does not offer anything very tasty on the menu.
The matinee performance on Aug. 27 will mark the musical's 6,138 show, meaning it vaults over the original version of "A Chorus Line" to become the fourth longest-running show in Broadway …
