Theater

Theater Reviews: Broadway —The Importance of Being Earnest and Jerusalem

June 5, 2011
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Two New York stage productions offer sterling examples of going maximalist in an increasingly minimalist age

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Theater Review: A Musical Cure for the Blues

June 2, 2011
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SpeakEasy Stage Company tops off its 20th-anniversary season with a delightful production of a Tony-winning comic valentine to the musical.

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Coming Attractions in Theater: June 2011

June 1, 2011
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June is a transitional month for theater — the big Summer Festivals don’t hit their stride until July. But odd and interesting productions pop up, such as a view of life for women in Putin’s Russia, a musical about union activity, a glimpse of what’s billed as “the future of ensemble theatre in America,” and the world premiere of a musical version of the Bible’s Song of Songs that, who knows, might usher in a Summer of Love.

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Theater Review: Silver Spoon — A Lefty Valentine and a Missed Opportunity

June 1, 2011
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The musical SILVER SPOON is at its strongest when a lullaby evolves into a ballad about the arrest of a group of undocumented migrant workers.

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Theater Review: Propeller Theatre Company Takes Off

May 31, 2011
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Buckets of blood and handfuls of guts always look slightly ridiculous splashed and dangled around on stage, though I must admit that this is the first RICHARD III I have seen with a working chainsaw.

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Theater Review: Edward Albee’s Animal Talk

May 13, 2011
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The Zeitgeist Stage Company production has made me rethink Edward Albee’s HOMELIFE to the extent that the couple, well played by Peter Brown and Christine Power, generate a loving bond that adds some welcome tension (and humor) to the revelations of free-floating anxiety and confusion.

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Theater Review: A Dreamy and Acrobatic Hedda Gabler

May 8, 2011
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Henrik Ibsen’s rejection of the everyday drives this compelling take on “Hedda Gabler” – the production generates a theatrical arena that is simultaneously acrobatic and surreal.

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Theater Review: Down Chekhovian Way

April 28, 2011
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A Chekhovian dramatic fabric calls for a tough/tender gift for realism. Getting the balance right is tricky — too much reassurance veers toward easy sentimentality, while excessive punishment pushes the proceedings toward soap opera.

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Coming Attractions in Theater: May 2011

April 26, 2011
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May is usually a so-so respite before the summer season revs up, but there’s some interesting productions popping up, including Propeller Theatre Company’s all-male versions of Shakespeare’s Richard III and The Comedy of Errors, Amy Brenneman’s autobiographical show Mouth Wide Open, and an opportunity to see J. M. Barrie take it on in the chin…

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Book Review: An Authoritative Anthology of Modern Chinese Drama

April 18, 2011
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Minor translation issues aside, The Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Drama‘s excellent selection, colloquial and stage-friendly translations, and illuminating introduction undoubtedly make the volume the authoritative choice in teaching and reading modern Chinese drama for the foreseeable future. The Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Drama. Edited and with an introduction by Xiaomei Chen. Columbia University…

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