British playwright Stanley Houghton’s Hindle Wakes (currently at the Mint Theater Company) was written and first performed in the era when Sigmund Freud’s ideas on sexuality were becoming known, and when the question of women’s suffrage was on people …Read more

A cheeky little time capsule from 1971, The Workshop Theater’s revival of Where Has Tommy Flowers Gone? provides glimpses of the loose, inventive spirit of the youthful Terrence McNally. It’s a play about America (and about New York City) at a time b …Read more

It’s been said that people congregate in kitchens at dinner parties because the food-prep area is a “backstage” space, somewhere where folks can be their authentic selves. In the kitchen, you don’t need to put forward the formal, public persona you u …Read more

We probably don’t need another reminder right now that a compact brain, the miracle of fire, and a few lines of iambic pentameter are pretty much all that separate us from our prehistoric ancestors. But here comes one anyway: Boundless Theatre Compan …Read more

American musical theater has frequently had a political bent, from the satirical Gershwins-scored Of Thee I Sing (1931) through to Off-Broadway’s current revue Me the People, which skewers the Trump presidency. But few if any of the major creators in …Read more

We seem to experience bursts of elation whenever some whiz-bang gerontologist suggests that human life can be extended in ways previously considered impossible. It’s as if we’ve all been offered an extension on a lease for a property we thought we’d …Read more

The conscious effort to mainstream the alt-right movement in the Trump era has, of course, troubled many Americans deeply. So it’s understandable that New Yiddish Rep would want to stage Romanian playwright Eugène Ionesco’s Rhinoceros (at the Castill …Read more

At the top of Act II of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It, when the audience first glimpses the Forest of Arden, the banished Duke Senior (who is hiding out there) pronounces life in the wood to be “exempt from public haunt.” That’s certainly not …Read more

The new Off-Broadway musical Curvy Widow (at Westside Theatre/Upstairs) shares plot points with one of Broadway’s biggest current musical hits, Hello, Dolly! Both shows present a middle-aged widow with gumption to spare who completes a suitable perio …Read more

The recent Carole Demas and Sarah Rice offering at the Laurie Beechman Theatre, Thank You for Your Love: Our Celebration of Tom Jones & Harvey Schmidt, was no ordinary tribute show. The singing duo, who have both enjoyed a long professional and p …Read more