Theater Review

theater review Sept. 29, 2023

Melissa Etheridge Takes the Aw-Shucks Road to BroadwayMy Window is a night of songs and personal biography, loosely hung together.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review Sept. 27, 2023

A Vintage Satire That Still Has Sting: Purlie Victorious ReturnsOssie Davis’s plantation farce retains its wit and snap.

By Sara Holdren

theater review Sept. 22, 2023

Slapstick and Plague, in Mary Gets HersWacky fun with medieval horrors.

By Sara Holdren

theater review Sept. 20, 2023

Little Shop of Blah-Blah: Theresa Rebeck’s DigA redemption play that betrays its own premise.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review Sept. 19, 2023

Did a Bot Write This Review of Prometheus Firebringer? No, and Here’s Why Not.A script written and performed by AI in real time has unexpected effects on an audience.

By Sara Holdren

theater review Sept. 18, 2023

Job Pays Off and Clocks Out“Like a good TV crime drama, it’s manipulative in a value-neutral sense: It knows the position it wants to put you in, and it puts you there.”

By Sara Holdren

theater review Sept. 17, 2023

In Swing State, Bleak Politics in the Tall GrassRebecca Gilman’s story is hemmed in on all sides.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review Sept. 14, 2023

Rachel Bloom Sets Avoidance to Song in Death, Let Me Do My ShowA terrible March 2020, exposed but not too exposed.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review Sept. 12, 2023

The Mortal Truths of Annie Baker’s Infinite Life“This is part of Baker’s brilliance: to ruffle feathers with the calmest of breezes.”

By Sara Holdren

theater review Sept. 10, 2023

Shadows and Seams, Both Visible: No Good Things Dwell in the FleshIn Christina Masciotti’s play about a Queens tailor facing her career’s end, the principal characters are everything.

By Sara Holdren

theater review Aug. 30, 2023

A Tempest in the Park That’s (Mostly) No Thoughts, Just VibesIn tone and temperament, this production owes much more to Disney than it does to Shakespeare.

By Sara Holdren

theater review Aug. 18, 2023

Improv on the Roof, Catharsis in Aisle 5What Else Is True? and Joan of Arc in a Supermarket in California leave our critic saying, “Yes, and …?”

By Sara Holdren

theater review Aug. 10, 2023

The Shark Is Broken Goes Chumming for Your AffectionIan Shaw’s play bemoans big action movies’ death grip on the culture — while also venerating the voracious progenitor of them all.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review Aug. 3, 2023

You Made a Musical … Out of a DeLorean?Back to the Future: The Musical is a carefully faithful spectacle.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review Aug. 1, 2023

Pregaming With Three Postcollege Brats (Plus a Dog) at Toros“The play keeps reminding you it’s a performance, which is nice in a time when many shows feel like they just want to be adapted into film or TV.”

By Jackson McHenry

theater review July 31, 2023

The Epic and Hyperspecific in Half-God of Rainfall and Let’s Call Her PattyThe gods shoot hoops; Rhea Perlman chops onions.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review July 24, 2023

The Cottage Needs More Doors to SlamLaura Bell Bundy and Eric McCormack lead a too-tidy farce.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review July 20, 2023

Notes on Teamwork: Flex and Orpheus DescendingTwo midsummer trips to the South.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review July 20, 2023

Here Lies Love Is an Unsettlingly Good TimeA show that portrays Imelda Marcos as blithe naïf and corrupt co-tyrant—and also enabler of a rousing dance party.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review June 28, 2023

A Hamlet in the Park That Puzzles the WillKenny Leon’s production gestures at a lot without capturing any one thing.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review June 26, 2023

Dropping by the Local Nazis: Alex Edelman’s Just for UsPlus: Liz Kingsman’s One Woman Show, and the state of solo comedy meta-theater.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review June 22, 2023

Once Upon a One More Time Bungles Britney on BroadwayIt’s not the way I planned it.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review June 15, 2023

Physicians, Preen Thyselves: The DoctorA play about the self-serving sanctimony of the newly canceled.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review June 6, 2023

Patterns of Addiction in Days of Wine and Roses and Wet BrainOne decorous, one unleashed.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review June 5, 2023

Death Comes to the Reunion in The ComeuppanceHigh-school friends, pregaming with jungle juice and angst.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review June 1, 2023

Knock-Knock: Grey House Brings Horror Tropes to BroadwayIf you find Laurie Metcalf in a cabin in the woods, don’t go in.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review May 25, 2023

Looking for Connection in Primary Trust and The FearsIsolation is on everyone’s mind.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review May 22, 2023

Monsoon Wedding Is a Lively Party But a Watery Musical“The songs tend to idle in neutral, repeating ideas already established in dialogue, never opening up into something more.”

By Jackson McHenry

theater review May 18, 2023

Basketball and Debutante Balls in King James and The CotillionPlays about the codes of masculinity and femininity, LeBron and dance steps.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review Apr. 27, 2023

Lorraine Hansberry on Hashtag Activism: The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s WindowOscar Isaac and Rachel Brosnahan star in her play about fashionable commitment to social change.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review Apr. 26, 2023

New York, New York Barely Scratches the Surface of New York, New YorkIt doesn’t make it here.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review Apr. 25, 2023

Laura Linney and Jessica Hecht Find Depth in the Small Scale of Summer, 1976David Auburn just lets them talk, and something great happens.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review Apr. 24, 2023

The Playing’s the Thing: Sean Hayes Shows Range in Good Night, OscarDelivering quips, piano virtuosity, and a little too much exposition.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review Apr. 23, 2023

Jodie Comer Makes a Winning Case for Prima FacieThe Killing Eve star’s performance gives life to a basic script.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review Apr. 20, 2023

The Thanksgiving Play’s Satire Runs ShortGood intentions go awry — both in the script and otherwise.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review Apr. 19, 2023

Peter Pan Goes Wrong Never Grows Up (But That’s Okay)Backstage farce with a just enough mild head trauma.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review Apr. 13, 2023

Camelot Is Back, Achieving a Wisp of GloryThe sorcery is gone, and everyone talks too much, but Lerner and Loewe knew their majesty.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review Apr. 12, 2023

On Broadway, Fat Ham Keeps You at a Distance From the Cookout“Ease is the point, even though it keeps being too easy.”

By Jackson McHenry

theater review Apr. 10, 2023

White Girl in Danger Is a Bloody, Messy Take on the SoapMichael R. Jackson’s Strange Loop follow-up is a fascinating fiasco.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review Apr. 4, 2023

At Shucked, the Corniness Is as High as an Elephant’s EyeAnd this musical aspires to nothing more or less complex than that.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review Mar. 30, 2023

Life of Pi Is Best When Its Fangs Are VisibleNeeds more feral tigerishness, less cat-on-your-lap warmth.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review Mar. 26, 2023

A Sweeney Todd That Leans Into the Great Black PitSexual dynamics and soot dominate the revival.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review Mar. 24, 2023

If Only Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Bad Cinderella Were WorseNeither good nor so bad it’s good.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review Mar. 19, 2023

Dancin’ Slinks Back to Town, Aching to Seduce YouA revised revival of the 1978 revue that goes all out.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review Mar. 16, 2023

Parade Marches Back In, Intent on Its Own RelevanceBen Platt and Micaela Diamond star in the revival of this musical about antisemitism in the Deep South.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review Mar. 15, 2023

The Harder They Come Tries to Fit Too Much OnstageThe overstuffed Jimmy Cliff musical barely has time for its own songs.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review Mar. 13, 2023

All in this Together: How to Defend Yourself and The Coast StarlightA classic playwrighting gambit: trap a bunch of people in one small space and brew up some trouble.

By Jackson McHenry

theater review Mar. 9, 2023