**/***** (two stars out of five)  Of all his plays, Shakespeare’s histories tend to be the most inaccessible and less compelling for those who are not intimately familiar with the canon. That notwithstanding, a couple of those works have become fan favorites, notably Henry V and Henry IV Part I...

As the curtain dropped on the 75th Annual Tony Awards ceremony Sunday night, the seemingly imperiled and improbable 2021-2022 New York Theater season also drew to a close, a feat of survival and resilience. In hindsight the Tonys gave a snapshot of a theater season, as well as a glimpse...

Now that summer’s here and travelers are flocking to New York City to check out the best shows on Broadway and Off Broadway, here’s a handy guide to spending your ticket dollars wisely and avoiding suffering the slings and arrows of mediocre theater. I’ve already reviewed Plaza Suite (three stars)...

****/***** 4 out of 5 In a theater season in which there have been, inexplicably, a surfeit of new plays that are surrealist or absurdist (or both)—some good, others derivative and uninspired—it’s refreshing to see a revival of a masterwork of the genre—Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth—in an...

 ****/*****  (four out of five stars)

***/***** Three out of five stars Broadway, unlike off-Broadway or regional theater, has a special advantage the others don’t: the ability to attract incredibly famous actors to the stage. Consequently, even if the play they’re in isn’t critically acclaimed, fans will still flock to the theater to see their idol(s)....

*****/***** (five stars out of five) Raleigh County, West Virginia may only be around 500 miles from New York City, but in social and socio-political terms, it may as well be 5000 miles away, with an enormous lifestyle gulf in between. The two places couldn’t be more different. But you’d...

***/***** (three stars out of five) There’s a strange, subtle change coming over certain storylines in American Theater. One which makes us aware that despite seeming deficiencies in acceptance and tolerance in our society, there have actually been some major steps forward. Take for instance the opening of "This Space...

*/***** one star out of five

****/***** 4 out of 5 Imagine, if you will, Harlem in the Prohibition Era. Black Americans are flooding into this city-within-New York City from all over the country, particularly the Jim Crow south; swing dance clubs are all the rage, many doubling as speakeasies. And, of course, racism and discrimination...