****/*****  (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...

*****/ *****  5 out of 5 stars Jukebox musicals are usually a gimmick. They’re designed to bring fans of a certain artist or band into the theater by appealing to their desire to hear their favorite songs performed live by talented musicians. But, because they’re usually song delivery systems, they...

***  3/ 5 stars In the latter half of the 20th century many American playwrights seemed to have an obsession with white, rural, working-class families. Their stories were, ostensibly, instructive insights into failures of the American Dream. Writers like Sam Shepard took their cues from writers like Tennessee Williams, who...

*/ *****  1 out of 5 Lynn Nottage has a remarkable knack for channeling the complexities and anxieties of working class Americans in ways that social scientists and politicians have never been able to. In the very excellent "Sweat", she pitted a Pennsylvania town of multi-racial steel factory union workers...