11/4/16 11/4/16

Plenty

Disappointment is the undeniable theme of Plenty, David Hare’s play that is presented in a lukewarm revival at the Public Theater. And that disappointment is not limited to just the characters onstage.

11/1/16 11/1/16

Heisenberg

A one-act, bare-bones look at the baffling interactions between two underwritten characters, Heisenberg offers a pretentiously philosophical take on the myth of the maniac pixie dream girl.

10/20/16 10/20/16

Holiday Inn

Holiday Inn, which was written by Chad Hodge and Gordon Greenberg, follows a song-and-dance team who part ways when Jim, determined to escape showbiz, buys a farm in Connecticut.

10/19/16 10/19/16

Stuffed

First loves are often the subject of works of drama, but the first loves reminisced about in Stuffed differ greatly from those of a Shakespearean tragedy. Instead of a next-door neighbor or a classmate in school, these loves are food. Sugary, fatty, deep-fried and almost always forbidden.

10/12/16 10/12/16

Slumber

The first full-length, live production from the circus and theatrical production company Hideaway, Slumber walks the tightrope of balancing style and substance, and, unlike its skilled and talented cast, it is unable to maintain the necessary equilibrium.

10/2/16 10/2/16

The Encounter

The meaning of time is constantly pondered, discussed and perhaps even escaped from by the protagonist of The Encounter, Simon McBurney’s new play on Broadway, but, for theatergoers at this overstimulating and exhausting production, it is never forgotten.

9/20/16 9/20/16

Bachelorette

Leslye Headland’s searing portrayal of toxic female friendships, accompanied by copious amounts of alcohol and drugs, leaves the audience exhausted and perhaps feeling a bit intoxicated – or hungover.

9/19/16 9/19/16

The Wolves

The Wolves consists of the conversations between the teenage girls on the team while they warm up for their games. Their conversations intertwine and overlap as they talk about everything from international news to the quirky behavior of their newest team member.

9/17/16 9/17/16

The Birds

A sign at the entrance of The Birds warns audience members that the production contains the use of fog and nudity. However, neither of the two aspects of the play that require warning are shocking or frightening, despite the clear intention that they are.

9/5/16 9/5/16

Spinoza's Ethics

Written by Emily Claire Schmitt, this ambitious new play fuses philosophy with humanity in an engaging, if sometimes confusing, story.

9/3/16 9/3/16

Quietly

Quietly presents confrontation decades in the making, in which grief and rage are served up in equal amounts and the past and the present combine all too easily.

8/8/16 8/8/16

Cats

Cats, which was embraced with numerous awards and a lengthy run on Broadway, presents a disturbingly patriarchal atmosphere obsessed with youth and beauty and tainted with slut-shaming and misogyny.

6/16/16 6/16/16

Shrewd Taming

Directed by Phyllida Lloyd, this performance of Shakespeare’s controversial play, by a fiercely talented and entirely female cast, inspires uncomfortable but crucial questions about the state of gender relations in America — especially with regard to one woman in particular.

5/30/16 5/30/16

The Father/A Doll's House

Written by playwrights and famous rivals Strindberg and Ibsen, respectively, these plays offer gripping portrays of trapped women and, at first glance, their differing opinions of them.

5/6/16 5/6/16

American Psycho

The idea of setting to music a story of suppressed rage, gruesome murder and a bitingly sarcastic commentary on the greed and narcissism of the Me Decade was surprising and intriguing. But the result, directed by Rupert Goold, is a confusing combination of irony and sincerity.

5/5/16 5/5/16

Tuck Everlasting

Adapted by Claudia Shear and Tim Federle, with a score by Chris Miller (music) and Nathan Tysen (lyrics), it’s clear from the opening number thatTuck Everlasting is a whole-heartedly old-fashioned musical.

5/2/16 5/2/16

A Streetcar Named Desire

Blanche DuBois may be looking for magic, but it’s unforgiving realism that floods the theater at St. Ann’s Warehouse, where a gritty and gripping production of A Streetcar Named Desire is performances.

4/29/16 4/29/16

Bright Star

This highly anticipated new musical by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, featuring original bluegrass music by its well-known team, is pretty as a picture but disappointingly unoriginal.

4/27/16 4/27/16

Waitress

The new musical, composed by Sara Bareilles, is delightfully complex and complicated product with moments that sometimes edge near a familiar flavor we’ve all had before but for the most part is both melancholy and motivating.

3/15/16 3/15/16

Prodigal Son

The autobiographical drama follows Jim Quinn, played by the gifted young actor Timothée Chalamet, a troubled teenager from the Bronx.