Review

THE PLAYGROUND

Michael Justen and Michelle Kaufer's multimedia theatre piece, inspired by true events, falls somewhere between gritty docudrama and flashy MTV music video. It's a harrowing glimpse at the hard-knock lives of young runaways, a mosaic of vignettes depicting squalor in the city. Occasionally leavened by ironic humor, it ...

Catch & Release

This production delivers a triple whammy of uninspired acting, unfocused and sloppy direction, and an unoriginal script. Playwright and star Rachel Brenna uses frequent flashbacks and a slow reveal of the story's major plot point, but neither technique transforms this into material worthy of more than a bad 1980s ...

EVERYBODY DIES

These five one-acts gently and comically remind us that one never knows which one is the last dance before the abyss. Let us pass quickly by the first piece, which features three ostriches that appear to be in danger of little more than being bitch-slapped by a cheetah (albeit to ...

Ghosts

Presented by the Brooklyn Academy of Music at the BAM Harvey Lichtenstein Theater, 651 Fulton St., Brooklyn, NYC, June 10-14.

Blue Balls: In & Out of Uniform with the NYPD

At the beginning of Michael Tester'sBlue Balls, the playwright-performer explains that he is both a descendant of a soldier who served under George Washington and the son of a professional clown.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Broadway musicals based on nonmusical films have a spotty history, with more clinkers (such as Big and The Goodbye Girl) than gems (such as Applause, based on All About Eve).

A Chorus Line

"Don't perform," cries Zach, the director-choreographer, as he relentlessly grills the desperate, adorable auditionees inA Chorus Line, the definitive musical on the uphill struggles of Broadway performers.

Picnic

"Picnic," presented by and at A Noise Within, 234 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale. Repertory schedule. Oct. 7-Nov. 27. $32-45. (818) 240-0910, ext. 1.

Days of Wine and Roses

Presented by the Boomerang Theatre Company in association with Nita & Henk van der Werff-Clark at Walkerspace, 46 Walker St., NYC, Oct. 8-18.

Pardon My English in Concert

Presented by City Center Encores!, casting by Jay Binder, at City Center, 131 W. 55 St., NYC, March 25-28.