theater

‘Belleville’ Keeps Us on the Outside Looking In

The talented Amy Herzog hits a snag with “Belleville,” at New York Theatre Workshop, which falls uneasily between thriller and drama and doesn’t resonate beyond its specifics.

‘The Twenty-Seventh Man’ Examines Soviet Jewish Struggles and Politics

Author Nathan Englander makes an auspicious playwriting debut with “The Twenty-Seventh Man,” at the Public Theater with Chip Zien, Ron Rifkin, Daniel Oreskes, and Byron Jennings.

Witty 'Grimly Handsome' Devolves Into Silliness

“Grimly Handsome,” writer-director Julia Jarcho’s elegant jumble of a play, from Incubator Arts Project, is not without its charms but fails to cohere, despite an exceptional cast.

Dream Up Festival Features New Works

Dream Up is a festival dedicated exclusively to new works of a nontraditional bent. It eschews the well-made play, and hopes for pieces focused more on ideas, and that use “roads less traveled or undiscovered” to communicate those ideas.

‘Elf’ Is Full of Holiday Fluff

This returning holiday musical retains some of the charms of the 2003 film, but lead actor Jordan Gelber is no match for Will Ferrell as Buddy the Elf.

'P.S. Jones and the Frozen City' Riffs on Pop-Culture Epics

Robert Askins’ “P.S. Jones and the Frozen City,” from terraNOVA Collective, is delightful to look at but dizzying to follow, burdened by an ambitious but overstuffed plot.

Forgettable 'Bumbug the Musical' Brings on Humbug Fever

“Bumbug the Musical,” which resets Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” in a modern convenience store, with Scrooge as its Indian-immigrant owner, is a stale holiday cookie.

1911 'The Boss' Still Relevant Today

The intrepid Metropolitan Playhouse excavates another gem, “The Boss,” by Edward Sheldon, a 1911 study of rugged individualism run amok that resounds with contemporary echoes.

No Tinseltown Effect on Tony Award Nominations

Though Broadway had a starry year, the Tinseltown Effect was not in evidence this year; stars such as Al Pacino, Jessica Chastain, Scarlett Johansson, Alec Baldwin, and Bette Midler tread the boards, but Tony nominators bypassed their performances.

'The Man Under' Goes Right Under

“The Man Under,” in its world premiere from Athena Theatre, turns the dangerous world of the subway tunnels into a production as conventional and unadventurous as they come.