THE HEIGHT OF THE STORM is more an exhibition of acting craft and exhilarating lighting and set design than it is engaging drama. More precisely, THE HEIGHT OF THE STORM is an exemplar in how acting technique and technical production elements can make an undistinguished play appear theatrical. From the pen of French playwright Florian Zeller, who specializes in the trials and tribulations of aging characters ( “The Father” and “The Mother”) - via an efficient translation fr

"Sunday" applies a storytelling twist on the coming of age experience. Playwright Jack Thorne, Tony-winner for “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” puts five millennials in a book club in a New York City walk-up apartment. The ball-busting Alice (Ruby Frankel) presides as narrative interlocutor (think internet age “Our Town” manager). Alice went to grade school with silver-spooned WASP Milo (Zane Pais), whose best-friend was middle-class African American Keith (Christian Stran

If what you know about “Cabaret” is informed by the classic 1972 movie which made Liza Minnelli a superstar, you owe yourself to see the Tony-winning musical stage version like the one at community-based Sherman Playhouse. Director Bradford Blake, inspired by London’s Donmar Warehouse 1993 revival which made it to Studio54 in 1998, creates a solid, engaging production that is both faithful to the cautionary theme of the original Broadway production and authentic to the raw a

It’s strange how some lines jump out at you when they didn’t the first time you saw a play years before. In a solid production at Shakespeare and Company of “Time Stands Still”, Mandy, a generation younger than the three other world-weary characters, proclaims “There’s so much beauty in the world. But you only see misery… I wish you’d just let yourselves feel the joy…otherwise what’s the point?” In a world of Trumpian chaos, those words ring truer now than they did when I

“I did consent”. So begins “American Moor” written and performed by playwright and actor Keith Hamilton Cobb, who did consent to dedicating his life to the stage but did not consent to be African American. Cobb's premise is that It’s tough enough to be an actor, tougher still to be an African American actor. In a stark, expansive and powerful 90-minute performance, Mr. Cobb plays an Actor auditioning for the role of Othello to explore the assumptions we make not just about r

Director Jamie Lloyd’s production of Harold Pinter’s “Betrayal” is Pinter perfect. To be precise, it’s not just a perfect dramatization of Pinter text, it’s also Pinter pure in its production concept, mis-en-scene and feel. (With all respect to the genius career of Mike Nichols, it makes the last revival on Broadway in 2013 not Pinter at all.) With superb direction, Mr. Lloyd reveals the essence of Pinter in every aspect of this defining production. The triangle of Robert

Actor, pianist, and playwright Hershey Felder concluded his hugely successful, limited one-week run of his solo show “George Gershwin Alone” to an enthusiastic audience Saturday evening at Pittsfield’s Colonial Theatre. Mr. Felder’s theatre niche is one-man, performance bios of the world’s great composers from Chopin to Leonard Bernstein. It’s clear why “Gershwin”, which he’s performed both on Broadway and the West End, is his most popular; Gershwin left an everlasting mark