Claudia La Rocco looks at The Tempest - the inaugural Public Works production at the Delacorte

Claudia La Rocco is over the moon about The Tempest:

"Ms. deBessonet, her collaborators and her cast of more than 200 New Yorkers have created a stirring, delightful “Tempest,” one that feels more vibrantly alive than many of the turgid, star-studded blockbusters floating around out there. This was a love letter — to Shakespeare, certainly, but really to the city of New York."

You can read her glowing review: HERE. 

Isherwood on stop. reset. @ Signature

Charles Isherwood isn't excited about stop. reset.

"as Ms. Taylor’s drama whirls by in a confusing blur, it’s difficult to salvage much enlightenment — or entertainment — from its obscurities"

You can read his full review: HERE.

Ben Brantley emraces Radiohole's INFLATABLE FRANKENSTEIN

Without saying anything very quotable, Inflatable Frankenstein becomes one of Brantley's Critics' Picks:

"'Inflatable Frankenstein,' a co-production of Performance Space 122 and the Kitchen, is one of the opening productions in a month replete with theater work that aims to stake out (or make up) new artistic frontiers. ... And it’s hard to think of a more fitting prologue to the weeks of innovation and mayhem ahead."

Read the full review: HERE

And take a look at some gorgeous images in the Slideshow: HERE

David Rooney has few issues with PATTI ISSUES

Says Rooney:

Directed by Aaron Monk, the show is a tight hourlong monologue that pairs a well-honed script with an engagingly spontaneous delivery and a nose for sharp, observational comedy.

Read the full review: HERE

Claudia LaRocco loves THERE THERE

LaRocco writes:

"I can’t think of a better way to start the theatergoing year than with this language-drenched, resonant knockout, part of the Coil festival, organized by Performance Space 122, which commissioned the show with the Chocolate Factory."

Read the full review: HERE

Ingenious Nature at SoHo Playhouse

Catherine Rampell isn't totally impressed with Baba Brinkman’s Ingenious Nature, saying it:

"ultimately comes off as a sort of male derivative of “Sex and the City,” but with less narrative finesse and greater insistence on scientific legitimacy"

 Read the full review: HERE

Jason Zinoman likes A MAP OF VIRTUE

Zinoman says of the 13P show, "Erin Courtney’s delicate gem, “A Map of Virtue,” is the kind of play that could be ruined in development, since its potentially disastrous affectations are also the source of its beauty."

Read the full review: HERE.

Isherwood reviews BLOOD KNOT

Charles says of the Signature Theater production of Blood Knot, "the production is more intellectually stimulating than emotionally engaging. On the surface the performances are impeccable, but a crucial spark of authentic feeling remains stubbornly absent." 

Read the full review: HERE

Isherwood on "The Broken Heart"

Charles Isherwood says that Theater for a New Audience's THE BROKEN HEART is a, "well-acted but ultimately monotonous production."

Read the full review: HERE

Brantley reviews "How I Learned To Drive"

"One of the most discomfiting love stories to emerge from the American theater has returned to New York, 15 years after its debut, with its emotional power undiluted. If anything, “How I Learned to Drive,” which won the Pulitzer Prize for drama, seems even sadder, funnier and more perceptive, now that its original shock value has evaporated."

You can read the full review: HERE

Ben's Back And Looks At "Merrily We Roll Along"

On the Encores Series production, Brantley concludes, "by the end you felt that same old mixture of exhilaration and deflation that “Merrily” — beautiful and damned “Merrily” — always inspires."

Read the full review: HERE

Isherwood is high on "Rx"

Isherwood calls Primary Stages production of Kate Fodor's play RX, "a winning combination of light satire and romance."

Read the full review: HERE

Isherwood on "Myths and Hymns"

Isherwood calls director Elizabeth Lucas’s staging of MYTHS AND HYMNS for Prospect Theater Company, "gently luminous."

Read the full review: HERE

Isherwood isn't in love with "The Ugly One"

"But even at just an hour, with its scenes spliced together tightly, “The Ugly One” belabors both its jokes and its ideas."

Read the full review: HERE

Catherine Rampell catches "These Seven Sicknesses"

Catherine Rampell  calls The Flea Theater's production of These Seven Sicknesses a "vibrant downtown retelling of these dark Greek legends."

Read the full review: HERE.

David Rooney looks at “The Rap Guide to Evolution”

David Rooney says of Baba Brinkman's musical lecture on The Origin of Species, "Unlike more sophomoric hybridists of highbrow content and popular form, Mr. Brinkman brings genuine passion, curiosity and analytical skills to his subject."

Read the entire review: HERE

Neil Genzlinger reviews "Some of Our Parts"

"It’s no surprise that Neil LaBute’s contribution to “Some of Our Parts,” a bill of seven 10-minute plays about disabilities, is the brashest. It’s also the best."

Read the full review: HERE

Ben Brantley reviews "All's Well That Ends Well" in the Park

Brantley says that director Daniel Sullivan, "has come up with an approach to “All’s Well” that is worldly while holding onto a bright, sustaining glimmer of romantic hope."

Read the full review: HERE

Andy Webster on "The Play About My Dad”

Andy Webster reviews Boo Killebrew's The Play About My Dad, about which he says: "telling multiple accounts of Hurricane Katrina’s assault on her hometown, Gulfport, Miss., and recounting the dissolution of her parents’ marriage...She largely pulls it off, though detours intermittently threaten the balance."

Read the full review: HERE

Ben Brantley reviews "“Unnatural Acts" at CSC

Ben Brantley says that Unnatural Acts, "is steeped in an earnestness that can only be described as collegiate."

Read the full review: HERE