All stories by Charles McNulty on BroadwayStars

Saturday, December 14, 2013

It's Brit versus Yank in Shakespeare on Broadway by Charles McNulty

Critic's Notebook: 'Twelfth Night' and 'Richard III' with English actor Mark Rylance at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre face off against 'Macbeth' with Ethan Hawke at Lincoln Center.NEW YORK &md…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 02:00PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Theater review: 'The Steward of Christendom' leans too much on words by Charles McNulty

Brian Dennehy's performance at the Mark Taper Forum is forceful and heartfelt, but the Sebastian Barry play that nods to Irish history lacks momentum. Whatever form Irish novelist and playwr…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:00AM[SHARE]
Saturday, December 7, 2013

Lively 'Peter and the Starcatcher' make us believers again by Charles McNulty

Handcrafted magic in the cheeky prequel to Peter Pan employs simplicity and audience imagination to cast its spell.These days it seems as though every time I turn around there's another inst…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AM[SHARE]
Friday, December 6, 2013

HBO's 'Six by Sondheim' offers stylish salute to a stage legend by Charles McNulty

LOS ANGELES — Ever since Stephen Sondheim reached the four-score mark three years ago, the spotlight has shifted from his work to the legend himself. There have been birthday galas, mu…

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune Subscription at 03:39PM[SHARE]

Review: 'Parfumerie' at Wallis Annenberg Center has zaniness in store by Charles McNulty

Despite a cumbersome setup, the romantic comedy 'Parfumerie' playing in fancy Beverly Hills digs makes a festive holiday treat for adults.Scrooge still holds a monopoly on holiday theater, b…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:30AM[SHARE]
Sunday, December 1, 2013

Bette Midler eats up her turn as Mengers, heading to the L.A. stage by Charles McNulty

One-woman show 'I'll Eat You Last: A Chat With Sue Mengers' turns out to be just the right fit for the Divine Miss M.NEW YORK — Tea time at Sardi's, and in rushed Bette Midler too busy…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 01:00PM[SHARE]
Friday, November 22, 2013

Review: Catastrophe loves company in 'We're Gonna Die' by Charles McNulty

Playwright Young Jean Lee shares the bleak facts of life in her delightful hipster cabaret.Death and denial were made for each other, but for those facing tragedy, the raw truth can be a ton…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Review: Reworked 'Side Show' puts gripping emotion in the main tent by Charles McNulty

The musical 'Side Show' flopped on Broadway in 1997 but won an enduring audience. Bill Condon enters the scene to relaunch the musical. Not all problems are solved, but there's power aplenty…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:30AM[SHARE]
Thursday, November 14, 2013

Shakespeare scholar Anne Barton dies at 80, a graceful, expert voice by Charles McNulty

Anne Barton, one of the 20th century’s foremost Shakespeare scholars, died Monday in Cambridge, England.  She was 80 years old. The announcement was made by Cambridge University, wh…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:10PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Review: '12 Angry Men,' cast in black and white, misses the gray by Charles McNulty

The blunt '12 Angry Men' at Pasadena Playhouse confronts racial relations by remaking Reginald Rose's jury into six black and six white men.Direct from the age of black-and-white television,…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:30AM[SHARE]
Saturday, November 9, 2013

Tennessee Williams receives a production worthy of him by Charles McNulty

Critic's Notebook: The hot-ticket Broadway revival of 'The Glass Menagerie,' Tennessee Williams' breakthrough play, underscores the poetry-tinged beauty of his writing. More productions like…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 01:00PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Review: 'the road weeps, the well runs dry' takes its toll by Charles McNulty

The Latino Theater Company drama at the Los Angeles Theater Center is tantalizing but feels like a work in progress.Marcus Gardley taps into some fascinating, and for many little known, hist…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:00AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Review: Garage-band blues played by 'The Black Suits' by Charles McNulty

'The Black Suits,' a new musical co-created by Joe Iconis, offers a no-stakes, Partridge Family/After School Special sort of tale about a fledgling band. Still, Iconis is a talent in the mak…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:00AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Theater Review: '4000 miles' takes a dramatic journey across the generations by Charles McNulty

Set in one room, the South Coast Rep production goes further than many works in presenting meaningful character interaction.Amy Herzog's "4000 Miles" is a small drama that's confined to one …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AM[SHARE]
Monday, October 28, 2013

Review: Audra McDonald taps the soul of songs in concert by Charles McNulty

Audra McDonald, in an L.A. Opera-presented concert at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, digs deep into musical theater songs old and new, combining purity of emotion with purity of sound.Audra …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:30AM[SHARE]
Sunday, October 27, 2013

Review: In 'Betrayal' on Broadway, it's a man's world by Charles McNulty

Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz and Rafe Spall wrangle for the emotional upper hand in Harold Pinter's 'Betrayal,' directed by Mike Nichols. The guys get the focus; Weisz's character is odd man o…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:20PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Review: Awkwardness adds to 'Fun Home' charm by Charles McNulty

Muddled beginning, smudgy staging and distracting songs in this musical ultimately add up to a tender honesty.NEW YORK — "Fun Home," the musical adaptation of Alison Bechdel's extraord…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00PM[SHARE]
Thursday, October 17, 2013

Review: A classic talent in 'Wait Until Dark' by Charles McNulty

Alison Pill radiates Old Hollywood and theatrical style in an adaptation of 'Wait Until Dark' that only partly dusted off an outdated work.The suspense is laboriously built up in the Geffen …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:40PM[SHARE]
Monday, October 14, 2013

Review: 'Fast Company' a wily game of one-upmanship by Charles McNulty

A family of con artists are as ruthless with one another as they are with their marks in Carla Ching's clever but labored drama at South Coast Repertory.In the program for "Fast Company," a …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:50PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Review: 'The Few' captures resentments and lonely-hearts by Charles McNulty

The characters are more involving than the plot in Samuel D. Hunter's play at the Old Globe about unresolved relationships.SAN DIEGO — Characters in drama don't have to be likable, as …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:05PM[SHARE]

Stanley Kauffmann: A vicar of theater criticism by Charles McNulty

Stanley Kauffmann, who died Wednesday at 97, will be remembered for his intellectually rigorous, neatly manicured film reviews -- the meditative yin to Pauline Kael’s ecstatic yang.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:15PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Review: 'The Last Goodbye' gets rocky as it fuses the Bard with pop by Charles McNulty

The fusion of Jeff Buckley songs with 'Romeo and Juliet' is sometimes hypnotic at the Old Globe, but more often it jangles.Shakespeare and contemporary popular music might seem strange bedfe…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:30AM[SHARE]
Thursday, October 3, 2013

Review: Time has overtaken 'The Sunshine Boys' by Charles McNulty

'The Sunshine Boys,' with former 'Taxi' stars Danny DeVito and Judd Hirsch at the Ahmanson Theatre, feels dated and a step slow.The knock against Neil Simon in the early days was that he car…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:20PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Radar L.A. produces notable blips on the city's theater scene by Charles McNulty

Critic's notebook: The festival has created a significant cultural event and allowed us to appreciate the scope of an unorthodox theater town.Nearly all of the shows in Radar L.A. have packe…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:30PM[SHARE]
Friday, September 27, 2013

Review: 'Shun-kin' knows the art of seduction by Charles McNulty

An erotic 1933 story from Japan is beguilingly rendered in a joint production by Complicite and Japan's Setagaya Public Theatre.Rarely has the dance of shadows, the interplay of light and da…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:55PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Theater reviews: Solo performances with the power to touch many by Charles McNulty

The truths told by, respectively, Luis Alfaro ('St. Jude'), Roger Guenveur Smith ('Rodney King') and Trieu Tran ('Uncle Ho to Uncle Sam') at Kirk Douglas Theatre have a personal quality that…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:00AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Review: 'The Normal Heart' beats unsteadily, but with passion and love by Charles McNulty

The drama chronicling the early AIDS epidemic also serves as an emotionally searing character study.Larry Kramer's "The Normal Heart" holds such an important place in the history of the AIDS…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:00AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Review: 'Lost Girls' finds its heart after an unsteady opening by Charles McNulty

Gritty New Hampshire drama presents a truthful psychological study that ultimately proves moving and poetic.John Pollono, author of the much-feted "Small Engine Repair," has supplied Rogue M…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Theater review: 'R II' is a charming take on an ill-equipped ruler by Charles McNulty

Jessica Kubzansky's ingenious adaptation of Shakespeare's 'Richard II' at the Theatre @ Boston Court uses three actors and focuses on the tale of a ruler who is never more kingly than when g…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:00AM[SHARE]
Thursday, September 12, 2013

Fall theater season listens to new voices and old by Charles McNulty

Such exciting new writers as Samuel D. Hunter, Amy Herzog and Young Jean Lee are on tap. So are stalwarts Neil Simon, Reginald Rose and, yes, Shakespeare.Theater festivals have the potential…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:15AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Review: 'Death of a Salesman' at SCR erratic yet still shattering by Charles McNulty

Charlie Robinson rises above inconsistent staging to get to the hard truth of the South Coast Repertory revival of an Arthur Miller classic.It's always a privilege to be in the company of an…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:00AM[SHARE]

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