NYTHEATRE REVIEWS

Peter-Wendy: Peter/Wendy often feels like a favorite bedtime story--a familiar tale told by an inventive reader who uses lots of clever voices, skips over the boring bits, riffs a little on the familiar stuff to create a few surprises along the way, and ultimately closes the book exactly when expected. It has a few moments of beautiful theatrical magic, a well-used storytelling style, few confusing missteps, and some inconsistencies in tone that make it less effective than it could be. It's an enjoyable and charming retelling of the children's classic, performed by an interestingly international, energetic young cast, but it's not a genuinely original reinvention.
Read the full review by Loren Noveck

Idiot Savant: Unlike most theatre these days, Idiot Savant leaves its audience with more questions than answers. Its unique and original nature, while almost never crystal clear, forces us to think, and see, in ways rarely required by traditional narrative.
Read the full review by Matt Roberson

The Hypochondriac: Forgive the gush of hyperbole, but I believe that The Hypochondriac may very well be the funniest play in New York right now. This is the latest incarnation of a contemporary re-imagining of Moliere's 1673 farce Le Malade Imaginaire undertaken by director Matthew AJ Gregory and three collaborators, Shira Gregory (his wife), Chris Harcum, and Greg Tito. Their work, which respects the original's framework, brings the piece thoroughly up to date.
Read the full review by Martin Denton

The Misunderstanding: If you're up for thorough contemplation of genuine conscience, with a satisfying catharsis, then head over to the Flea for The Misunderstanding.
Read the full review by Mitchell Conway

Duchess in the Dark: Art.party.theater.company's Duchess in the Dark is a slimmed-down adaptation of John Webster's seminal revenge tragedy, The Duchess of Malfi (1613), deftly cut and directed by artistic director Mary Birnbaum. Exemplary of Jacobean revenge plays, Malfi tells the bloody story of the recently widowed titular Duchess and her ill-fated love with a court steward, Antonio. Her brothers, wanting to protect their claim to the inheritance and driven by incestuous jealousy of their sister's suitor, concoct a series of elaborate schemes that start with spying, escalate to murder, and end up destroying most everyone involved in a bloodbath ending typical of the genre. Also there is a werewolf--I love Jacobean drama.
Read the full review by Will Fulton

The Lily's Revenge: We are living in an era where so-called reality TV seems to have stifled audiences' abilities to tell the difference between a manufactured experience and an actual one; where the proliferation of tiny electronic devices enables each of us not only to tune out the environment we're actually in but also to create a virtual environment of our own choosing to replace it. In such a world, what could be more subversive than a work of theatre that demands nothing more than that we engage with its (a)liveness for almost five of our precious hours? And what could be more exhilirating, affirming, and joyous than to report that such an event fully delivers on its promises: That those five hours sail by like a happy and satisfying dream, leaving us refreshed and invigorated and ready to navigate our crazy socially networked society with just a bit more alertness and awareness.
Read the full review by Martin Denton

Embraceable Me: Victor L. Kahn's new play Embraceable Me is an affable "He said – She said." It is a charming, smart two-hander and is ably, if a bit conservatively, directed by Eric Parness.
Read the full review by David Vining

Brecht on Brecht: John Strasberg's Accidental Repertory Theater is performing Brecht on Brecht in their intimate space on Eighth Avenue, and the result is unlike any public presentation of theatre I've ever witnessed. With six of its actors propped on high bar chairs behind music stands (and the seventh, who serves essentially as the "conductor" of the show, stationed nearby), each in a casual variant of rehearsal/audition garb, and with the audience seated just a few feet away in two rows of folding chairs--well the feeling overall is of a recital among close friends.
Read the full review by Martin Denton

El caballero del milagro: With merriment and song, Teatro Circulo's production of the classic Lope de Vega play El caballero del milagro launches itself at the audience at the speed of a flight of bumble bees, never to stop until its positively charming conclusion. For the thing about bumble bees is that they make honey. And this is a honeycombed production of the play, sweet, spirited, and joyful.
Read the full review by Montserrat Mendez

Monster Uprising: I love a good scare this time of year. The Figment Theatre Company gives you three tales of monsters and mayhem in its timely offering Monster Uprising. The young theatre troupe has obviously worked overtime with most of the members pulling multiple duties to craft the production from soup to nuts (and these pieces most certainly are).
Read the full review by Jason S. Grossman

Made in Heaven: The premise of Made in Heaven seems decidedly silly: two fraternal twins named Max and Benjie who are conjoined at the penis are planning to propose to their mutual girlfriend; except that one of them is straight, and one of them is gay. What we end up with is literally a big, long, pointless dick joke. It's a setup suitable for a seven-minute sketch comedy routine, maybe; but impossible to sustain for an hour and a half.
Read the full review by Brad Lee Thomason

Love Child: Love Child, in its current state at New World Stages, is pretty perfect theatrical entertainment.
Read the full review by David Gordon

Brighton Beach Memoirs: Word has already come that this new revival of Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs will close after just one week of performances, and that its companion piece, Broadway Bound, won't materialize at all. This is sad news, but I have to tell you that even though Brighton Beach is a very funny and very warm-hearted play, seeing it made me feel sad too.
Read the full review by Martin Denton

Antigone: The SITI Company's Antigone is a modern, edgy, and poignant reinvisioning of the classic Greek tragedy.
Read the full review by Julie Congress

bauhaus the bauhaus: One of the key ideas of the Bauhaus movement was to bring together all of the various arts within a single school, and to combine the teaching of art with the teaching of the underlying scientific/technical skills required to effectuate particular art projects. The Nerve Tank's new performance piece at the Brooklyn Lyceum, bauhaus the bauhaus, certainly illustrates some of these ideas: thematically, it roams through subjects related to art, craft, and the popular culture that often informs/is informed by art; and formatically, it lays bare the nuts and bolts of theatre production so that the audience witnesses not only the art being made but the technical and technological processes necessary to its making. The result is an entertaining and often edifying--if sometimes frustratingly abstract--hour of theatre.
Read the full review by Martin Denton