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John Malkovich freaks out at ArtsEmerson

You don't know Jack
In the flesh, the thing itself was about as odd and amusing as it had appeared on paper: John Malkovich delivering the "confessions" of convicted Austrian serial killer Jack Unterweger while accompanied onstage by a Baroque orchestra and a couple of sopranos singing arias.

By: JON GARELICK | September 30, 2011

Laurie Anderson is still really good

Mother lover
If I hesitate to offer a review of Laurie Anderson's Delusion (at ArtsEmerson's Paramount Center through October 2), it's because I fear the whole thing will be just one big spoiler.

By: JON GARELICK | September 30, 2011

Brustein takes another look at Will's world

Bardic fun
Call it the revenge of Tom Stoppard. Considered a great contemporary playwright by most theater writers, Stoppard has been something of a punching bag to Robert Brustein, one of America's most distinguished critics.

By: ED SIEGEL | September 20, 2011

Lyric Stage navigates Big River

Finn tuning
Compared to the mighty Mississippi, Big River is just a Tony-winning tributary. But to borrow a lyric from its composer, Roger Miller, the show climbs on the river's back and rides.

By: CAROLYN CLAY | September 13, 2011

New Rep's new Rent stays mostly true, with one twist and some noise

Highs and lows
Every director who helms Rent must struggle in the shadow of the original production.

By: MADDY MYERS | September 14, 2011

Groundlings, rejoice: The 11 most anticipated theater shows of the fall

Stage worthies
Fall came early to Boston boards this year, bringing with it "Summertime."

By: CAROLYN CLAY | September 14, 2011

I loves you, Porgy

The A.R.T. streamlines a classic
So shoot me, Porgy purists. To my mind, the retooling of The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess for American Repertory Theater is compelling enough to push past quibbles.

By: CAROLYN CLAY | September 02, 2011

Brits, Yanks, and Horovitz still fighting over Beverley

Dockside doll's house
What if Nora Helmer had waited until she turned 70 to slam that door heard 'round the world?

By: CAROLYN CLAY | August 30, 2011

Tina Packer tackles Molly Ivins

Patriot game
Red Hot Patriot is the work of twin-sister journalists Margaret and Allison Engel, the former the head of the Alicia Patterson Foundation, which awards journalism fellowships, the latter communications director for the University of Southern California.

By: CAROLYN CLAY | August 23, 2011

Intriguing Love Song hums two tunes

Heart heist
Comedy and metaphor collide in the plays of John Kolvenbach.

By: CAROLYN CLAY | August 11, 2011

Reimagining Porgy and Bess

The A.R.T. takes on the Gershwins' classic and prep it for Broadway
In the new production at the American Repertory Theater, directed by Diane Paulus, Messrs. Heyward and Gershwin have been reworked by two actual African-Americans: two-time Obie Award winner Diedre L. Murray and Suzan-Lori Parks, the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize.

By: EUGENIA WILLIAMSON | August 12, 2011

All's Well on Boston Common

Love sick
I think of Measure for Measure , with its fanatically chaste heroine, and All's Well That Ends Well , with its lovely lass in pursuit of a lout, as Shakespeare's "Smart Women, Foolish Choices" plays.

By: CAROLYN CLAY | August 08, 2011

Company One takes on Jason Grote's whirling 1001

American Nights
Grote uses the same framing device as the original One Thousand and One Nights , which begins with Shahriyar (Nael Nacer) discovering his wife's infidelity and deciding that the only way to prevent his future wives from cheating is to marry virgins, deflower them, and execute them the next morning.

By: MADDY MYERS | July 26, 2011

Fun with Matt & Ben at Central Square

Bosom buddies
A couple of young women, Brenda Withers and Mindy Kaling (the latter born in Cambridge before graduating to the role of Kelly Kapoor in The Office ), decided to have some fun with the idea that two seemingly unformed guys — one kind of loutish — could strike show-biz paydirt so quickly.

By: ED SIEGEL | July 12, 2011

Living Together is no Table Manners

Less funny
Alan Ayckbourn's merry bunch of British squabblers have reunited for another pre-summer vacation at that North Shore theatrical haven, the Gloucester Stage Company.

By: ED SIEGEL | June 24, 2011

Silver Spoon takes the cake

Worse and worser
Could Silver Spoon, a musical celebration of '60s politics, be the worst piece of theater I've seen?

By: ED SIEGEL | May 31, 2011

Visiting Shakespeareans are two for two

Propeller flies
Hie thee to the Boston University Theatre, where the BU School of Theatre and the Huntington Theatre Company are presenting England's Propeller theater company in Richard III and The Comedy of Errors in rep (through June 19).

By: CAROLYN CLAY | May 26, 2011

Speakeasy's The Drowsy Chaperone; Gold Dust Orphans' Peter Pansy

The Drowsy Chaperone is receiving a rousing wake-up call from SpeakEasy Stage Company (at the BCA's Calderwood Pavilion through June 5).

By: CAROLYN CLAY | May 23, 2011

Animal Crackers; plus Passing Strange and At Home at the Zoo

Marx madness
The classic Marx Brothers films are like anarchy in a bottle.

By: CAROLYN CLAY | May 12, 2011

ASP serves up Antony and Cleopatra

Egyptian dish
In Antony and Cleopatra, the Brangelina of the ancient world are transported from messy, histrionic life to the realm of legend. Audiences at Actors' Shakespeare Project's streamlined, slightly rearranged presentation of the play are less likely to be transported.

By: CAROLYN CLAY | May 09, 2011

Company One's Book of Grace

America play
America, from sink to shining sink: that's the real subject of Suzan-Lori Parks's domestic explosion, The Book of Grace.

By: CAROLYN CLAY | April 26, 2011

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