Frank Scheck

“School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play has lost none of its sharp comic bite.”

“It turns out to be a superbly staged ghost story that has audience members alternately screaming in terror and laughing in delight.”

“Too much of the score, though, feels forgettable, one pop ballad bleeding into another and too redolent of the sort of bombastic power ballads that hair bands routinely pumped out in the nineties (much of it also has the feeling of Christian rock).”

“What it mostly seems to lack is a reason for being.”

“Here, the playwright takes a simple conceit and mines it for hilarious social satire featuring a gallery of memorable characters played by a top-flight cast.”

“But despite its good intentions and powerful true-life story, The Fear of 13 fails to galvanize.”

“You have a revival of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman that represents a highlight of the theater season.”

“With its expert cast firing on all cylinders, the Pulitzer Prize-nominated Becky Shaw sends laughter rocketing throughout the audience with its scathing portrayal of social mores being blown to smithereens.”

“The moment ironically served to demonstrate that this Afternoon ultimately feels like a musicalization of the film minus the musical numbers.”

“What remains to be trumpeted about this nevertheless impressive import with its flawless cast (Stella Everett and David Manis, among them) is praise for set designer Bob Crowley. The recipient over the years of many awards, he does his magic again with a giant Giant set, a depiction of Gipsy House, Dahl’s family home in Missenden, Buckinghamshire.”

“Radcliffe has the audience in the palm of his hand.”

“Marjorie Prime is very much a play for our times.”

“This is a show so charming, so adorable, that you can easily overlook its flaws.”

“Ickes’ staging mainly proves powerful throughout, from the digital clock in the background that counts down the time, not only to the election results but also the revelation of the truth that shatters the characters’ lives (unity of time, don’t you know), to such visual devices as having a team of workmen gradually stripping the office of its f...”

“Hunter is a master at creating these types of indelibly flawed characters, and his sensitive writing is beautifully complemented by Joe Mantello's typically precise direction and the superb performances from the two leads.”

“Punch will linger in your memory long after you’ve left the theater, delivering grace notes of redemption that feel like a healing balm.”

“But they don’t come close to truly conveying the characters’ existential despair, nor their vaudevillian-style clowning.”

“The three performers mesh together beautifully, with Harris providing just the right haughty snobbishness, Cannavale making comic exasperation into an art form, and Corden so lovable and vulnerable you can almost forget how nasty he can be to waiters in real life.”

“Just in Time succeeds greatly more as an experience than a cohesive musical, with Leight and Oliver's book eventually succumbing to typical bio-musical choppiness in its second act.”

“And then there’s Hyde Pierce, who effortlessly steals the show every moment he’s onstage with his droll delivery and perfect comic timing.”

“That’s exactly how you’ll feel after enduring this well-meaning but exhausting play.”

“She’s single-handedly responsible for that fourth star you see in the box above this review.”

“The stage version, again written by Clooney and Grant Heslov, does nothing to enhance the material.”

“Glengarry, which feels painfully small in the vast theater, still packs a punch, thanks to Mamet's beautifully crafted dialogue and its blistering depiction of toxic masculinity that feels even more relevant in today's social and political climate.”

“But it’s hard not to wish that it had strived for something more.”

“But the show never reaches the heights to which it aspires, except of the vertical kind.”

“With its Broadway transfer, English seems to have found a universal language.”

“But despite the efforts of director Alex Timbers to lend theatricality to the evening via atmospheric sound and lighting effects, All In: Comedy About Love wears out its welcome before its conclusion despite its brief 90-minute running time.”

“The 100-minute evening feels longer than it is thanks to the sluggish pacing and frequent repetition.”

“It turns out that Death Becomes Her becomes Broadway.”

“It’s strong stuff, and hardly the sort of musical for tourists simply looking for a fun time. But this superbly staged and acted production exerts a powerful, hypnotic force that demands attention and respect.”

“By the end of the evening, you’ll have come to very much like Delia Ephron.”

“Evaluating it as a production of Sunset Boulevard seems beside the point, since Lloyd only seems concerned with the material insofar as he can put his own stamp on it.”

“Star power is not to be underestimated. Not only can it bring in audiences who may not normally attend new Broadway plays, it can also infuse a problematic work with a gravitas it might not normally possess.”

“Despite the fine efforts of the performers and solid production values including music by an overqualified David Yazbek, The Roommate, running 100 minutes without an intermission, always feels predictable despite its procession of narrative surprises designed for easy laughs.”

“For all the effective stagecraft on display, however, Job (even the title, which many people will assume refers to the Old Testament book, is deliberately confusing) mainly smacks of gimmickry.”

“The work is now receiving a Broadway revival by the Roundabout Theatre Company in which its charms prove much more elusive.”

“Mother Play covers too much ground without providing enough emotional depth to overcome its familiarities.”

“Anne Kaufman, repeating her staging from the play’s earlier NYC incarnation at Theatre Workshop, has delivered a beautifully calibrated production that expertly mines its subtleties.”

“Patriots is the sort of gripping real-life drama that only makes you want to learn more.”

“It feels most powerful when simply getting down to the basics.”

“The folk-rock sounding score features some terrific songs, including the two aforementioned numbers and the powerful ‘Stay Gold,’ even if by the end of the evening they all start to sound the same.”

“But Water for Elephants feels more clunky than transporting.”

“The actor’s cleaning up serves as a metaphor for a production so messy and ill-conceived it makes you wonder how the play has endured for nearly 150 years.”

“What you’ll get instead is a superb drama that only seems to have gained in power and intensity with this Broadway transfer.”

“It’s the standout of the Broadway season thus far.”

“Fortunately, DeVito is such a skilled performer that he makes the play watchable from beginning to end despite its frequent slow spots.”

“The problem is that the show they’ve supposedly devised is not particularly funny, with the relatively esoteric subject matter not exactly lending itself to riotous satire – even Mel Brooks would have trouble coming up with more than a few throwaway gags about Gutenberg.”

“Fortunately, the new production of Ossie Davis’ 1961 play Purlie Victorious has sidestepped any issues about its being dated for two reasons, one good and one bad.”

“What is surprising is how effective and damn fun it all is.”

“But the humor is so devoid of reality that the laughs become increasingly strained.”

“It’s a comic musing about bigotry that feels more relevant than ever at a time when something as innocuous as tiki torches has taken on a very sinister meaning.”

“It’s all a bit much, frankly, but then again, it’s not like anyone was expecting waltzes.”

“The new Broadway season has just begun, and it’s hard to imagine any future show proving more divisive.”

“Except without the liquid lubrication, it comes across as fairly dry.”

“Comer instantly affirms herself as a top-rank theater performer with this dynamic star turn in which she absolutely commands attention for 100 uninterrupted minutes.”

“The musical, featuring a book by Robert Horn (Tootsie) and songs by Nashville veterans Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally, emerges as one of the brightest surprises of the spring season, delivering more hilarious gags per minute than any show since The Book of Mormon.”

“The play feels somewhat drawn out at 135 minutes (including intermission), and the climactic narrative twist is too blatantly spoon-fed to the audience, as if the show’s creators were afraid that we would not be able to figure it out. But those are minor quibbles about this enthralling, wildly imaginative production.”

“The sheer cynicism of the entire enterprise, designed to capitalize on the public’s seemingly insatiable appetite for irreverent fairy tale adaptations, is enough to turn a carriage into a pumpkin.”

“On Broadway, it just feels like the height of pretension.”

“Pictures from Home proves less artful than the photo book that inspired it, but the universality of its themes and the power of its performances make it pack an emotional punch nonetheless.”

“Though the writing is a letdown, The Collaboration nonetheless proves entertaining, thanks to the colorful figures at its center and the superb acting.”

“For the most part, It Hot succeeds in its aim of simply entertaining its audiences with those two most glorious words in the English language.”

“The problem is that Diamond, at least as he’s portrayed here, isn’t much fun to spend two-and-a-quarter hours with.”

“Which begs the question: with so many actual K-pop acts now appearing in the area on a regular basis, why not go for the real thing instead of a highly proficient reproduction?”

“He delivers a virtuosic turn that proves mesmerizing in its actorly skill and intensity.”

“The show’s terrific music numbers, fueled by high-powered vocals, give it a propulsive energy that’s impossible to resist.”

“But you too often feel the actorly polish which ironically results in a distancing effect from the traumatic incidents being related.”

“Unfortunately, the production falters in its more explosive moments, with Washington, apparently making his stage acting debut, maintaining such a high energy and decibel level throughout that his unmodulated performance becomes monotonous.”

“Everything in the production seems pitched over the top, including Willy’s declining mental condition, which here feels more like full-blown dementia than merely a man defeated by life who is losing his grip.”

“Cost of Living has lost none of its emotional power and poignancy.”

“In retrospect, that seems appropriate, since this is far more Sam Gold’s Macbeth than the Bard’s.”

“But there’s nothing about the musical that displays a reason for being, other than to showcase its star’s extraordinary comic chops.”

“Nonetheless, Hangman remains a wickedly perverse delight for theatergoers possessing the stomach and fortitude to go along for the ride.”

“It’s the kind of serious work that provokes passionate debate and will linger in your memory.”

“That shouldn't stop anyone from seeing this superbly acted production of one of his most important plays.”

“The not-so-magical results will bring you back to your childhood, assuming you spent much of your childhood napping.”

“For all the baking going on, however, Birthday Candles remains stubbornly half-baked.”

“Broderick and Parker’s star power may bring in crowds willing to pay top dollar to see them in person, but it’s more a victory of marketing than theatricality.”

“In its determined effort to evoke the musical comedy Broadway of yore and make us feel happy simply to be in a theater again, the show ironically feels urgently timely.”

“Despite the fine acting by the ensemble, Skeleton Crew proves a well-meaning, respectable play that ultimately underwhelms.”

“Director Lapine proves too indulgent of Lapine the librettist, allowing the proceedings to ramble on to the point of tedium.”

“Strange as it may be to say, getting shut down by the pandemic during previews last year might have been the best thing to happen to the new Broadway musical Mrs. Doubtfire.”

“Trouble in Mind proves an uneven, problematic work whose history is more powerful than what we see onstage.”

“The Lehman Trilogy proves an unalloyed theatrical triumph.”

“Revolving around numerous themes endemic to the Black experience in contemporary America, Thoughts of a Colored Man is the sort of finger-on-the-pulse work that elicits murmurs of approval from its audience, one that is more racially diverse than usually seen on the Great White Way.”

“How much you enjoy the evening will depend on your tolerance for stereotypical characterizations and situations more redolent of a sitcom than theater.”

“Lackawanna Blues provides stirring evidence of how much Nanny did for Santiago-Hudson.”

“The three actors, repeating their Lincoln Center performances, couldn't be better. Hill and Smallwood expertly play off each in the manner of seasoned vaudevillians, while Ebert delivers a tour-de-force turn, infused with comic physicality and an undercurrent of danger, that keeps us on edge even as we're laughing.”

“For those few minutes, at least, Grand Horizons achieves a poignancy and depth that have otherwise eluded it.”

“Any parents who shell out that kind of money for this tacky, bargain-basement production seriously need to reevaluate their financial priorities.”

“Their superb work proves that Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune offers both timeless themes and eternal catnip to talented performers.”

“So does every other element of the play in this superb revival by the Roundabout Theatre Company.”

“Unfortunately, despite the tremendous abundance of talent both onstage and off, the production is mainly notable for being the most batshit-crazy thing to be seen on Broadway in many a moon.”

“But it’s hard not to be depressed by a theater scene which, like popular culture in general, seems determined to become ever more infantilizing.”

“But despite the ample professionalism on display, the show comes across as painfully strained rather than pleasurably antic.”

“And since Manhattan Theatre Club’s Broadway revival of the 1923 play isn’t done very well, it’s even more of a slog than usual.”

“You don't have to enroll for a graduate degree to enjoy Stoppard's simultaneously wacky and intellectual comedy..That's largely due to the accessible nature of Marber's rollickingly staged production...The plot is nothing more than a springboard for the playwright's unique brand of clever wordplay and cerebral observations...”

“This jukebox musical is the theatrical equivalent of sipping on a frozen drink while lying on a beach chair in the blazing sun.”

“But despite the performer’s estimable talents, John Lithgow: Stories by Heart smacks mainly of self-indulgence.”