Houman Barekat

“The blend of menace and absurdity makes for an absorbing spectacle.”

“By contrast, the granular psychological focus of ‘Electra/Persona,’ expertly served by the poised virtuosity of Blanchett and Hoss, feels made for the stage.”

“The attempt fails dismally’, despite the admirable efforts of the leading man Lewis Kidd, who signed up at late notice to play Renton after the original actor was injured in rehearsals.”

“Everything good about Icke’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is bound up in sincerity and sentiment.”

“The method of delivery is too delightfully silly to resist, and a new revival of ‘Into the Woods,’ at the Bridge Theater in London through May 30, makes the most of the musical’s whimsical premise, leaning into the visuals of fairy tale lore with a spirit of winking pastiche.”

“In a very fine revival of 'All My Sons' — directed by Ivo van Hove and running at Wyndham's Theater in London through March 7”

“It’s a moderately entertaining but ultimately somewhat sterile affair, let down by a patchy and simplistic script that feels unworthy of its subject matter.”

“But this is a middling piece, a hand-wringing op-ed rendered in flesh and blood.”

“It is an exercise in meta-kitsch, and, on those terms, it succeeds.”

“Raicek's interpretation sets out to center Ibsen's female characters, retelling the story through the lens of #MeToo — but it ends up reducing a complex play to a tawdry marital melodrama.”

“While the play deals admirably with difficult subject matter, it is a flawed work.”

“This is not the kind of play that brandishes a singular sharp point; it is the kind that swaddles you in innumerable impressions.”

“For all the fine talk of separating the art from the artist, it’s hard to escape the discomforting conclusion that Dahl was so good at writing about hatefulness and cruelty precisely because he was, in some respects, a hateful and cruel man.”

“This unabashedly crowd-pleasing — though ultimately somewhat vacuous — show goes all in on relatability and schmaltz, carrying a peppy message about friendship and self-care.”

“But ‘Starlight Express’ is more theme park than theater.”

“It's an admirably ambitious undertaking, but a lack of narrative thrust or tonal variation make for a somewhat bloodless experience.”

“Van Hove has transformed a taut, subtly observed character study into a sludgy melodrama.”

“‘For Black Boys,’ with its didactic enumeration of societal ills, has the feel of a PowerPoint presentation; its bracing directness befits the urgency of its message, but as a piece of art it never quite transports us.”

“The first is mere performance, the latter true theater.”

“This ‘Picture of Dorian Gray’ is, on its own terms, a triumph.”

“The dialogue is zippy, the humor sharp, dark and irreverent.”

“It’s a deftly rendered production, a high-quality piece of family entertainment that skilfully blends the playful and the macabre, and does justice to the author’s distinct comic style.”

“This is good, clean fun — neither terribly profound nor terribly clever, but entertaining nonetheless.”