Lucy Komisar

“This isn’t just good theater—it’s essential, electrifying storytelling.”

“It’s goofy, big-hearted, and exactly as clever as it needs to be.”

“But the sitcom bones and stereotypes keep it from being the classic it wants to be.”

“But in “Chinese Republicans,” she hasn’t yet found the dramatic crucible to forge them together.”

“This has to be one of the most unappetizing moments I have seen in theater.”

“The jazz dancers are a delight.”

“They are better than the script.”

“I like political plays and I’m very glad I saw this one.”

“That is to say that under Patrick Marber’s direction, it is overwrought, overacted and implausible.”

“I love this show! ... So hokey, funny, a take-off of old Hollywood musicals plus a bit of sci fi. I had a good time!”

“See the production while you can!”

“Teenagers should see this play and study it alongside Miller’s.”

“It is an astonishing production.”

“So, this show is probably terrific for Spanish speakers but misses an element for everyone else.”

“Enjoy it for what it is….. it really is quite good if you let it.”

“This play is a great recreation of his music with terrific dancing, but it’s more vaudeville show than drama.”

“An engaging and fascinating play, I found it – as the author pointed out – hard to understand because of thick accents and bad acoustics.”

“Sutton Foster’s portrayal of Princess Winnifred is the stuff of Broadway legend.”

““Water for Elephants” wins on choreography, puppetry and acrobatic wonder.”

“This reimagining of the classic musical leans heavily into sexual decadence at the expense of its political undertones.”

“This production of “The Great Gatsby” may be as excessive and overwrought as one of Gatsby’s own parties – but that works.”

“The acting is excellent. And you will love the voices.”

“The play is engrossing and the cast breathes relatable life into morally knotty arguments that careen rapidly between the Holocaust, the Crusades, Israel-Palestine conflicts, terrorism, French colonialism, the rise of far-right leaders like LePen, and more.”

“Those easy-target jokes weren’t really funny and did cross red lines.”

“But the work is diminished by “re-imagined” message of raunchy in-your-face sex of all varieties.”

““Bad Cinderella” is entertaining and fast-paced, a lot like Andrew Lloyd Weber’s other musicals.”

“The play is engrossing as villainy takes over, though it still leaves you wondering about the twists and turns that run into dead ends.”

“The music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman are smart and enhance the story, not just dropped in for a pause.”

“But it’s essentially unsatisfying.”

“It’s lost a lot in the translation.”

“Washington is brilliant as Willie, tough, rough, a voice filled with fury, anger, resentment, a man on fire.”

“But it’s all on one note, on one level of emotion and action.”

“So, it’s OK fantasy, if you still believe in stories of the fifties.”

“Now the book is silly, often crude, a bit vulgar, a bit TV, with jokes as dated as the Borscht belt routines he started out with.”

“His work, since he arrived on these shores, has enriched New York and the debut on Broadway of his “Paradise Square” is just what the theater needs to regain its glorious past.”

“Maybe it's a good play for this time when the Henrys running Washington want to spread war wherever they can, even if it kills half the world by guns, disease or famine.”

““Till the funny money rolls right in” to an old music hall tune is a show stopper.”

“A brilliant and fascinating play and production.”

“It is a terrific feminist, anti-royalist story (book by Joe DiPietro) of what happens when a woman, facing a powerful institution (the “Royal Family”), has the gumption to stand up and fight for her dignity.”

“All the performers are better than the script.”

“As “juke box” musicals go, it’s a winner.”

“Kenny Leon‘s staging is mesmerizing, with soldiers in barracks singing and stamping in a bluesy march time and moving in dance steps.”

“Laura Linney creates a fine portrait of a women seeking to pull a life out of a harrowing childhood in a play that unfortunately descends into soap opera.”

“This is an incredibly important play.”

“The show is glorious with their songs and style: “In the Still of the Night, “Gloria,” “You Can‘t Hurry Love.””

“Wildly funny and clever, this play by Taylor Mac, directed by George C. Wolfe is one a serious theater-goer cannot miss.”

“Don‘t know how much else of this docudrama is true, but of course the real sordid story is how both of these corrupt politicians attempted to manipulate voters (and each other) and how the one who succeeded was no better than the one who lost.”

“But this add-on confuses and diminishes the play, which is largely a monologue and not a dramatic work, as if Schreck felt she had to check a new politically required box.”

“Jack O‘Brien‘s crisp staging of Arthur Miller‘s iconic 1947. American morality play lays bare the corruption underlying the normalcy of American society.”

“This play raises an important question, but hardly scratches the surface about western media‘s fake news.”

“For the rest of us the amusement is the magical stuff that makes descending chandeliers and flying Spidermen look like pikers.”

“I don't much like rock. I liked this play.”

“I loved every moment of her racing off the stage and up the orchestra stairs to freedom.”

“And there is where Albee, the male who didn‘t have intimate relations with women, really does not understand the woman/women he is describing.”

“The production has a charm whose mood stays, and you smile as you see departing audience members tracking sand onto the theater lobby carpet.”

“Rylance, one of the greatest English stage actors, inhabits the character. To see him is thrilling.”

“I enjoyed it, as I might a sitcom if I ever saw them (I don‘t), but great drama it is not.”

“It‘s the kind of plot that could be a soap opera or high-concept TV serial, if the writing wasn’t so subtle, the characters so good and director Rebecca Taichman so focused and sharp.”

“If this production makes people aware of that, it deepens their understanding of the best in American musical theater.”

“As created by Laurie Metcalf from the script by Lucas Hnath, she is smart, witty, sarcastic, tough and likely to make women cheer.”

“Theatre Club, under the direction of Daniel Sullivan, gives it a stunning production.”

“And in fact, nothing goes “too far” in this perfectly calibrated, splendid, crazy, high-spirited, yes, farce.”

“The whole is less than the sum of its parts.”

“But, unfortunately, when politics meets soap opera, soap opera wins. The show now seems sentimental, dated.”

“Maybe this was a great story on film; I didn’t get it on stage.”

“And this lively cinematic production is a diversion worth seeing.”

“Which doesn‘t mean it‘s not entertaining, just not high drama.”

“This is a brilliant production by Bartlett Sherr.”

“Lane heads a wonderful ensemble cast in a production that gives most of them a chance to shine.”

“The show is often entertaining, especially the gospel music.”

“It‘s worth seeing for the same reason you want to see many versions of Shakespeare‘s plays by innovative directors.”

“As a political critique of British elites, it‘s a fascinating, layered, complex work.”

“The power of The King and I is that it combines extraordinary music, lyrics and choreography with real politics and a genuine story of repression.”

“A mix of cruelty and humanity, a bit of voyeurism, and some fascination at an indomitable human spirit are the stuff of Bernard Pomerance‘s play “The Elephant Man,” in a moving revival directed by Scott Ellis.”

“There‘s plenty of Stoppard‘s cleverness, boxes within boxes or stories within stories, including an opening of a scene in A PLAY that you think is a scene in THE PLAY.”

“The visualization of how Christopher thinks and perceives the world is stunning and one of the best uses of video in a theatrical production I have seen.”

“It‘s occasionally a cute and quirky play, but never a great play.”

“This is Jefferson Mays‘ show from start to finish, and he is brilliant in it.”

“This play is a tough and elegant charmer that sticks with you.”

“Bryan Cranston is brilliant as he channels LBJ‘s accent, his aggression, his sense of power.”

“It‘s a delight, a pastiche of old jazz standards, dancing, glitter and feathers (costumes by Isabel Toledo).”

“Director Sean Mathias has staged, almost choreographed, a dazzling cast in a haunting performance of a poignant, classic play.”

“The focus on Joplin‘s artistry was an excellent choice by writer/director Randy Johnson.”

“This Old Vic production, directed by Lindsay Posner, is smart and gripping and not at all creaky.”

“Audiences have a lot of fun at this exceptional Bette Midler reenactment of a rather exceptional woman.”

“Scarlett Johansson is excellent as Maggie.”

““Drood” is clever, smart, entertaining and the best musical revival of the New York season.”

“Quite an original and fascinating production.”

“Each of those expertly drawn characters, forcefully directed by Pam MacKinnon, commits sizzling, psychological mayhem on the other.”

“This is a theater classic every bit as much as “Peter Pan” was.”

“For the rest of this eminently entertaining production, one is taken by Edmond Rostand‘s invigorating poetics, like verbal puzzles for which one waits for the punch line.”

“In a riveting production by Rebecca Lenkiewicz at the Manhattan Theatre Club, Boyd Gaines plays Dr. Thomas Stockmann who insists on telling the truth though it may cost his livelihood.”

“The Gershwins‘ opera adapted by Susan-Lori Parks and directed by Diane Paulus as a Broadway musical is charming, vivid, delightful and moving.”

“The direction by Michael Wilson makes reality sparkle.”

“At a time when trade unions are beaten down by the big-money people who run our country, it is thrilling to see a play that celebrates the struggle of workers to get decent pay.”

“And director Mike Nichols has put together a cast that doesn’t quite come together.”

“Harris is a transcendent, complex Helen, subtly displaying her strengths, weaknesses and insecurities.”

“Quite an extraordinary woman, quite a fascinating and entertaining play.”

“Unfortunately, the staging falls down with Jim Belushi, who is too loud, crude and nasty as Harry.”