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“This is a quiet, sentimental tale, a celebration of community support and unselfishness, and a new Christmas story that feels like it could take its place among all the familiar Yuletide classics.”

“The vibrant performances as Trish, Wendy, and Tatum convey both the personalities the friends knew in college and the women they have become.”

“While sterling performances by Caruso as Colette and Obi-Melekwe as Nana make the show watchable, the musical ultimately fails to mine the darker, more disturbing aspects of the sex workers’ lives.”

“King of the Yees, playwright Lauren Yee’s most recent play, packs a comic punch that rattles the mind into a state of confusion.”

“Zarif, as Mina, is a gem of a performer, possibly in part because, as an Afghan woman and former asylum seeker herself, Mina’s experience is all too familiar to her.”

“Happily, it is a gamble that pays off.”

“The Kick Inside serves as a time capsule, catapulting its audiences back to the heyday of experimental theater.”

“If it’s not a howlingly funny show, it’s still solidly amusing and warmhearted.”

“Freeman is a dramatist of skill and surprises.”

“Seldom do a production’s elements complement one another so effectively.”

“While the play generates the suspense and menace of a thriller, it also proves effective if viewed purely as a domestic tale, as the verbal sparring, kinder interactions and shifting allegiances reveal four compelling characters.”

“Between the moving story and the uplifting music and dancing, it is certainly well worth the time.”

“On the contrary, the new Copperfield! is an energetic and melodious delight.”

“Ultimately, the play delivers a beautiful lesson about loneliness, the human need for connection, and the courage it takes to embrace love—a lesson worth learning.”

“The play is admirably ambitious, overlaying the story of the indoctrinated Jeanie and her family and neighbors with motifs and scenes from Shakespeare’s King Lear, though the results are mixed: ideas and characters feel as though they are still in the process of being worked out.”

“If the frights are milder than one might hope, the work surprisingly has something to say about the travails of fatherhood, while unintentionally delivering important lessons on the nature of live performance.”

“Fish is hardly a feel-good play, but it merits attention from theatergoers who look to the stage not merely for entertainment but for a deeper engagement with loss, from the intimate wounds of a fractured family to the global consequences of extremism.”

“Eavesdropping on these two giants in the midst of the AIDS crisis is absorbing theater.”

“But any musical that opens with multiple projections of Patti LuPone for no apparent reason is out for easy laughs, and its program advisory, ‘Content Warning: Everything,’ conveys what an exhausting experience this is.”

“The trees may be ablaze, but this is Manhattan, so groceries can still be ordered, and thus romance finds its way into Charlie’s homestead.”

“All in all, O’Neill has been treated admirably.”

“If Ectoplasm may not instill fear or raise goosebumps, it still provides commendable entertainment.”

“This exuberant collaboration has lost none of its capacity to surprise.”

“Whether delivering Shakespeare with hip-hop rhythms, a jazzy beat, or his own syncopations, Ming-Trent is authentic and terrifically entertaining.”

“Yet, despite frequently good writing and the actors’ best efforts, the main narrative of The Holes is as substantial as the center of a doughnut.”

“Igor Golyak’s Delirium , an adaptation of Ionesco’s 1962 play Délire à deux ( Frenzy for Two ), captures this signature blend of slapstick domestic squabbling while highlighting the human penchant for destruction and barbarity.”

“It is a quiet, unflashy play—75 minutes, sensitively directed by Maria Dizzia, with subtle performances from an ensemble of four—but no less devastating for its restraint.”

“In this rare revival, Zachary Elkind’s direction and David Greenspan’s mesmerizing performance transform Housman’s final journey into a poignant meditation on love, memory, and the price of keeping desire hidden.”

“The production’s greatest asset is the magnetic chemistry of its four-person cast...”

“While the setting is rendered beautifully, the drama flops due to a script full of extended silences, platitudinous conversation, and ill-conceived character behavior.”

“Both eye-opening and entertaining, this Off-Broadway play is heaven-sent.”

“That it plays as well as it does is a tribute to Silbiger’s clever invocation of familiar themes, and a beguiling cast of four up-and-coming actors.”

“The nudity eventually loses its shock value, and occasionally becomes incidental to the fun.”

“During the performance under review, nine audience members (some singly, others in pairs) abandoned their seats and crept out of the auditorium.”

“The acting is convincing, not as solo performances but as an ensemble inhabiting the same social rules and emotional reality of the asylum.”

“Benevolent is a powerful play, strikingly well directed, with turns and revelations that land forcefully, even if one can see them coming.”

“The play still delivers a punch with its bleak message: making bad choices and running away from a difficult past will lead to an inevitable demise.”

“All the artistic elements come together in a wonderful, multifaceted production.”

“The scene is a testament to the power of theatrical belief, which is, after all, the only miracle Shakespeare ever really promises.”

“The script-tinkering hasn’t fixed the problems of the original, and it undermines what Wasserstein accomplished in this not-so-bad high comedy, which, in the late 1990s, was timely and diverting (though it fell far short of the political heft she had intended).”

“For those willing to enter its claustrophobic hotel rooms, the play offers a provocative glimpse into the pressures of masculinity, sexuality and celebrity—and the steep price of maintaining a carefully constructed public image.”

“The Saviors, Weiler’s second play (now at the Atlantic’s Linda Gross Theater) substantiates his promise, extending and arguably deepening his collaboration with director Jack Serio.”

“Brendan George’s well-intentioned play The Vessel, which has a lot to say but doesn’t say most of it in a theatrically exciting manner.”

“When it comes to character development, however, Stein’s writing proves more binary than multifaceted.”

“Audience members experiencing a Cohen performance for the first time might find Broad Strokes somewhat superficial.”

“Hungry Women remains an imaginative, sharply written satire that refuses easy answers.”

“Agyepong and Ezra take these fully realized characters and give them a believable, natural rapport, helping Shifters transcend its familiar setup.”

“The result is an intimate and deeply affecting autobiographical portrait that reveals how music shaped not only an extraordinary career but also an extraordinary life.”

“For all its merits, though, Giulia is ultimately a letdown.”

“That Math Show succeeds because Benjamin makes mathematics feel less like a subject to be mastered than an adventure to be shared.”

“The seamless ways in which playwright Spector has depicted the friends’ developing lives and their unraveling are reinforced by the cast’s credible portrayals and are the play’s greatest strength.”

“Moon is a contemplative and upbeat romance with equally powerful things to say about the price of finding, and celebrating, oneself.”

“This show delivers all three, plus a swell story to match.”

“The play’s refusal to veer into melodrama is one of its great strengths, and its power sneaks up on you.”

“Bentley’s play may document events from the mid-twentieth century, but its warnings about governmental power still resonate.”

“In bringing those parallel journeys to life, Martin delivers an incandescent performance.”

“Camping is Barclay’s playwriting debut, and it marks her as a writer to watch—one who knows that a small space can contain everything.”

“Catch of the Day is an unexpected delight.”

“Despite its energy, humor, and parade of surprises, this isn’t a show for audiences simply searching for a good time.”

“Ali’s stirring production of Romeo and Juliet reimagines Shakespeare’s Verona as a divided community along the U.S.-Mexico border, bringing fresh urgency to the tale of the star-crossed lovers.”

“The portrait of older gay men striving to hold on to life is empathetic.”

“The whole journey, including the thrilling climactic shipwreck scene at Yarmouth, is breathtaking and unforgettable.”

“In bringing this tale to the stage, director Jo Bonney and her team avoid any One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest hysterics in favor of a moody and reflective ensemble work.”

“The contemporary elements capture the true, dark spirit of Genet’s play.”

“The result is a production that is joyful, funny, and a delight for both the ear and the eye.”

“That you might end up with tears in your eyes is a testament to Wilder’s genius and to Lynn’s labors.”

“In Lauder: Scotland’s Kilted King of Broadway, Jamie MacDougall brings this larger-than-life figure back to the stage with infectious warmth and musical flair that turns biography into jubilant theatrical celebration.”

“Adam Lenson’s tight direction, Lu Herbert’s terrifying fascist costumes, and Jevan Howard-Jones’ choreography amplify the tension between the residents, the communists and their supporters, and the Blackshirts.”

“The presentation is utterly beguiling, and the expert choreography of both the actors and audiences (with the assistance from a legion of seen and unseen handlers) through the building boggles the mind.”

“Her latest work, a space oddity called Specimen, is no exception.”

“Still, 73 Seconds remains worth seeing for its immersive experience alone.”

“It’s essential viewing for these times.”

“Riefenstahl and her cronies are consciously and consistently evil personified Beauty Freak runs at The Cell (338 W.23rd St.) through May 17.”

“This is one standing ovation that feels earned.”

“And Hastie, with superb performances by Abeysekera and Mills, has achieved that—a Hamlet driven to distraction by his awareness that all the world’s a stage.”

“Chowdhury’s play ultimately offers what its title suggests: a theory of how we might hold together when we’re seemingly falling apart—and a hypothesis, at least, that we do.”

“This U.S. premiere is as unflinching as it is mesmerizing—an unforgettable descent into the chaos of a life lived on the edge.”

“A century on, Rice’s attack on the soul-destroying depredations of capitalism feels as pertinent as ever.”

“Alyson Cummins’s simple set has many surprises: performers turn a door into a telephone booth, a bar into an interrogation room and, at one point, the set is dismantled by the dancers to reveal an emerald-green hill peppered with rocks which dancers climb up on and roll down.”

“In Bent Through Glass, Koltchak shapes private grief into an act of communal witness, refusing easy catharsis in favor of hard-earned honesty.”

“Ultimately, though, it is a brave attempt to examine seemingly every nook and cranny of love that goes wrong—it’s a strange breed of TED talk about breakup woes, illustrated with scenes of pain and discomfort, with the hope of recovery at the end.”

“By the show’s end, Travolta emerges as a figure of hard-won resilience, transforming missteps into material and self-reckoning into art.”

“That relationship is spun out modestly and pleasingly, and the right songs show up in the right places.”

“While the play offers an earnest and often compelling meditation on democracy in action, its heavy-handed didacticism ultimately mutes its dramatic impact.”

“Its ‘score,’ however, bears little resemblance to melody-rich 1930s and ’40s musicals, and its book is awash with absurdist episodes that misfire.”

“One may not leave convinced that Titus is a great play, but Berger's lucid, sure-handed direction and a stellar cast make it a gripping theatrical experience—unsettling and disturbing, but nevertheless entertaining.”

“It's a reminder that creativity is daring and that dance is uplifting: the show is a wonderful escape from the climate of despair that surrounds us today.”

“The show digs deep into the absurdity with a physical glee.”

“Yi’s lessons in Korean culture, her vivid characters, and the cast’s chemistry make it an enjoyable production.”

“While the design elements and this formidable company successfully channel the sweeping spirit of the 1844 novel, Monte Cristo ’s truncated book and perfunctory score ultimately fail to match their effectiveness.”

“The engaging Trash embellishes a common New York story of two roommates in conflict by adding an important twist, as well as a variety of theatrical tricks, including audience participation.”

“The joyful news is, they haven’t lost their touch, not a whit.”

“The Bengsons, with remarkable openness and musicality, transform private pain into a shared, living experience—one that lingers long after the final note fades.”

“What offends about the play, though, is the lack of wit or depth and the easy nihilism.”

“Carr’s clever script builds slowly as we learn more about each girl, then all at once as the teens deal with a crisis that binds together their religious convictions and FFA duties.”

“Boehm’s play works best as a history lesson—a generation of young gay audiences may find enlightenment in those parts dealing with AIDS and ACT-UP—but it lacks the vitality of currency.”

“In the end, The Amazing Sex Life of Rabbits succeeds as a quirky satire of wealth and power.”

“But the performances and the play’s wonderfully off-kilter imagination make Cold War Choir Practice well worth experiencing.”

“Ultimately it is Virginia who takes control and drives the play to its inevitable conclusion...”