Paulanne Simmons

“Fortunately, Adrien Brody is so powerful as Nick Yarris and David Cromer’s direction is so tight, the play succeeds more than it should.”

“If Proof is a play that explores the relationship between extreme intelligence and mental illness, we must believe Catherine and Robert have both.”

“Lindsay-Abaire is determined to upend all our received notions and counter notions.”

“If the play is about the failed genius, Rosenblatt spends entirely too much time on antisemitism, and if it is about antisemitism, there is far too much meaningless banter.”

“Boop is an expansive, old-fashioned musical. The score is big and brassy.”

“This production wants to frighten, entertain and impress. It's the magician with one more trick.”

“In the end, McNeal is a piece of sordid sensationalism masquerading as profundity.”

“The play has a large cast that is consistently quite wonderful.”

“However, in many ways Mother Play seems like a work-in-progress only partially saved by Lange’s brilliant performance.”

“Unfortunately, in this production, the horrors of the Nazi regime are lost in the fog of tits, ass and booze.”

“The only problem with Spamalot is that it has to end.”

“Gutenberg!, nimbly directed by Alex Timbers, is a blast from beginning to end.”

“Just for Us, Alex Edelman's very funny, sometimes serious monologue on being Jewish in America, premiered at the Theatre in 2021.”

“New York, New York has lots of pizzazz, but it doesn't have the passion of a hit.”

“Otherwise, you might find yourself bored or exasperated.”

“Nevertheless, after you turn off your phone and settle into your seat, you’re in for an experience that’s deeply moving and thought-provoking.”

“Despite their considerable acting chops, the actors fail to convince.”

“One could just as easily ask, why is it on Broadway at all.”

“And it is perhaps this very restraint that makes the telling all the more effective.”

“After a while one gives up and just watches, intrigued and engaged despite the confusion.”

“Amir Arison, who plays the role does yeoman's work, if only because he is onstage for the entirety of the show.”

“Surely Into the Woods Is one of them.”

“But the producers would have been better off spending more time casting the lead.”

“Generic characters whose paths resemble some universal cycle of life fall flat because there is nothing about them that’s even remotely interesting.”

“But if the score by Wayne and Karey Kirkpatrick is a bit all over the place, the book by Karey Kirkpatrick and John O'Farrell sticks mostly to the 1993 film (with some attempts to bring the show into the 21st century). And that's where Mrs Doubtfire gets into trouble.”

“Santiago-Hudson brings all these people to life with remarkable physicality and magical changes of voice.”

“However, the current production flounders under Lopez’s overblown writing, which includes political polemics, moral debates and very long monologues about past events; and founders under Stephen Daldry’s direction, which too readily accommodates Lopez’s every whim.”

“Metcalf and Lithgow create an appealing and complex portrait of a couple that might be typical in many ways except for the fact that the philandering husband was once president.”

“But it is not a good enough reason for destroying such an historically and artistically magnificent work.”

“The resulting production, however, makes this reviewer wish the estate had not compromised.”

“At a time when creative genius often means deciding which film to rip off, a musical conceived by a writer’s imagination is worth our attention and our applause.”

“May painfully and perfectly captures the bewilderment and anxiety of no longer understanding what’s happening to the world you once knew.”

“One cannot argue with Rebeck's premise. One can only wish she'd written a better play.”

“As for Samantha Barks, who portrays Vivian Ward, the prostituted who sold her body but not her soul, although she is spunky and charming, she never makes Vivian’s story even mildly special or believable.”

“Weighing it down with 21st century socio-political messages is like putting a halter on a butterfly and expecting it to fly.”

“It is her luminescent performance that carries this production triumphantly to the finish line.”

“After the king exits for good, only the superb music can keep the audience awake.”

“Still, there is as much artistry as artifice in this paean to the prince.”

“A Doll’s House, Part 2 is often quite funny and always penetrating.”

“That same scene provides some of the most poignant moments one can ever expect to see onstage.”

“Indeed this inspiring story about a group of ordinary people who go to extraordinary lengths to do the right thing should warm the heart of even the world’s worst cynic.”

“Without Langella's nuanced performance, The Father would be just another drama in the ever-growing field of Alzheimer stories.”

“Despite its promising plot, Bullets Over Broadway, even with all the glitter of William Ivey Long’s costumes and Santo Loquasto’s scenery, is fairly lackluster.”