Robert Kahn

“To some degree, the strobe lights, gunshots and gore become such a distraction from the story that they threaten to overwhelm its dire message about government run amok.”

“‘Bandstand’ celebrates Americana with sincerity and deserves props for exploring serious subject matter without the distraction of a political message.”

“But for all its attempts to recreate the delight of Roald Dahl’s story, it left me with something of a toothache.”

“Both prove to be equally effective in either role — a sign of each actress' talent and the production's overall perfection.”

“‘Groundhog Day,’ now open at the Theatre, is a textured, twisted and ticklish comic musical from composer Tim Minchin and director Matthew Warchus.”

“This ‘Hello, Dolly!’ is as blissful an escape as anyone could want.”

“Nottage, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of ‘Ruined,’ eloquently captures the malaise among a group of longtime coworkers at a Berks County, Pennsylvania, mill.”

“The helicopter scene remains phenomenal.”

“That said, in the hands of a quartet as skilled as this, what we’re left remembering finally is not Miller’s art, but something of a master class in great performing.”

“‘Away’ manages to find a spiritual angle to a horrific story, depicting the goodness in humanity while still allowing us room for the feelings of loneliness and fear that will always be connected to that time.”

“The MTC's ensemble does a glorious job bringing home that message.”

“It's harder to sense the misgivings underneath Mikhail's bluff exterior.”

“This eloquent take bridges age and cultural boundaries and is as timeless as they come.”

“The result is a mixed bag lacking symbolic resonance: The audience gets neither the tragic grandeur nor the comedy of the aristocracy seeing its dominance end.”

“Like their relationship, ‘Heisenberg’ is more than the sum of its parts.”

“Bleu's performance -- and fresh choreography by Denis Jones -- are the big draws to 'Holiday Inn,' which arrives at Studio 54 with a feel-good book inspired by the 1942 film.”

“Cats.” The ‘Hamilton’ of its day? When Andrew Lloyd Webber’s love-it-or-hate-it musical transferred to Broadway in 1982, tickets were tough to get. Rather than wait a year for seats, my grandma paid $10 each so our family could stand in the back of the Winter Garden and hear Betty Buckley belt out “Memory.”

“The $25 million ‘Paramour’ goes heavy on the company’s signature stunt sequences to our relief, because there isn’t much to be extracted from the often eye-glazing book and score.”

“‘Shuffle Along’ is moving, in fits and starts, as a story about artists who risk their critical and financial fortunes, sculpting a musical from their most raw emotional expressions and their sophisticated artistic heritage, instead of toning down that spirit for mass consumption.”

“This is a solid production of a canonical play. The actors inhabit their characters with as much truth as can be mustered: Lange, for one, seems so immersed that we feel as if we were watching some real Mary Tyrone.”

“This blissfully frenetic expedition takes things to a whole new level.”

“This may be why ‘American Psycho’ failed to stir me: The notion that evil lurks where we may not expect to find it isn’t shocking anymore.”

“Langella’s mercurial performance surely will be relatable to any audience member who has spent time around a person with dementia.”

“While there are outstanding performances in Van Hove’s interpretation, I never felt the sense of snowballing paranoia I’d been expecting.”

“There's much to admire in the final product: The musical is twangy and tightly performed, with a sweeping score. My enjoyment was muted only by the mostly modest character development...Cusack, who reminded me a bit of Donna Murphy, does proud justice to a tough role. Paul Alexander Nolan...has an e...”

“‘Blackbird’ is a small gem, here in the hands of two gifted actors.”

“By the time ‘Disaster’ was over, I had laughed some, but mostly I was rooting for the piranhas.”

“I’d wager that Whitaker’s performance will evolve in the weeks ahead, but for the moment he’s throwing snake eyes.”

“Linda Lavin is alternately sardonic and fragile in the New York premiere of Richard Greenberg's drama ‘Our Mother's Brief Affair’...The notion of ‘legacy’ weighs heavily in the drama, which touches on themes such as the suburban dream, and the desire, when one's life is nearing its end, ‘to be known’...Lavin...”

“This new ‘Fiddler,’ gorgeous and affecting, is a respectful staging of the Jerry Bock-Sheldon Harnick classic, with modernities here and there to keep us on our toes.”

“Andrew Lloyd Webber's first new work for Broadway in a decade is an otherwise workaday screen-to-stage adaptation, with a generous lead actor and faithful, if prosaic book.”

“‘China Doll’ is muddled, but it's still a treat to see Pacino, even if we're not always sure what he's doing.”

“For now, his ‘Bridge’ is edge-of-your seat drama that leaves you gritting your teeth.”

“Characters are fleshed out and music feels polished.”

“I never got a sense of her Thérèse as deeply miserable.”

“There's a casting director out there who deserves a Milk-Bone. That reward is for realizing twinkly Annaleigh Ashford could so dynamically inhabit the title role in 'Sylvia'...”

“It’s delightful, and it doesn’t take itself seriously for a minute.”

“Jones and Tyson, it will surprise no one, make for lively sparring partners.”

“It’s all handled with an enormous amount of skill and affection -- the 75 minutes fly by, and we feel as if we know these folks intimately.”

“The addition of sign language encourages a closer look at ‘Spring Awakening.’”

“Turns out, once you’ve gotten over the first wow, there’s plenty more wow to be uncovered.”

“It seemed disconnected from the rest of the musical, and was the first time during ‘Amazing Grace’ my emotions were truly stirred.”

“There aren’t any sort of tidy resolutions in ‘Airline Highway,’ and we never get the feeling these has-beens at the Humming Bird will pay Miss Ruby any due.”

“Rivera’s vital performance as Claire Zacahanassian, a woman who has married both well and often, is just one reason ‘The Visit’ is notable, here at the end of a crowded theater season.”

“Go for the production numbers and the big-hearted turns from the leads, whose enthusiasm ultimately proves even more infectious than the plague.”

“This ‘Doctor Zhivago’ is about three men who love one woman, but I’m afraid they’re feeling it more than we do.”

“Sills, of Broadway’s ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’ and ‘Little Shop…,’ is a comic marvel as the out-of-tune conductor who thinks he still has a way with the ladies.”

“‘The King and I’ requires a regal, charismatic leading lady, and in O’Hara, it has one who's just about perfect.”

“The end result is both rousing and erratic, with bits of thrilling stage magic that are signature Diane Paulus (she also directed ‘Pippin’ and ‘Hair’), and dialogue that sometimes feels as if it’s been focus group-sanitized to within an inch of its life.”

“Overall, this is fair-to-middling material that’s elevated by a superior cast.”

“Lydia Leonard is positively electric as the king's second wife.”

“Structurally, ‘Hand to God’ never quite adds up to the sum of its brilliant parts.”

“The sharp writing has Kyra both peeling away Tom’s many layers, and peeling onions.”

“The subject matter is as relevant today as it was 25 years ago.”

“Mirren fills in the blanks, crafting a portrait of a tough and empathetic woman who has survived thanks to personal warmth, good humor and a profound sense of duty.”

“Most theatergoers, though, will be better off throwing this one back in the river.”

“Brown’s legion of fans are apt to consider this one of his finer achievements, in spite of the source material’s garish qualities.”

“The only real drawback to this kind of story-telling is that it’s something of an effort to ever really attach to Marianne or Roland because, by design, they have so many darn personalities.”

“This ‘Elephant Man’ will be best remembered for its deeply committed performance by Cooper, who joins a long line of actors—Hurt, Philip Anglim, David Bowie, Bruce Davison—to play him.”

“When Jackman puts it that way, he makes trout-fishing sound a lot like falling in love.”

“Submerged beneath an often told prodigal-son story is a haunting, gorgeously executed and involving musical that marks the debut of a new Broadway composer—Sting.”

“Theater insiders, on the other hand, will guffaw at the inside cracks about online Broadway chat rooms, but many will feel ‘It’s Only a Play’ lazily misses its mark.”

“It’s whiz-bang theater stuff that’s simply a thrill to behold.”

“Happiness, this solid production insists, is far more important than money—that’s a position that easily resonates with audiences, and it’s a message that never gets old.”

“In spite of it all, I walked out of the two-acter curiously unfulfilled.”

“The Pulitzer-nominated ‘Love Letters,’ by comparison, is a near-classic.”

“But the two-dozen songs lushly presented in the $8 million production directed by Kenny Leon (who just nabbed a Tony for ‘A Raisin in the Sun’) are threaded together by a fictional story so tired, and so often told, that you can’t help but walk away feeling that an opportunity has been missed.”

“The astounding Neil Patrick Harris has no understudy, and how he'll sustain the intensity required to play Hedwig without selling his soul to the devil is anyone's guess.”

“Radcliffe is appealing in a role that must be extraordinarily uncomfortable to play. He's constantly wheezing, and one damaged leg remains stuck out, straight as a board. For any movement around the stage, which includes climbing over walls in Christopher Oram's evocative turntable set, he must oblige that impediment...”

“I left the theater desperately wishing things hadn’t gone as awry as they did.”

“Stroman’s brand of showmanship and Allen’s unparalleled wit go together, in the end, just like a hot dog and a roll.”

“Eno’s ultimately too-indulgent comedy is a gentle reminder that none of us know what we are really facing, and some of us are more acutely aware of that ‘unknown’ than others.”

“I spent too much time thinking about how Washington is older than his character, and not enough time enjoying his performance.”

“I thought ‘Mothers & Sons’ was fantastic, for how effectively it locks down this unique period of time that is 2014, in New York City, amid the explosive progress of the gay rights movement in the last handful of years.”

“This production reinforces why: among all the well-played roles, it’s inevitable you’ll find someone who speaks to you.”

“For whatever its flaws, ‘Rocky’ the musical wins with a knockout final scene that is, guaranteed, unlike anything you’ve seen in the theater.”

“It’s enormous fun to watch Cranston wobbling between arrogance and self-loathing.”

“It’s so delightful to get caught up in her dilemma.”

“Sharpened, but still dubiously crafted, ‘Bronx Bombers’ is a jock drama that will appeal to any Yankees fanatic, but leave others restless in the bleachers.”

“I just didn’t like Helen very much, so her death never felt like a terrible loss.”

“What she got was more complicated, and ‘Beautiful’ does a swell job breaking it down.”

“Stewart and McKellen traverse the full range of humanity on stage, with moments of hope, fear and despair.”

“Mostly, this is a near-perfect romp through prime ethnic and distinctly New York material: religion, food, family and sports.”

“The cast of ‘After Midnight’ makes you feel as if you’re cozied up to a small table with your main squeeze and a gin fizz, feet away from Ellington and the band.”

“That cross is one of the few things not half-baked in this production.”

“So why waste any more time before declaring that what Rattigan advocates Haimes and Posner have worked out is one of the best productions on which the Roundabout has ever raised a curtain at the Theatre?”

“Where ‘Big Fish’ gets stuck in the shallows is with its score, by Andrew Lippa (‘The Addams Family’).”

“Austin Winsberg's slapstick book makes hash of every dating cliche we've heard...The breezy if plain score is by young composers Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner, who've written for Disney...”

“‘The Nance’ is a mix of era-defining comedy and heartbreaking tragedy, with a resolution that will leave you rattled.”

“It left me ecstatic and spent, and feeling like it’s time to attend trapeze school.”

“If you're going to stage a musical about fathers and sons, expectations and disappointment, you couldn't ask for more promising shepherds than rock icon Cyndi Lauper and four-time Tony winner Harvey Fierstein.”

“There is more wisdom dispensed in ‘Lucky Guy’ than can be done justice here.”

“‘The Other Place’ satisfies and disturbs as it ties together the mystery involving Juliana’s daughter, and you’ll strain to wonder what goes through Metcalf’s mind, playing these particular moments opposite her own flesh-and-blood.”

“Letts and Morton most certainly do.”

“‘Marvin’s Room’ is at its finest when reminding us that memory is a fierce, potent counterpoint to fear of the unknown.”

“Die-HARD? Die-easy is more like it.”

“‘The Great Comet’ team has managed something unusual for Broadway, an intimate and affecting musical that can’t really be said to have populist appeal.”

“Even if you know the farce inside-out, this team ensures that some laughs will catch you off guard.”

“All the performers manage the tricky dialogue with finesse, making this the sort of revival you'd want to see a second time just to catch all the nuances.”

“A slew of polished comic turns and some stellar staging make it a shrewd move to hop aboard this train.”