Sometimes you need to ignore the New York critics and dive in to a play centering on a subject you know nothing about. That’s the joy of Nikolai and the Others, Richard Nelson’s fascinating new drama about a group of Russian emigrees led by choreographer George Balanchine (Michael Cerveris) and composer Igor Stravinsky (John Glover), set in 1948 ...

Leslie Kritzer and Catherine Cox don their emotional armor and prepare for battle in The Memory Show, a discordant new musical about a mother and daughter at war. In Zach Redler and Sara Cooper’s unconventional new tuner, the face-off begins when Kritzer (known only as “Daughter”) begrudingly moves home to take care of her mother with early-onset Alzheimer’s ...

LaChanze not only has one of the best names on Broadway, she also has one of the most infectious talents, put to good use in shows like Ragtime, Once On This Island, Company and her Tony-winning turn as Celie in The Color Purple. For her debut show at 54 Below, Love Hangover, the joyful performer is taking on one of ...

The Encores! series at City Center is at its best when a production can not only seamlessly present the original material, but also provide a platform for familiar actors to shine in a new light. Such is the case with John Rando’s expertly directed take on the 1966 tuner It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…It’s ...

After nearly 30 years, Cirque du Soleil is still finding new ways to delight and surprise us. But let’s face it—after witnessing the magic of Alegria, Dralion, Varekai, Ka, Wintuk, Zarkana and dozens of other awe-inspiring Cirque productions throughout the years, it's hard to distiguish one amazing show from another. This isn't the case with Cirque ...

Old Hats co-creator David Shiner promised us Nellie McKay would be “adorable” in Signature Theatre Company's premiere of his newest clowning collaboration with Bill Irwin, and boy was he right! Dressed in her trademark vintage attire, the quirky singer-songwriter serves as bandleader, piano-ukulele-and-cello accompanist, sound effects department (wait until you hear her spot-on imitation of a baby ...

At the beginning of Jesse Eisenberg's The Revisionist, Maria (Vanessa Redgrave) slouches in her shabby apartment in Szczecin, Poland, waiting the arrival of her distant American cousin David (Eisenberg). But once Maria wakes up, she exudes an exuberance and gentle kindness. The play, written for Redgrave, shows off her spot-on talent for locating the emotional heart of her character ...

Martin Moran looks like the least angry man on the planet. Slender and soft-spoken, he exudes a mild-mannered friendliness that would make him a welcome dinner party guest. But don’t be fooled: This veteran of Broadway musicals such as Titanic and Spamalot has plenty of reasons to write a show called All the Rage. A survival of sexual abuse ...

The popular nightclub 54 Below has never felt more like an underground oasis than it does during the new Joni Mitchell catalogue concert Tales of Joni. The show features six versatile singers and a four-piece band performing 20 songs by Mitchell with no added dialogue or set-up. While Mitchell’s music is timeless, the songs are revitalized in this intimate ...

It’s no surprise that an off-Broadway revival of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson would be worth seeing. After all, the play won the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and is considered one of the best of Wilson’s masterful “Pittsburgh Cycle” set in each decade of the 20th century. But Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s production at Signature Theatre Company ...