The inauspicious origins of the ill-fated Jerry Herman/Michael Stewart musical, recently revived at City Center
Beyond
The Feingold Column: Songs to Write Plays by–Part 1
How classic American songs worked their way into the plays of Eugene O’Neill, Arthur Miller, August Wilson, and more
From London: Kushner Visits Dürrenmatt’s The Visit
★★★☆☆ Lesley Manville is the vengeful Claire Zachanassian in director Jeremy Herrin’s production at the National
From London: Death of England, A Number, and Endgame
Intellectual exercises with Rafe Spall, Roger Allam, Alan Cumming and Daniel Radcliffe in worthy productions
From London: Stoppard Potently Examines His Elusive Background in Leopoldstadt
★★★★★ For his supposedly last work, the revered playwright looks at vanished Viennese Jews
Next to Normal: It’s Gonna Be Good
★★★★★ Director Michael Greif brings the musical to D.C. for a brief but intensely emotional run starring Rachel Bay Jones
From Massachusetts: Moby-Dick, A Nantucket Sleigh Ride Of An Adventure
★★★★☆ It has to be said: Dave Malloy’s Melville adaptation is a whale of a show
From Boston: Quixote Nuevo, Modern-Day Man of La Plancha
★★★☆☆ Octavio Solis’s modern-day take on Don Quixote taps into the current crisis along the U.S./Mexico border
From London: Well-Measured Measure for Measure, Giddy Groan Ups
Measure for Measure ★★★★ Is Gregory Doran currently our most accomplished director of anything William Shakespeare wrote for the stage—or is believed to have written? As artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he’s in a good position to jockey for the rating. He can assign himself as many productions as he likes and then do…
The Feingold Column: Good Grief, America!
The cultural forms and images that make us human, that give shape and meaning and memory to our collective life as a species, are being increasingly forgotten.