Two American dramedies, one classic and the other newly minted, affirm humanity’s indomitable ability to renew in the face of chaos.
Beyond
From Massachusetts: Gertrude and Claudius’s Time Is Out of Joint
★★☆☆☆ A Hamlet prequel out of a John Updike novel falls short of presaging the tragedy to follow
From Connecticut: Because of Winn Dixie Is Not Arf Bad
★★★★☆ A great doggie performer headlines a tuneful, kid-friendly morality tail (sic)
Rock and Roll Man: Tutti-Frutti, Mostly Goodie
★★★☆☆ Rock’n’roll is here to stay, though we learn little about the man who made it happen
From London: An Exceptional Death of a Salesman and a Haunting Hunt
Wendell Pierce and Sharon D. Clarke shine in the Arthur Miller classic at the Young Vic; the Almeida brings us a haunting new play
From London: Mamet and Malkovich Reap Bitter Wheat from Harvey Weinstein
The controversial playwright takes on a ripped-from-the-headlines sex scandal, with intriguing but uneven results
From London: Renée Fleming on the Piazza and Trevor on the Roof
Excellent new productions of The Light in the Piazza, at Southbank Centre, and Fiddler on the Roof, at the Playhouse
From London: Rescued Ibsen Work Crackles; a National Revival Doesn’t, Quite
Ibsen’s long-overlooked Rosmersholm turns out to be terrific, while the century-old Rutherford and Son doesn’t catch fire
From London: Sweat with Martha Plimpton, and the Long-Running Woman in Black
Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer-winner thrives in this Donmar Warehouse production, while Stephen Mallatratt’s 1989 thriller runs on and on
From Massachusetts: Into a Sondheim Woods and a Fascist America
Two concurrent plays in the Berkshires examine the effect of fairy tales, whether on the body human or the body politic