★★★☆☆ Anthony Giardina’s ambitious new play studies money, privilege, and higher education
Off-Broadway
Dan Cody’s Yacht: Early Admissions, Good Intentions
★★★☆☆ Opportunity and privilege collide in Anthony Giardina’s likably intelligent but not quite convincing play
Tchaikovsky, None But the Lonely Heart: Abundant Musical Heart
★★★★☆ Eve Wolf’s book calls on actors and musicians to prove argument about aural emotions
Peace For Mary Frances: Old Clichés Lifted By Timeless Talent
★★★☆☆ A radiant Lois Smith leads a supple cast in a not-always-fresh look at family dysfunction and mortality.
Peace for Mary Frances: Sometimes Death and Dying Go On Too Long
★★★☆☆ The wonderful Lois Smith, directed by Lila Neugebauer, in Lily Thorne’s well-cast death watch
The Beast in the Jungle: Lovely Poetry, Lousy Prose
★★★☆☆ John Kander’s score and Susan Stroman’s choreography soar; the play does not
The Beast in the Jungle: Henry James’ Work Dances on Uncertain Feet
★★★☆☆ Susan Stroman, David Thompson and John Kander get Irina Dvorovenko, Tony Yazbeck on their toes
A Pink Chair (In Place of a Fake Antique): Wooster Group on Tadeusz Kantor
★★★★★ A fascinating tribute to the late, great Polish director/author and his Cricot 2 company
Our Lady of 121st Street: Spicy Soul Food, Served Warm
★★★★★ Director Phylicia Rashad mines the spiritual curiosity under Stephen Adly Guirgis’s exquisitely crushing dialogue in a stirring revival.
Our Lady of 121st Street: The Case of the Nun’s Missing Corpse
★★★★☆ Pulitzer-winner Stephen Adly Guirgis takes us on a wild ride with rhapsodic crests