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09/14/11--01:00: Multiple Perspectives on a Darkly Comic Invasion! (chan 1629355)

Jonas Hassen Khemiri's investigation of otherness in post-9/11 America invades the Flea. by Eugene Reznik Invasion! Written by Jonas Hassen Khemiri Directed by Erica Schmidt…

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09/22/11--01:00: In After. and The Wood, Wounded Men Let Down by the Law Seek Peace (chan 1629355)

But while Dan Klores' play about muckracking reporter Mike McAlary trips itself up, Chad Beckim's post-incarceration comedy finds its feet. by Benjamin Sutton After. Written by Chad Beckim Directed by Stephen Brackett…

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09/28/11--01:00: Mad With Heartbreak in Follies (chan 1629355)

The latest revival of Sondheim's most majestic musical renders its characters' unhappiness with sadistically powerful detail. by Dan Callahan Follies Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim Book by James Goldman Directed by Eric Schaeffer Time laying its ugly hand on faces, bodies and dreams is the subject of Follies, the most majestic of Stephen Sondheim's musicals, which also exposes all manner of nostalgia, self-loathing and delusions.…

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09/28/11--01:00: Elevator Repair Service Gets Hemingwasted (chan 1629355)

In its latest Jazz Age literary adaptation, ERS sets Hemingway's moveable binge in a Paris barroom. by Henry Stewart The Select (The Sun Also Rises) Adapted from the Ernest Hemingway novel by Elevator Repair Service Directed by John Collins Those expats sure did drink.…

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10/07/11--14:00: Lidless Reveals What's Most Carefully Concealed (chan 1629355)

A former Guantanamo interrogator's detainee comes asking questions in Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig's new family drama. by Benjamin Sutton Lidless Written by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig Directed by Tea Alagic Long-practiced habits and behaviors, no matter how steadfastly observed or chemically repressed, remain forever volatile and dangerous in Lidless, Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig's drama—being premiered by Page 73 Productions through October 15—about the long-term psychological effects of interrogation tactics on a former guard and a released prisoner who met at Guantanamo Bay.…

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10/12/11--01:00: Dreams of First Class Flight and Fall in Adam Rapp's Latest (chan 1629355)

Atlantic Theater Company premieres the playwright's new upper-class farce, Dreams of Flying Dreams of Falling. by Benjamin Sutton Dreams of Flying Dreams of Falling Written by Adam Rapp Directed by Neil Pepe "She’s just spoiled and bored and undersexed," Sandra Cabot barks at her husband as they discuss their twentysomething live-at-home Harvard grad daughter Cora.…

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10/17/11--04:00: Bringing MLK Off His Mountaintop (chan 1629355)

Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett star in a fictionalized account of the night before the civil rights activist's assassination. by Zonia Edward The Mountaintop Written by Katori Hall Directed by Kenny Leon Political figures are more often than not shrouded in myth, mystery, and idealism, and Martin Luther King Jr. is no exception.…

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10/18/11--06:05: Sex and Dramaturgy, Blame it All on Beckett (chan 1629355)

An ambitious intern shakes up the literary office of a regional New England theater in John Morogiello's new and self-parodying Blame it on Beckett. by Eugene Reznik Blame it on Beckett Written by John Morogiello Directed by Jackob G. Hofmann "Dramaturgy jobs don't just sprout up—like weedy interns."…

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10/21/11--04:00: Man and Boy, a Clash of the Haves and Have-Nots (chan 1629355)

Frank Langella stars in a timely revival of Terence Rattigan's goofy play about a failing banker and his bohemian son. by Henry Stewart Man and Boy Written by Terence Rattigan Directed by Maria Aitken It's obvious why the Roundabout Theater Company has revived this Terence Rattigan play (through November 27) even though it bombed the last time it was on Broadway (when it opened in 1963)—it follows a too-big-to-fail financier, Gregor Antonescu (Frank Langella), as he scrambles to save his corporate empire amid a global financial crisis.…

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10/24/11--04:00: Relatively Speaking: Three Comic Takes on Family Drama (chan 1629355)

New one-acts written by Ethan Coen, Elaine May and Woody Allen chart the fallout from family disasters. by Benjamin Sutton Relatively Speaking Written by Ethan Coen, Elaine May and Woody Allen Directed by John Turturro "A stranger would think we're a dysfunctional family," says Judy, the main character's (soon to be ex-)wife in Woody Allen's Honeymoon Motel, the third and funniest of the short plays directed by John Turturro in Relatively Speaking (through January 15).…

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10/26/11--01:00: Desperate Bad Behaviour: Talking To Joanna Gleason About Sons Of The Prophet (chan 1629355)

The actress discusses her role as a failed publisher in the new Off Broadway hit. by Dan Callahan When Joanna Gleason first stepped on stage the night I saw her in Stephen Karam's exceptional new play Sons of the Prophet (through December 23 at the Laura Pels Theatre), a woman behind me whispered to her friend, "She looks so, so good!" And she certainly does, but Gleason isn't afraid of behaving so, so badly as Gloria, a former literary power broker who has fallen from grace after publishing a fake Holocaust memoir (which Karam seems to have based on Herman Rosenblat's Angel at the Fence).…

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10/28/11--13:30: Jesse Eisenberg Rises, Falls and Rises Again in Asuncion (chan 1629355)

The Best Actor nom stars in his own play, alongside Justin Bartha, about two roommates and their Filipina house-guest. by Benjamin Sutton Asuncion Written by Jesse Eisenberg Directed by Kip Fagan "I'm this fucking American, you know?" Edgar asks his Filipina sister-in-law Asuncion.…

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11/01/11--04:00: Love's Labor's Regained at the Public (chan 1629355)

A new Public Lab production of Love's Labor's Lost wins big. by Benjamin Sutton Love's Labor's Lost Written by William Shakespeare Directed by Karin Coonrod "For when would you, my lord, or you, or you," Berowne asks his three comrades, "have found the ground of study's excellence without the beauty of a woman's face?" By this point, roughly halfway into the Public Theater's excellent production of Love's Labor's Lost (through November 6), it's abundantly clear that the four friends' vows to remain secluded from women for three years of arduous study will be broken.…

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11/04/11--04:00: So-So Nanette in Brooklyn Heights (chan 1629355)

The Heights Players' recent production made good on the classic musicals' pleasures without adding to them. by Zonia Edward No, No, Nanette Book by Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel Music by Vincent Youmans Lyrics by Irving Caesar and Otto Harbach Adapted by Burt Shevelove Directed by Albert Walsh "Life's really worth living," Nanette sings, wide-eyed and dull, to her uncle Jimmy.…

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11/04/11--04:30: Other Desert Cities is Performed in Front of a Live Studio Audience (chan 1629355)

Before adopting the trappings of Broadway family drama, Jon Robin Baitz's latest plays like a sitcom. by Henry Stewart Other Desert Cities Written by Jon Robin Baitz Directed by Joe Mantello Jon Robin Baitz's bruising, clawing, and haphazard Other Desert Cities is a lot of Hollywood-liberal bellowing about the intransigence of Bush-era Republicans until it's not—a late twist neuters every theme, nullifies every plot point.…

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11/07/11--06:50: What's Chinese for "Tyler Perry"? (chan 1629355)

David Henry Hwang's Chinglish examines Chinese-American relations from an insider's perspective. by Henry Stewart Chinglish Written by David Henry Hwang Directed by Leigh Silverman This goofy and trifling Chicago-import is conscious of a few ideas: the modern shift in the Sino-American power dynamic, the personal sacrifices necessary for cultural change.…

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11/07/11--06:55: Suicide, Incorporated Helps You With Your End-Life Letters (chan 1629355)

Roundabout Theatre Company's production of Andrew Hinderaker's play finds all the right words. by Eugene Reznik Suicide, Incorporated Written by Andrew Hinderaker Directed by Jonathan Berry "It's not a grabber," says Norm (James McMenamin).…

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11/09/11--04:30: D.J. Mendel on the Upswing in Bushwick (chan 1629355)

The writer and actor's revival of his 1999 one-man show Dick Done Broke has him swinging and swigging above the Starr's stage. by Benjamin Sutton Dick Done Broke Written and performed by D.J. Mendel Directed by Dan Safer Ubiquitous Downtown actor-writer D.J. Mendel debuted this one-man show (through November 19) at Richard Foreman's Ontological Theater, in 1999—it was then titled My Dick Done Broke—when its boozy narrative of a blue-collar worker's actual and symbolic impotence reflected the city's transformation during the Giuliani regime.…

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11/17/11--05:00: Let the Audience Decide How Much Is Enough (chan 1629355)

The Foundry Theatre's new participatory play asks valuable questions from its benevolent spectators. by Eugene Reznik How Much Is Enough? Our Values in Question Written by Kirk Lynn Directed by Melanie Joseph…

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11/17/11--05:30: Godspell's Gospel Gets Aggressively Upgraded on Broadway (chan 1629355)

Circle in the Square's revival of the 70s musical contemporizes its Christian drum beating. by Henry Stewart Godspell Book by John-Michael Tebelak Music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz Directed by Daniel Goldstein Seeing the Godspell revival at Circle in the Square is like spending an evening at a dorky Christian summer camp—like this enthusiastic ensemble spent all day learning their lines and choreographing their dances, like you keep waiting for Jesus (Hunter Parrish) to invite you to call him "Pastor Gee." A breakthrough Off Broadway hit for Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak in 1971, the musical is a sketch-structured, seminar-style revue, like Hair with its drop-out ethos replaced by one of Christian brotherhood.…

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