Entries from November 2008 ↓

The action in Conor McPherson?s ?The Seafarer? takes place on a bleak Christmas Eve in North Dublin, and events soon turn literally biblical.

Thirteen-year-old Trent Kowalik, a champion Irish step dancer, stars on Broadway in ?Billy Elliot.?

?Hillary: A Modern Greek Tragedy With a (Somewhat) Happy Ending? merges elements of Greek tragedy (including a chorus) with real-life events to create a screwball version of recent history.

The Broadway triumph of ?Billy Elliot? is in many ways a triumph of paradox.

?Garden of Earthly Delights? had a triumphant opening last week, but, as its creators explain, it came a hair?s breadth from not happening at all.

?Hillary: A Modern Greek Tragedy With a (Somewhat) Happy Ending? merges elements of Greek tragedy (including a chorus) with real-life events to create a screwball version of recent history.

What a difference a year makes! Last season, when Dividing the Estate premiered off-Broadway at Primary Stages, the program carefully informed us that the play took place in 1987, when the collapse of land and oil prices was seriously depressing the economy of Houston and East Texas. Now, though, for Lincoln Center Theater’s Broadway presentation of Dividing the Estate, no such note in necessary. The economic backdrop of the story—that the three children of a wealthy Southern matriarch all are cash-poor, forced to borrow against the dwindling value of their shares of their momma’s large estate—rings all too true. Playwright Horton Foote can add prescience to the list of virtues he brings to this charming comedy of his.

Billy Elliot The Musical feels like a big Broadway hit—on the order, perhaps, of Jersey Boys and Mamma Mia! String together words and phrases like "feel-good musical," "crowd-pleaser," and "heart-warming" and you know most of what you need to about this cannily crafted show.

Billy Elliot The Musical feels like a big Broadway hit—on the order, perhaps, of Jersey Boys and Mamma Mia! String together words and phrases like "feel-good musical," "crowd-pleaser," and "heart-warming" and you know most of what you need to about this cannily crafted show.

Selective listings from theater critics of The New York Times.