ELYSA GARDNER
Ms. Gardner has written about theater and music for The New York Times, The…
Latest Articles
‘Floyd Collins’ Heralds Jeremy Jordan’s Arrival as One of Broadway’s Leading Men of Real Substance
Helmed by the show’s original director and its librettist, Tina Landau, the Broadway premiere of this cult favorite couldn’t be in better hands.
Four Deeply Humane Short Pieces From a Pioneering Playwright, Caryl Churchill, Are Having Their U.S. Premiere at the Public Theater
Churchill’s plays have generated much discussion, and thought, about the uses and abuses of power even as they’ve increasingly embraced surrealism.
Set at the Peak of the #MeToo Movement, ‘John Proctor is the Villain’ Touches on Territory Laid Out in Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible’
Whatever your take on ‘The Crucible,’ #MeToo, or any of the ongoing debates concerning women’s roles and responsibilities, to themselves and others, you’ll likely leave the theater feeling more bewitched than bothered.
Essentially a Farce, ‘Irishtown’ Seems a Bit Breathless Even for That Genre
While the fine actors sustain our attention, playwright Ciara Elizabeth Smyth’s winking jokes and rapid-fire exchanges begin to seem repetitive at points, and Nicola Murphy Dubey’s sometimes overzealous direction doesn’t help.
At Long Last, NBC’s ‘Smash’ Makes It to Broadway
The stage musical incorporates songs introduced in the TV series, including old-school musical comedy charmers and a couple of fetchingly tender ballads, along with a spanking-new finale, ‘Smash!’
Nigerian Nobel Prize Winner’s 1958 Play, ‘The Swamp Dwellers,’ Comes to Life at Brooklyn’s Theatre for a New Audience
Wole Soyinka wrote this play while a student, yet the themes that inform ‘Swamp Dwellers,’ of family, faith, and tradition — and the endless opportunities they pose for conflict, corruption, and betrayal — are timeless and universal.
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