A Celebrated Case

Amnon Kabatchnik's new book, 'Murder in the West End: The Plays of Agatha Christie and Her Disciples,' explores the works of Agatha Christie and her followers. Now available in hardcover and trade paper.

Center Theatre Group has announced its full slate of programming under Snehal Desai's artistic leadership with its 2024/25 Season called 'One CTG. One LA.' The company has also revealed that the Mark Taper Forum will reopen after 16 months of closure.

Mary Shelley's shocking classic novel, Frankenstein, receives new life at Cleveland Play House. A haunting and highly theatrical adaptation of the classic horror story. Directed by Michael Barakiva, the production features Josh Bates, Madeline Calais, Ellen Grace Diehl, Gavin Michaels, and Kayodè Soyemi.

The first London productions in more than 100 years of MAKESHIFTS AND REALITIES has revealed its cast at the Finborough Theatre. A triple bill of Makeshifts and Realities by Gertrude Robins, and Honour Thy Father by H. M. Harwood.

Cleveland Play House will bring its 2022-2023 season to a close with the world premiere production of Ken Ludwig's Moriarty: A New Sherlock Holmes Adventure. Running April 29 through May 21 in the Allen Theatre at Playhouse Square.

Following a 3-year wait, The Musical Stage Company has announced the complete cast and creative team for their eagerly anticipated production of KELLY V. KELLY, a new musical from Sara Farb and Britta Johnson and the conclusion of Johnson’s CRESCENDO SERIES residency with the company.

Canadian Stage will lift the curtain today on an unabashedly ambitious 15-show season for 22.23, presenting exceptional performance from Canada and around the world, celebrating large-scale, theatrical spectacle alongside intimate and provocative social commentary. 

With Max Webster's production of Shakespeare's Henry V starring Kit Harington currently running at the Donmar, Artistic Director Michael Longhurst and Executive Director Henny Finch today announce the full casting for the UK première of Jackie Sibblies Drury's MARYS SEACOLE. Nadia Latif directs Déja J. Bowens (Mamie), Llewella Gideon (Duppy Mary), Kayla Meikle (Mary), Esther Smith (Miriam), Olivia Williams (May), and Susan Wooldridge (Merry).

The little OPERA theatre of ny(LOTNY) presents the New York Premiere of Benjamin Britten's opera in two acts, OWEN WINGRAVE, with libretto by Myfanwy Piper, at GK Arts Center, 29 Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY, from May 9-12, 2019, with performances Thursday through Saturday at 7:30pm and Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are $20-$45 and are available at www.ticketcentral.com.

The Neighborhood House program of Christ Church Preservation Trust, a catalyst for the arts at historic Christ Church, presents five free world premiere performances of In Plain Air, a work in multiple movements by composers Nathan Davis and Phyllis Chen that marks the culmination of the International Contemporary Ensemble's year-long residency in celebration of Christ Church's new C.B. Fisk pipe organ, Opus 150. Performances will take place at Christ Church today, September 22 at 1pm, 3:30pm, and 6pm and on Sunday, September 23 at 3:30pm and 6pm. Movements employing Christ Church's historic bells, custom instruments, and itinerant musicians will convey audiences across the entire Christ Church campus before introducing them to Opus 150. Presented in partnership with FringeArts, all performances of In Plain Air will be free. Major support for In Plain Air has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.

The Neighborhood House program of Christ Church Preservation Trust, a catalyst for the arts at historic Christ Church, presents five free world premiere performances of In Plain Air, a work in multiple movements by composers Nathan Davis and Phyllis Chen that marks the culmination of the International Contemporary Ensemble's year-long residency in celebration of Christ Church's new C.B. Fisk pipe organ,Opus 150. Performances will take place at Christ Church on Saturday, September 22 at 1pm, 3:30pm, and 6pm and on Sunday, September 23 at 3:30pm and 6pm. Movements employing Christ Church's historic bells, custom instruments, and itinerant musicians will convey audiences across the entire Christ Church campus before introducing them to Opus 150. Presented in partnership with FringeArts, all performances of In Plain Air will be free. Major support for In Plain Air has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.

The Neighborhood House program of Christ Church Preservation Trust, a catalyst for the arts at historic Christ Church, presents five free world premiere performances of In Plain Air, a work in multiple movements by composers Nathan Davis and Phyllis Chen that marks the culmination of the International Contemporary Ensemble's year-long residency in celebration of Christ Church's new C.B. Fisk pipe organ, Opus 150. Performances will take place at Christ Church on Saturday, September 22 at 1pm, 3:30pm, and 6pm and on Sunday, September 23 at 3:30pm and 6pm. Movements employing Christ Church's historic bells, custom instruments, and itinerant musicians will convey audiences across the entire Christ Church campus before introducing them to Opus 150. Presented in partnership with FringeArts, all performances of In Plain Air will be free. Major support for In Plain Air has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.

Karamu House, the oldest multicultural performing arts center in the country, closes it's 102nd consecutive season with the Tony Award-winning musical Passing Strange. Karamu House President and CEO, Tony F. Sias notes, 'this is a piece that is important and relevant, and speaks to and engages our millennial and 'genZ' generations.' With book and lyrics written by Tony Award-winning singer-songwriter Stew, and music composed by Stew and Heidi Rodewald, the production opened on May 10 and will run through June 3, 2018 in Karamu's Arena Theatre in Cleveland, Ohio.

 American Lyric Theater concludes the 10th Anniversary of its nationally acclaimed Composer Librettist Development Program this season with InsightALT: Opera in Eden, a one-night-only concert featuring three new one-act operas written by ALT Resident Artists, hosted by composer/librettist Mark Adamo and producing artistic director Lawrence Edelson.

Miles Richardson leads an 11-strong cast of J. M. Barrie's rarely performed play DEAR BRUTUS in its centenary year at Southwark Playhouse, presented by Troupe Theatre and directed by Jonathan O'Boyle.

Miles Richardson leads an 11-strong cast of J. M. Barrie's rarely performed play DEAR BRUTUS in its centenary year at Southwark Playhouse, presented by Troupe Theatre and directed by Jonathan O'Boyle.

Seven more performances have been added to Tony Award winner Ivo van Hove's re-imagining of Arthur Miller's A View From the Bridge at Goodman Theatre.

1917. In a remote English village there are rumours of an enchanted wood. One of the inhabitants - a mysterious old man - invites eight strangers to stay. They all have something in common. When, one evening, the wood miraculously appears the guests feel compelled to enter. What happens there has the power to change their lives forever…

Tickets are now on sale for American Composers Orchestra's (ACO) 40th Anniversary Season, under the leadership of Artistic Director Derek Bermel and Music Director George Manahan. This season includes eight world premieres by a diverse set of composers performed by ACO at Carnegie Hall and Symphony Space, and continues the orchestra's commitment to serve as a catalyst for the creation of new orchestral music, providing unprecedented opportunities for American composers to create new work and for audiences to discover it. Founded in 1977, ACO remains the only orchestra in the world dedicated exclusively to the creation, performance, preservation, and promulgation of music by American composers. To date, ACO has performed music by 800 American composers, including 350 world premieres and newly commissioned works. ACO takes its commitment to fostering new work beyond the stage in its annual Underwood New Music Readings for emerging composers, now in its 26th year in New York, and through its program EarShot, the National Orchestra Composition Discovery Network, which brings the Readings experience to orchestras across the country in partnership with American Composers Forum, the League of American Orchestras, and New Music USA.

The Chicago Humanities Festival (CHF) launches its 26th Fall Festival, featuring 130 events which will explore the theme of 'Citizens', today, Oct. 24, through Nov. 8, 2015 at venues across Chicago.

The Chicago Humanities Festival (CHF) announced today the complete schedule for the 26th Fall Festival, 130 events which will explore the theme of Citizens, Oct. 24-Nov. 8, 2015 at venues across Chicago.

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.

The Nation's first professional regional theatre, Cleveland Play House (CPH), proudly announces the highly-anticipated lineup of shows in its record-breaking 100th Anniversary Season, under Artistic Director Laura Kepley.

If you are even a semi-regular reader of this column of reviews, you know that about every three or four months, I post a compilation of observations of shows from the previous quarter of the year. This cabaret critiquing mash up happens for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that I admittedly see too many cabaret shows for the amount of time I have to promptly review them (and then, of course, the usual writer's procrastination sets in). So I have to prioritize the timeliness of the reviews based on the prestige of the performer, the length of a show run, the strength (or lack thereof) of the performance, etc. The quality of the shows in these compilations—which can range from a half dozen to a dozen reviews in one shot—are usually a mixed bag of outright raves, qualified positives, and constructive pans (I'm not a fan of the word “negative” in the reviewer lexicon). With that in mind here are a collection of cabaret show reviews going back to the start of a very harsh winter.