T. Charles Erickson BRUTE The painter Mark Rothko, played by Bob Ari, right, gets a new assistant, Ken (Randy Harrison), in "Red" at the George Street Playhouse. In “Red,” the painter Mark Rothko seems like one of those clever people you might adore from

Sara Krulwich/The New York Times The 1999 production — the last Broadway staging before the 2012 revival — of “Death of a Salesman” starring Brian Dennehy, center, with Kevin Anderson, left, and Ted Koch. Go to related article » Since its first stage pro

These days, we all know the dietary drill. Consume hearty proportions of fruits and vegetables. Avoid saturated fats as if they were radioactive. And when it comes to protein, fish and chicken are the ways to go. All well and good – my pores are looking

An eight-hour long play looks set to become one of the most talked-about theatrical events of the year when it comes to London's West End in June. Gatz sees a cast of 13 perform every word of F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby – a premise that sounds

Giant is a stunning, phenomenal, creative achievement of a new musical. Last season when the Dallas Theater Center presented the world premiere of the new musical Give It Up!, I was one of the very theater critics in the metroplex that gave the productio

Knock-knock, Des Moines: Two missionaries in tidy white shirts and black slacks will show up on the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines doorstep early next year. The theater announced Tuesday that the gleefully controversial musical The Book of Mormon wil

Knock-knock, Des Moines: Two missionaries in tidy white shirts and black slacks will show up on the Civic Centers doorstep early next year. The theater announced today that the gleefully controversial musical The Book of Mormon will try to convert new fa

The fashionable take on Diane Paulus’ new production of Porgy and Bess on Broadway is that it is a triumph by Audra McDonald, as Bess, surrounded by an underpowered but respectable production. Unsurprisingly, the Times’ Ben Brantley, with his eternal wea

It turns out that having the president warble your song will do good things for its sales. That's the apparent lesson after Barack Obama sang a line of "Let's Stay Together" at a fundraiser and online sales of the Al Green original increased substantiall

I mention this both because of a bias in favor of giving deserved compliments whenever possible, and also because I think the most influential review of the play really missed the point. Last fall, in the NYT, Ben Brantley said that the play was "sporadi

I mention this both because of a bias in favor of giving deserved compliments whenever possible, and also because I think the most influential review of the play really missed the point. Last fall, in the NYT, Ben Brantley said that the play was "sporadi

The New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood’s essay on “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess” follows an online discussion between the Times chief theater critic Ben Brantley and the Times chief classical music critic Anthony Tommasini about the product

SAN DIEGO — Audiences who see Horton Foote’s “Dividing the Estate,” opening Thursday at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, will experience two hours of a family’s comically desperate, talons-baring tussle over whether and how to cash out a 5,000-acre ho

January 20, 2012, 11:58 am By DAVE ITZKOFF Sara Krulwich/The New York Times Cate Blanchett, right, as Blanche DuBois, with Robin McLeavy as Stella Kowalski in the Sydney Theater Company’s production of “A Streetcar Named Desire.” She can always depend on

The new production of “Porgy and Bess” that opened recently on Broadway – now crassly, not to mention inaccurately, branded “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess” – has become perhaps the most controversial musical revival in recent memory. It has been interest

It may have taken 28 years to get there, but now that Athol Fugard's "The Road to Mecca" has finally arrived on Broadway, the North County resident's 1984 play is getting a (mostly) warm critical reception. The intimate drama about an eccentric South Afr

Ben Brantley, the chief theater critic for The New York Times, and Anthony Tommasini, The Times's chief classical music critic, discuss the new musical production, The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess," based on the 1935 opera, and respond to readers' comments

Ben Brantley, the chief theater critic for The New York Times, and Anthony Tommasini, The Times’s chief classical music critic, discuss the new musical production, “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess,” based on the 1935 opera, and ask readers to join the conv

Ben Brantley, the chief theater critic for The New York Times, and Anthony Tommasini, The Times’s chief classical music critic, discuss the new musical production, “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess,” based on the 1935 opera, and ask readers to join the conv