Reviewing the Drama: Broadway, Off-Broadway, Ballet, Movies, and TV Reviews

In 1879, Nora slammed the door on Torvald, and it shocked Victorian readers and, soon thereafter, audiences world-wide. A Doll's House  catapulted Henrik Ibsen into the international spotlight, and solidified his position as a subversive writer. Nearly 140 years later, Lucas Hnath , a subversive and gifted writer in his own right, imagines what happened after the door slammed. Details reveal themselves naturally so I won't give too much away (especially not the 100% perfect, A++ first and final moments of the show). Suffice it to say that A Doll's House, Part 2  picks up 15 years after Nora (Laurie Metcalf) left her husband, Torvald (Chris Cooper), and young children. The doll returns to her house, which Miriam Buether has cleverly designed to suggest a boxing ring. The metaphor continues in the direction (by Tony winner Sam Gold), as actors brace themselves on and grasp at the walls like a boxer working the ropes. Toward the end, we find both Nora and Torvald on the...

“Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona, where we lay our scene.” We all know the opening prologue of William Shakespeare’s classic tale of star cross’d lovers, Romeo and Juliet , and I’m sure we’re all familiar with the story and the lovers’ tragic end. I’ve read the play several times, I’ve seen the Baz Luhrmann film (it starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes as the title pair) and I’ve seen the ballet (Peter Martins’s balcony scene pas de deux is exquisite). But I’ve never seen Romeo and Juliet on stage, and, unfortunately, David Leveaux’s production, now playing at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, disappointed in that it didn’t tell me anything about the story I didn’t already know. This is a fine, if timid, production of one of Shakespeare’s best known plays. (I should note that some scenes or portions of them are cut, probably due to expediency, wanting to get on with the storytelling.) The ensemble is talented and Jesse Poleshuck’s sparse and fluid scenic ...