Frank Scheck

1 week ago | nystagereview.com | Frank Scheck

As subtle as its title, Kimberly Belflower’s play set in a high school classroom feels like it should also be performed in one. The idea behind John Proctor Is the Villain, namely applying a contemporary #MeToo sensibility to a conversation with Arthur Miller’s classic 1953 play, The Crucible, is not without merit. But this frenetic effort undercuts its provocative thesis with too-obvious situations and characters, telegraphing its messages with all the subtlety of a dance-heavy pop song.

2 weeks ago | nystagereview.com | Frank Scheck

It’s hard to imagine who was clamoring for a Broadway musical based on Betty Boop. Not to be ageist, but it’s safe to say that most fans of the venerable cartoon character who made her debut in 1930 are now facing severe mobility issues.

2 weeks ago | nystagereview.com | Frank Scheck

One of the main selling points of the current wave of celebrity-driven Broadway dramas is that they give you the opportunity to see your favorite movie and television stars live in the flesh. Perversely, Good Night, and Good Luck mainly provides the opportunity to see George Clooney onscreen.

3 weeks ago | nystagereview.com | Frank Scheck

Put high-profile movie or TV stars in a popular, well-recognized vehicle. Rinse and repeat. That seems to be the current formula for Broadway success, especially when you can charge in the upper three figures for tickets. How else to explain yet another revival of David Mamet’s classic about shady real-estate salesman? The current production of Glengarry Glen Ross marks the play’s third Broadway revival in twenty years, and it’s playing at the Palace, normally the home of large-scale musicals.

3 weeks ago | hollywoodreporter.com | Frank Scheck

The metaphors weigh heavily in the latest Blumhouse horror film, which relies more on subtle atmospherics than their usual offerings. The sort of thoughtful, measuredly-paced chiller that wouldn’t look out of place as a Twilight Zone episode — or, if it were amplified to bigger proportions, a Jordan Peele movie — The Woman in the Yard belies its disingenuously bland title with its considerable thematic ambitions.