Archives for December 18, 2008

Seen on a bumper sticker: FREE THE BOUND PERIODICALS.

Here’s my list of recommended Broadway, off-Broadway, and out-of-town shows, updated weekly. In all cases, I gave these shows favorable reviews (if sometimes qualifiedly so) in The Wall Street Journal when they opened. For more information, click on the title.

Warning: Broadway shows marked with an asterisk were sold out, or nearly so, last week.

BROADWAY:

• Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps (comedy, G, suitable for bright children, reviewed here)

• August: Osage County (drama, R, adult subject matter, reviewed here)

• Avenue Q (musical, R, adult subject matter and one show-stopping scene of puppet-on-puppet sex, reviewed here)

• Equus (drama, R, nudity and adult subject matter, closes Feb. 8, reviewed here)

• Gypsy (musical, PG-13, adult subject matter, closes Jan. 11, reviewed here)

• The Little Mermaid (musical, G, entirely suitable for children, reviewed here)

• South Pacific * (musical, G/PG-13, some sexual content, brilliantly staged but unsuitable for viewers acutely allergic to preachiness, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:

• Back Back Back (drama, PG-13, adult subject matter, closes Jan. 25, reviewed here)

• The Fantasticks (musical, G, suitable for children capable of enjoying a love story, reviewed here)

CLOSING SOON OFF BROADWAY:

• My Vaudeville Man! (musical, G, closes Jan. 4, reviewed here)

CLOSING SOON ON BROADWAY:

• Boeing-Boeing (comedy, PG-13, cartoonishly sexy, closes Jan. 4, reviewed here)

• Dividing the Estate * (black comedy, G, far too serious for pre-teens, closes Jan. 4, reviewed here)

• Irving Berlin’s White Christmas * (musical, G, suitable for children capable of enjoying a love story, closes Jan. 4, reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK IN MADISON, N.J.:

• The Winter’s Tale (Shakespeare, G/PG-13, not suitable for small children, closes Dec. 28, reviewed here)

CLOSING SATURDAY OFF BROADWAY

• A Touch of the Poet (drama, PG-13, not suitable for children, reviewed here)

“Psycho is one of his most interesting pictures because he had to make the picture very fast, with very primitive means. He had little money, and this picture tells very much about him. Not very good things. He is completely infantile, and I would like to know more–no, I don’t want to know–about his behaviour with, or, rather, against women. But this picture is very interesting.”
Ingmar Bergman on Alfred Hitchcock (quoted in John Simon, Ingmar Bergman Directs)