This is a brilliant revival of Chekhov's early play. Michael Grandage has assembled an exceptional cast-did anyone say Kenneth Branagh- and adapter Tom Stoppard has worked his magic, too.

In case one forgot, there's more to Lerner and Loewe than just My Fair Lady and Brigadoon. Take Gigi , for example-here presented in a well-done production at the Open Air.

The pros and cons of feminism are given a too thorough going over in Joanna Murray-Smith's The Female of the Species. There's a strong whiff of desperation as the play plods along.

Rupert Goold has come up witha brilliant take on Luigi Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author-true to the spirit of what the Italian master was attempting 87 years ago.

The Revengers Tragedy ( Thomas Middleton's gory Jacobean story) comes across as an extravagantly over-staged production. It operates on the principle that nothing succeeds like excess.

This production of The Music Man allows an audience to get the full flavor of the Meredith Wilson tuner-and that's pretty good fixings.

Marguerite is a real mess. It's one thing to remove the comedy from musical-comedy. But the creative team hasn't found anything to replace it with.

Eileen Atkins to star in Joanna Murray-Smith's comedy The Female of the Species.

Neil LaBute's 2004 off-Broadway hit Fat Pig has finally made it across the pond...and it still packs an emotional wallop. It underscores how easy it is to inflict pain on another person.

This revival of Pygmalion is served up in a pleasant if not especially demanding staging...call it Shaw Lite.