Monday, September 14, 2026

News and Ideas Worth Sharing

Dan Dwyer

Dan Dwyer is an independent theatre reviewer and radio interview host. His radio show, "Off Script," is broadcast on NPR affiliate WHDD Robin Hood Radio. Podcasts of his interviews, along with his reviews, are posted on www.offscriptdandwyer.com. Dan’s reviews of Broadway musicals appear translated in "Blickpunkt Musical," the German magazine of international musical theater. Dan completed a workshop in directing at Yale University in the summer of 2015, and has directed rehearsed readings at the Berkshire Theatre Group. Dan is proprietor of Johnnycake Books, specializing in rare and collectible books, in Salisbury, Connecticut.

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INTERVIEW: Lyricist Lynn Ahrens on ‘Ragtime: The Symphonic Concert’ at Tanglewood

"The interesting thing about 'Ragtime' is that it has changed its meaning over the years as politics and as America have changed. The show seems to mirror whatever time we're in," said lyricist Lynn Ahrens, who, with composer Stephen Flaherty, won a Tony Award for Best Original Score for a Musical in 1998 for "Ragtime."

THEATER REVIEW: Barrington Stage Company’s production of ‘Waiting for Godot’ plays through September 4

Director Joe Calarco is in top form: His vision of Samuel Becket’s classic is brilliantly conceived and elegantly executed—one of the most exceptional productions I've seen.

THEATER REVIEW: ‘Guys and Dolls’ soars at Sharon Playhouse

It’s hard to imagine how Sharon Playhouse, under new management and artistic direction, could mount a better production of Loesser’s classic musical comedy. Sharon Playhouse’s “Guys and Dolls,” from beginning to end, is one big smile, something we all could use these days.

THEATER REVIEW: Barrington Stage Company’s ‘Ain’t Misbehavin” is one of ‘the best musicals I have ever seen’

It’s impossible to watch "Ain't Misbehavin'" without finger-snapping, hand-clapping, or sitting still. Of the five performers not one is “better” than the other.

THEATER REVIEW: As an outstanding one-woman drama, ‘The Shot’ puts civics back in theater

"The Shot" is an exemplar of non-profit theater at its most purposeful. The show is produced by SPARK Theatrical, which is dedicated to connecting plays about social justice and human rights with local non-profit organizations to provide audiences with the opportunity for education and action.

THEATER REVIEW: ‘Tiny Beautiful Things’ is more than just a play

Under Chester Theatre Company Director Daniel Elihu Kramer, this play "leaves audiences with unexpected counsel for everyday life."

THEATER REVIEW: Berkshire Theatre Group’s ‘Four Women’ more history lesson than theater

"In a word, the play is talky: it’s sometimes like sitting in a graduate seminar on feminist intra-racial relations."

THEATER REVIEW: The highs and lows of BSC’s ‘Boca’

"The high points occur in the script’s few moments that legitimately reveal the pathos that underpins comedy."

THEATER REVIEW: ‘Christopher Boy’s Communion’ at Great Barrington Public Theater

The opening scene "recalls the best of Mamet’s writing: angry rhythms, violent staccatos, fraught cadence, pregnant ellipses that typify the best language from arguably the boldest of American 20th century playwrights."

THEATER REVIEW: Anne Undeland’s ‘Mr. Fullerton’ an intriguing study of Edith Wharton

There’re lots of delicious ingredients in “Mr. Fullerton,” but like a good cassoulet, it needs maturation.

Great Barrington Public Theater’s ‘Dad’ is more than just ‘heartfelt’

In his first autobiographical play, Mark St. Germain pulls no punches.

REVIEW: ‘HAMILTON: An American Musical’ has urgent, current relevance

There are rare occasions in the theater when one sees something so totally original, one knows one’s witnessing something historic.

REVIEW: ‘Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration’

There’s nothing like being at the theater, seeing performances like this live, but as Sondheim writes in “With So Little to Be Sure Of”: “we had a moment, a wonderful moment.”

Musical theater in the age of coronavirus: An American report

The coronavirus pandemic has shut theaters all across America, like the rest of the world, for months at least. What’s beyond that is anyone’s guess.

REVIEW: BTG’s heartfelt ‘What the Jews Believe’ is perfectly cast

Young Logan Weibrecht, recruited from the local Lenox Memorial Middle and High School, has a stage presence that matches all the other seasoned performers.

REVIEW: ‘American Underground’ at Barrington Stage Company sometimes compelling, sometimes wobbly

“American Underground” creates a Trumpian dystopia of horrific proportion and triggers visceral, primitive reactions that are startling.
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