Thursday, September 24, 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.

written articles

REVIEW: Shake & Co.’s ‘Time Stands Still’ a solid, poignant production

“Time Stands Still” drills down to what’s most important in life. Nicole Ricciardi directs with an invisible, assured hand.

REVIEW: Shake & Co’s ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor’ still merry, rain or shine

The Merry Wives of Windsor By William Shakespeare Directed by Kevin G. Coleman The weather gods didn't bless the late August, midweek evening I attended “The Merry...

REVIEW: Berkshire Opera Festival’s ‘Don Pasquale’: Opera as Best Musical

If anyone is put off by opera, “Don Pasquale” — written by Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti and first performed in 1843 — is Intro to Opera 101.

REVIEW: ‘Topdog/Underdog’ at Shake & Co. a superb production about a desperate struggle to survive

Director Regge Life works Parks’ script like a pressure cooker. The pacing is impeccable. Tension mounts; a feeling of violence prevails.

REVIEW: Barrington Stage’s ‘Fall Springs’ is a cartoon, and not a good one

There is a cautionary environmental tale in 'Falls Springs,' and highfalutin moral lessons, too, but it’s all played so broadly, it’s just plain silly.

REVIEW: BTG’s ho-hum ‘What We May Be’ saved by leading lady’s stage presence

An indefatigable Penny Fuller (two Tony Award noms in her career) rises above the material; no matter how weak, she makes it work.

REVIEW: Ancram Opera House’s ‘The Brothers Size’ an intimate, powerful production

The trio is superb, finding the rhythms in the naturalistic prose and navigating seamlessly transitions between dream sequences and song.

REVIEW: WTF’s ‘Before the Meeting’: Authentic and best single performance of Berkshire season

Williamstown Theatre Festival concludes its 2019 season with the best single performance on a Berkshire stage all summer.

REVIEW: ‘Curve of Departure’ at Chester Theatre composes family relations with simple elegance

Plot details would be spoilers; what “Curve of Departure” is really about is how we negotiate the future unknown.

REVIEW: WTF’s disappointing ‘Ghosts’ lacks drama

Director Carey Perloff says the score carried “the ghostly sounds of everything—lust, memory, fear, desire.” That’s nice, but it can’t substitute for those emotions when there’s no drama on the stage.

REVIEW: Barrington Stage’s ‘If I Forget’ sophisticated but only half way there

With a plot this rich, expectations for what happens run high, but Act 2, set six months later, sadly disappoints.

REVIEW: WTF’s ‘Tell Me I’m Not Crazy’ is unfunny television fare

Had I happened on the likes of this story on television, I would have grabbed the remote and changed the channel.

REVIEW: Shake & Co’s ‘The Children’ is engrossing and disarming

Characters prevail with a splendid trio of Shakespeare & Company veterans, who take on colloquial (and fully comprehensible) English accents.

REVIEW: Barrington Stage’s ‘Gertrude and Claudius’ would benefit from more drama, chemistry

In the program’s notes, St. Germain pinpoints the goal: “What works on the page needs to take on its own vivid life on the stage.” Does it? Despite the play’s intelligence, erudition and beautifully crafted language, sadly, not so much.

REVIEW: BTG’s ‘Working’ an unflinching, eloquent, poignant picture of America

The last numbers of “Working” cut to the bone about what makes work in America uniquely American: the belief that hard work will make it better for the next generation.
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