Critic's Picks

Gregory Spears and Tracy K. Smith’s new work about an ambitious minister’s rise in the 1980s is that rarity in contemporary music: an original story.

By Zachary Woolfe

A vibrant coming-of-age story about an awkward teenager in California in 2008 is also a love letter to the director’s mother.

By Alissa Wilkinson

Teatro Nuovo is giving Carolina Uccelli’s pioneering “Anna di Resburgo” its first performances since its premiere in 1835.

By Joshua Barone

Pam Tanowitz’s “Day for Night” flows with and against the current of its surroundings, reflecting the park’s strange mix of the natural and man-made.

By Siobhan Burke

In Levan Akin’s fascinating drama, two strangers connect in Istanbul.

By Amy Nicholson

A skillfully directed Japanese mystery dips into the strangeness of dementia for those who stand by and watch.

By Alissa Wilkinson

Cole Escola’s dragtastic White House farce asks the immortal question: Besides that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?

By Jesse Green

A deep-tissue turn by Colman Domingo and a breakout performance by Clarence Maclin lift this moving drama about a prison theater program.

By Lisa Kennedy

A new documentary about the groundbreaking artist Brian Eno breaks its own ground, too.

By Alissa Wilkinson

Mia Goth returns to Ti West’s horrorverse as an actress fleeing a mysterious stalker and a traumatic past.

By Jeannette Catsoulis