Tuesday, November 18, 2025

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

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: 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."

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.

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.
spot_img

The Edge Is Free To Read.

But Not To Produce.