David B. Edelstein

Cowardly Trilogy

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N O MATTER WHAT the American Premier Stage dished out in its first two programs. I was prepared to be

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C RITICS CHARGE THAT government subsidies for the arts in this country are laughable beside Great Britain's--and laughably administered. And,

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A NYONE CLAMORING for more "traditional Shakespeare after all the radical artsy-fartsiness in these part should zip over to the

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S LAPSTICK JUST DOESN'T WORK unless it's performed by people who can make you believe they are in continuous conflict

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I T IS A GARISH, cosmic nightclub, the figures on the floor drug-addled, lobotomized, throwing each other over, punching each

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W ORD GOT AROUND last week after Aladdin 's messy opening night that the show resembled a high school pageant,

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K AGEMUSHA begins with a simple tableau: a Japanese feudal lord, Shingen (Tatsya Nakada), sits in the center of the

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T HERE IS A fundamental miscalculation in the new production of Uncle Vanya --the distance it puts us from the

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J OHN SAYLES made The Return of the Secaucus Seven for his resume. He filmed it for $60,000 in 25

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W HEN COMMERCIALS for Humanoids from the Deep splashed across television screens last spring--with scaly black creatures clawing at curvaceous