“Fela!” follows a tricky path between musical reproduction and reinvention to explore the life of a musical legend.

Many things have happened since Dan Hoyle performed in the premiere of “Tings Dey Happen,” his incendiary and brilliant solo show about Nigerian oil politics, nearly three years ago at the compact theater the Marsh in San Francisco.

“Girl Crazy,” the Gershwin musical from 1930 about a handful of wiseacre New Yorkers plopped down in the Wild West, opens this year’s Encores! series of concert musicals at City Center.

Selective listings from theater critics of The New York Times.

“The Habit of Art,” the Alan Bennett play, has at its complexly poignant core W.H. Auden and Benjamin Britten.

What the Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theater does is improbably fabulous, and they’re doing it again in their sublime new production.

Alert the authorities. Shocking sexual acts are taking place in this inspired new comedy by Sarah Ruhl.

The first part of Horton Foote’s “Orphans’ Home Cycle” is a thrilling demonstration of an artist soaring into the realm of the epic.

Seattle is alive with artistic energy. While the city’s musical voices thrive, stage productions are on the rebound after the loss of prized playhouses.

An interactive feature on the 50th anniversary of the Broadway opening of "The Sound of Music."

A compellingly still center lurks within the farcical storm of “My Wonderful Day,” the charming, rueful new comedy written and directed by Alan Ayckbourn.

The treasure hunters at the Actors Company Theater have unearthed another jewel with “The Late Christopher Bean.”

The powerful Shubert Organization has struck a new business deal with two theater producers that may lead to greater competition among other producers.

On “Glee,” show tunes are confections. Barbara Cook makes them art.

Action is everywhere in “Wintuk,” the family-oriented holiday extravaganza from Cirque du Soleil. Emotion, however, is in somewhat shorter supply.

Jim Cartwright's "The Rise and Fall of Little Voice'' tells of a teen familial face-off; and "Pains of Youth" presents a creepy image of pre-wartime doctors.

Theodore Bikel wrote and stars in this pleasantly nostalgic but meandering show about Sholom Aleichem, the great Yiddish writer.

There is not even a hint of staginess in Wendy Woodson’s one-woman play “She Turned On the Light.”

Rhea Perlman and Lucy DeVito are the first mother-daughter pair to join the rotating cast of the play “Love, Loss, and What I Wore.”

Watching Tarell Alvin McCraney’s “Brother/Sister Plays,” you experience the excited wonder that comes from witnessing a new, authentically original vision.