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By Dylan Foley In 1956, a young cartoonist named Jules Feiffer started publishing a nine-panel cartoon in the Village Voice, a new alternative weekly in Manhattan. The strip was like a bomb thrown into the world of dating angst and the perpetual conflict between men and women, and it quickly took off. It was published nationally in 100 newspapers,... Full story »

NEW YORK — Frank Sinatra was whispering sweet enticements into a microphone before Twyla Tharp was even born. But like the women of her mother’s generation, the celebrated choreographer never seems to tire of listening to what Ol’ Blue Eyes has to say. With "Come Fly Away," the musical that opens Thursday at the Marquis Theater on Broadway, Tharp... Full story »

Serving Genius: Carlo Maria Giulini Thomas Saler University of Illinois Press, 228 pp., $34.95 Music lovers mythologize conductors, expecting them to enjoy Indian summers like Arturo Toscanini and other podium eminences who improve as they age. This sensitive new biography of Italian conductor Carlo Maria Giulini (1914-2005) proves that the reverse can be true. Prized for his passionately noble... Full story »

Reviewed by Josh McMahon John McPhee has a new book out. Well, not exactly a new book. “Silk Parachute” is actually a treasure chest of essays — both short and long — that McPhee wrote over a number of years, most of which originally appeared in The New Yorker. For McPhee fans, there’s much to savor in this neat... Full story »

Reviewed by Tom Mackin Lost in this melancholy story of greed, adultery and blackmail are Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, Pudd’nhead Wilson and the other beloved characters from the late 19th century who made Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) one of the most important American writers. Yet one can no more stop reading this tragic book than one can stop... Full story »

The glorious tradition of the story ballet comes to Branchburg Saturday, when American Repertory Ballet revives Graham Lustig’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the Theatre at Raritan Valley Community College. Created 10 years ago, this family-friendly production condenses the plot of Shakespeare’s play into a single act. Nevertheless, it offers a full contingent of fairies and gnarly hobgoblins played... Full story »

We’ve all heard the expression, “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.” Holly Twyford knows that many theatergoers are wary of Greeks bearing plays. After all, we live in an era where many refuse to watch black-and-white movies. So how can they endure a play written 2,400 years ago? Twyford thinks she knows how to answer that question. On Tuesday, the... Full story »

By John Zeaman/For The Star-Ledger They were a Conservative Jewish congregation building a new synagogue in the pleasant suburb of Millburn. The artists were a rebellious bunch that hung out at the Cedar Tavern in Greenwich Village. They liked to argue theory, drink heavily and sometimes have fistfights. The year was 1951. One of the art gang. Robert Motherwell,... Full story »

From left, Tracy King as Mrs. Muller, Kathleen Clancy as Sister James and Karen Case Cook as Sister Aloysius in the Women’s Theater Company’s production of “Doubt.” Give credit to director Barbara Krajkowski. In staging “Doubt” at her Women’s Theater Company, she didn’t just re-create the recent Meryl Streep-Philip Seymour Hoffman film. Lesser directors often take their cue from... Full story »

Never mind what the famous “Funny Girl” song says — people who need people are not necessarily the luckiest people in the world. Lord knows that the three woebegone “friends” in David Mamet’s “American Buffalo” need each other. But this trio of thieves are codependents and enablers too. To borrow another line from the song, they’re children needing other... Full story »

An unwitting scholar named Verlaine seeks letters between the late philanthropist Abigail Rockefeller and a murdered mother superior — on behalf of his sketchy, ailing employer. He implores 23-year-old Evangeline, who has lived for 11 years in a convent for the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, for help. His request conscripts Evangeline into a bizarre adventure that will reveal her... Full story »

Martha Gaines has a tough job: She runs the practice house at Wilton College, an all-girls’ school somewhere in Pennsylvania. The year is 1946. The practice house is where the students go to learn how to be a mother. (Cornell University sponsored such a house from 1919 to 1969.) Babies arrive from the local orphanage. Martha, 48 years old... Full story »

European royalty was pretty much in the end game by the time of King George V of Britain, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and Czar Nicholas II of Russia. The problem was, these three pretty, mediocre gents didn’t realize the jig was up. Miranda Carter lets us see how delusional the trio was about the rising currents of change... Full story »

New Jersey Ballet has planned a colorful, theatrical event for patrons who attend the company’s annual gala benefit Saturday at Prudential Hall in Newark. In addition to classical showpieces — sunny and vibrant pas de deux from “Le Corsaire” and “The Flames of Paris” — the Livingston-based troupe will reprise “The Three Riddles of Turandot,” a darkly romantic gloss... Full story »