Critic Charles Isherwood & More Give Year-End Review on THEATER TALK This Weekend

Sharing a mid-term evaluation of the Fall 2015 theater season on an all-new THEATER TALK are critics Jesse Green (New York Magazine), Charles Isherwood (The New York Times) and Elisabeth Vincentelli (the New York Post). They join co-hosts Michael Riedel of the New York Post and Susan Haskins - with comments about recent show ranging from "the worst play of all time" and "fake profundity" to "a good job in a bastardized genre" and "exhilarating and upsetting."

After an exchange about earpieces feeding actors lines this season, the critics weigh in on current shows A View From the Bridge, China Doll, The Color Purple, Eclipsed, The Humans, King Charles III, Lazarus, Misery, On Your Feet, School of Rock, Spring Awakening - even The Phantom of the Opera. What does Isherwood think makes "critics go to mush"? Who does Vincentelli believe "has a supreme gift for melody"? What represents "bizarre Anglophilia"? And what revivals are better than their original productions? Theater fans will be in heaven.

The Year-End Critics Round-up edition of THEATER TALK premieres in the New York City metropolitan area today, January 8 (2016) on Thirteen/PBS at 1:30 AM (Saturday morning) and Sunday. It re-airs Sunday, January 10 at 11:30 AM; as well as on CUNY TV* Saturday 1/9 at 8:30 PM, Sunday 1/10 at 12:30 PM, and Monday 1/11 at 7:30 AM, 1:30 PM, and 7:30 PM; and also airs on WLIW/21 Monday 1/11 at 5:30 PM - a total of 8 times weekly.

The not-for-profits Theater Talk Productions and CUNY TV jointly produce THEATER TALK. The program is taped in the Himan Brown TV and Radio Studios at The City University of New York (CUNY) TV in Manhattan, and is distributed to 100+ participating public television stations nationwide. THEATER TALK is made possible in part by The New York State Council on the Arts, The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The CUNY TV Foundation and The Friends of THEATER TALK.

*CUNY TV, the City University of New York television station, is broadcast throughout the New York metropolitan area on digital Ch. 25.3, and cablecast in THE FIVE boroughs of New York City on Ch. 75 (Time Warner; Optimum/Brooklyn), Ch. 77 (RCN) and Ch. 30 (Verizon FiOS). The show is available online anytime at www.cuny.tv and www.theatertalk.org and via iTunes podcasts.