While you might think of a play or a musical as entertainment — which it is — there’s another dimension worth considering. They are also works of literature, words written on a page meant to be spoken or perhaps sung. The success or failure of a performed work often hinges on the quality of the words in a play’s script or a musical’s book.  

Over several seasons, outgoing Artistic Director Greg Procaccino has elevated New Edgecliff Theater's reputation with sensitive, provocative productions like 'Glengarry Glen Ross' and 'Equus.' Now, in a curious farewell gesture, he's wasting audience enthusiasm and some estimable players in a misconceived muddle called 'Cyrano (Rehearsed).'  

Nobody connected with the Carnegie Arts Center/New Edgecliff Theater co-production of the Agatha Christie thriller The Mousetrap seems to realize that the real play resides in a tidal wash of simmering, threatening subtext under the polite, placid, even boring dialogue.