"theatrical tale" is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
It refers to a story, typically one that is exaggerated or dramatic in nature, that is meant to be performed on stage or in a theatrical setting. It can be used in various contexts, such as in a review of a play or in a description of a film. Example: The play was a mesmerizing production, with its colorful costumes, dynamic staging, and unforgettable performances bringing to life a theatrical tale of love, betrayal, and redemption.
Like the character he played in four of the Batman movie blockbusters, that of Bruce Wayne's faithful butler Alfred, Michael Gough radiated quiet authority and avuncular charm; he could spin a theatrical tale like few others.
Ms. Henderson's most important work, "Theater in America: 250 Years of Plays, Players and Productions" (1986, revised in 1996), is a concise history, valued by students and teachers, that tells the country's theatrical tale in chapters that focus on individuals and individual professions: producers, playwrights, actors and others.
What we have in Black Swan is a psychodrama of a rather obvious kind, and an equally traditional theatrical tale in which the off-stage life of an artist mirrors the on-stage performance until the point is reached where the two merge.
The American Conservatory Theater's production presented Stoppard's complex theatrical tale with such a rare sense of dramatic clarity (resting on a foundation of crisp diction) that its nearly three-hour length flew by unnoticed.
I couldn't read the words, so I used to make up my own theatrical tales to go with them.
As that observation suggests, the play owes a modest debt to similar theatrical tales of innocence corrupted, like Wallace Shawn's "Aunt Dan and Lemon" and Martin McDonagh's "Pillowman".
Typical was the one in The New York Times, in which Bruce Weber called the musical "a polished, frequently charming work" but questioned its appeal beyond aficonados of quirky theatrical tales.
All of these theatrical tales -- and countless more -- will be recalled tonight at a gala to honor Mr. Feuer, the producer, at the Chelsea Piers, an event that celebrates his 90th birthday and his more than half a century of work in the American theater.
He was just 23 when he enjoyed the "overnight success" of a theatrical fairy tale in Trevor Nunn's 2004 Hamlet at the Old Vic.
In this age of "Shrek" and "Enchanted" comes "The City That Cried Wolf," a theatrical take on fairy tales that conjures its own magic.
Amplified to a theatrical pitch, the tale casts off its social-realist clogs and begins dancing around the stage-flats like some festive carouser; merry one moment, maudlin the next.
