Friday, May 17, 2024

’Galileo: A Rock Musical’ Review: Grafting 80s-Style Power Ballads Onto The Story of a Renaissance Visionary Yields Assertive But Awkward Results by Dennis Harvey

With science denialism and theocratic politics both on the rise, it’s an opportune moment to revisit the life of Galileo Galilei, whose discoveries about the cosmos four centuries ago were…

SOURCE: Variety at 06:08PM

Center Theatre Group Artistic Director Snehal Desai Talks 2024-2025 Lineup, Including Sutton Foster in ‘Once Upon a Mattress’  by Jenelle Riley

In April 2023, Snehal Desai took on the mantle of Artistic Director for Center Theatre Group (CTG), one of the world’s largest and most prestigious theater companies. Though he became acti…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:59PM
Thursday, May 16, 2024

Judi Dench Criticizes Trigger Warnings in Theater: ‘If You’re That Sensitive, Don’t Go’ by Michaela Zee

Judi Dench is skeptical about the need for trigger warnings in theater. In an interview with Radio Times magazine, Dench was asked about her opinion on content advisories before watching a s…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:58AM
Wednesday, May 15, 2024

Industry Group for Los Angeles Theater Lovers Launches From RuCo Film and Television Exec Jay Marcus by Marc Malkin

Jay Marcus has been working in film and television for more than a decade, but he also has no problem boasting that he is a “theater nerd.” “I could talk about theater more than anythi…

SOURCE: Variety at 08:18PM

A Spring in Broadway’s Step: After a Grim Fall, the New York Theater Industry Finds Reasons to be Upbeat by Gordon Cox

Are we back yet? That’s the question Broadway has been asking for the past three years, as the theater industry emerged from lockdown into a harsh new reality of rising costs and slow-to-r…

SOURCE: Variety at 04:26PM
Tuesday, May 14, 2024

Why Tony Nominee Jessica Lange Feels ‘Wild and Liberated’ in Broadway’s ‘Mother Play’ by Gordon Cox

Jessica Lange has starred on Broadway before — winning a Tony for her most recent appearance there in “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” in 2016. But according to Lange, now back on Bro…

SOURCE: Variety at 04:26PM

Sarah Paulson Calls Out Actor Who Emailed Her Six Pages of Notes After Watching Her: It Was ‘Outrageous’ and ‘I Hope I See You Never’ by Michaela Zee

Sarah Paulson will never forget the actor who sent her six pages of unsolicited notes after watching her in a play. Paulson recently appeared on the “Smartless” podcast, where she and ho…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:12AM
Monday, May 13, 2024

George Clooney to Make Broadway Debut in Adaptation of His Film ‘Good Night, and Good Luck’ by Jordan Moreau

George Clooney is making his Broadway debut in a play adaptation of his 2005 drama “Good Night, and Good Luck.” Clooney will play journalist Edward R. Murrow, who was the host of CBS’ …

SOURCE: Variety at 01:28PM
Wednesday, May 8, 2024

‘Spirited Away’ Review: Stage Version of the Oscar Winning Animated Film is Less Than the Sum of Its Impressive Parts by Gordon Cox

Hayao Miyazaki’s 2001 animated film “Spirited Away” won everything from the Oscar for Best Animated Feature to Berlin’s Golden Bear. That there’s an audience for a stage version wa…

SOURCE: Variety at 07:00PM
Tuesday, May 7, 2024

Robert Downey Jr. to Make Broadway Debut in New Play, ‘McNeal’ by Rebecca Rubin

Robert Downey Jr. will make his Broadway debut this fall in the new play, “McNeal.” Written by Ayad Akhtar and directed by Bartlett Sher (“To Kill a Mockingbird”), “McNeal” will …

SOURCE: Variety at 01:07PM
Friday, May 3, 2024

‘Twenty-Sided Tavern’ Brings Dungeons & Dragons Improv, Audience Voting and Real Tequila Shots to Off-Broadway by Jordan Moreau

All hope seemed to be lost when the zombie cowboy faced off against the putrid walrus in the final boss battle of “The Twenty-Sided Tavern,” which opens at Stage 42 on May 5 in New York …

SOURCE: Variety at 04:24PM

With Over 500 Shows, ‘Netflix Is a Joke’ Comedy Festival Plans ‘More Ambitious’ Second Run by Jenelle Riley

It’s the first week of April, and Netflix vice president of stand-up and comedy formats Robbie Praw is severely under the weather. He’s just a month out from the launch of the second Net…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:15PM
Thursday, May 2, 2024

Struggling ‘Lempicka’ Ending Broadway Run by Brent Lang

“Lempicka,” a musical about Art Deco painter Tamara de Lempicka, will play its final Broadway performance on Sunday, May 19. The show has struggled to draw crowds since opening on April…

SOURCE: Variety at 07:05PM
Wednesday, May 1, 2024

Jenny Yang, Brian Simpson and More Comics Talk Frustrating Hecklers, Social Media Judgement, and Making Money ‘Being a Goofball’ by Jenelle Riley

Since 2000, Variety has been naming its annual 10 Comics to Watch — and watching them go on to impressive careers. We decided to invite a few notable alumni who happen to be performing at …

SOURCE: Variety at 04:05PM
Tuesday, April 30, 2024

Why Tony Nominees Eden Espinosa and Amber Iman Love That You’re Feeling Some Kind of Way About ‘Lempicka’ by Gordon Cox

The new musical “Lempicka” has inspired a love-it-or-hate-it response from critics and audiences alike — and its two newly-minted Tony-nominated actors, Eden Espinosa and Amber Iman, l…

SOURCE: Variety at 07:01PM

‘Minority Report’ Review: Hi-Tech, Lo-Drama in Flat West End Sci-Fi by Gordon Cox

When, at a dramatic peak, the lead character is running for her life and she’s teetering on a perilously tiny walkway on the outside of a very tall building, and terrified, certain thought…

SOURCE: Variety at 05:55PM

Tony Nominations Snubs and Surprises: ‘The Wiz’ Shut Out, Steve Carell and Michael Imperioli Overlooked, as ‘Stereophonic’ Becomes Most-Nomina by Gordon Cox

With the annual announcement of the Tony nominations comes the yearly list of snubs and surprises, as this season’s shows see their dreams realized — or their hopes dashed — and progno…

SOURCE: Variety at 11:31AM

Tony Nominations 2024: Alicia Keys’ Musical ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ and ‘Stereophonic’ Lead With 13 Nods Apiece by Jordan Moreau

“Hell’s Kitchen,” a musical inspired by Alicia Keys’ teenage years in New York City, and “Stereophonic,” the story of a rock group in danger of splintering, dominated the 2024 To…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:15AM
Monday, April 29, 2024

The New Rules of Comedy: Hannah Gadsby, Joel Kim Booster and More Talk Cancel Culture, Inclusivity and Mental Health  by Jenelle Riley

Comedy constantly shifts and changes, and tenets that might have applied years ago are also on the move. Variety spoke to some comics about everything from social media to cancel culture to …

SOURCE: Variety at 02:15PM

Final Tony Awards Predictions 2024: Eddie Redmayne, Sarah Paulson, Leslie Odom Jr and Daniel Radcliffe Among Likely Nominees by Gordon Cox

Variety‘s Awards Circuit is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year. It features the official predictions for the Oscars, Emmys, Grammys, and Tony Awards, cur…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:00AM
Sunday, April 28, 2024

Some Critics Don’t Understand the ‘Cabaret’ Broadway Revival. Young Women Do. (Guest Column) by Brent Lang

For more than half a century, “Cabaret” — the iconic American musical set in Nazi Germany — has been produced, revived and revived again. This story, which touches on sex work, abort…

SOURCE: Variety at 03:35PM
Friday, April 26, 2024

‘Illinoise’ Review: A Thrilling, Genre-Defying Broadway Musical Brings the Sufjan Stevens Album to Lyrical Life by Gordon Cox

Sufjan Stevens’s indie folk concept album “Illinois” (2005) is whimsical, earnest, and sorrowful; it weaves together events and figures from Illinois history (including UFO sightings, …

SOURCE: Variety at 02:16PM

Life Is a ‘Cabaret’: Bebe Neuwirth’s Latest Role Is a High-Stakes Broadway Homecoming by Gordon Cox

Bebe Neuwirth calls herself a “theater rat.” So it’s natural she’d be sitting in an old-school New York diner on Eighth Avenue, on the edge of the Broadway district, right around the…

SOURCE: Variety at 11:00AM
Thursday, April 25, 2024

‘The Great Gatsby’ Review: Broadway Musical Has Glamour but Little Grit by Gordon Cox

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel “The Great Gatsby,” which captured the roaring twenties with shocking clarity, is a staple of high school curricula and has been immortalized in two fa…

SOURCE: Variety at 10:00PM

‘Mother Play’ Review: Jessica Lange Is an Unhinged Delight in Dysfunctional Family Drama on Broadway by Aramide Tinubu

There is no handbook on motherhood, but most people try their best when it comes to childrearing. Today, amid increasingly accessible resources and freedoms that weren’t afforded in the p…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:30PM
Wednesday, April 24, 2024

‘Uncle Vanya’ Review: Steve Carell Fits Seamlessly Into a Stellar Ensemble in a Gorgeous Broadway Revival by Gordon Cox

Director Lila Neugebauer sets Lincoln Center Theater’s starry, breathtaking new Broadway production of Anton Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” in current-day America rather than Russia around …

SOURCE: Variety at 09:00PM

Cole Escola’s Play ‘Oh, Mary!’ to Open on Broadway After Sold-Out Off Broadway Run by Rebecca Rubin

Mary Todd Lincoln had grand ambitions of being a cabaret star, at least according to playwright Cole Escola. Now, the former first lady is getting her due on the grandest stage of all. “Oh…

SOURCE: Variety at 10:00AM
Tuesday, April 23, 2024

‘Mary Jane’ Review: Rachel McAdams Makes a Solid Broadway Debut Depicting the Sacrifice of Motherhood by Aramide Tinubu

Parenting inspires varying schools of thought. While some relish the tasks of caretaking, others speak candidly about the hardships of child-rearing, sharing the true realities of motherhood…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:00PM
Monday, April 22, 2024

‘The Heart of Rock And Roll’ Review: Huey Lewis and the News Jukebox Musical is Easy to Like, Harder to Love by Gordon Cox

When a character in the new musical “The Heart of Rock and Roll” tries to convince his ex to leave her job at a factory that makes shipping materials, he is stunned: “Oh, my god. It’…

SOURCE: Variety at 10:00PM

‘Patriots’ Review: Peter Morgan’s Disappointing Power Play About Putin’s Rise in Post-Soviet Russia is a ‘Nyet’ by Gordon Cox

In Peter Morgan’s tantalizing but disappointing new play “Patriots,” Boris Berezovsky is presented as a larger-than-life oligarch in a post-Soviet Russia who transforms Vladimir Putin …

SOURCE: Variety at 08:14PM
Sunday, April 21, 2024

‘Cabaret’ Review: Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin Lead High-Style Revival That Cuts to the Bone by Gordon Cox

When Eddie Redmayne’s slithering Emcee assures the audience at “Cabaret” that “here, life is beautiful,” he’s telling a half-truth. The August Wilson Theater, done up like the Ki…

SOURCE: Variety at 10:00PM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards