All stories by Matthew Murray on BroadwayStars

Friday, May 19, 2017

OTHELLO - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

You don't need to have served in the military to know that the old axiom is true.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 06:13AM
Thursday, April 27, 2017

TWELFTH NIGHT - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Spring has finally sprung in New York, but it's summer 365 days a year in the Illyria of The Public Theater's Mobile Unit production of Twelfth Night.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:15PM

A DOLL'S HOUSE, PART 2 - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Even a door that's slammed rarely stays shut forever.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:14PM
Wednesday, April 26, 2017

BANDSTAND - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Swing music tends to be both exciting and comforting: reliant on the bright, brash edges of brass, but conjuring the more innocently explosive energy of a simpler and carefree era.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:18PM
Tuesday, April 25, 2017

SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Few plays of recent vintage have entered the public consciousness, to say nothing of the public vernacular, the way Six Degrees of Separation has.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 06:39PM
Monday, April 24, 2017

ANASTASIA - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

It's no wonder that the story of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova continues to fascinate a century after her death: Hers is one of the few modern fairy tales everyone wants to bel…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:09PM
Sunday, April 23, 2017

THE ANTIPODES - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

With her gripping new play The Antipodes, which just opened at the Pershing Square Signature Center, Annie Baker considers one of the artist's eternal dilemmas: What happens when you give ev…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:23PM

CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Chocolate has traditionally fallen into the category of things that are pretty good even when they're bad.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:12PM
Thursday, April 20, 2017

HELLO, DOLLY! - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

The real news about the slam-bang revival of Hello, Dolly! that just opened at the Shubert isn't what you think.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 06:37PM
Wednesday, April 19, 2017

THE LITTLE FOXES - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Certain distances may seem large, but can in fact be very small: between wealth and poverty, for example, or between importance and meaninglessness, or between being somebody and being nobod…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:03PM
Tuesday, April 18, 2017

INDECENT - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

It's almost impossible today to imagine a time when a Broadway play would have been shut down for obscenity, especially about the long-since-accepted topic of homosexuality.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:06PM
Monday, April 17, 2017

GROUNDHOG DAY - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Andy Karl looked to be in visible pain at the end of the Friday night press performance of Groundhog Day, the new musical at the August Wilson.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 06:29PM
Thursday, April 13, 2017

OSLO - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

It's a sad fact of the even sadder world we live in that J.T. Rogers's play Oslo, which just opened at the Vivian Beaumont at Lincoln Center following a run downstairs at the Mitzi E. Newhou…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:18PM
Wednesday, April 12, 2017

IN & OF ITSELF - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Magic acts can get away with being quiet and contemplative, as the magic is usually flashy and showy enough.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:17PM
Monday, April 10, 2017

THE PROFANE - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

The one intriguing twist Zayd Dohrn puts on the traditional culture-clash-marriage plot he uses in The Profane, which just opened at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Playwrights Horizons, is t…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:33AM
Thursday, April 6, 2017

WAR PAINT - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

You don't need to be obsessed with beauty products to grasp the timeless axiom about makeup: Less is more.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:01PM
Wednesday, April 5, 2017

PRESENT LAUGHTER - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

When you need gold-plated ham, who better to turn to than Kevin Kline?

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:09PM

GENTLY DOWN THE STREAM - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

You already know the tune that gives Martin Sherman's new play at The Public Theater, Gently Down the Stream, its title.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:09PM
Monday, April 3, 2017

AMELIE - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Charm used to be the glue that held musicals together, but today it's largely unappreciated, if not outright scorned, as antithetical to big products and big budgets that can't (or shouldn't…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:29PM
Sunday, April 2, 2017

THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

The Play That Goes Wrong, which just opened at the Lyceum, is funny.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:31PM
Monday, March 27, 2017

LATIN HISTORY FOR MORONS - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

It's rarely fun to have your intelligence demeaned, but you may not mind the way John Leguizamo does it.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:53PM
Sunday, March 26, 2017

SWEAT - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

When Lynn Nottage's new play Sweat opened at The Public Theater last year right before election day (November 3, to be exact) it made one kind of political statement.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:01PM
Thursday, March 23, 2017

MISS SAIGON - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

At least the helicopter is better. . . .

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:13PM
Monday, March 20, 2017

HOW TO TRANSCEND A HAPPY MARRIAGE - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Sarah Ruhl is a playwright who usually needs an editor, and for the first act of How to Transcend a Happy Marriage, her new play at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center, she seems…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 06:49PM
Thursday, March 16, 2017

ARTHUR MILLER'S THE PRICE - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Subtlety is no great hallmark of Arthur Miller's plays.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:52PM
Wednesday, March 15, 2017

JOAN OF ARC: INTO THE FIRE - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

For their first musical together at The Public Theater in 2013, Here Lies Love, David Byrne and Alex Timbers (working with Fatboy Slim) chose Imelda Marcos to anchor a disco-fueled swirl thr…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:11PM
Monday, March 13, 2017

THE LIGHT YEARS - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Of all the irresistible forces in the universe, progress may be the toughest to slow down.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:25PM

THE EMPEROR JONES - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Has devolution ever appeared more terrifying - or more vital - onstage than it does in The Emperor Jones?

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:33AM
Sunday, March 12, 2017

COME FROM AWAY - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

For many Americans - and undoubtedly for many New Yorkers - memories of September 11, 2001, still sting.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:19PM
Thursday, March 9, 2017

THE GLASS MENAGERIE - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Few next-generation directors have proven their understanding of understatement better than Sam Gold.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:09PM
Wednesday, March 8, 2017

THE OUTER SPACE - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

The Outer Space, the new concert-musical by Ethan Lipton that just opened at Joe's Pub, turns on a familiar axiom: "Things are the same all over."

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:24PM

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