All stories by Charles McNulty on BroadwayStars

Thursday, April 4, 2019

Review: Glenda Jackson battles through a brazenly busy ‘King Lear’ on Broadway by Charles McNulty

For his Broadway production of “King Lear,” built around the one and only Glenda Jackson, director Sam Gold has decided to make use of every luxurious resource at his disposal — someti…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:00PM
Sunday, March 31, 2019

Review: Unconventional ‘What the Constitution Means to Me’ supremely argues the case for women by Charles McNulty

Actor and playwright Heidi Schreck, former high school oratorical champion, brings her one woman show, "What the Constitution Means to Me," to Broadway at a time when her old championship to…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:31PM

Review: Unconventional ‘What the Constitution Means to Me’ supremely argues the case for women by Charles McNulty

When actor and writer Heidi Schreck was a high school student in Wenatchee, Wash., she was racking up college tuition money by giving speeches on the majesty of the Constitution in contests …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:30PM
Monday, March 25, 2019

How Jackie Sibblies Drury brings conceptual brilliance to a play about black caregivers by Charles McNulty

The bottled-up fury of female caregivers grows to seismic proportions in "Marys Seacole," Jackie Sibblies Drury's new play that combines strands of theatrical DNA from Adrienne Kennedy and C…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:00AM

How Jackie Sibblies Drury brings conceptual brilliance to a play about black caregivers by Charles McNulty

At a time when the politics of identity has become a central subject of theatrical inquiry, it’s only fitting that African American dramatists have been leading the charge. With their dive…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:00AM
Thursday, March 21, 2019

Spring theater picks: Dianne Wiest, Lucas Hnath, Nia Vardalos, ‘Niceties’ and ‘Falsettos’ by Charles McNulty

Times critic Charles McNulty lays out the most promising theater for spring, including Wiest in Samuel Beckett’s “Happy Days,” Hnath’s “Dana H.,” Vardalos in “Tiny Beautiful Th…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:00AM

Spring theater picks: Dianne Wiest, Lucas Hnath, Nia Vardalos, ‘Niceties’ and ‘Falsettos’ by Charles McNulty

Ready for your catharsis? The forecast for the spring season calls for a hurricane of tears, shot through with just enough laughter to keep theatergoers from going off the deep end. Based on…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:00AM
Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Review: In Echo Theater’s ‘The Wolves,’ life through the lens of high school girls soccer by Charles McNulty

Sarah DeLappe's Pulitzer Prize finalist, "The Wolves," a drama about high school girl soccer players processing life's difficulties, large and small, gets a superb Echo Theater production di…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 12:01PM

Review: In Echo Theater’s ‘The Wolves,’ life through the lens of high school girls soccer by Charles McNulty

“The Wolves,” Sarah DeLappe’s stunning debut drama that was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, presents the world through the prism of girls soccer. The play, which is receiving a superb Echo …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 12:00PM
Sunday, March 17, 2019

Review: In ‘Black Super Hero Magic Mama,’ a grief-stricken mom gets comic book counseling by Charles McNulty

Robert O'Hara directs the world premiere of Inda Craig-Galván's play, which escapes into a comic book universe to grapple with an all too real American horror.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:15AM

Review: In ‘Black Super Hero Magic Mama,’ a grief-stricken mom gets comic-book counseling by Charles McNulty

Robert O'Hara directs the world premiere of Inda Craig-Galván's play, which escapes into a comic book universe to grapple with an all too real American horror.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:15AM

Review: In ‘Black Super Hero Magic Mama,’ a grief-stricken mom gets comic book counseling by Charles McNulty

Sabrina, the single mother at the center of Inda Craig-Galván’s new play, “Black Super Hero Magic Mama,” is acutely aware of the various ways her son’s life can be upended. Gangs, d…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:05AM
Friday, March 15, 2019

Review: ‘Lackawanna Blues’ is potent as live memoir, an actor’s tribute to the woman who rescued him by Charles McNulty

Tony winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson recalls Nanny, the woman who guided him through boyhood, in a music-infused performance that proves theater, not TV, is the best way to experience this vivi…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 02:47PM

Review: ‘Lackawanna Blues’ is potent as live memoir, an actor’s tribute to the woman who rescued him by Charles McNulty

“Lackawanna Blues,” Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s theatrical memoir about being raised by a big-hearted proprietor of a boardinghouse for castaways and strays in an industrial upstate New Yo…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 01:25PM
Thursday, March 14, 2019

Review: ‘Kiss Me, Kate’ from Roundabout Theatre has more showmanship than chemistry by Charles McNulty

Kelli O'Hara stars in a Broadway revival at Studio 54 that's long on impressive theatrics but short on human connection.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00PM

Review: ‘Kiss Me, Kate’ from Roundabout Theatre has more showmanship than chemistry by Charles McNulty

The new Roundabout Theatre Company production of “Kiss Me, Kate” at Studio 54 has nearly everything that’s needed for a top-drawer revival of this Cole Porter classic. First and foremo…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00PM
Monday, March 11, 2019

In ‘Be More Chill,’ the adolescent angst of ‘Evan Hansen’ gets a wacky (and loud) A.I. twist by Charles McNulty

NEW YORK • It wasn’t that long ago that a topic of concern was the graying of theater audiences. Today, we must address the high school takeover of Broadway stages.

SOURCE: St. Louis Today at 12:45PM
Sunday, March 10, 2019

Review: In ‘Be More Chill,’ the adolescent angst of ‘Evan Hansen’ gets a wacky (and loud) A.I. twist by Charles McNulty

A new Broadway musical by Jo Iconis and Joe Tracz delivers another tale of an awkward teen trying to navigate high school. The difference this time? Deafening volume and a kinetically convol…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00PM

Review: In ‘Be More Chill,’ the adolescent angst of ‘Evan Hansen’ gets a wacky (and loud) A.I. twist by Charles McNulty

A new Broadway musical by Joe Iconis and Joe Tracz delivers another tale of an awkward teen trying to navigate high school. The difference this time? Deafening volume and a kinetically convo…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00PM

Review: In ‘Be More Chill,’ the adolescent angst of ‘Evan Hansen’ gets a wacky (and loud) A.I. twist by Charles McNulty

It wasn’t that long ago that a topic of concern was the graying of theater audiences. Today, we must address the high school takeover of Broadway stages. The success of “Dear Evan Hansen…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00PM
Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Review: In the new musical 'Diana,' the British princess seems as American as a Broadway musical by Charles McNulty

La Jolla Playhouse premieres new work from Joe DiPietro and David Bryan, the duo behind Tony winner "Memphis," but the distinctly American sound is a disconnect to the tale of the "people's …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 11:00AM

Review: In the new musical 'Diana,' the British princess seems as American as a Broadway musical by Charles McNulty

The story of Princess Diana’s life was bound to be turned into a big, boisterous, Broadway-style musical. But who would have guessed that the music would come from David Bryan, a founding …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 11:00AM
Monday, February 25, 2019

Review: In ‘Tiny Beautiful Things,’ Cheryl Strayed's advice columns are reborn as very human theater by Charles McNulty

At the Old Globe in San Diego, Nia Vardalos' lovely adaptation of Cheryl Strayed’s Dear Sugar columns, "Tiny Beautiful Things," finds resilience in broken places.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:21PM

Review: In ‘Tiny Beautiful Things,’ Cheryl Strayed's advice columns are reborn as very human theater by Charles McNulty

Advice columns and theaters have more in common than you might think. Forums of instruction and delight, they appeal to anyone who could use some help negotiating the often trivial, ultimate…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:20PM
Friday, February 22, 2019

Review: Brazilian director Christiane Jatahy's 'Moscow' ingeniously spins Chekhov's 'Sisters' by Charles McNulty

The U.S. premiere of "What If They Went to Moscow?" at REDCAT merges live performance and filmmaking, reworking of Anton Chekhov's masterpiece, "Three Sisters," into an astonishing multimedi…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:26PM
Monday, February 11, 2019

Review: 'Ragtime' at Pasadena Playhouse proves it's a ripe time for this stunning revival by Charles McNulty

With a gorgeous staging and glorious singing, the musical based on the E.L. Doctorow novel captures the momentous turn of the 20th century — the song of a nation stepping toward its future.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 05:08PM

Review: 'Ragtime' at Pasadena Playhouse proves it's a ripe time for this stunning revival by Charles McNulty

“Ragtime: The Musical,” based on E.L. Doctorow’s sweeping historical novel, swings for the narrative fences. The saga of three sets of characters at the turn of what would come to be k…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:05PM
Saturday, February 9, 2019

Review: 4 girls and 1 hidden camera add up to a captivatingly creepy comedy at East West Players by Charles McNulty

Anna Moench's "Man of God," having its world premiere, centers on young Korean Americans on a religious mission to Bangkok, their pastor and a discovery that upends their world.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 12:59PM

Review: 4 girls and 1 hidden camera add up to a captivatingly creepy comedy at East West Players by Charles McNulty

Every good comedy has a human engine, and in Anna Moench’s funny, creepy and unflinchingly observed “Man of God,” that engine is Mimi, played with powder-keg force by Sandy Nguyen. Mim…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 12:55PM
Tuesday, February 5, 2019

At Actors' Gang, a timely return of the political madness of Dario Fo's 'Anarchist' by Charles McNulty

As part of its politically incisive season, Tim Robbins' company takes on the Nobel Prize winner's wild play about corrupt authority, "Accidental Death oh an Anarchist."

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 11:14AM

At Actors' Gang, a timely return of the political madness of Dario Fo's 'Anarchist' by Charles McNulty

Opportunities to see high-caliber productions of the work of Dario Fo — the Italian clown, political radical and Nobel laureate who died in 2016 — don’t come around all that often. My …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 11:10AM

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