All stories by Gordon Cox on BroadwayStars

Thursday, December 8, 2022

‘Becky Nurse of Salem’ Review: Witch Trials, Trump and the Kitchen Sink in Sarah Ruhl’s Overstuffed New Play by Gordon Cox

You don’t get more American than descending from one of the witches burned at the stake in Salem, Mass. Unless, that is, you’re also an opioid addict in that same town during the Trump y…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:30PM
Tuesday, December 6, 2022

How Josh Dela Cruz Brought Broadway to ‘Blue’s Clues’ by Gordon Cox

When Nickelodeon revived its popular kids series “Blue’s Clues” in 2019, the show found its new host on Broadway. Josh Dela Cruz was doing eight shows a week in “Aladdin” when he w…

SOURCE: Variety at 02:13PM

‘Orlando’ Review: Emma Corrin Lights Up an Outstandingly Imaginative Look at Gender and Identity by Gordon Cox

The entirely beguiling lightness of touch is remarkable. Staging the startlingly prescient, gender-swapping, time-traveling 1928 novel “Orlando,” a lesser creative team would have gone …

SOURCE: Variety at 02:11PM
Monday, December 5, 2022

‘A Beautiful Noise’ Review: Neil Diamond Musical Unpacks Hitmaker’s Life in Therapy and Song by Gordon Cox

If you are looking to draw an audience into what seems like a typical biographical jukebox musical, starting and ending your drama in psychoanalysis is a great device. Then again, “A Beaut…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:45AM
Saturday, December 3, 2022

‘Ain’t No Mo’’ Review: Jordan E. Cooper’s Uproarious Black Comedy Takes Off on Broadway by Gordon Cox

The question at the heart of “Ain’t No Mo’,” the incendiary and incisive new comedy that opened on Broadway on Dec. 1, is riotously and fruitfully absurd. Consider it a gleeful refra…

SOURCE: Variety at 12:20PM
Sunday, November 27, 2022

‘KPOP’ Review: South Korea’s Explosive Pop Export Hits Broadway With Authenticity and Flash by Gordon Cox

As defined by boy bands like BTS and girl groups like Blackpink, K-pop – gayo – is a Korean musical genre (‘brand’ is better) where Instiz all-kills (chart domination) is essenti…

SOURCE: Variety at 06:00PM
Tuesday, November 22, 2022

How to Produce a Museum of Broadway by Gordon Cox

The new Museum of Broadway, which opened recently in Manhattan’s theater district, has a list of producer credits just like it’s a Broadway show. At the top of the list are co-founders J…

SOURCE: Variety at 12:44PM
Monday, November 21, 2022

‘A Christmas Carol’ Review: A Tour-De-Force Solo Adaptation of the Dickens Holiday Classic by Gordon Cox

“Marley was dead, to begin with.” That opening line always gives me the chills, and never more so than in this one-man (plus spooky specter) show featuring that consummate artist of many…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:00PM
Thursday, November 17, 2022

‘& Juliet’ Review: Shakespearean Jukebox Musical is Like a Shot of Pure Gold by Gordon Cox

Shakespeare’s Juliet singing Britney Spears’ “Oops…I Did It Again” is certainly a surprising and unexpected juxtaposition.  While there is every reason to be skeptical of a Shakes…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:30PM

‘Evanston Salt Costs Climbing’ Review: There is Nothing Thrilling About Climate Change Except This Play by Gordon Cox

The use of the word “fuck” as a statement occurs approximately 62 times in Will Arbery’s new play, “Evanston Salt Costs Climbing,” and “Haha” or “Hahahaha” appears approxim…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:27PM
Sunday, November 13, 2022

‘The Old Man and the Pool’ Review: Mike Birbiglia’s Solo Show Makes a Splash on Broadway by Gordon Cox

Mike Birbiglia’s solo play “The Old Man and the Pool” opened at the Vivian Beaumont Theater on Broadway on Nov. 13, 2022. The following is Peter Debruge’s review of the same producti…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:00PM
Thursday, November 10, 2022

‘Kimberly Akimbo’ Review: An Oddball Musical That’s Impossible Not to Love by Gordon Cox

The prospect of dying by age 16 hardly seems like obvious fodder for musical comedy. But “Kimberly Akimbo,” transferring to Broadway after an acclaimed run at the Atlantic Theater Compan…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:00PM
Tuesday, November 8, 2022

‘The Lion King’ at 25: How the Iconic Broadway Show Makes Each Production Different Around the World by Gordon Cox

In the 25 years since “The Lion King” opened on Broadway, the show has traveled all over the world and played to more than 110 million people. But there’s one thing that often doesn’…

SOURCE: Variety at 02:05PM
Thursday, November 3, 2022

‘Almost Famous’ Review: Broadway Musical Adapts a Beloved Film All Too Faithfully by Gordon Cox

Writer-director Cameron Crowe’s Oscar-winning screenplay about a teen rock journalist’s coming-of-age in the ’70s, “Almost Famous,” lands pretty much intact in Broadway’s latest …

SOURCE: Variety at 09:00PM
Thursday, October 27, 2022

‘Walking With Ghosts’ Review: Gabriel Byrne Stars on Broadway in a Heartfelt Solo Show by Gordon Cox

Who better to tell your story than … you?  Gabriel Byrne won kudos for his intimate memoir “Walking with Ghosts,” which he subsequently adapted into this heartfelt solo show now playi…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:30PM

‘Tammy Faye’ Review: New Elton John Score Doesn’t Yet Live Up to a Terrifically Entertaining Production by Gordon Cox

You can take anything and write a song about it. Whether it needs singing about is another question entirely. On the evidence of multitudes of recent musicals, it’s one too few creative te…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:18PM
Tuesday, October 25, 2022

What Samuel L. Jackson Misses Most About Broadway by Gordon Cox

Samuel L. Jackson is back on Broadway for the first time in a decade in “The Piano Lesson,” the new production of the August Wilson play directed by Jackson’s wife, LaTanya Richardson …

SOURCE: Variety at 02:48PM
Thursday, October 20, 2022

‘Topdog/Underdog’ Review: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Corey Hawkins Star in a Live-Wire Broadway Revival of Suzan-Lori Parks’ Play by Gordon Cox

It is a testament to the acuity of Suzan-Lori Parks’ imagination and powers of perception that “Topdog/Underdog” feels as vital and electric today as it did 20 years ago. The first Bro…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:00PM

‘My Neighbor Totoro’ Review: An Inventive, Visually Thrilling Adaptation of the Studio Ghibli Favorite by Gordon Cox

The Royal Shakespeare Company doesn’t usually sell out an entire run before opening, especially with a new play. But then, it has never had the audacity to stage one of the world’s most …

SOURCE: Variety at 01:21PM
Wednesday, October 19, 2022

‘Local Hero’ Review: A Sweetly Delightful New Musical, Despite Lackluster Songs by Gordon Cox

Charm, a sadly rare theatrical quality, is scarcely a fashionable theatrical virtue, but it’s nonetheless valuable. And, to audiences’ evident delight, it’s there in spades in director…

SOURCE: Variety at 06:03PM
Friday, October 14, 2022

How Award-Winning Musical ‘Kimberly Akimbo’ is Growing Up to Broadway by Gordon Cox

The new musical “Kimberly Akimbo” has already beguiled New York critics. Now it has to win over Broadway audiences.  Based on David Lindsay-Abaire’s 2001 play of the same name, “Ki…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:30AM
Thursday, October 13, 2022

‘The Piano Lesson’ Review: Samuel L. Jackson Leads a Starry Cast in an Affecting Broadway Ghost Story by Gordon Cox

Every family has a skeleton or two in its closet. The starry new Broadway revival of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play “The Piano Lesson” has a whole houseful of ghosts. Dire…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:57PM
Wednesday, October 12, 2022

Jesse Williams on Baring All Again in ‘Take Me Out,’ That Leaked Footage and Why He Doesn’t Watch ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ by Gordon Cox

The Tony-winning Broadway revival of “Take Me Out” returns this fall, and Jesse Williams is back with it. In Richard Greenberg’s 2002 play, the “Grey’s Anatomy” actor plays a bir…

SOURCE: Variety at 12:00PM
Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Why the Creators of Broadway’s ‘Topdog/Underdog’ Think the Play Has a Superpower by Gordon Cox

How is a Pulitzer Prize-winning play like a Marvel superhero? Ask Suzan-Lori Parks, the acclaimed writer whose 2001 outing “Topdog/Underdog” was her first show to arrive on Broadway afte…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:52PM
Monday, October 10, 2022

‘Funny Girl’ Review: A Star Is Reborn With Lea Michele Headlining Broadway Musical by Gordon Cox

Take two, and not a moment too soon. Lea Michele steps into one of Broadway’s most iconic roles, which in her mind — or at least the mind of Rachel Berry, the character she played in TV�…

SOURCE: Variety at 07:00PM
Sunday, October 9, 2022

‘Death of a Salesman’ Review: Groundbreaking Broadway Revival Packs a Mighty Punch by Gordon Cox

In the new Broadway revival of “Death of a Salesman,” Wendell Pierce’s powerhouse performance firmly identifies Willy Loman as a tragic hero for these modern times. It’s a searing po…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:00PM
Thursday, October 6, 2022

‘1776’ Review: Bold Choices Enliven Broadway Revival of Revolutionary Musical by Gordon Cox

The opening moments of this exuberant, thought-provoking and radical revival of “1776” makes it clear who was missing from John Trumbull’s famous painting of the signers of the Declara…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:00PM
Wednesday, October 5, 2022

‘Blues for an Alabama Sky’ Review: Samira Wiley Stars in a Richly Rewarding Production of Pearl Cleage’s Play by Gordon Cox

Part of the instant appeal of “Friends” was that, from the get-go, the relationships between the members of the gang who hung out in the apartments above Central Perk felt not just likea…

SOURCE: Variety at 02:19PM
Monday, October 3, 2022

‘Cost of Living’ Review: Martyna Majok’s Pulitzer-Winning Drama Makes Sensational Broadway Debut by Gordon Cox

What gives life value and makes it worth our daily toil? What does it mean to need another person, and what do we owe each other? It is a testament to the brilliant craft of Martyna Majok’…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:00PM
Sunday, October 2, 2022

‘Leopoldstadt’ Review: A Moving Broadway Production of Tom Stoppard’s Intensely Personal Drama by Gordon Cox

In a radical departure from his usual intellectually esoteric style, Tom Stoppard’s new play is an intensely personal family drama. “Leopoldstadt,” which takes its name from the Jewish…

SOURCE: Variety at 10:00PM
Thursday, September 29, 2022

‘The Crucible’ Review: A Soggy London Revival of Miller’s Masterpiece by Gordon Cox

There is an opera of “The Crucible.” Written by Robert Ward, it won the 1962 Pulitzer Prize. But this is not the opera… or is it? Lyndsey Turner’s grandiloquent National Theatre prod…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:54PM

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