All stories by Laura Collins-Hughes on BroadwayStars

Monday, March 30, 2020

As Theaters Stare Down Uncertainty, Ars Nova Buys Itself Time by Laura Collins-Hughes

In committing to paying its people during a three-month shutdown, the theater gives itself breathing room to prepare for when it can open again.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:36PM
Thursday, March 26, 2020

The Fourth Wall Is My Laptop Screen by Laura Collins-Hughes

When theaters closed by the pandemic stream their shuttered plays online, watching sharpens the longing for the real thing.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:48PM
Thursday, March 12, 2020

Where to Celebrate Sondheim in New York by Laura Collins-Hughes

What’s a birthday celebration without tribute concerts, new commissions and revivals of three classics? Here’s how to join the party, live.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 07:06AM
Wednesday, March 11, 2020

‘Conscience’ Review: The Woman Who Stared Down the Red Scare by Laura Collins-Hughes

The hero of Joe DiPietro’s new comic drama is Margaret Chase Smith, a U.S. senator who had the rare courage to stand up to McCarthyism.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:06PM
Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Review: A Crisis of Borders in ‘72 Miles to Go…’ by Laura Collins-Hughes

In Hilary Bettis’s play, a family separated by deportation wants to live regular American lives but discovers how mercilessly difficult that is.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:54PM
Thursday, March 5, 2020

Review: In ‘Mr. Toole,’ Trying to Remember Teacher by Laura Collins-Hughes

Vivian Neuwirth’s play is a fictionalized recollection of the life of the novelist John Kennedy Toole, who died before his Pulitzer-Prize winning classic “A Confederacy of Dunces” was …

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:32PM
Thursday, February 27, 2020

In a Battle for Female Personhood, These Plays Are on the Front Lines by Laura Collins-Hughes

“Grand Horizons” and “Dracula” assert the full humanity of women, a matter not as settled as we might like to think.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:36AM
Tuesday, February 25, 2020

How They Learned to Drive. And Why They’re Driving Again. by Laura Collins-Hughes

The writer Paula Vogel, the director Mark Brokaw, and the actors Mary-Louise Parker and David Morse on returning to a wrenching play two decades later.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 11:32AM
Sunday, February 23, 2020

‘She Persisted’ Review: A Musical About Women Who Triumphed by Laura Collins-Hughes

The feminist rallying cry inspired Chelsea Clinton’s children’s book about the likes of Harriet Tubman and Sally Ride. Now it’s a cheerful stage adaptation.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 07:42PM
Thursday, February 20, 2020

‘Mack & Mabel’ Review: Lights! Camera! Passion! by Laura Collins-Hughes

Jerry Herman’s buoyant score is the highlight of this Encores! production about a troubled silent-movie-era romance.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:12PM
Tuesday, February 18, 2020

‘Spamtown, USA’ Looks at a Bitter Strike Through Children’s Eyes by Laura Collins-Hughes

Minnesota’s Children’s Theater Company will present a play inspired by little-told stories of the wrenching Hormel strike: from kids on all sides of the dispute.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:48PM
Sunday, February 16, 2020

‘TJ Loves Sally 4 Ever’ Review: It’s No Valentine by Laura Collins-Hughes

James Ijames’s satire reconsiders a story that reaches back to our shared past, with an eye toward demolishing it in favor of a better future.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:03PM
Thursday, February 13, 2020

‘Unmasked’ Review: Andrew Lloyd Webber Reveals and Remembers by Laura Collins-Hughes

This multimedia concert and career retrospective forgets that the best way to honor the composer is to have a good time with his music.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:24PM
Wednesday, February 12, 2020

‘House Plant’ Review: A Bizarro Breakup and What Comes After by Laura Collins-Hughes

In Sarah Einspanier’s fever-dream play, one half of a couple heads to Hollywood. The other gets an odd, and oddly familiar, new roommate.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:42PM

Lip-Syncing Her Abduction, Matter-of-Factly by Laura Collins-Hughes

Deirdre O’Connell has a peculiar challenge performing the recollections of Lucas Hnath's mother in his play “Dana H.” Give credit to earbuds and Epsom salts.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:18AM
Tuesday, February 11, 2020

‘Darling Grenadine’ Review: A Retro Cocktail With Little Kick by Laura Collins-Hughes

Roundabout Underground presents a flawed but tuneful musical about a young Manhattan couple challenged by addiction.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:24PM
Sunday, January 26, 2020

‘Thunder Rock’ Review: A Beacon That Fails to Light the Way by Laura Collins-Hughes

It’s no surprise that this play about disillusionment, with its message of hope wrapped in warnings about nationalism and isolationism, was a choice for this season.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:54PM
Friday, January 24, 2020

Oregon Shakespeare Festival Hires a Resident Intimacy Director by Laura Collins-Hughes

Sarah Lozoff is joining one of the nation’s leading regional theaters for all 11 of its productions in its 2020 season.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:03PM
Monday, January 20, 2020

For 13 Years, He Has Humanized the Villain of ‘Oklahoma!’ by Laura Collins-Hughes

Patrick Vaill took his final Broadway bow as Jud Fry, after performing in Daniel Fish’s production of the musical since college.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:33PM
Sunday, January 19, 2020

‘Emojiland’ Review: There’s a Rom-Com in Your Phone. With Music. by Laura Collins-Hughes

Everybody’s on hand, from a variety of Smileys to Nerd Face, and from Princess to Pile of Poo.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:24PM
Friday, January 17, 2020

At Under the Radar, Avant-Garde Shows Leap Outside Reality by Ben Brantley, Jesse Green and Laura Collins-Hughes

The Public Theater’s festival has included 12 featured offerings, four cabaret acts and six pieces of developmental work. Here’s what our critics saw.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:33PM
Thursday, January 16, 2020

‘Distances’ Review: Fumblingly Picking at the Knot of Race by Laura Collins-Hughes

In this experimental play, a white talk-show host and a black science fiction writer have a challenging conversation. Plus dancing.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:06PM
Sunday, January 12, 2020

‘Maz and Bricks’ Review: Marching for Rights, With Signs of Romance by Laura Collins-Hughes

Set in Dublin during the run-up to Ireland’s vote to repeal its abortion ban, this play by Eva O’Connor too easily pairs up two damaged souls.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:54PM
Thursday, January 9, 2020

A Show Reminds Young Audiences: We All Got Here From Somewhere by Laura Collins-Hughes

“Cartography,” a multimedia work inspired by migrants’ stories, presents their journeys as universal and heroic, not merely tales of suffering.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:36PM

A Director Making His Mark in More Ways Than One by Laura Collins-Hughes

With powerfully contemporary stagings of “Betrayal” and “Cyrano,” Jamie Lloyd has had an attention-grabbing year. That’s not what makes him hard to miss.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 11:36AM
Monday, January 6, 2020

The Role of a Career in ‘Fiddler,’ and He Might Even Keep the Beard by Laura Collins-Hughes

Steven Skybell was finally the right age for Tevye. Little did he know that when the time came, the show would be in Yiddish, and for a surprisingly long run that ended Sunday.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:06PM
Thursday, December 19, 2019

Review: Cirque du Soleil Chases the Holiday Spirit by Laura Collins-Hughes

The acrobatics in “’Twas the Night Before…” at Madison Square Garden are perfectly diverting, despite an illegible plot.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:42PM
Wednesday, December 18, 2019

200 Years of Experience, and Still Learning Onstage by Laura Collins-Hughes

Lois Smith, Estelle Parsons and Vinie Burrows on age, agility, perseverance and steering clear of “self-pitying old” roles.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:54PM
Friday, December 13, 2019

‘The Straights’ Review: On the Road With No Sense of Direction by Laura Collins-Hughes

Amusing monologues and oddball encounters enliven T. Adamson’s overstuffed play that follows two friends on a very long car ride.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:42PM
Tuesday, December 10, 2019

Review: Counting on Compassion in ‘one in two’ by Laura Collins-Hughes

Donja R. Love’s powerful play balances tenderness and fury to explore how H.I.V. has become a ”hidden emergency” in the black community.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 11:42PM
Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Best Theater of 2019 by Ben Brantley, Jesse Green, Laura Collins-Hughes, Alexis Soloski and Elisabeth Vincentelli

Shows that defied categorization offered a stark choice: Escape an angry world, or face up to its travails. Beyond Broadway, writers explored race, inequality and addiction.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:18AM

All that Chat

2025-2026 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 12, 2025: Call Me Izzy - Studio 54
Sep 16, 2025: Art - Music Box Theatre
Oct 08, 2025: Beetlejuice - Palace Theatre
Nov 13, 2025: Oedipus - Studio 54
Nov 16, 2025: Chess - Imperial Theatre
Mar 23, 2026: Giant - Music Box Theatre
Apr 06, 2026: Becky Shaw - Hayes Theater
Apr 16, 2026: Proof - Booth Theatre
Apr 26, 2026: Drama Desk Cut-Off