All stories by Corey Kilgannon on BroadwayStars

Thursday, April 8, 2021

Lois Kirschenbaum, the Ultimate Opera Superfan, Dies at 88 by Corey Kilgannon

In New York opera circles, an autograph request from her, the mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade said, was considered “a special type of approval.”

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:25PM
Monday, April 16, 2018

After 90 Years, a Broadway Headliner Is Getting a Headstone by Corey Kilgannon

Nora Bayes, one of the brightest stars of early Broadway and vaudeville, has lain for decades in an unmarked grave in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:24PM
Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Oh, Joy! Oh, Rapture! A Leaner Gilbert & Sullivan Troupe Turns 94. by Corey Kilgannon

Its patrician days behind it, a struggling theater troupe on the Upper East Side of Manhattan is hoping to reach 100.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:10PM
Monday, March 13, 2017

An Incisive Play About Hasidism, With Actors Who Lived It by Corey Kilgannon

Five performers who separated from strict Hasidic enclaves are drawing on their pasts in the New Yiddish Repertory’s production of a 1907 work, “God of Vengeance.”

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:18AM
Saturday, May 28, 2016

Want to Catch ‘Hamilton’? Try the Central Park Softball Fields by Corey Kilgannon

While the show has taken the theater world by storm, its undefeated softball team goes virtually unnoticed each Thursday in the park. (No tickets required.)

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:02PM
Monday, April 25, 2016

A Middle School Cast of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ Reunites on Broadway by Corey Kilgannon

More than four decades after a production at Shell Bank Junior High School, the cast members, now in their mid-50s, met up again to watch the latest Broadway production.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:46PM
Sunday, March 20, 2016

Character Study: Purim! The Musical by Corey Kilgannon

Norman Roth, 77, is a retired accountant who for the past 28 years has written a new Purim spiel skit each year.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:28PM
Monday, May 25, 2015

City Room: Irish Actors Get a Taste of Yiddish Theater by COREY KILGANNON

An Irish theater group visits the last vestige of the old Yiddish theater district, and then McSorley’s.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

City Room: As He Plays Dying Freud, Actor's Art and Life Converge by COREY KILGANNON

Martin Rayner plays a dying Freud in the Off Broadway play "Freud's Last Session" even as he battles cancer himself.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

City Room: In Hirschfeld's Studio, Packing Up a Well-Worn Chair by COREY KILGANNON

Al Hirschfeld's chair and desk remained undisturbed over the eight years since his death in 2003, as if in mourning. But now they are being moved.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

City Room: Another Hirschfeld of Flowing Lines. But Bloodlines? That's a Puzzle. by COREY KILGANNON

Matt Hirschfeld is an artist hoping to follow in the footsteps of the legendary illustrator Al Hirschfeld, whom he claims as a relative.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM
Saturday, April 4, 2015

Finding a Home, and a Muse, at the Algonquin Hotel by Corey Kilgannon

As comfortable as if he were in his own living room, Michael Colby, 63, lounged in a plush chair in the lobby of the Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan and enjoyed a fruit plate.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:02PM
Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Finding a Home, and a Muse, at the Algonquin Hotel by Corey Kilgannon

Michael Colby spent years living at the famous Manhattan hotel, which his grandparents owned, and has written a memoir about growing up there.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:54PM
Friday, February 20, 2015

Character Study: A Magician Happy to Reveal the Secrets of His Tricks (on Mondays) by Corey Kilgannon

Eli Bosnick, 27, is a leader of the Magnets, a group of magic enthusiasts in New York who meet for Monday night “jams.”

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:00PM
Monday, November 10, 2014

Role for White Rat: Unexpected Star on Broadway by Corey Kilgannon

Toby, the rat kept by the teenager with autism in “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” is so popular her role has been expanded.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:02PM
Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Therapist and Patient Share a Theater of Hurt by Corey Kilgannon

A clinical psychologist and her patient will appear in a show called “Borderline,” which features the two women playing themselves and dealing with the patient’s borderline personality…

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:40PM
Monday, October 20, 2014

30 Years of Anger From Waiting on Tables Boils Over in a Comedy Show by Corey Kilgannon

Brad Zimmerman traded his restaurant misery for “My Son the Waiter, a Jewish Tragedy,” writing about the frustrations and absurdities of dealing with diners in New York City.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:46PM
Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Ship’s Reclassification Could Leave Floating Theater Group Without Venue by Corey Kilgannon

The Canadian government says that the home of the Caravan Stage Company, a ship called the Amara Zee that travels from town to town, can no longer be classified as a pleasure craft.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:37PM
Friday, May 30, 2014

Play Recalls a Broadway Star’s Eccentric Life and Grim End by Corey Kilgannon

The life of George Rose, a veteran of the London and Broadway stages who was murdered in 1988, was filled with eccentricities and mystery.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 08:48PM
Friday, October 18, 2013

Character Study: Old, but Not Off the Stage by Corey Kilgannon

A group of aging performers meets nearly every day in a small plaza on Ninth Avenue, remembering the old days but also chatting about current work.    

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:10PM
Friday, June 14, 2013

Character Study: The Sculptor Backstage by Corey Kilgannon

Regan Kimmel, 58, keeps busy bending wire into masterpieces while working as the stage doorman at the Longacre Theater.    

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:07PM
Friday, March 1, 2013

Character Study: Ron Maxwell, Auxiliary Police Officer, Does the Time Warp Again and Again by Corey Kilgannon

Ron Maxwell, an auxiliary New York City police officer by day, has a nocturnal identity that involves dressing in drag for “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:15PM
Friday, February 22, 2013

Character Study: Hovey Burgess’s High-Wire Act as Teacher, Juggler, Unicyclist by Corey Kilgannon

Decades ago, Hovey Burgess, 72, ran away with the circus, and in a sense he has never left; he now teaches aspiring performers the skills of a clown at the Tisch School of the Arts.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 11:50PM
Friday, February 8, 2013

Character Study: For a Broadway Fan, Once Is Not Enough by Corey Kilgannon

Aimee Kislin, an assistant store manager in New Jersey, is obsessed with Broadway shows and has seen the musical “Once” 95 times and “American Idiot” 146 times.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:11PM
Saturday, June 9, 2012

Character Study: Lois Kirschenbaum, 79, Art Buff and Queen of the Nosebleed Seats by Corey Kilgannon

Lois Kirschenbaum, 79, shows up nightly for opera and ballet performances, determinedly getting into the show on the cheap and often meeting the performers by the stage door afterward.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 11:20PM
Sunday, May 20, 2012

City Room: The Stripper in a Police Uniform? He's for Real by Corey Kilgannon

A former New York City police officer who established himself as an exotic dancer while he was working on the force now has written and stars in an Off Broadway production about - what else?…

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:00PM
Saturday, January 28, 2012

Character Study: Shane Baker, Raised Episcopalian, Lives for Yiddish Theater by Corey Kilgannon

A 43-year-old Midwesterner raised Episcopalian is helping to keep Yiddish theater alive and well, long after its heyday in New York.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 11:00PM
Tuesday, October 11, 2011

A Familiar Figure Begs on the Street, but Not for Himself by Corey Kilgannon

At 97, the legendary comic Professor Irwin Corey regularly panhandles near the Queens-Midtown Tunnel for a charity that helps needy Cuban children.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:33PM
Wednesday, March 16, 2011

City Room: Death of a Star of Yiddish Theater by Corey Kilgannon

The actress Shifra Lerer, who died at age 95, performed on stage until she was 90 and was among Yiddish theater’s crossover stars.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:26AM
Monday, November 29, 2010

City Room: As He Plays Dying Freud, Actor's Art and Life Converge by Corey Kilgannon

Martin Rayner plays a dying Freud in the Off Broadway play "Freud's Last Session" even as he battles cancer himself.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:23PM

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