All stories by Jonathan Mandell on BroadwayStars

Thursday, April 22, 2021

A Letter to Harvey Milk Review: Gun violence, bigotry, lesbians, the Holocaust, and Borscht Belt gags by Jonathan Mandell

Is this the right time for a work of theater that explores the aftereffect of gun violence and bigotry and a flawed criminal justice system? Sure.  How about one that compares Jewish histo…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:52PM

Clowns Get Political: American Circus Alliance’s Open Letter to Biden and Harris by Jonathan Mandell

Like many a performer, Jan Damm has been climbing the walls during the pandemic, but he did it literally. After live performances dried up, he started creating at-home skits for the Bindlest…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:14AM
Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Two Sisters and a Piano Review: Jimmy Smits as Infatuated Enemy by Jonathan Mandell

In “Two Sisters and a Piano,” Jimmy Smits plays a lieutenant in the Cuban army in 1991 who is supposed to keep tabs on the two women (Daphne Rubin-Vega and Florencia Lozano) who are unde…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:56PM

Watch Into The Woods preview, a sample of changes to come at Encores! by Jonathan Mandell

“Into The Woods” was “a huge smash hi,” when it opened on Broadway in 1987, we’re told in the ten-minute video below, the latest from the “Encores! Inside the Revival.” Given t…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:03PM
Tuesday, April 20, 2021

“Our job now is to honor George Floyd”: Harris, Biden on Chauvin conviction. Video and transcript by Jonathan Mandell

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke after the jury in the trial of Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd convicted him on all three counts, including two for murd…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:24PM
Monday, April 19, 2021

Scott Rudin to “step back.” Fallout continues. #Stageworthy News of the Week by Jonathan Mandell

There are so many productions opening/being announced now that it feels as overwhelming as any April (even moreso, since BroadwayCon 2021 went virtual over the weekend, which you can still w…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:59AM
Sunday, April 18, 2021

Watch Dancers at iHeartDance concert emerge into the sun by Jonathan Mandell

It was sunny on the roof of the Empire Hotel overlooking Lincoln Center when more than a dozen dancers today from Broadway and ballet and modern dance companies took a break from a dark year…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:30PM
Friday, April 16, 2021

Until the Flood at Studio Theatre. Ferguson’s police killing, before George Floyd and Daunte Wright and… by Jonathan Mandell

As the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota is nearing its end, Studio Theatre of D.C. today debuts a new streaming production …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:23PM
Thursday, April 15, 2021

The Wandering Review. Immersive, Queer, Cockamamie Show about Schubert by Jonathan Mandell

“The Wandering,” which its creators bill as an immersive theatrical experience inspired by the music of the 19th century classical composer Franz Schubert – “part visual album, par…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:00PM
Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Book Review: My Broken Language. Quiara Alegría Hudes memoir of a born (West Philly) playwright by Jonathan Mandell

Before she wrote the libretto and then the screenplay for “In The Heights,” before she became the Pulitzer Prize winning playwright of “Water By The Spoonful,” Quiara Alegría Hudes …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:59PM
Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Shadow/Land Review: Hurricane Katrina in your ear by Jonathan Mandell

In “Shadow/Land,” the opening play of Erika Dickerson-Despenza’s projected ten-play-cycle  about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, Ruth has come by on August 29, 2005 to pick up h…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:28PM

Easy Sleazy, Mick Jagger’s new pandemic anthem. Watch the video. Read the lyrics. by Jonathan Mandell

“It’s a song that I wrote about coming out of lockdown, with some much needed optimism,” Mick Jagger announced today in a statement about his new pandemic anthem, Easy Sleazy. “Than…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:44PM
Monday, April 12, 2021

Will theater become even more segregated and inaccessible? Scott Rudin=Bully. #Stageworthy News of the Week by Jonathan Mandell

Ten days into the much ballyhooed reopening, April has been as busy a month for theater as it usually is — I’ve seen a play every day this week (see my reviews)– but the April overload…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:25PM
Sunday, April 11, 2021

Babette in Retreat Review: Justin Sayre reaches toward campy farce by Jonathan Mandell

Babette, like Garbo, just wants to be alone. The legendary French courtesan has retired to her country estate,  designed for “trading the sins of lust for a more relaxed sin of sloth,”…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:36PM
Saturday, April 10, 2021

Amber Iman on Broadway: Second NYPopsUp Matinee by Jonathan Mandell

When Amber Iman was asked to perform on Broadway as part of NYPopsUp, “I began to freak out.” The pressure was on: “I should at least get either a Tony nomination or a husband or both …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:32PM
Friday, April 9, 2021

Reverb Theater Arts Festival Review: Theater makers With Disabilities Connect by Jonathan Mandell

Below is the video of the Reverb Theater Arts Festival, viewable until Thursday, May 20. It is close-captioned. For separate videos that provide ASL interpretation and audio description of …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:41PM
Thursday, April 8, 2021

John Cullum An Accidental Star Review. 60 years of Broadway, 91 of life by Jonathan Mandell

At 91, John Cullum has had a long and remarkably varied Broadway career,  spanning six decades and some 30 shows — musicals ranging from “Camelot” to “Urinetown,” straight plays …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:41PM

The Last 5 Years Review: Jason Robert Brown’s 20-year-old love story gets a pandemic theater makeover by Jonathan Mandell

This thrillingly-sung new version of Jason Robert Brown’s beloved (and problematic) musical about love lost (and gained) almost feels like a laboratory experiment in pandemic theater. Will…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:03AM
Wednesday, April 7, 2021

Erika Dickerson-Despenza wins 2021 Susan Smith Blackburn Award by Jonathan Mandell

Erika Dickerson-Despenza and her play “cullud wattah” have won the the 43rd Annual Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and $25,000 The play is about a family of Black women struggling to survi…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:14PM
Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Poetic Reflections: Identity, or Why I like Irish Rep’s reopening most. by Jonathan Mandell

So there is poet and refugee Evgeny Shtorn in front of me reciting his poem “From the Confinement,” a title I find ironic, given that he’s speaking on the beautiful green shore of a …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:01PM
Monday, April 5, 2021

Cock Review: Randy Harrison as an indecisive lover in a bisexual triangle by Jonathan Mandell

“You’re a lame duck, you’re a stream,”  a character was screaming oddly, just as my screen froze while watching  the streaming of the play “Cock.”   Was this a problem with…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:53PM

Reopened* Thrilling or Frustrating? #Stageworthy News of the Week by Jonathan Mandell

Broadway reopened over the weekend …for 36 minutes (as a New York Times headline put it) with a double bill: Savion Glover in a one-man musical, and Nathan Lane in “Playbills!” a monol…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:28PM
Sunday, April 4, 2021

Read Paul Rudnick’s hilarious new Broadway play “Playbills,” starring Nathan Lane by Jonathan Mandell

Below is the full text of Paul Rudnick’s “Playbills,” the first play presented on a Broadway stage in more than a year – in a one-time-only socially-distanced matinee on Saturday at …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:45PM
Saturday, April 3, 2021

Mike Daisey pandemic year monologue on stage and online: What The F**k Just Happened? by Jonathan Mandell

Mike Daisey performed his latest monologue to 22 masked and vaccinated theatergoers in person Friday night at the 99-seat Kraine Theater in the East Village, and simultaneously to another 50…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:30PM
Friday, April 2, 2021

Theater Blog Roundup: Recovering. by Jonathan Mandell

“…you must go on, I can’t go on, I’ll go on,” Samuel Beckett wrote in 1953; Terry Teachout quotes that line in his blog About Last Night, right before his entry on the same day th…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:38PM
Thursday, April 1, 2021

Theater Openings April 2021: Bolder Than Broadway by Jonathan Mandell

Below is the day-to-day listing of theater that is opening in the month of April* – which includes digital theater, and in-person shows (three on April 2! Another on April 9) in addition t…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:42PM
Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Theater Quiz for March 2021: Awards, Anniversary by Jonathan Mandell

How well were you paying attention to the theater news and reviews in March? Answer these dozen questions — about the anniversary of the lockdown and awards and vaccines and in-person and…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:22PM
Tuesday, March 30, 2021

Drama League Award 2021 Nominations: Honoring DIGITAL Theater! by Jonathan Mandell

Below are the nominations for the 87th Annual Drama League Awards, the first major theater award to honor the theater that has been created this year — which is to say digital theater. T…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:38PM
Monday, March 29, 2021

Vaccinated=Reopening.#Stageworthy News of the Week. by Jonathan Mandell

As the first New York theaters reopen at reduced capacity this coming Friday, the hope for a wider reopening rests on a stepping up of vaccinations. To that end, there was good news on the f…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:49PM

Stamina and Stardom: Newsies Dancers Work as One to Seize the Day by Jonathan Mandell

How some fancy footwork (and many stairs) made stars of the Newsies newsboys, including Ryan Steele and Ephraim Sykes.

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Sunday, March 28, 2021

Tina Turner: HBO Documentary vs Broadway Musical and Hollywood Movie by Jonathan Mandell

The new documentary about the performer Tina Turner includes scene about both the Broadway musical “Tina, the Tina Turner Musical” and the 1993 Hollywood movie,  “What’s Love Got T…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:29PM

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