All stories by Jonathan Mandell on BroadwayStars

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Drunk on Shakespeare – Three Day Hangover Company Takes the Bard to Bars by Jonathan Mandell, The Three Day Hangover Founders: David Hudson, Lori Wolter Hudson and Beth Gardiner

Lori Wolter Hudson remembers having a nervous breakdown in middle school in Indiana when her teacher assigned her to recite … Read More →

SOURCE: nytheatremag.com at 04:14PM

Top (and Weirdest) Theater Stories of 2013 by Jonathan Mandell

2013 was the year of Shakespeare, and cross-dressing, and people getting naked in tubs on stage. It was a year full of solo performances and celebrity Broadway debuts and shows that sound on…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:30PM
Wednesday, December 18, 2013

The Iceman Cometh to Brooklyn by Jonathan Mandell

Brian Dennehy, Nathan Lane and the entire 18-member cast of the Goodman Theatre of Chicago’s production of Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh, directed by Robert Falls, are…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:46AM
Monday, December 16, 2013

Top 10 Lists! RIP Peter O’Toole, Joan Fontaine. The Week in New York Theater by Jonathan Mandell

Even as we mourn the deaths of Peter O’Toole, 81,  Eleanor Parker, 91, and Joan Fontaine, 96, we celebrate the still theatrically active Estelle Parsons, 86, and Carol Lawrence, 82. (…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:49PM
Sunday, December 15, 2013

Handle With Care Review. Carol Lawrence, Misused As Dead Israeli Grandmother by Jonathan Mandell

During the intermission at “Handle With Care,” billed as a new romantic comedy starring Carol Lawrence, the original Maria of West Side Story, I pondered some nearly theological question…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:00PM

Top 10 Lists of Top 10 Best Theater 2013 by Jonathan Mandell

The Glass Menagerie and Twelfth Night are on most critic’s top 10 list of the best theater of 2013 so far — but not all (Time doesn’t have either.) I was early with my Top …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:43PM

How I Learned What I Learned Review: August Wilson’s Portrait Of The Playwright As A Young Man by Jonathan Mandell

How does one become one of the greatest playwrights of the 20th century? The answer is not directly forthcoming in “How I Learned What I Learned,” the memoir written and performed by Aug…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:13AM
Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Blogger Roundup: A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE & MURDER by Jonathan Mandell

With the lines blurring between professional and amateur drama critics, and indeed between anointed critics and avid theatergoers, we thought it worth hearing from more alternative voices. H…

SOURCE: BroadwayWorld at 12:30PM
Friday, October 25, 2013

Blogger Roundup: THE SNOW GEESE by Jonathan Mandell

With the lines blurring between professional and amateur drama critics, and indeed between self-declared critics and avid theatergoers, we thought it worth hearing from more alternative voic…

SOURCE: BroadwayWorld at 12:11PM
Sunday, October 6, 2013

Review Roundup: BIG FISH Opens on Broadway - Updating Live! by Jonathan Mandell

BIG FISH opens tonight, October 6 on Broadway at the Neil Simon Theatre. The production stars two-time Tony Award winner Norbert Leo Butz as Edward Bloom, Tony Award nominee Kate Baldwin as …

SOURCE: BroadwayWorld at 09:20PM
Thursday, May 2, 2013

In the Middle with You: Motown Stars Valisia LeKae and Brandon Victor Dixon by Jonathan Mandell

Motown Tony Award nominee Valisia LeKae and Brandon Victor Dixon bring a complex relationship to the stage as music icons Diana Ross and Berry Gordy.

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Friday, November 9, 2012

The Thrill of Creation: Chaim Potok's Asher Lev Goes From Page to Stage by Jonathan Mandell

Chaim Potok's My Name Is Asher Lev is brought to life Off-Broadway. His daughter, collaborator and star reflect on the late author and rabbi's need to create.

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00PM

Annie Review on Broadway by Jonathan Mandell

The timing seem ideal for a Broadway revival of “Annie,”  and director James Lapine is attempting a timely approach to this story of optimism triumphing in a bleak era.  Lapine’s “…

SOURCE: The Faster Times at 02:16AM
Monday, November 5, 2012

The Whale Review: Obesity, Revelation, and A Big Heart by Jonathan Mandell

The main character of “The Whale” is 600 pounds, but one of the many pleasures of this funny and affecting new play by Samuel D. Hunter, being given a splendid production with a universa…

SOURCE: The Faster Times at 10:00PM
Thursday, November 1, 2012

The Heiress Review On Broadway by Jonathan Mandell

At the beginning of “The Heiress,” the heartbreaking story of an abandoned love, Jessica Chastain descends the staircase of a sumptuous mansion in a dazzling red dress and a glorious smi…

SOURCE: The Faster Times at 06:30PM
Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Jonathan Franzen, from Page to Stage. House of Sale Review by Jonathan Mandell

Within the first minutes of the Transport Group Theatre Company’s “House for Sale,” billed as the first work by Jonathan Franzen (Freedom, The Corrections) to be adapted for the stage…

SOURCE: The Faster Times at 07:47PM
Friday, October 19, 2012

Cyrano de Bergerac on Broadway Review by Jonathan Mandell

Near the end of the latest Broadway revival of Cyrano de Bergerac, much to my surprise, the Les Miz Rule kicked in. If a Broadway show shines bright lights directly in your face, features st…

SOURCE: The Faster Times at 12:41AM
Monday, October 15, 2012

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf Review: A Broadway Sensation, 50 Years Later by Jonathan Mandell

“You’re all flops,” Martha says drunkenly to her guest in “Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?” the first full-length play by Edward Albee, which has proven once again to be the oppo…

SOURCE: The Faster Times at 10:32AM
Friday, October 12, 2012

They’re Not Actors, But They’re Playing Themselves by Jonathan Mandell

Undesirable Elements” Turns 20 Ping Chong, the theatre artist who created the documentary theatre series Undesirable Elements, knew what it felt like to be an outsider even before he w…

SOURCE: TDF at 01:43PM
Friday, October 5, 2012

Grace Review by Jonathan Mandell

There were reasons to have faith in “Grace,” a play about the downside of faith and the mystery of grace. Its stellar four-member cast includes Paul Rudd and Ed Asner, two performers w…

SOURCE: The Faster Times at 02:34PM
Thursday, September 27, 2012

An Enemy of the People Review by Jonathan Mandell

A day before the opening on Broadway of “An Enemy of the People,” which is a play about the efforts to silence a difficult man, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange lashed out at Obama in a …

SOURCE: The Faster Times at 09:15PM
Tuesday, September 25, 2012

If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet Review: Jake Gyllenhaal’s American Stage Debut by Jonathan Mandell

Julia Roberts made her Broadway debut in “Three Days of Rain,” Daniel Craig in “A Steady Rain,” and now Jake Gyllenhaal is making his U.S. stage debut in a play that begins in a stea…

SOURCE: The Faster Times at 04:32AM
Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Job Review: Why Good People Suffer, At The Flea by Jonathan Mandell

It is hard to know who to blame for the horribly wrong turn taken in Job, the Flea Theater’s initially promising stage adaptation of the Biblical Book of Job, the text that long has offere…

SOURCE: The Faster Times at 09:37PM

Detroit Review: Life Among the 47 Percent by Jonathan Mandell

Halfway through “Detroit,” Lisa D’Amour’s funny, dark and timely new play with a pitch-perfect cast that includes David Schwimmer and Amy Ryan, a character named  Sharon  explains …

SOURCE: The Faster Times at 12:54PM
Saturday, September 15, 2012

Something to Shout About: Comedian Lewis Black Is Back On Broadway by Jonathan Mandell

Yale-bred playwright Lewis Black, more widely known as an angry "Daily Show" comedian and commentator railing against modern times, brings his act to Broadway in October.

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Friday, September 14, 2012

Jason Robert Brown at Below 54: Back on (Almost) Broadway by Jonathan Mandell

Anyone listening to Jason Robert Brown perform his songs at Below 54 realizes two things right away: He’s as deserving as any other composer-lyricist of his generation to be called Mr. Bro…

SOURCE: The Faster Times at 05:44PM

Chaplin Review: The Little Tramp on Broadway by Jonathan Mandell

Rob McClure as Charlie Chaplin walks a tightrope, plays the violin, roller skates with a blindfold on, does backflips into a handstand,  and — most dexterous of all — carries…

SOURCE: The Faster Times at 12:38PM
Tuesday, September 11, 2012

The Art of Adaptation by Jonathan Mandell

  British playwright Rebecca Lenkiewicz adapts Ibsen’s timely classic. Arthur Miller hesitated before adapting Henrik Ibsen’s play An Enemy of the People. He believed that t…

SOURCE: TDF at 01:24PM
Friday, September 7, 2012

Forbidden Broadway: Alive and Kicking Review by Jonathan Mandell

Trey Parker and Matt Stone of the “Book of Morons” sing “We believe that musicals should be disgusting.” Two competing Marilyn Monroes belt “Let Me Be Subpar” A bloated Matthew B…

SOURCE: The Faster Times at 12:46AM
Monday, August 27, 2012

Heartless Review: Sam Shepard’s Woman Play by Jonathan Mandell

Roscoe, the only male character in Sam Shepard’s new, enigmatic play “Heartless,” fondly recalls “my junkie days – Avenue D, 14th Street, Dunkin’ Donuts, cops, transvestite fist …

SOURCE: The Faster Times at 09:03PM
Saturday, August 25, 2012

Broadway Fall 2012 Preview by Jonathan Mandell

You can look at the Broadway 2012-2013 season in terms of the movie stars that will be on the stage: Al Pacino and Katie Holmes and Debra Winger — or how about Paul Rudd, Michael Shann…

SOURCE: The Faster Times at 11:46AM

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