All stories by Jonathan Mandell on BroadwayStars

Monday, September 18, 2023

Broadway 2024: 4 more. #Stageworthy News of the Week by Jonathan Mandell

 Broadway favorites  Kelli O’Hara, Brian d’Arcy James, and Heidi Schreck are returning, and Rachel McAdams making her Broadway debut, in two plays and two musicals that were newly ann…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:03AM
Friday, September 15, 2023

Psychic Self Defense Review. A Curtain Raiser for the Ages by Jonathan Mandell

“Psychic Self Defense” – gorgeous, impish and enveloping — had long ended before I understood the title, although the show itself remained ineffable. To be clear, I never doubted it …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:05PM
Thursday, September 14, 2023

alt-Hamlet Review. A “post-Roe satire” by Jonathan Mandell

Susan and Bella, two students at UC Berkeley who are twin sisters, keep on getting pregnant – their pregnancy represented by red balloons —  and they keep on popping “M&Ms” –…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:50PM
Wednesday, September 13, 2023

PAC NYC officially opens, with two billionaires, two mayors, two matinee idols, and a governor by Jonathan Mandell

The Perelman Performing Arts Center, or PAC NYC, held a ribbon connection (rather than ribbon cutting) ceremony today on a stage in the lobby that will offer free entertainment every day fro…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:25PM
Tuesday, September 12, 2023

Infinite Life Review. Pain on Stage, Sex in Mind. by Jonathan Mandell

Shortly before I attended Annie Baker’s new play about a group of mostly older women spending their vacations at a pain clinic in Northern California, I saw a new musical about a group of …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:23PM
Monday, September 11, 2023

Reframing 9/11, with Theater. #Stageworthy News of the Week by Jonathan Mandell

The new performing arts center at the World Trade Center smartly decided to hold its official opening day ceremony on Wednesday,  not today. But if all goes well, the marble cube of the Pe…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:23AM
Sunday, September 10, 2023

Fall Preview 2023: 5 Movies for Theater Lovers by Jonathan Mandell

Each of the following movies slated for release in cinemas and/or streaming services before the end of the year may be of interest to legitimate theater fans because it directly adapts a sta…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:18AM
Saturday, September 9, 2023

Broadway Poll: The Fall 2023 Show You Most Want to See by Jonathan Mandell

Choose the show that you are most looking forward to, of the ten that have an official opening on Broadway from September to December 2023. They are listed chronologically below by opening d…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:32AM
Friday, September 8, 2023

The Writing On The Stall Review: 5 Ways this “bathroom graffiti musical” made me uncomfortable by Jonathan Mandell

Caitlin Cook has reportedly spent ten years researching graffiti in public bathrooms, and five years turning the graffiti into songs, which she now has put together for an hour-long show bil…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:33PM
Thursday, September 7, 2023

Charles Busch Books: Leading Lady and Beyond Ridiculous by Jonathan Mandell

Charles Busch has always worshipped Leading Ladies, even before he became one. That happened almost four decades ago, thanks to the surprise success of his play “Vampire Lesbians of Sodom.…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:13PM
Wednesday, September 6, 2023

Relapse Review: Mentally ill youth who can really sing. by Jonathan Mandell

Bryan is bulimic.  Melinda is schizophrenic. Kendra has borderline personality disorder. Newcomer Adam is an addict. They are young patients in group therapy at a rehab ward, presided over…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:56PM
Tuesday, September 5, 2023

Fall Previews. #Stageworthy News of the Week by Jonathan Mandell

Summer officially ended with Lea Michele singing “My Man” at the curtain call for the final performance of “Funny Girl” (see video below), a song introduced by Fanny Brice in the Zie…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:57AM
Monday, September 4, 2023

The Labor Play in a Time of Labor Strikes by Jonathan Mandell

On a Labor Day when Hollywood writers and actors have been on strike for months now,  there is a fitting if startling answer this year to the question I ask every Labor Day, which is a l…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:54AM
Sunday, September 3, 2023

Fall New York Theater Preview: 10 that are “can’t miss” (though not yet “must see”) by Jonathan Mandell

A new Sondheim musical, posthumously produced; a new Annie Baker play; the return to Broadway of Leslie Odom Jr. and Sarah Paulson. Below are ten shows opening in the Fall – three of which…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:55PM
Saturday, September 2, 2023

What Was Shakespeare Really Like? by Jonathan Mandell

For his ninetieth birthday, Sir Stanley Wells, considered one of the world’s greatest authorities on William Shakespeare, was asked to deliver four lectures to answer the following questio…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:54PM
Friday, September 1, 2023

September 2023 New York Theater Openings by Jonathan Mandell

Below is a calendar of theater opening* in New York in September: Leslie Odom Jr is returning to Broadway in a revival of a play by Ossie Davis, and rock star Melissa Etheridge is bringing …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:49AM
Thursday, August 31, 2023

End of Summer Theater Quiz 2023 by Jonathan Mandell

The quiz below offers a theatergoer’s perspective on this crazy, busy, unnerving summer, Loading…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:17PM
Wednesday, August 30, 2023

The Tempest Review: Renée Elise Goldsberry as Prospero in A Public Works Musical by Jonathan Mandell

Renée Elise Goldsberry’s star turn as Prospero helps make this entertaining new musical adaptation of “The Tempest” thrilling in some of the same ways as the musical for which she won…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:47PM
Tuesday, August 29, 2023

How To Steal An Election Musical Review by Jonathan Mandell

“How To Steal An Election,” a 1968 musical that offers a cynical history lesson about American presidential politics, is getting a perky revival as part of York Theater Company’s M…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:54PM
Monday, August 28, 2023

Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have A Dream speech, delivered 60 years ago today by Jonathan Mandell

On 28 August, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the following speech at the March on Washington: I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demons…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:30PM

The Dog Days for Theater. Sondheim, Louis Armstrong Musicals Sneak Peeks. Audra McDonald=Judy Garland? #Stageworthy News by Jonathan Mandell

The end of August, traditionally the dog days of summer, this year brings news of a British movie theater chain allowing dogs to accompany humans at select showings. Would this work for le…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:26AM
Sunday, August 27, 2023

Gays on Broadway. What is a gay play? by Jonathan Mandell

To author Ethan Mordden, Edward Albee is the “Great American Gay Playwright” —  emphasis on gay — even though few of his plays have any gay characters in them at all nor any obviou…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:11AM
Wednesday, August 23, 2023

Rock and Roll Man. Another bio jukebox musical? by Jonathan Mandell

“Rock & Roll Man,” a musical at New World Stages about Alan Freed, a radio disc jockey and concert promoter who championed early rock and roll, had already announced a September 1st …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:29PM
Tuesday, August 22, 2023

August Wilson: A Life by Jonathan Mandell

What turned high school drop-out Frederick August Kittel Jr. into the revered and consequential playwright August Wilson? That’s the question at the heart of “August Wilson: A Life” (S…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:07PM
Monday, August 21, 2023

The Outsiders on Broadway. Fall Theater Seasons. #Stageworthy News by Jonathan Mandell

Best to think of a Fall full of theater during these final summer days wracked by climate change disasters, indictments and dubious debates. It’s not too early to get two-for-one tickets t…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:30AM
Sunday, August 20, 2023

El Mago Pop Broadway Review. Antonio Diaz’s Magic, Charm and Hype. by Jonathan Mandell

This latest magic show to land fleetingly on Broadway  stars Antonio Diaz, a boyishly charming 37-year-old Spaniard who we’re told was “born into a humble family in a small town on the…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:52PM
Monday, August 14, 2023

Fringe Fun! Spamalot, Wiz Casting. Hamilton Game. #Stageworthy News of the Week by Jonathan Mandell

Patrick Page is hugging Eva Noblezada on the stage of “Hadestown.” There are two ways to look at this photograph, just as there are two ways to look at the news of the challenges facing …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:20PM
Sunday, August 13, 2023

MicroTheater at the Fringe: The world’s ugliest woman and America’s bawdiest sailor, beautified. by Jonathan Mandell

The life of Julia Pastrana was short and ugly; her death long and grotesque. But there was also beauty in her true story, and it’s captured briefly but memorably by a remarkable performer …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:13PM
Saturday, August 12, 2023

The Theater Art of Ralph Lee. A Pig Beast for Sam Shepard, a Griffin for Brecht, a Monk for Wu Ch’eng-en… by Jonathan Mandell

The creatures created by Ralph Lee (July 9, 1935 – May 12, 2023) come alive even when in an art exhibition rather than on stage, as evident in “Myths, Legends, & Spectacle: Masks and…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:10PM
Friday, August 11, 2023

Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2023 Shows You Can Watch From Home by Jonathan Mandell

The  76th Edinburgh Festival Fringe is underway, a month-long festival that this year is presenting more than 3,500 shows – which might be intimidating for those theatergoers who have …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:06AM
Thursday, August 10, 2023

The Shark Is Broken Broadway Review. Waiting for Jaws by Jonathan Mandell

On their last day of shooting “Jaws,” its three stars sit around the table of a cramped fishing boat, shooting the breeze, as they had done for most of the 95 minutes of “The Shark Is …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:52PM