All stories by Rebecca Mead on BroadwayStars

Monday, April 2, 2018

The Commercial Compromises (and Hygge Flourishes) of “Frozen” the Musical by Rebecca Mead

Rebecca Mead writes about the conflicts and compromises of the musical adaptation of “Frozen” on Broadway, directed by Michael Grandage.

SOURCE: The New Yorker Subscription at 05:36PM
Monday, March 26, 2018

Can an App Track Sexual Predators in the Theatre? by Rebecca Mead

Rebecca Mead on Callisto, which functions like the “Shitty Media Men” list, without the vulnerability of a Google doc.  

SOURCE: The New Yorker Subscription at 05:00AM
Monday, February 5, 2018

The Wingmen (and Women) of “Angels in America” by Rebecca Mead

Rebecca Mead on a new Broadway production of Tony Kushner’s play, in which puppeteers conjure a heavenly being from feathers and feelings.

SOURCE: The New Yorker Subscription at 05:00AM
Monday, January 22, 2018

Michael Grandage Finds Shakespeare in “Frozen” by Rebecca Mead

Rebecca Mead talks with the distinguished British director, who is adapting the animated musical for Broadway.

SOURCE: The New Yorker Subscription at 05:00AM
Wednesday, June 7, 2017

The Public Theatre at Fifty: “A Machine for Making Community” by Rebecca Mead

The stage of the Delacorte Theatre, in Central Park, was glistening on Monday evening with what remained of an earlier rainfall, while the sky overhead was heavy and gray. These were not the…

SOURCE: The New Yorker Subscription at 12:00PM
Monday, March 13, 2017

A Protest Musical for the Trump Era by Rebecca Mead

Five actors gathered in a room on Lafayette Street, in downtown Manhattan, to start rehearsing a new work for the Public Theatre, “Joan of Arc: Into the Fire.” Written by David Byrne, fo…

SOURCE: The New Yorker Subscription at 12:00AM
Monday, November 21, 2016

The Renewed Relevance of “Hamilton” by Rebecca Mead

In the immediate aftermath of the Presidential election, as it became necessary to process an appalling new reality—What does this mean for the undocumented? What does this mean for women?…

SOURCE: The New Yorker Subscription at 05:54PM
Monday, April 25, 2016

Elizabethan Trump? by Rebecca Mead

When Gregory Doran, the artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, first decided to direct Shakespeare’s cycle of English-history plays, he met with Sir Ian McKellen and asked him…

SOURCE: The New Yorker Subscription at 06:37AM
Wednesday, December 23, 2015

The Thrilling Uncertainty of the Understudy by Rebecca Mead

For close observers of the cultural phenomenon that is “Hamilton,” a new milestone in the musical’s unfolding journey was reached last week: the appearance of the understudy in the tit…

SOURCE: The New Yorker Subscription at 02:00PM
Monday, October 19, 2015

Theatre Laid Bare by Rebecca Mead

When Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America: Millennium Approaches” opened on Broadway, in 1993, in a production directed by George C. Wolfe, the play ended with a winged angel crashing int…

SOURCE: The New Yorker Subscription at 06:34AM
Friday, September 25, 2015

Why Donald Trump and Jeb Bush should see “Hamilton” by Rebecca Mead

Hillary Clinton is, so far, the only declared Presidential candidate known to have seen “Hamilton”: she attended a performance of the show at the Public Theatre, in March, to which she r…

SOURCE: The New Yorker Subscription at 01:35PM
Monday, February 2, 2015

All About the Hamiltons by Rebecca Mead

In April, 2009, Lin-Manuel Miranda, a writer, composer, and performer, received a call from the White House. The new President and the First Lady were planning to host an evening of live per…

SOURCE: The New Yorker Subscription at 12:00AM
Monday, April 7, 2014

Rebecca Mead: Michael Pennington and Ian McKellen on “King Lear.” by Rebecca Mead

If you’re a British person of a certain age, you know Michael Pennington as a distinguished classical actor, belonging to the same generation as Sir Ian McKellen but lacking his blockb…

SOURCE: The New Yorker Subscription at 12:00AM

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