Sunday, April 20, 2025

SONDHEIM’S OLD FRIENDS ***** by Barry Gordin

By Samuel L. Leiter April 20, 2025. As we exited the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre after seeing Sondheim’s Old Friends, producer-devisor Cameron Macintosh’s revue of around 40 songs by Ste…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 11:11PM
Saturday, April 19, 2025

Five Reasons Why Operation Mincemeat Epitomizes Historical Humor by Barry Gordin

By Iris Wiener April 19, 2025. There’s nothing better than a musical that explores unchartered territory. Operation Mincemeat’s originality is startlingly refreshing, if scarily relevan…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 07:34PM

Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp. ****, Wine in the Wilderness **** by Barry Gordin

By David Sheward April 19, 2025. You never know what you’re going to get with a Caryl Churchill play, but it’s sure to be something unique, thought-provoking, and convention-breaking. A…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 05:26PM
Friday, April 18, 2025

SMASH ** by Barry Gordin

By Samuel L. Leiter April 18, 2025. Twelve years ago, there was a TV series called“Smash,” whose showrunner was playwright Theresa Rebeck. It was largely a backstage look at the creatio…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 12:07PM
Thursday, April 17, 2025

SMASH ***** by Patrick Christiano

By David Sheward April 17, 2025: During its two-season run on NBC (2012-13), I used to hate-watch Smash, the weekly series chronicling the making of a Broadway musical on screen legend Maril…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 06:40PM
Tuesday, April 15, 2025

Boop! The Musical by Barry Gordin

By Samuel L. Leiter April 15, 2025: Cartoon characters, like L’il Abner and Superman, have inspired several Broadway musicals, so it’s not unusual that Boop!: the Musical takes its cue…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 05:18PM

Boop! The Musical **** by Barry Gordin

By Paulanne Simmons April 15, 2025. From the moment the dancers, dressed in sparkling tuxes, prance onto the stage at the Broadhurst Theatre and perform a number that includes an incredib…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 08:54AM
Monday, April 14, 2025

JOHN PROCTOR IS THE VILLAIN***1/2 by Patrick Christiano

April 14, 2025: The current Broadway season, which technically ends this month, has been notably top-heavy with musicals and pencil thin in new plays. However, for those pondering the upcom…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 09:39PM
Sunday, April 13, 2025

The Last Five Years *** by Barry Gordin

By David Sheward April 13, 2025. The Broadway premiere of The Last Five Years at the Hudson,Jason Robert Brown’s two-character tuner chronicling the romance, marriage and break-up of nove…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 02:03PM

Good Night, and Good Luck ***** by Barry Gordin

By David Sheward April 13, 2025. The first thing you notice upon entering the Winter Garden Theater for Good Night, and Good Luck., the riveting new play headlined and co-written by George …

SOURCE: theaterlife at 01:54PM
Saturday, April 12, 2025

BOOP! THE MUSICAL**** by Patrick Christiano

By Patrick Christiano April 11, 2025: Boop! The Musical is a delightful homage to the iconic cartoon character created by Max Fleischer in the 1930s and embodied beautifully by Jasmine Amy …

SOURCE: theaterlife at 08:10PM
Wednesday, April 9, 2025

Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends *****, Boop! The Musical ***1/2 by Barry Gordin

By David Sheward April 9, 2025. Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends, which began life as a London tribute concert devised by uber-producer Cameron Mackintosh and then restaged for a commercial…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 10:41AM
Monday, April 7, 2025

Good Night, and Good Luck **** by Barry Gordin

George Clooney makes his Broadway debut in an adaptation of his acclaimed film, Good Night, and Good Luck, directed by David Cromer at the Winter Garden. By Patrick Christiano April 7, 202…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 08:53PM

Goodnight, and Good Luck ****1/2 by Barry Gordin

By Paulanne Simmons The film Goodnight, and Goodluck, directed by Goerge Clooney and co-written by Clooney and Grant Heslov, was released in 2005. The film chronicles Murrow’s campaign t…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 08:00AM
Sunday, April 6, 2025

Good Night, and Good Luck ****1/2  by Barry Gordin

By Samuel L. Leiter April 6, 2025. The big reason many are paying premium prices at the Winter Garden Theatre to see Good Night, and Good Luck,is not because they’re dying to witness a fa…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 11:05AM
Saturday, April 5, 2025

Glengarry Glen Ross ***, Deep Blue Sound **** by Barry Gordin

By David Sheward April 5, 2025. Glengarry Glen Ross, David Mamet’s savagely funny takedown of cutthroat Chicago real-estate salesmen, has been a magnet for male actors to prove their thea…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 02:41PM

Glengarry Glen Ross ***1/2 by Barry Gordin

By Samuel L. Leiter April 5, 2025. First seen on Broadway 41 years ago (March 25, 1984), and revived three times since then (2005, 2012, and now, at the Palace), David Mamet’s Glengarry G…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 02:33PM

The Picture of Dorian Gray *** by Barry Gordin

By Samuel L. Leiter April 5, 2025. The Picture of Dorian Gray, adapted by Kip Williams from the 1890 Gothic horror novel by Oscar Wilde (his only one), about a man who neither ages nor lo…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 02:28PM
Wednesday, April 2, 2025

Purpose ****, Last Call **1/2, Love Life **** by Barry Gordin

Reviewed by David Sheward April 2, 2025. The family drama is making a dynamic comeback this theater season. Cult of Love, The Blood Quilt, We Had a World, and now Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ …

SOURCE: theaterlife at 11:51AM

We Had a World **1/2 by Barry Gordin

By Paulanne Simmons April, 2, 2025. It’s a well-known fact that playwrights have miserable childhoods. Their father was a drunken actor (Eugene O’Neill). Their father abandoned them, an…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 11:33AM
Friday, March 28, 2025

Jamie DeRoy & Friends by Barry Gordin

Jamie DeRoy & Friends to present 35th Anniversary Cabaret at Birdland to support The Entertainment Community Fund on Monday, March 31. March 28, 2025: Producer Jamie deRoy will presen…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 11:51PM

The Picture of Dorian Gray ****, Othello ***, The Jonathan Larson Project **** by Barry Gordin

By David Sheward March 28, 2025. In a dazzling feat of technology and acting pyrotechnics, Sarah Snook of Succession fame  plays 26 characters and brings Oscar Wilde’s 1891 classic of go…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 04:42PM

Buena Vista Social Club ***** by Barry Gordin

By Samuel L. Leiter In 2023, two new musicals, Broadway’s How to Dance in Ohio and Off Broadway’s Buena Vista Social Club (at the Atlantic Theatre), were directly based on popular docum…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 08:53AM
Thursday, March 27, 2025

The Picture of Dorian Gray ** by Barry Gordin

By Paulanne Simmons March 23, 2025. Sarah Snook‘s one-woman The Picture of Dorian Gray is a combination of melodrama and farce, enhanced by technology and enabled by sheer stamina. With th…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 10:00PM
Wednesday, March 26, 2025

BroadwayHD 10th Anniversary by Barry Gordin

BroadwayHD BroadwayHD Marked 10 years of Excellence with a PIPPIN/ 50th Anniversary Celebration featuring Stephen Schwartz, Alex Newell, & Ben Vereen. March 26, 2025: Bonnie Comley and…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 11:43AM
Tuesday, March 25, 2025

Operation Mincemeat ****, Buena Vista Social Club **** by Barry Gordin

By David Sheward March 25, 2025. Two disparate musicals originating away from Broadway, one in London and the other Off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theatre Club, recently opened with a day of …

SOURCE: theaterlife at 04:46PM

Operation Mincemeat ***** by Barry Gordin

By Samuel L. Leiter March 25, 2025. Despite its somewhat comedic title, Operation Mincemeat, the spectacularly clever British musical spoof (“spoofsical”?) at the John Golden Theatre, i…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 08:30AM
Sunday, March 23, 2025

Interview: Orchestrator Doug Besterman’s B’way Triple Play by Barry Gordin

By David Sheward March 23, 2025. After 31 Broadway shows, three Tony and two Drama Desk Awards, orchestrator Doug Besterman is achieving a rare feat: three shows running simultaneously in o…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 04:17PM

Operation Mincemeat*** by Barry Gordin

By Paulanne Simmons March 23, 2025. Satires on war are perhaps as old as war itself. Consider Lysistrata, M*A*S*H, Catch-22 and now, Operation Mincemeat, the very energetic and occasionally…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 03:02PM
Saturday, March 22, 2025

Purpose ****1/2 by Barry Gordin

By Samuel L. Leiter March 22, 2025. Family dramas are theatrical staples, especially the kind where relatives gather from far and wide for some unifying function, like a holiday, death, or …

SOURCE: theaterlife at 11:02AM

We Had A World **** by Barry Gordin

By David Sheward March 22, 2025. “There is no straight line to tell this story,” says Joshua, the character standing in for the playwright Joshua Harmon in his touching autobiographical…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 10:47AM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Nov 17, 2024: Elf - Marquis Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 17, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre