All stories by Ben Brantley on BroadwayStars

Sunday, April 10, 2011

'Catch Me if You Can' at Neil Simon Theater - Review - NYTimes.com by Ben Brantley

"Catch Me if You Can," the new Broadway musical by much of the team behind "Hairspray," is full of elaborate deceptions and corkscrew twists, but not many surprises.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:18PM[SHARE]

Theater Review | 'Catch Me if You Can' : Scamming as Fast as He Can by Ben Brantley

"Catch Me if You Can," the new Broadway musical by much of the team behind "Hairspray," is full of elaborate deceptions and corkscrew twists, but not many surprises.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:01PM[SHARE]
Thursday, April 7, 2011

Theater Review | 'Anything Goes': A Glimpse of Stocking? Shocking! by Ben Brantley

Sutton Foster stars in Kathleen Marshall's rousing Broadway revival of Cole Porter's willfully silly musical "Anything Goes."

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:01PM[SHARE]

Theater Talkback: The Joys of Feel-Bad Drama by Ben Brantley

Sometimes theater can make audiences uncomfortable in a way that penetrates to the marrow.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:00PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Theater Review | 'Marie and Bruce': There's Room for Everyone Aboard a Marital Misery Tour by Ben Brantley

"Marie and Bruce," Wallace Shawn's 1979 portrait of marital misery, has been revived at the Acorn Theater.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:30PM[SHARE]
Monday, March 28, 2011

Critic's Notebook: Her Sequins, Plumes and Foghorn Voice by Ben Brantley

Harvey Fierstein joins the cast of "La Cage aux Folles" at the Longacre Theater.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:30PM[SHARE]
Sunday, March 27, 2011

Theater Review | 'How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying': Wizard of Corporate Climbing by Ben Brantley

You root for Daniel Radcliffe, who stars in the revival of Frank Loesser's "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," though Rob Ashford's production is charm free.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:00PM[SHARE]
Friday, March 25, 2011

Theater Review | 'Macbeth': The Deed Is Done, the Doers Undone by Ben Brantley

John Douglas Thompson stars as Macbeth, and Annika Boras as his wife, in Arin Arbus's production at the Duke on 42nd Street.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:30PM[SHARE]
Thursday, March 24, 2011

Theater Review | 'The Book of Mormon' : Missionary Men With Confidence in Sunshine by Ben Brantley

"The Book of Mormon," a collaboration between the creator's of "South Park" and the composer of "Avenue Q," is that rare thing: an old-fashioned, pleasure-giving musical.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:01PM[SHARE]

An Appraisal: Lanford Wilson's Losers, Beloved by Their Creator by Ben Brantley

Lanford Wilson reflected the disenchantment that came to pervade the United States in the 1960s and 1970s but his work exuded a sentimentality that seemed to come from an earlier time.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:03PM[SHARE]

ArtsBeat: Theater Talkback: Speaking the Speech, Trippingly by Ben Brantley

From e-mail from readers, I gather that audibility problems are not uncommon to New York theatergoers.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:53PM[SHARE]

Theater Talkback: Speaking the Speech, Trippingly by Ben Brantley

From e-mail from readers, I gather that audibility problems are not uncommon to New York theatergoers.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:48PM[SHARE]
Sunday, March 20, 2011

Theater Review | 'Hello Again': Web of Love, Explicitly Woven in Shades of Anguish by Ben Brantley

The Transport Group's exceedingly intimate revival of "Hello Again" rips the shirts (and dresses) off its characters' backs.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:01PM[SHARE]
Friday, March 18, 2011

Theater Review | 'The Comedy of Errors': Giving Shakespeare His Sombrero and Kazoo by Ben Brantley

Propeller, the British theater troupe that routinely turns Shakespeare into a donnybrook, pumps "Comedy of Errors" full of testosterone at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:05PM[SHARE]
Thursday, March 17, 2011

Theater Review | 'Arcadia': The 180-Year Itch, Metaphysically Speaking by Ben Brantley

"Arcadia," Tom Stoppard's tale of two centuries in pseudopastoral England, is propelled by genuine, panting passion.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 11:30PM[SHARE]
Thursday, March 10, 2011

ArtsBeat: Theater Talkback: The Urge to Fly by Ben Brantley

There's so much flying going on in the theater these days you wonder if an aviator's license won't soon be mandatory for participation in show.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:31PM[SHARE]

Theater Talkback: The Urge to Fly by Ben Brantley

How do you feel about the art of flying as part of the art of theater?

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:30PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Theater Review | 'Peter and the Starcatcher': Peter Pan (the Early Years), With Bounding Main and All by Ben Brantley

"Peter and the Starcatcher" brings to the stage Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson's popular prequel to "Peter Pan."

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:30PM[SHARE]
Sunday, March 6, 2011

Theater Review | 'That Championship Season': The Champs Reunite, Bearing the Nation's Scars by Ben Brantley

A revival of "That Championship Season" has Kiefer Sutherland making his Broadway debut.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:01PM[SHARE]
Thursday, March 3, 2011

Theater Review | 'Good People': Been Back to the Old Neighborhood? by Ben Brantley

David Lindsay-Abaire's "Good People," a very fine new play starring Frances McDormand and Tate Donovan, is one of the more subtly surprising treats of this theater season.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:09PM[SHARE]
Friday, February 25, 2011

ArtsBeat: London Theater Journal: Punished By Fame by Ben Brantley

At the closet-sized Finborough Theater, a novelist with a double life discovers that a knighthood comes with blackmail attached in "Accolade."

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:14PM[SHARE]

London Theater Journal: Punished By Fame by Ben Brantley

At the closet-sized Finborough Theater, a novelist with a double life discovers that a knighthood comes with blackmail attached in "Accolade."

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 11:43AM[SHARE]
Thursday, February 24, 2011

Theater Talkback: When Shakespeare's Comedies Draw Tears by Ben Brantley

Commentary on suddenly tearing up during scenes in Shakespeare's comedies

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:24PM[SHARE]

ArtsBeat: Theater Talkback: When Shakespeare's Comedies Draw Tears by Ben Brantley

Commentary on suddenly tearing up during scenes in Shakespeare's comedies

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:24PM[SHARE]

Theater Review | 'Frankenstein': It's (Gasp!) Alive, Not to Mention Peeved by Ben Brantley

Mary Shelley's monster is birthed onstage in London by the Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle, who has a keen sense of the trappings of life in this world.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:09PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, February 23, 2011

All Over London, Love Hurts by Ben Brantley

Keira Knightley, Elisabeth Moss and Rebecca Hall have taken to the London stage and audiences are lining up.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:31PM[SHARE]
Sunday, February 20, 2011

Spring Performance: Theater : Revivals Are Nice, but Revel in the New by Ben Brantley

Tom Stoppard's "Arcadia" returns, the "South Park" team tries Broadway, and Chris Rock turns up in a play.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:28PM[SHARE]
Thursday, February 17, 2011

Theater Review | 'Compulsion': The Young Girl Pulls the Strings in This Relationship by Ben Brantley

In "Compulsion," a dynamic Mandy Patinkin meets his match in a puppet version of Anne Frank.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:01PM[SHARE]

Theater Review | 'Diary of a Madman': Send in the Russian Clown and His Pain and Alienation, Too by Ben Brantley

Geoffrey Rush, who plays the title character in Gogol's "Diary of a Madman" at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, reminds us that it's a fine, fine line that divides the lunatic from the clown.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 07:36PM[SHARE]
Thursday, February 10, 2011

ArtsBeat: Theater Talkback: Good Glitch, Bad Glitch by Ben Brantley

When something goes wrong during a show, the illusion of reality that has been created on stage can fall apart before your eyes.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:59PM[SHARE]

Theater Talkback: Good Glitch, Bad Glitch by Ben Brantley

When something goes wrong during a show, the illusion of reality that has been created on stage can fall apart before your eyes.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:42PM[SHARE]

All that Chat

2025-2026 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 12, 2025: Call Me Izzy - Studio 54
Sep 16, 2025: Art - Music Box Theatre
Oct 08, 2025: Beetlejuice - Palace Theatre
Nov 13, 2025: Oedipus - Studio 54
Nov 16, 2025: Chess - Imperial Theatre
Mar 23, 2026: Giant - Music Box Theatre
Apr 06, 2026: Becky Shaw - Hayes Theater
Apr 16, 2026: Proof - Booth Theatre
Apr 26, 2026: Drama Desk Cut-Off