All stories by Charles McNulty on BroadwayStars

Thursday, December 20, 2018

How Bryan Cranston's towering performance in 'Network' packs new potency into Paddy Chayefsky's 1976 tale of media mind control by Charles McNulty

Two thoughts occurred to me at the end of Ivo van Hove's stage production of "Network": Bryan Cranston is one of the most fearless actors working today, and Paddy Chayefsky attained a kind o…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:00AM[SHARE]
Sunday, December 16, 2018

Review: Taylor Mac's 'Holiday Sauce,' a madcap brew of Christmas spirit, extra spicy by Charles McNulty

The cabaret drag star who staged his 24-hour music and social history marathon earlier this year, returns with an L.A. holiday show that takes on this, the most materialistic time of the yea…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 05:25PM[SHARE]

Review: Taylor Mac's 'Holiday Sauce,' a madcap brew of Christmas spirit, extra spicy by Charles McNulty

Imagine a Christmas tree ornament made by Picasso on an absinthe bender and you'll have some idea of Taylor Mac's initial costume for "Taylor Mac's Holiday Sauce," the festive fandango that …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 05:20PM[SHARE]
Friday, December 14, 2018

Review: 'The Cher Show,' a Broadway musical that hardcore fans can 'Believe' in by Charles McNulty

How much Cher is too much Cher? I mean how much pasteurized celebrity information do you really, really want? A related question posed by the new Broadway musical "The Cher Show," now at the…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:09PM[SHARE]

Review: 'The Cher Show,' a Broadway musical that hardcore fans can 'Believe' in by Charles McNulty

Does anyone really expect genuine drama from this kind of commercial jukebox musical? Get past the lackluster writing, and this production directed by Jason Moore and choreographed by Christ…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:30PM[SHARE]

In 'To Kill a Mockingbird' on Broadway, the words of Harper Lee but the voice of Aaron Sorkin by Charles McNulty

Aaron Sorkin's production of 'To Kill A Mockingbird,' which opened Thursday on Broadway, is a top-flight interpretation of the Harper Lee novel under the rustically elegant direction of Bart…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 05:40PM[SHARE]

Review: At this 'Prom,' the campy comedy comes with an LGBTQ beat by Charles McNulty

How much campiness can a theater audience take? This new musical tests the limits with its tale of Broadway actors who set out to champion an Indiana high school student banned from bringing…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 05:19PM[SHARE]

Review: At this 'Prom,' the campy comedy comes with an LGBTQ beat by Charles McNulty

During the deliriously zany setup for "The Prom," a new musical comedy now at the Longacre Theatre, I thought I might have died and gone to campy heaven. The feeling doesn't last, but the la…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 05:15PM[SHARE]
Thursday, December 13, 2018

Review: In 'To Kill a Mockingbird' on Broadway, the words of Harper Lee but the voice of Aaron Sorkin by Charles McNulty

The marquee at the Sam S. Shubert Theatre blasts in big block letters "Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird." But all it takes is some slingshot dialogue to reveal that the new blockbuster Bro…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:50PM[SHARE]

Review: In 'To Kill a Mockingbird' on Broadway, the words of Harper Lee but the voice of Aaron Sorkin by Charles McNulty

All it takes is a few minutes of slingshot dialogue to reveal that this blockbuster Broadway adaptation belongs to Sorkin, who with director Bartlett Sher and star Jeff Daniels has created a…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Best theater 2018: A brave 'Cost of Living,' a radical 'Fairview' and a new star in 'Evan Hansen' by Charles McNulty

The Times' theater critic names his top productions of 2018, including Jefferson Mays' take on "A Christmas Carol," a daring "Streetcar," Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' ingenious "Gloria" and the s…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:00AM[SHARE]

Best theater in 2018: A brave 'Cost of Living,' a radical 'Fairview' and a new star in 'Evan Hansen' by Charles McNulty

The year started strong with two revivals that invited us to listen anew to modern classics we thought we knew inside out. Richard Nelson's production of Anton Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya" at San…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:00AM[SHARE]
Thursday, November 29, 2018

Review: 'Come From Away' national tour keeps singing its ode to the better side of human nature by Charles McNulty

The surprise Broadway hit about a tiny Canadian town's embrace of air passengers diverted on 9/11 arrives at L.A.'s Ahmanson Theatre a little less polished but ultimately still satisfying.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 05:12PM[SHARE]

Review: 'Come From Away' national tour keeps singing its ode to the better side of human nature by Charles McNulty

The surprise Broadway hit about a tiny Canadian town's embrace of air passengers diverted on 9/11 arrives at L.A.'s Ahmanson Theatre a little less polished but ultimately still satisfying.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:20PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Critic's Notebook: Star turns that serve the Broadway play " Elaine May, Daniel Radcliffe and Janet McTeer show how it's done by Charles McNulty

When it comes to playwriting, Broadway has a supply problem. Although the new generation of American dramatists is blazingly talented, the great majority of these writers prefer the creative…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:39AM[SHARE]
Friday, November 16, 2018

Review: In a Geffen Playhouse double bill, actor Brian Dennehy soars in O'Neill, survives in Beckett by Charles McNulty

Tony-winner Brian Dennehy stars in a double-bill of short works by Eugene O'Neill and Samuel Beckett

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 02:47PM[SHARE]

Review: In a Geffen Playhouse double bill, actor Brian Dennehy soars in O'Neill, survives in Beckett by Charles McNulty

Brian Dennehy needs no coddling from critics. A two-time Tony-winning heavyweight, he has nothing left to prove, having triumphed (through the blunt force of his acting) in Eugene O'Neill's …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 02:30PM[SHARE]
Monday, November 12, 2018

Review: Martyna Majok's Pulitzer-winning drama 'Cost of Living' has found an ideal home at Fountain Theatre by Charles McNulty

Review: 'Cost of Living': Martyna Majok's 2018 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama brings an unflinching realism about the disabled and their caregivers to the Fountain Theatre.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:37PM[SHARE]

Review: Martyna Majok's Pulitzer-winning drama 'Cost of Living' has found an ideal home at Fountain Theatre by Charles McNulty

Two of the best productions this fall have happened at intimate theaters that are keeping up with the exciting developments in American playwriting. Earlier this season, Branden Jacobs-Jenki…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:35PM[SHARE]
Saturday, November 10, 2018

Review: Tony-winner Jefferson Mays, a virtuoso working solo, brings 'A Christmas Carol' back from the dead by Charles McNulty

Tony-winner Jefferson Mays single-handedly populates "Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol" at the Geffen Playhouse

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 11:00AM[SHARE]

Review: Tony-winner Jefferson Mays, a virtuoso working solo, brings 'A Christmas Carol' back from the dead by Charles McNulty

Charles Dickens has become so yawningly familiar through adaptations that it can be jolting to experience his storytelling genius directly from the fictional works themselves. No literary pr…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 11:00AM[SHARE]
Friday, November 9, 2018

Review: Luis Valdez's 'Valley of the Heart' shares an immigrant story from California's past by Charles McNulty

Luis Valdez's new play explores immigration and the reality of the American dream in a story set during World War II about two families, one of Japanese heritage, the other of Mexican.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AM[SHARE]
Thursday, November 8, 2018

Review: 'King Kong,' a giant animatronic ape with soulful eyes, crashes down on Broadway by Charles McNulty

"King Kong," the stage animal first seen wreaking havoc in Australia, has arrived on Broadway with a seismic thud and a thundering roar. Just how horrifying is the new show? It has turned a …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:48PM[SHARE]

Review: 'King Kong,' a giant animatronic ape with soulful eyes, crashes down on Broadway by Charles McNulty

"King Kong," the stage animal first seen wreaking havoc in Australia, has arrived on Broadway with a seismic thud and a thundering roar.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:00PM[SHARE]
Sunday, November 4, 2018

Review: 'American Son,' with Kerry Washington, is a painfully topical, if imperfect, Broadway drama by Charles McNulty

NEW YORK " The setting is uncertain in the opening moments of "American Son," an acutely topical new Broadway drama by Christopher Demos-Brown. But it is clear from the intense performance b…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:48PM[SHARE]

Review: 'American Son,' with Kerry Washington, is a painfully topical, if imperfect, Broadway drama by Charles McNulty

In 'American Son,' a raw Kerry Washington returns to Broadway as an anguished mother seeking answers from the police about her missing son . It's a painfully topical, if imperfect, drama

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:00PM[SHARE]
Thursday, November 1, 2018
Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Obie-winning playwright María Irene Fornés, a transformative off-Broadway figure, dies at 88 by Charles McNulty

María Irene Fornés, a pivotal figure in the off-off Broadway movement, wrote diverse and profoundly humane plays that should be part of the American canon.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:15PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Review: Eliza Clark's new comedy 'Quack' takes the temperature of the feverish wellness industry by Charles McNulty

'Quack,' Eliza Clark's comedy having its world premiere at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, takes the temperature of the feverish wellness industry.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:43PM[SHARE]

Review: Eliza Clark's new comedy 'Quack' takes the temperature of the feverish wellness industry by Charles McNulty

"Quack," the lively, irritating and ultimately chilling new comedy by Eliza Clark about a TV medical guru in the mode of Dr. Oz, skips the introductory pleasantries and plunges straight into…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:40PM[SHARE]
Saturday, October 27, 2018

Review: In 'Vietgone,' East West Players takes audiences on the wild ride of Qui Nguyen's rambunctious drama about refugees in love by Charles McNulty

Qui Nguyen's touted drama about refugees who fall in love in 1970s America after fleeing the Vietnam war, arrives in Los Angeles in an East West Players production

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:00AM[SHARE]

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