All stories by Charles McNulty on BroadwayStars

Sunday, September 9, 2018

Review: Euripides' 'Bacchae' is spellbinding in modern update at the Getty Villa by Charles McNulty

The surviving Greek tragedies pose inordinate challenges to contemporary theater practitioners, but Euripides' "Bacchae," one of his most beloved works, may be the trickiest of all to stage.…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:15PM[SHARE]
Friday, September 7, 2018

Review: As blue collar jobs leave a Pennsylvania town, Lynn Nottage's 'Sweat' reveals the racial faultlines left behind by Charles McNulty

Review of Lynn Nottage's 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama "Sweat," set in a factory turn in Pennsylvania, where economic fears are igniting racial tensions

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:38PM[SHARE]

Review: As blue collar jobs leave a Pennsylvania town, Lynn Nottage's 'Sweat' reveals the racial faultlines left behind by Charles McNulty

The state of the nation play has a long tradition in Britain, where playwrights are encouraged to think of the theater as a public forum, a place to debate the issues of the day and track th…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:35PM[SHARE]
Sunday, August 26, 2018

Review: 'Ain't Too Proud,' the Broadway-bound musical about the Temptations: Sensational music, scattershot storytelling by Charles McNulty

When "Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations," the Broadway-bound jukebox musical, is in motion, it's a force almost as irresistible as any of the powerhouse R&B band's great…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 05:48PM[SHARE]

Review: 'Ain't Too Proud,' the Broadway-bound musical about the Temptations: Sensational music, scattershot storytelling by Charles McNulty

Review of "Ain't Too Proud," a jukebox musical about the lives of "The Temptations."

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

Neil Simon: How the playwright wrote his own second act and finally won over critics by Charles McNulty

At this peak, his plays were popular in a "Hamilton" sort of way, but that didn't necessarily earn Neil Simon respect among theater writers. The Times' theater critic looks at the trajectory…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:37PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Great acting's tragic flaw is on display with Heath Ledger in 'Dark Knight' by Charles McNulty

In his critics notebook, Charles McNulty opines that Heath Ledger's short legacy as a screen actor offers us enough evidence of the rarity of his talent.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:00AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Review: 'Pretty Woman' and 'Head Over Heels' try oh-so-hard to revive beauty and the beat for Broadway by Charles McNulty

Two new Broadway musicals with commercial hooks have opened this summer, one progressive in its approach to gender and sexuality, the other regressive about such matters. But the same proble…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 05:06PM[SHARE]

Review: 'Pretty Woman' and 'Head Over Heels' try oh-so-hard to revive beauty and the beat for Broadway by Charles McNulty

The rom-com magic that propelled the Julia Roberts movie and the progressive gender politics the drive the Go-Go's jukebox musical can't quite overcome fundamental flaws in two of Broadway's…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:21PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Review: 'Midsummer Night's Dream' with a lesbian twist at New Swan Shakespeare in Irvine by Charles McNulty

The gender bending in the New Swan Shakespeare Festival production of 'Midsummer Night's Dream' is pulled off with aplomb, and if the comic approach goes a little too far, at least the shena…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AM[SHARE]

Review: 'Midsummer Night's Dream' with a lesbian twist at New Swan Shakespeare in Irvine by Charles McNulty

The gender bending in the New Swan Shakespeare Festival production of 'Midsummer Night's Dream' is pulled off with aplomb, and if the comic approach goes a little too far, at least the shena…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, July 25, 2018

For Pulitzer winner Martyna Majok, 'Queens' is the latest play shining a light into society's shadows by Charles McNulty

The playwright of "Cost of Living" and "Ironbound" invites us into worlds that theatergoers have been trained to look past: domestic workers with foreign accents, factory laborers who strugg…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:12PM[SHARE]

For Pulitzer winner Martyna Majok, 'Queens' is the latest play shining a light into society's shadows by Charles McNulty

Martyna Majok, the Polish-born American playwright whose play "Cost of Living" won the Pulitzer Prize for drama this year, invites us into worlds that theatergoers have been trained to look …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:10PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, July 24, 2018

On the London stage, 'The Lehman Trilogy' and 'Allelujah!' chronicle worlds warped by money by Charles McNulty

Capitalism and its discontents: Two new plays chronicle worlds undone by money " Ben Power's brilliantly acted adaptation of the origin story for the company too big to fail, with Sam Mendes…

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

On the London stage, 'The Lehman Trilogy' and 'Allelujah!' chronicle worlds warped by money by Charles McNulty

Beyond being two of the most anticipated new dramas in London this summer, Ben Power's English adaptation of Italian playwright Stefano Massini's "The Lehman Trilogy" at the National Theatre…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:00AM[SHARE]
Friday, June 29, 2018

Review: Amanda Peet's 'Our Very Own Carlin McCullough': A tennis prodigy learns life's score by Charles McNulty

The Geffen Playhouse premieres Peet's play, which centers on a 10-year-old tennis phenom, her mother and her coach and which stars Mamie Gummer, Abigail Dylan Harrison, Caroline Heffernan, T…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 02:22PM[SHARE]

Review: Amanda Peet's 'Our Very Own Carlin McCullough': A tennis prodigy learns life's score by Charles McNulty

Amanda Peet, an actress whose conventional beauty is spiked with a refreshing awkwardness, has branched out into writing. Her play "The Commons of Pensacola" made a respectable showing at Ma…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 02:20PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, June 26, 2018

'The Tempest' at the Old Globe: Kate Burton casts a benevolent spell as Prospera by Charles McNulty

Kate Burton portrays the parental magician in a gender-flipped take on Shakespeare's "The Tempest," directed by Joe Dowling, at the Old Globe.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:07PM[SHARE]

'The Tempest' at the Old Globe: Kate Burton casts a benevolent spell as Prospera by Charles McNulty

Casting a woman as Prospero in William Shakespeare's "The Tempest" is no longer a novelty. Helen Mirren starred as Prospera in the 2010 Julie Taymor film and, more recently, Harriet Walter p…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:05PM[SHARE]
Saturday, June 23, 2018

'Sweet Charity' from Reprise: The dancing never gets old, but the book could use a nip and tuck by Charles McNulty

The Reprise series is back after a five year absence, this time branded Reprise 2.0. It opens at the Freud Playhouse with Kathleen Marshall dusting off an old defunct gem.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 11:30AM[SHARE]

'Sweet Charity' from Reprise: The dancing never gets old, but the book could use a nip and tuck by Charles McNulty

First things first: Let's have a round of applause for Reprise 2.0, the reboot of Reprise Theatre Company, which officially closed in 2013. Lovers of old musicals " baby boomers and their el…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 11:30AM[SHARE]
Thursday, June 21, 2018

'The Humans' at the Ahmanson: Quite possibly the best cast of actors you can see anywhere by Charles McNulty

Stephen Karam's drama, winner of the 2016 Tony Award for best play, has come to Los Angeles with its Broadway cast almost completely intact, including Tony winners Jayne Houdyshell and Reed …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:35PM[SHARE]

'The Humans' at the Ahmanson: Quite possibly the best cast of actors you can see anywhere by Charles McNulty

If there's a better acting ensemble working in America right now than the extraordinary cast of "The Humans," which opened Wednesday at the Ahmanson Theatre with nearly the entire Broadway c…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:35PM[SHARE]
Friday, June 15, 2018

'Skeleton Crew' at the Geffen Playhouse: The plight of the American worker, finally center stage by Charles McNulty

Dominique Morisseau, the playwright of "Detroit '67" and also a writer for Showtime's "Shameless," delivers a powerful drama about the working class " and what happens when their work is tak…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 01:28PM[SHARE]

'Skeleton Crew' at the Geffen Playhouse: The plight of the American worker, finally center stage by Charles McNulty

The handwriting is on the wall for the workers at one of the last standing small auto plants in Detroit. They know management is planning to shut down the operation, but they don't know when…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 01:25PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Lesley Manville and Jeremy Irons fill 'Long Day's Journey Into Night' with sorrow and savagery by Charles McNulty

Lesley Manville is breathtaking as Mary Tyrone, the wife and mother imprisoned in addiction. Jeremy Irons is suave and subtle as James Tyrone, the husband and father helpless as his family f…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:28PM[SHARE]

Lesley Manville and Jeremy Irons fill 'Long Day's Journey Into Night' with sorrow and savagery by Charles McNulty

There are two main reasons to once again undergo Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night," which opened Sunday at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:25PM[SHARE]
Monday, June 11, 2018

'Band's Visit' and 'Harry Potter' dominate Tony Awards with inspired creativity. Why theater needs more by Charles McNulty

The Tony Awards have closed the book on the 2017-18 season, and now that "The Band's Visit" has won 10 trophies and "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" has won six, producers and press agent…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 02:22AM[SHARE]

'Band's Visit' and 'Harry Potter' dominate Tony Awards with inspired creativity. Why theater needs more by Charles McNulty

Revivals redeemed a lackluster Broadway year. But now that the Tony Awards have closed the book on the 2017-18 season, it will be easy for producers and press agents to spin a self-congratul…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 02:00AM[SHARE]
Sunday, June 10, 2018

Tom Hanks, Hamish Linklater and a 'Henry IV' worthy of applause by Charles McNulty

Staging a sprawling, two-part Shakespearean drama outdoors is a brave task, so credit to the Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles for pulling it off with a cast that includes Rondi Reed, Raffi …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 12:51PM[SHARE]

Tom Hanks, Hamish Linklater and a 'Henry IV' worthy of applause by Charles McNulty

Tackling both parts of Shakespeare's "Henry IV" in an outdoor staging with a company of actors not primarily known as Elizabethan specialists is a recipe for a long and bumpy night. So it's …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 12:10PM[SHARE]

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