All stories by Charles McNulty on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

A kinder, gentler 'Dance of Death' at A Noise Within by Charles McNulty

"No one has the opportunity of tormenting one another as thoroughly as a man and woman who love one another (= hate one another)," Swedish playwright August Strindberg observed with his usua…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:50PM[SHARE]
Monday, October 13, 2014

'Venus in Fur' is a delicious study of sexual power dynamics by Charles McNulty

Depending on your taste for kink, "Venus in Fur," David Ives' twisty tale about a casting session between a smug playwright and an earthy actress trying out for the role of a well-born 19th …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:00AM[SHARE]
Friday, October 10, 2014

L.A.'s theater community resumes discussion of wages and fiscal health by Charles McNulty

In late summer rumors began circulating of a potential coup within Los Angeles' thronging and boisterous smaller theater scene.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 02:00PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, October 7, 2014

'Better' is good look at woman's attempt at great happiness by Charles McNulty

The old conundrums about happiness " who's entitled and whether it can be lastingly achieved " are at the heart of Jessica Goldberg's "Better," which is having its world premiere courtesy of…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:35PM[SHARE]

Marian Seldes: Her life and career were a master class by Charles McNulty

If the spirit of the theater could be incarnated, it would have looked and sounded very much like Marian Seldes, the Tony Award-winning actress who died Monday after an extended illness. She…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:37PM[SHARE]
Monday, September 29, 2014

'Bright Star' wears its old-fashioned heart on its gingham sleeve by Charles McNulty

'Bright Star,' the quaint new musical by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell at the Old Globe in San Diego, has a luscious bluegrass score. Too bad the book is such a floridly melodramatic throwb…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:45PM[SHARE]

'Choir Boy' melds music and message at Geffen by Charles McNulty

A transformation happens to the students of Charles R. Drew Prep School for Boys whenever they open their mouths to sing. As soon as these feisty adolescents give themselves over to the Negr…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:00AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, September 24, 2014

'The Why' revival at Blank Theatre sparks fresh questions by Charles McNulty

Comedy isn't the genre that springs to mind when one thinks of school shootings. But that is the unusual " and not insensitive route " Victor Kaufold, a fledgling 19-year-old playwright, too…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:55PM[SHARE]
Monday, September 22, 2014

Playing with memory in 'Marjorie Prime' by Charles McNulty

Jordan Harrison explores the fraught subject of memory from a variety of fascinating angles in 'Marjorie Prime' at the Mark Taper Forum. Ultimately, it's more intriguing than dramatically sa…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 11:58PM[SHARE]
Thursday, September 18, 2014

Gob Squad jesters reel in REDCAT audience with mixed results by Charles McNulty

The one thing you can count on with Gob Squad, the always-surprising European performance collective now at REDCAT, is that the audience won't be excluded from the multimedia act.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:49PM[SHARE]

The shame and glory of Tennessee Williams in John Lahr's new book by Charles McNulty

One day a comprehensive literary biography of Tennessee Williams will be written that won't resemble a psychiatric case study. Until then let's savor John Lahr's "Tennessee Williams: Mad Pil…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 02:30PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Samuel D. Hunter: Playwright of spiritual longing, now a MacArthur 'Genius' fellow by Charles McNulty

Don't look now, but a positive trend seems to be developing: A bumper crop of talented American playwrights more interested in artistic expression than commercial validation is being recogni…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:00AM[SHARE]
Friday, September 12, 2014

Fall theater 2014: Classics by Beckett, Foote, Orton will arise anew by Charles McNulty

The fall season always brings the hope that something new will astonish us. I'm betting that a few old works might fit the bill.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 01:00PM[SHARE]
Monday, September 8, 2014

Posner-Teller 'Tempest' stuns but lacks faith in Shakespeare by Charles McNulty

Extravaganza isn't the word that first springs to mind when thinking of Shakespeare, but in the newfangled version of "The Tempest" at South Coast Repertory the goal is clearly to dazzle.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:00AM[SHARE]
Friday, August 29, 2014

Rising playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney takes his own, wary path to L.A. by Charles McNulty

Tarell Alvin McCraney, one of the brightest American playwrights to come along in some time, showed up for our interview at the Geffen Playhouse with the buttoned-up demeanor of someone abou…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 05:00PM[SHARE]
Monday, August 18, 2014

To be or not to be: Playwrights on the complex issue of suicide by Charles McNulty

"There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide."

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AM[SHARE]
Thursday, August 14, 2014

Searching for the next King Lear: A critic shares his casting notes by Charles McNulty

In my recent critic's notebook on the Shakespeare in the Park production of "King Lear" with John Lithgow, I listed the illustrious actors I've seen take on this fearsome role in the last 10…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:35PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, August 13, 2014

With age, the wisdom of staging 'Lear' becomes less clear by Charles McNulty

Now that baby boomers are reaching their seniority, it's no surprise that there has been a rush on "King Lear." Graying actors of a certain magnitude want their crack at the greatest role le…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:52PM[SHARE]
Monday, August 11, 2014

Cate Blanchett brings an extravagant fierceness to 'The Maids' by Charles McNulty

Cate Blanchett is spectacular in Sydney Theatre Company's patchy production of Jean Genet's 'The Maids' in New York. Isabelle Huppert is also fierce, but seemingly at odds with the rest of t…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:00AM[SHARE]
Friday, August 8, 2014

Oregon Shakespeare Festival's fearless vision could be L.A.'s model by Charles McNulty

The tourist shops dotting the streets of downtown Ashland may leave the impression that this picturesque town was designed by Martha Stewart in a chichi Western mood, but a weekend spent her…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:00PM[SHARE]
Monday, August 4, 2014

This 'Hair' makes it easy to be heartened by Charles McNulty

The kitsch factor was high, but "Hair" proved to be a congenial choice for the Hollywood Bowl, where this counterculture classic from the late 1960s breezed in for three performances this pa…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:00AM[SHARE]
Saturday, August 2, 2014

'The Great Society' a bustle of history lacking full LBJ picture by Charles McNulty

When last seen in Robert Schenkkan's "All the Way," Lyndon B. Johnson was being serenaded with "Happy Days Are Here Again." After brokering the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with a…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 02:00PM[SHARE]
Friday, August 1, 2014

Story and score grab hands as they venture 'Into the Woods' by Charles McNulty

Critics often grouse about James Lapine's script. Some find Stephen Sondheim's music too muted. But a beautifully balanced production in Oregon shows how strongly connected the two parts are…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:25PM[SHARE]
Friday, July 18, 2014

Simplicity supplies emotional eloquence to pub musical 'Once' by Charles McNulty

At last, a Broadway show that doesn't feel the need to conk its audience over the head with hollow flash and empty dazzle. "Once," the Tony-winning musical based on John Carney's 2006 indie …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:50PM[SHARE]
Thursday, July 17, 2014

Elaine Stritch's originality blazed fiercely on Broadway by Charles McNulty

After the lights are dimmed on Broadway in honor of Elaine Stritch, who died Thursday at 89, I'm not sure that they'll ever burn quite as fiercely again.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:23PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, July 15, 2014

'Romeo and Juliet' remains timeless, no matter the era by Charles McNulty

Plays, regardless of when they were written, take place in the eternal present. Updating a classic " for example, resetting Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" in late-1920s Los Angeles, as Sha…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:00PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Monday, June 16, 2014

'Last Confession' takes earnest look at reform, power struggle by Charles McNulty

David Suchet, best known for his television portrayal of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, plays another canny scrutinizer of nefarious human behavior in Roger Crane's "The Last Confession,"…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 01:00AM[SHARE]

'Last Confession' takes earnest look at reform, power struggle by Charles McNulty

David Suchet, best known for his television portrayal of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, plays another canny scrutinizer of nefarious human behavior in Roger Crane's "The Last Confession,"…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 01:00AM[SHARE]
Monday, June 9, 2014

Tony Awards 2014: 'Gentleman's Guide' shows big rewards in risk-taking by Charles McNulty

"A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder," the musical with no marquee names or obvious marketing hook, won big at the Tony Awards on Sunday night, proving that a droll Edwardian tale of homici…

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

Tony Awards 2014: 'Gentleman's Guide' shows big rewards in risk-taking by Charles McNulty

"A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder," the musical with no marquee names or obvious marketing hook, won big at the Tony Awards on Sunday night, proving that a droll Edwardian tale of homici…

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

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