All stories by Gordon Cox on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

How Sam Mendes and Jez Butterworth Brought a New and Improved Version of "The Hills of California" to Broadway by Gordon Cox

The playwright Jez Butterworth recently had perhaps the most eventful recording session in the history of "Stagecraft," Variety's theater podcast. Listen to this week's "Stagecraft" po…

SOURCE: Variety at 12:48PM[SHARE]
Sunday, September 29, 2024

'The Hills of California' Review: Sam Mendes and Jez Butterworth Deliver a Dream of a Broadway Drama by Gordon Cox

Jez Butterworth's ambitious, captivating and richly rewarding domestic drama "The Hills of California" straddles dual worlds of dreams and reality as it shuttles between two pivotal time per…

SOURCE: Variety at 10:00PM[SHARE]
Friday, September 20, 2024

How the Prince Fellowship has helped launch a rising generation of Broadway producers by Gordon Cox

Producer Aaron Glick, Rachel Sussman, Jamila Ponton Bragg and more share how the fellowship aided their path to the Main Stem.

SOURCE: Broadway News Subscription at 08:30AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, September 18, 2024

How Daniel Dae Kim Finds the Funny in Broadway's 'Yellow Face' by Gordon Cox

A little-known fact about Daniel Dae Kim: He's really, really into "Saturday Night Live." "I'm a super fan," says the actor just a few days before starting performances for the revival of Da…

SOURCE: Variety at 05:15PM[SHARE]
Thursday, September 12, 2024

'The Roommate' Review: Mia Farrow and Patti LuPone Bring Out Each Other's Best in a Charming Double Act by Gordon Cox

There's something loose, rebellious, and even wild hiding within the trappings of "The Roommate," a new Broadway production of a play written by Jen Silverman. One just has to wait for it to…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:00PM[SHARE]

'Why Am I So Single?' Review: Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss' Musical Follow-Up to 'Six' Disappoints in the West End by Gordon Cox

"There is," as Stephen Sondheim once groaned, "nothing worse than great expectations." It may seem unfair to evoke a master when reviewing only the second show from a young British musical t…

SOURCE: Variety at 06:30PM[SHARE]
Friday, September 6, 2024

Football, Meet Broadway: Inside the Making of Peyton and Eli's Star-Studded 'ManningCast the Musical' Short by Gordon Cox

They don't give out Tony Awards for Most Comically Elaborate Broadway-Themed Promotional Announcement of a Football Telecast Series. But if they did, "ManningCast the Musical" would be a sho…

SOURCE: Variety at 11:00AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, September 3, 2024

How a Tony-Winning Musical Theater Composer Makes Opera by Gordon Cox

If you're a musical theater composer, Broadway might get you a Tony Award " but it won't get you 50 voices singing onstage. For that kind of scale, Jeanine Tesori, the Tony-winning composer …

SOURCE: Variety at 05:37PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, August 20, 2024

How an 'Ivy League Witch' Brought Broadway to Tarot Cards by Gordon Cox

Broadway fans often talk about theater as a spiritual experience " but most of them aren't thinking of tarot cards when they say it. That could change thanks to a new tarot deck that's a sur…

SOURCE: Variety at 04:07PM[SHARE]
Monday, August 12, 2024

'Once Upon a Mattress' Review: Sutton Foster Is an Awkward Fit in a Musical That's Not Quite Broadway Royalty by Gordon Cox

Close to the climax of "Once Upon a Mattress," now revived on Broadway for the second time, Princess Winnifred (Sutton Foster) has reached the end of her rope. After the frustrations of the …

SOURCE: Variety at 10:00PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, August 6, 2024

How Sutton Foster Brings an 'Unhinged Version of Myself' to Broadway's 'Once Upon a Mattress' by Gordon Cox

Optimistic, curious, adventurous. Also: Zero complexity. That's how Sutton Foster describes Princess Fred, the character she plays in the Broadway revival of "Once Upon a Mattress." Listen t…

SOURCE: Variety at 02:28PM[SHARE]
Friday, August 2, 2024

'The Queen of Versailles' Review: Kristin Chenoweth Shines in a Lavish New Musical With a Social Satire Bite by Gordon Cox

"The Queen of Versailles," the much-anticipated reunion of "Wicked" collaborators Kristin Chenoweth and Stephen Schwartz, offers the diva her richest opportunity to date to flex her dramatic…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:34PM[SHARE]
Thursday, August 1, 2024

'Moulin Rouge!' at 5: How The Broadway Musical Overcame the COVID Lockdown and Went Global in Record Time by Gordon Cox

The fifth-anniversary Broadway performance of "Moulin Rouge!" didn't exactly go as planned. A technical issue with the set delayed the July 25 curtain by some 45 minutes and required certain…

SOURCE: Variety at 04:15PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, July 30, 2024

'JOB' Review: Taut Broadway Drama Uploads A Journey Through Cyber-Hell by Gordon Cox

It's no spoiler to say "JOB", Max Wolf Friedlich's electrifying synapse of play, features a highly stressed young woman pointing a gun at a therapist in his office. That's how the play begin…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:30PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, July 23, 2024

How Creators of 'Cats: The Jellicle Ball' Are Figuring Out a Future Life for the Hit Show by Gordon Cox

The creators of "Cats: The Jellicle Ball" are certain their hit show will have a future life " they just don't yet know what that future life looks like. Listen to this week's "Stagecraft…

SOURCE: Variety at 02:55PM[SHARE]
Friday, July 19, 2024

'Hello, Dolly!' Review: Imelda Staunton is Marvelous in a Strikingly Sincere West End Revamp by Gordon Cox

Famous for many things, not least Carol Channing playing the title role more than 5,000 times, "Hello, Dolly!" is, happily, one of Broadway's brashest, splashiest star vehicles whose relativ…

SOURCE: Variety at 03:30PM[SHARE]
Thursday, July 11, 2024

'Oh, Mary!' Review: Cole Escola's Super-Gay Broadway Comedy Is a Smartly Stupid Riot by Gordon Cox

Cole Escola's "Oh, Mary!" is the best kind of stupid: a broad, wildly funny comedy that spits in the face of American history and uses it as joke fodder for some endlessly campy humor. In th…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:22PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, July 9, 2024

'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil' Review: Musical Adaptation is a Promising, Boldly Unconventional Retelling Anchored by Standout Performa by Gordon Cox

In the admirably bold, unconventionally self-aware new stage musical version of John Berendt's 1994 blockbuster bestseller "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," transgender icon The Lad…

SOURCE: Variety at 03:36PM[SHARE]
Saturday, July 6, 2024

'Alma Mater' Review: A Timely if Overplotted Drama About Feminism and Academia by Gordon Cox

When too many contemporary theatre writers mistake the grinding of political axes for properly developed drama, it's a relief to realize that Australian playwright Kendall Feaver is more tha…

SOURCE: Variety at 12:28PM[SHARE]
Monday, June 17, 2024

Tony Awards 2024 Snubs and Surprises: 'Outsiders' Outmaneuvers 'Hell's Kitchen,' F-Bombs Fly and More by Gordon Cox

There were a whole lot of sure things heading into the 2024 Tony Awards ceremony " "Stereophonic," "Merrily We Roll Along," Daniel Radcliffe. But this year's full list of winners had room fo…

SOURCE: Variety at 12:00AM[SHARE]
Sunday, June 16, 2024

'Prayer for the French Republic,' 'Appropriate' Among Tony Nominees Tackling Antisemitism, Racism and More Social Issues by Gordon Cox

Live theater always reflects the moment in which it's presented, but this season, Broadway charged head-on into the politics of today with unusual force: A play that directly addressed antis…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:05PM[SHARE]
Saturday, June 15, 2024

Why the Tony Awards Producers Promise This Year's Ceremony Will Wow You by Gordon Cox

Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner, the duo who have produced and directed the Tony Awards telecast since 2003, won't share too many specifics about the Tony ceremony coming up on Sunday. But di…

SOURCE: Variety at 11:02AM[SHARE]
Thursday, June 13, 2024

'Gatsby' Review: A Smartly Stinging Musical Adaptation With Spectacle, Grit and Florence Welch Tunes by Gordon Cox

For all its jaw-dropping spectacle, and the musical excitement of the tunes by Florence Welch (of Florence and the Machine) and Thomas Bartlett (a/k/a Doveman), the American Repertory Theate…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:30PM[SHARE]

How 'Invasive Species' Built Big Downtown Buzz for Writer-Star Maia Novi's Off Broadway Debut by Gordon Cox

Buzz for the new play "Invasive Species" infiltrated the downtown New York theater scene like a swarm of spotted lanternflies. Maybe you noticed one of those photos of Jennifer Lawrence wear…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:00AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, June 4, 2024

What Tony Nominations Mean to Sarah Paulson and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins by Gordon Cox

Emmy-winning actress Sarah Paulson is no stranger to entertainment industry awards shows " but even so, her current Tony nomination, for her lead performance in the Broadway play "Appropriat…

SOURCE: Variety at 02:26PM[SHARE]

'Choice' Review: Winnie Holzman's Play Deals With Life's Big Decisions " Including Abortion by Gordon Cox

Making life-altering decisions is no small matter, especially for the characters in "Choice," Winnie Holzman's provocative but imperfect play, which just completed a run at Princeton's McCar…

SOURCE: Variety at 11:38AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, May 28, 2024

Why Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin Love the 'Organized Chaos' Backstage at 'Cabaret' by Gordon Cox

If you think there's a lot going on onstage in "Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club," you should see what's going on backstage. Listen to this week's "Stagecraft" podcast below: Speaking on th…

SOURCE: Variety at 02:00PM[SHARE]
Thursday, May 23, 2024

'Romeo and Juliet' Review: Tom Holland-Led Production Is Hobbled by Director Jamie Lloyd's Extreme Stylization by Gordon Cox

The relationship is captivating. The energy flowing effortlessly between them means you instantly feel their connection, their shared affection, their give and take. It's by far the stronges…

SOURCE: Variety at 07:00PM[SHARE]
Monday, May 20, 2024

'Death Becomes Her' Review: Promising Pre-Broadway Musical Makes for a Campy Improvement on the Cult Film by Gordon Cox

A more-than-respectable entry in the endless parade of movies-to-musicals, this genuinely funny, effervescently performed pre-Broadway take on the 1992 Robert Zemeckis dark comedy "Death Bec…

SOURCE: Variety at 02:34PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, May 15, 2024

A Spring in Broadway's Step: After a Grim Fall, the New York Theater Industry Finds Reasons to be Upbeat by Gordon Cox

Are we back yet? That's the question Broadway has been asking for the past three years, as the theater industry emerged from lockdown into a harsh new reality of rising costs and slow-to-ret…

SOURCE: Variety at 04:26PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, May 14, 2024

Why Tony Nominee Jessica Lange Feels 'Wild and Liberated' in Broadway's 'Mother Play' by Gordon Cox

Jessica Lange has starred on Broadway before " winning a Tony for her most recent appearance there in "Long Day's Journey Into Night" in 2016. But according to Lange, now back on Broadway in…

SOURCE: Variety at 04:26PM[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