All stories by JONATHAN MANDELL on BroadwayStars

Sunday, August 23, 2020

V is for Vanessa Redgrave. Her Broadway career in photos. by Jonathan Mandell

Vanessa Redgrave, the "Greatest Actress of Our Time," according to playwrights Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller " also the daughter, the sister, the mother and the romantic partner of gr…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:53PM[SHARE]
Saturday, August 22, 2020

Theater Blog Roundup: 4 Essential Aspects of Playwriting, 15 Favorite Musicals, 50 Two-Handers, 74th annual Tony Awards by Jonathan Mandell

COVID, loneliness and lack of inclusion are certainly present in some of the theater blogging this month, summarized below, but there seems space these days for a look back.  On About Las…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:02PM[SHARE]
Friday, August 21, 2020

Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Biting Quips at 2020 Democratic National Convention by Jonathan Mandell

During her hosting duties for the fourth and final night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention, Julia Louis-Dreyfus shot out some zingers. The actress, who became friends with Joe Biden…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:50AM[SHARE]

Joe Biden's Theater Moment: Quoting Sophocles/Seamus Heaney in His 2020 Democratic Convention Speech by Jonathan Mandell

Near the end of Joe Biden's acceptance speech on the final night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention (transcript below), he quoted from a poem by Seamus Heaney, the great Irish writer…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:09AM[SHARE]
Thursday, August 20, 2020

Watch Jennifer Hudson Sing A Change Is Gonna Come at the Democratic Convention Day 3 by Jonathan Mandell

Jennifer Hudson sings Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come," at the end of Day 3 of the 2020 Democratic National Convention, from the elegant Harold Washington Cultural Center in Hudson's hom…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:17AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, August 19, 2020

Vivid Photos from Democratic Convention Roll Call Showcasing America by Jonathan Mandell

Instead of the traditional roll call nominating their candidate, the delegates at the 2020 Democratic National Convention announced their votes in their home state or territory, standing in …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:19AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, August 18, 2020

Watch Billy Porter perform 60s anthem at the Democratic Convention. #BroadwayforBiden by Jonathan Mandell

Tony-winning performer Billy Porter belted out Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" accompanied by its songwriter Stephen Sills, at the end of Day 1 of history's first Virtual Democra…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:13AM[SHARE]
Monday, August 17, 2020

Michelle Obama 2020 Convention Speech Transcript: Still Going High When They Go Low by Jonathan Mandell

"Going high means unlocking the shackles of lies and mistrust with the only thing that can truly set us free: the cold hard truth…Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country. He ha…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:25PM[SHARE]

Theater Celebrating Women's Suffrage. Unconventional Convention Theater. #Stageworthy News by Jonathan Mandell

#Stageworthy News of the Week. There's a surprisingly robust schedule of theater  coming up for what's usually the dog days of August, including three separate live, in-person plays happe…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:31AM[SHARE]
Sunday, August 16, 2020

Bobby Steggert, Actor Turned Therapist Q & A: Advice for Suffering Theater Artists by Jonathan Mandell

Two years ago, Bobby Steggert, a Tony-nominated actor with extensive credits on and Off Broadway (Ragtime, Big Fish, Yank! etc) , surprised the theater community by announcing that he had sw…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:23AM[SHARE]
Saturday, August 15, 2020

Lost Broadway. Photos from the Archives by Jonathan Mandell

"Keep Broadway Alive!' the sign in the first photograph says. It's a picket sign during the demolition of the Morosco Theater in 1982, which, along with the first Helen Hayes, the Bijou, and…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:19PM[SHARE]
Friday, August 14, 2020

Shows to Watch This Weekend Aug 14-16: Casts of "Hamilton" and "Hair," BD Wong and Kristoffer Diaz by Jonathan Mandell

There is SO much to see this weekend: six starry concerts. five plays (some opening, some closing), four festivals and two Netathons. Below is a brief rundown with links to tickets and more …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:45PM[SHARE]
Thursday, August 13, 2020

U is for Leslie Uggams. Her Broadway career in photos and videos by Jonathan Mandell

The Harlem-born daughter of a chorus dancer at the Cotton Club and a singer in the Hall Johnson choir, Leslie Uggams began performing on television at the age of six; at seven, she was openi…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:26PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris Delaware Speeches August 12, video and transcript by Jonathan Mandell

"Is anyone surprised Donald Trump has a problem with a strong woman" Joe Biden said in his speech today introducing his running mate, Kamala Harris. Both speeches are  below, in video and…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:52PM[SHARE]

Book Review. Pal Joey: The History of a Heel by Jonathan Mandell

The Rodgers and Hart musical "Pal Joey" is surely best-known these days for its most recorded song "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" and for the stars who played Joey " Gene Kelly in the …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:41PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Kamala Harris Chosen as Biden's Running Mate. by Jonathan Mandell

Joe Biden has picked Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate. Biden's reasoning, and below that, some immediate reactions: Biden on Harris: "I've decided that Kamala Harris is the best per…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:33PM[SHARE]
Monday, August 10, 2020

Songs From An Unmade Bed: Watch B.D. Wong Remake It by Jonathan Mandell

Watch the 45-minute video below, available through August 14 B.D. Wong has made brilliant use of his months in quarantine, creating a witty and inventive entertainment from a 15-year-old sol…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:52PM[SHARE]

What onstage theater looks like, five months in. #Stageworthy News by Jonathan Mandell

The Week in Theater Reviews. The Week in Theater News. The Week in Theater Videos. #Stageworthy News of the Week. In the first Equity-approved professional musical production to open in Amer…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:43AM[SHARE]
Sunday, August 9, 2020

No Blue Memories: Black Poet Gwendolyn Brooks via Manual Cinema by Jonathan Mandell

"No Blue Memories: The Life of Gwendolyn Brooks," was presented on a Chicago stage during the centennial of the birth of the noted poet, the first African-American to win a Pulitzer Prize in…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:24PM[SHARE]
Saturday, August 8, 2020

Howard on Disney Plus: The Broadway talent who rejected Broadway by Jonathan Mandell

"The last great place to do Broadway musicals is in animation," says Howard Ashman, in "Howard," a new documentary on Disney+ that offers a simultaneously sad and inspiring look at Ashman's …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:09PM[SHARE]
Friday, August 7, 2020

Theater to See This Weekend, Aug 7-9: Edinburgh Fringe, Antigone in Ferguson, Dutchman. by Jonathan Mandell

Below are my recommendations for three plays with starry casts "opening" and available only this weekend, two documentaries about theater, and a theater festival that  New Yorkers can see…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:00PM[SHARE]
Thursday, August 6, 2020

Homebound Project 5: Homemade Benefit by Laurie Metcalf, plus Lena Dunham, Kelli O'Hara, Brian Cox, Austin Pendleton, by Jonathan Mandell

Laurie Metcalf seemed to be having trouble with the camera, and, frankly, with her life, in this fifth and final edition of Homebound Project, as she made a special appearance to read some l…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:42PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, August 5, 2020

Broadway in Bryant Park: Watch Corey Cott, Phillipa Soo, Nick Cordero, Billy Porter, George Salazar 2012-2019. by Jonathan Mandell

  Below are some of the most popular numbers I videotaped from Broadway in Bryant Park, the weekly summer concerts, from 2012 until.2019, including Corey Cott in "Newsies", Nick Cordero i…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:17PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, August 4, 2020

Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Your Home! by Jonathan Mandell

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is going online. (Check out the thirty below.)  Now, officially; the oldest and largest fringe festival has been canceled because of the pandemic. But the fe…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:36PM[SHARE]
Monday, August 3, 2020

Not Doomed to Zoom. #SaveTheArts in Limbo. #Stageworthy News by Jonathan Mandell

The Week in Reviews . The Week in News. The Week in Videos  Broadway Bares;Tangled the Musical. #Stageworthy News of the Week. If Broadway won't return until Summer 2021, as UK impresario…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:14PM[SHARE]
Sunday, August 2, 2020

Watch #WhileWeBreathe anthology and read my review by Jonathan Mandell

Watch the hour-long video of 11 short new plays below. In "Holla," a serial killer (Will Swenson) wearing the  distorted white mask from the Scream series, makes an ominous phone call to …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:10PM[SHARE]

Poll: Which Play Used Zoom Best? by Jonathan Mandell

Theatergoers have complained about Zoom plays in the months since the pandemic shut down physical theaters, but it's one of the only ways to "attend" live theater these days, and some produc…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:29AM[SHARE]
Saturday, August 1, 2020

August 2020 Online Theater Openings: What's streaming day by day by Jonathan Mandell

Click here for August 1 openings Below is the day-by-day calendar of "theater openings"* in August, 2020, a month of abundance: Two theatrical celebrations of the 100th anniversary of women'…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:45AM[SHARE]
Friday, July 31, 2020

Theater Quiz for July 2020 by Jonathan Mandell

How well were you following theater news and reviews in the month of July? Take this quiz to find out.

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:53AM[SHARE]
Thursday, July 30, 2020

NYC's Only Theater Bookstore is Open for Business by Jonathan Mandell

There are some 750 books on display in Bravo's Book Nook, the only theater bookstore in New York, and possibly the only one open in the country. That's not a lot of books for a bookstore; it…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:20PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, July 29, 2020

American Utopia The Book: David Byrne's Lyrics and Maira Kalman's Theater Curtain by Jonathan Mandell

Publishing a big colorful book as a companion to a Broadway musical is nothing new, but  "American Utopia" the book is surely unique. In the last few years, there have been coffee table b…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:17PM[SHARE]

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