All stories by JONATHAN MANDELL on BroadwayStars

Friday, May 24, 2013

Tom Hanks Gets Sardis Caricature by Jonathan Mandell

“From this place on this wall, I see ALL,” Tom Hanks wrote on his caricature during a ceremony at Sardi’s. The restaurant has been putting caricatures of Broadway performer…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:41PM[SHARE]

2013 Outer Critics Circle Winners Pick Up Their Awards by Jonathan Mandell

Longtime rocker and now Broadway songwriter Cyndi Lauper seemed to be getting the cold shoulder from Arthur Treacher, he of the fish and chips but also of Camelot and a dozen other Broadway …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:22AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Anthony Weiner officially declares for NYC Mayor. Should he be running? Take a poll by Jonathan Mandell

Anthony Weiner, the disgraced former Congressman, has announced via the video below that he is running for mayor of New York City. Should he be running? A native New Yorker, Anthony Weiner, …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:30AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, May 21, 2013

BAM Next Wave Festival 2013: Anna Nicole Smith opera; Fiona Shaw poem; Rube Goldberg inventions animated by Jonathan Mandell

The  opera “Anna Nicole,” based on the life and  death of Playbill model and octogenarian billionaire’s bride Anna Nicole Smith, is one of 34 works of opera, theater,…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:01PM[SHARE]
Monday, May 20, 2013

Broadway is NOT New York Theater by Jonathan Mandell

The winners of two more annual theater awards were announced this past week — the Drama League and the Drama Desk. Some of the winners were not on Broadway. It comes as no surprise to …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:25PM[SHARE]
Sunday, May 19, 2013

Drama Desk Winners 2013 " Matilda, Virginia Woolf, Vanya Sonia Masha and Spike, Pippin by Jonathan Mandell

 The big winners of the 58th Annual Drama Desk Awards included Matilda, which won the most number of awards, five, including Outstanding Musical, and Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woo…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:34PM[SHARE]

Save The Drama: LGBTQ Youth And The Theatre of the Oppressed NYC by Jonathan Mandell

A cop bumped into Tamara Williams, frisked her, mocked her, then issued her a citation for resisting arrest — a traumatic incident from last summer that became a dramatic one this week…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:03PM[SHARE]
Thursday, May 16, 2013

Natasha, Pierre and the Comet of 1812 at Kazino Review: A Hip Home of Its Own in The Meatpacking District by Jonathan Mandell

I raved about the immersive theatrical experience that is "Natasha, Pierre and the Comet of 1912"  " a new type of dinner theater " when it was performed at Ars Nova last fall, and so was…

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

Wood Bones Review: Native American Theater in New York by Jonathan Mandell

"Wood Bones," a play by William S. Yellow Robe, Jr. that marks the inaugural production of The Eagle Project, a Native American theater company in New York City, is a work that excited me " …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:01AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, May 15, 2013

The Ride. Unique Theatrical Experience? by Jonathan Mandell

This year Sondheim and Chekhov and Tom Hanks and Vanessa Redgrave share honors with a bus. The Drama Desk Awards nominating committee has selected "The Ride" as one of the choices in "Unique…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:35PM[SHARE]
Monday, May 13, 2013

Fresh Faces of The New York Stage 2013 by Jonathan Mandell

Broadway’s fresh faces this year include Tom Hanks, one of the world’s most familiar faces, and Yvonne Strahovski, who has a dedicated following for her roles in “ChuckR…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:36PM[SHARE]

2013 Outer Critics Circle Awards " Vanya Sonia, Kinky Boots, Here Lies Love, Nathan Lane, Cicely Tyson by Jonathan Mandell

“Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” won outstanding new Broadway play, “Kinky Boots” new Broadway musical,  ”Pippin” best musical revival, “Who…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:25AM[SHARE]
Sunday, May 12, 2013

Top 11 Songs From Smash by Jonathan Mandell

Now that NBC has canceled “Smash,” what will happen to the original songs created for this TV series about Broadway? Here are 11 that should last. (Lyrics are below the videos) 1…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:28AM[SHARE]
Friday, May 10, 2013

Smash Canceled by Jonathan Mandell

Smash, the TV series on NBC about the making of a Broadway musical that began with such promise and excitement — and more than 11 million viewers — has been canceled after more t…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:04PM[SHARE]

August: Osage County movie peek: Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Sam Shepard by Jonathan Mandell

The film adaptation of Tracy Letts’ 2008 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, “August: Osage County” with a sterling cast led by Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts, will be in movie th…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:12AM[SHARE]
Thursday, May 9, 2013

Broadway and Off-Broadway Theater Artists Talk About Their First Time by Jonathan Mandell

For Keith Carradine, it was going to the opening of "Hair" when he was 19. For Andrea Martin, it was seeing Chita Rivera at 12; for Jay Armstrong Johnson it was "Disney on Ice" at age four.…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:27PM[SHARE]

Michael Urie On Being Barbra Streisand by Jonathan Mandell

Michael Urie, best-known as the catty fashion editorial assistant Marc St. James of the TV series "Ugly Betty," is playing some half dozen characters in an acclaimed new play by Jonathan Tol…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:50AM[SHARE]

Lin-Manuel Miranda: The First Time by Jonathan Mandell

Lin-Manuel Miranda, best-known as the wunderkind songwriter and performer for "In The Heights," which four Tony Awards, was hooked on musical theater when at age 12 he was given roles in six…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:29AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Andrea Martin of Pippin: The First Time by Jonathan Mandell

Andrea Martin, who at age 66 is astonishing audiences as much with her body as with her death-defying performance on a trapeze as Grandmother Berthe in "Pippin," for which she has been nomin…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:34PM[SHARE]

Tim Minchin of Matilda: The First Time by Jonathan Mandell

Tim Minchin, the Australian songwriter up for nearly every New York theater award known to Man because of his score for “Matilda,” thinks that listening to Gilbert and Sullivan …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:15PM[SHARE]

Jay Armstrong Johnson: The First Time by Jonathan Mandell

Jay Armstrong Johnson, who appeared this on stage both in a revival of “Working,” the Stephen Schwartz musical, and “Hands on a Hardbody,” the debut musical by Trey A…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:43PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, May 7, 2013

2013 Theatre World Award Winners by Jonathan Mandell

The 2013 Theatre World Award winners, given to 12 performers making their Broadway (or Off-Broadway) debuts are: Bertie Carvel, Matilda The Musical Carrie Coon, Edward Albee's Who's Af…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:01PM[SHARE]
Sunday, May 5, 2013

Tony Awards Fallout. The Pippin Approach. Scott Rudin Roars. by Jonathan Mandell

Two Broadway shows already have announced their early closing in the week after the Tony Award nominations, prompting odd pushback from the producer of one of the shows. (see 4 below) The To…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:41PM[SHARE]
Saturday, May 4, 2013

Producer Scott Rudin Attacks Patrick Healy of the New York Times IN The Times by Jonathan Mandell

In the theater page of today’s New York Times, Testament of Mary producer Scott Rudin has taken out a strange advertisement attacking Times theater reporter Patrick Healy: “Let&#…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:05PM[SHARE]

Diana Ross and Boss Berry Gordy: Valisia LeKae and Brandon Victor Dixon of Motown The Musical by Jonathan Mandell

What is most striking about the two performers in "Motown The Musical" who re-enact the complicated relationship between Berry Gordy, Jr., the founder of Motown Records, and Diana Ross ̵…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:18PM[SHARE]
Friday, May 3, 2013

Surviving Mommie Dearest: Joan Crawford's daughter 35 years later by Jonathan Mandell

At the beginning of "Surviving Mommie Dearest," an odd show that will run from May 8th to Mother's Day at the Snapple Theater,  Christina Crawford, the 73-year-old adopted daughter of mov…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:49PM[SHARE]
Thursday, May 2, 2013

Broadway's Best Abs Award by Jonathan Mandell

There seemed to be an unusually abundant display of abdominal muscle on Broadway during the season just ended, almost as if there was an award for Broadway’s Best Abs. So let’s h…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:41PM[SHARE]

Pippin Review: Turning a dud into a Broadway circus by Jonathan Mandell

For her version of "Pippin," director Diana Paulus reached back to the wisdom of the Ancients " distracting us from a dud by offering bread and circuses. This first Broadway revival of Steph…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:11PM[SHARE]

New York Theater April 2013 Quiz by Jonathan Mandell

This month’s theater quiz is a special theater awards edition.About half the 10 questions have something to do with one of the many awards whose nominations were announced in April. Se…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:01AM[SHARE]

In the Middle with You: Motown Stars Valisia LeKae and Brandon Victor Dixon by Jonathan Mandell

Motown Tony Award nominee Valisia LeKae and Brandon Victor Dixon bring a complex relationship to the stage as music icons Diana Ross and Berry Gordy.

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, May 1, 2013

2013 Theater Awards Roundup and Guide by Jonathan Mandell

Everybody loves Tom Hanks — and that includes nearly every theater award nominating committee. For his role in “Lucky Guy,” Hanks has been nominated for a Tony, Drama Desk,…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:31PM[SHARE]

All that Chat