All stories by Jan Simpson on BroadwayStars

Saturday, December 31, 2022

My Favorite Theatrical Things in 2022 by Jan Simpson

Theater worked hard this year to come back from the pandemic. As part of those efforts, Broadway dropped its requirement that theatergoers show proof of being vaccinated and made mask wearin…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 05:06PM[SHARE]
Saturday, December 24, 2022
Saturday, December 17, 2022

"The Far Country" Recalls Forgotten History by Jan Simpson

The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust announced this week that it is awarding its $100,000 Mimi Award to two mid-career playwrights: James Ijames and Lloyd Suh. I'm pleased for both…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 11:48AM[SHARE]
Saturday, December 10, 2022

All the Drama: 1996 Pulitzer Prize Winner "Rent" by Jonathan Larson by Jan Simpson

All The Drama is hosted by Jan Simpson. It is a series of deep dives into the plays that have won The Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The Pulitzer Prize for Drama: "Rent"1996 Pulitzer winner "Rent…

SOURCE: BroadwayRadio at 12:01AM[SHARE]
Saturday, December 3, 2022

How Broadway's "KPOP" Lost Its Mojo by Jan Simpson

The world of musical theater is divided right now between the people who saw KPOP before it came to Broadway and those who saw it afterward. I sadly fall into the latter group.  The origi…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 12:54PM[SHARE]
Saturday, November 26, 2022

Digging Deep Into Empathy With "Downstate" by Jan Simpson

Bruce Norris has a knack for making people uncomfortable.  His 2006 play The Pain and the Itch featured a 4-year-old with a genital rash, a metaphor for her family's dysfunction that call…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 04:06PM[SHARE]

Succumbing to the Charms of "& Juliet" by Jan Simpson

  & Juliet, the exuberant new musical that mashes up Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet with the songbook of the pop hitmaker Max Martin wasn't made for me. It was made for the tween gir…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 04:06PM[SHARE]
Saturday, November 12, 2022

All the Drama: 1921 Pulitzer Prize Winner "Miss Lulu Bett" by Zona Gale by Jan Simpson

All The Drama is hosted by Jan Simpson. It is a series of deep dives into the plays that have won The Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The Pulitzer Prize for Drama: "Miss Lulu Bett"1921 Pulitzer wi…

SOURCE: BroadwayRadio at 12:01AM[SHARE]
Saturday, November 5, 2022

Life and Death Stories In "Everything's Fine," "Walking With Ghosts," "Where the Mountain Meets the Sea," and "My B by Jan Simpson

The writer Joan Didion once said that "we tell ourselves stories in order to live." But lately an increasing number of theater makers have not only been telling the stories of their lives bu…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 02:06PM[SHARE]
Monday, October 31, 2022

Stagecraft: Joseph Dougherty, Playwright of "Chester Bailey" by Jan Simpson

The Stagecraft podcast is hosted by Jan Simpson. It is a series of interviews with playwrights (and musical book writers) of shows opening on Broadway and off-Broadway. Guest: Joseph Dougher…

SOURCE: BroadwayRadio at 04:00PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, October 25, 2022

In Memoriam: Seymour "Red" Press by Jan Simpson

My friend Seymour "Red" Press died yesterday. Although to call him a friend doesn't really describe what he meant to my husband K and me. Red was a longtime musical contractor and K, a trump…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 04:13PM[SHARE]
Saturday, October 15, 2022

A Nay for "Baldwin & Buckley at Cambridge" by Jan Simpson

As a recent story in the online magazine TDF Stages noted, James Baldwin is having a theatrical moment (click here to read more about it). The black writer and intellectual, who died in 1987…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 06:03PM[SHARE]
Friday, October 7, 2022

The New "1776" Isn't Revolutionary Enough by Jan Simpson

Revivals used to be fairly simple. A producer would take a beloved title or maybe even an underappreciated one, cast it with a star or two and voilà, a show. But that's not how it goes no…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 08:55AM[SHARE]
Sunday, October 2, 2022

Alan Cumming Follows His Passion in "Burn" by Jan Simpson

The very limited six-day run of Burn, Alan Cumming's solo performance piece at The Joyce Theater, ends this weekend but there is so much joy in it that I can't resist celebrating it.  Cu…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 12:55AM[SHARE]
Saturday, September 10, 2022

All the Drama: 1949 Pulitzer Prize Winner "Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller by Jan Simpson

All The Drama is hosted by Jan Simpson. It is a series of deep dives into the plays that have won The Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The Pulitzer Prize for Drama: "Death of a Salesman"1949 Pulitz…

SOURCE: BroadwayRadio at 12:01AM[SHARE]
Saturday, September 3, 2022

A Labor Day Salute to Stage Managers by Jan Simpson

Monday is Labor Day, which means that it's time for my annual tribute to some of the people whose labor makes the theater we all love work. I've been doing this for 15 years now and I can't …

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 02:43PM[SHARE]
Saturday, August 13, 2022

"The Butcher Boy" and "On that Day in Amsterdam" May Have Arrived Too Soon by Jan Simpson

Everyone who loves serious theater loves the idea of giving talented new writers a chance to show what they can do. The question is the timing. Too many workshops (and the notes that come al…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 12:48PM[SHARE]

All the Drama: 1967 Pulitzer Prize Winner "A Delicate Balance" by Edward Albee by Jan Simpson

All The Drama is hosted by Jan Simpson. It is a series of deep dives into the plays that have won The Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The Pulitzer Prize for Drama: "A Delicate Balance"1967 Pulitze…

SOURCE: BroadwayRadio at 12:01AM[SHARE]
Saturday, August 6, 2022

This Post-Modern "Oresteia" is No Classic by Jan Simpson

Greek tragedies don't get done a lot. Which is why I really try to see them when I can. So my theatergoing buddy Bill and I bought tickets for the new production of the Oresteia that is play…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 10:03AM[SHARE]
Saturday, July 16, 2022

"Between the Lines" Tells a Familiar Story by Jan Simpson

So many musicals nowadays are based on movies or other pop culture IP (by which I mean jukebox musicals of one kind or another) that it's nicely retro to have one based on a book. That's the…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 02:33PM[SHARE]

Stagecraft: Brian Watkins, Playwright of "Epiphany" by Jan Simpson

The Stagecraft podcast is hosted by Jan Simpson. It is a series of interviews with playwrights (and musical book writers) of shows opening on Broadway and off-Broadway. Guest: Brian Watkins,…

SOURCE: BroadwayRadio at 12:01AM[SHARE]
Saturday, July 9, 2022

Women and Politics in "POTUS" and "53% Of" by Jan Simpson

Sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying. At least that's the approach two recent plays have taken with the current political morass in which we all find ourselves.  Selina Filling…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 12:03PM[SHARE]

All the Drama: Biographer Mimi Pockross on the 1945 Pulitzer Prize Winner "Harvey" by Jan Simpson

All The Drama is hosted by Jan Simpson. It is a series of deep dives into the plays that have won The Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The Pulitzer Prize for Drama: "Harvey"1945 Pulitzer winner "Ha…

SOURCE: BroadwayRadio at 12:01AM[SHARE]
Saturday, July 2, 2022

Theater Books for Summer Reading 2022 by Jan Simpson

Now that Covid has been around for more than two years and vaccines have made contracting the virus a little less scary, a new kind of normal is settling in. The Tony award ceremonies return…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 09:12AM[SHARE]
Saturday, June 25, 2022

Broadway"Many Kinds of Media"& Me by Jan Simpson

For the second time this month, there will be no regular post here. It's not because there haven't been shows to see and talk about: although it will be weeks before anything new opens on Br…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 12:24PM[SHARE]
Thursday, June 23, 2022

Stagecraft: Madhuri Shekar, Playwright of "Queen" by Jan Simpson

The Stagecraft podcast is hosted by Jan Simpson. It is a series of interviews with playwrights (and musical book writers) of shows opening on Broadway and off-Broadway. Guest: Madhuri Shekar…

SOURCE: BroadwayRadio at 12:00PM[SHARE]
Saturday, June 11, 2022

"Exception to the Rule" and "soft" Offer Laments on the Tragedy of Being, Young, Poor and Black or Brown in Today's America by Jan Simpson

The settings and the circumstances are the same in two new off-Broadway shows that portray the plight of the young Black and Brown people who are so often trapped in systems that view them"a…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 01:06PM[SHARE]

All the Drama: Former New York Times Critic Ben Brantley on "The Young Man From Atlanta," 1995 Pulitzer Prize Winner by Jan Simpson

All The Drama is hosted by Jan Simpson. It is a series of deep dives into the plays that have won The Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The Pulitzer Prize for Drama: "The Young Man From Atlanta"1995…

SOURCE: BroadwayRadio at 12:01AM[SHARE]
Saturday, June 4, 2022

"Dreaming Zenzile" Gets Lost in Its Reveries by Jan Simpson

Dreaming Zenzile, the musical that opened at New York Theatre Workshop this week, began as a tribute concert.  And it probably should have stayed one.   The show, a co-production wi…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 10:37AM[SHARE]
Saturday, May 21, 2022

"Belfast Girls" Updates the History Play by Jan Simpson

The girls aren't what they're expected to be in Belfast Girls, the new show that opened at the Irish Rep this week. They also aren't what we've come to expect to find in historical dramas li…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 11:12AM[SHARE]
Saturday, May 14, 2022

Celebrating Even Making it to Awards Season by Jan Simpson

It may seem strange for a theater lover"and hip-hop know-nothing"like me to be quoting the rapper Drake but his self-congratulatory lyrics "Started from the bottom, now we're here" seem part…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 02:36PM[SHARE]

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