All stories by Jonathan Mandell on BroadwayStars

Thursday, June 9, 2022

2022 Tony Awards: Who SHOULD Win, and Why by Jonathan Mandell

In this most trying of seasons, the theater community has been attempting to redefine what Broadway means, and that includes producing work that surely would not have made it to Broadway bef…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:13PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, June 8, 2022

2022 Drama Desk Award winners: Kimberly Akimbo, Company… by Jonathan Mandell

(Full list of nominees here) (Don't know the difference between the Drama Desk and the Drama League and the Drama Critics Circle and the Outer Critics Circle awards? Check out my New York…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:13PM[SHARE]

Watch 2022 Theater World Award Winners on Their First Time, and Tough Times by Jonathan Mandell

A dozen luminous first-time New York stage performers, plus Harvey Fierstein, and 21 members of the ensemble of The Music Man, were honored at the 76th annual Theatre World Awards " the firs…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:41AM[SHARE]
Monday, June 6, 2022

Tony Countdown. #Stageworthy News of the Week by Jonathan Mandell

The 75th Annual Tony Awards will be presented next Sunday at Radio City Music Hall and live on your TV or (more likely) computer, celebrating the strangest of Broadway seasons, which officia…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:21AM[SHARE]
Sunday, June 5, 2022

Michael Jackson vs Michael R Jackson. Watch MJ and A Strange Loop videos by Jonathan Mandell

Below are two short videos from the two new Broadway musicals that were most nominated for 2022 Tony Awards: "A Strange Loop" by Michael R. Jackson received 11 Tony nominations, "MJ the Musi…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:56AM[SHARE]
Saturday, June 4, 2022

Alexandria Wailes on Deaf Dancing, CODA Switching and Turning Purple by Jonathan Mandell

When Alexandria Wailes was growing up, people would stop her mother, incredulous, and ask her: " Your deaf daughter is dancing!? How is that possible?" She reminded Wailes of this over br…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:54PM[SHARE]
Thursday, June 2, 2022

Theater Reviews: what the end will be, and Exception to the Rule by Jonathan Mandell

In Mansa Ra's new play, three generations of Black gay men live under the same roof "  grandfather, father and son. If it's hardly unusual of late to see Black queer male characters on…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:04PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, June 1, 2022

June 2022 New York Theater Openings by Jonathan Mandell

Below is a selection of theater opening in June, presented in a day-by-day calendar and featuring several festivals, mostly outdoors and mostly free, as well as an usual number of hybrid …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:22PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, May 31, 2022

Broadway: Looking Ahead, Looking Behind. #Stageworthy News of the Week by Jonathan Mandell

While we await the remaining theater awards to top off the triumphant and traumatic 2020/21-2022 season, the next Broadway season is starting to take shape. The latest announcement: The New …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:49AM[SHARE]
Monday, May 30, 2022

Memorial Day 2022: Remembering Americans Who Died from War, COVID-19, and Firearms by Jonathan Mandell

Memorial Day became an official national holiday in 1971 to honor Americans who died in military service, some 1.1. million people since the nation's founding.  But it feels appropriate t…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:29AM[SHARE]
Sunday, May 29, 2022

Tony Awards Quiz for May 2022 by Jonathan Mandell

Take this quiz about the nominations for the 2022 Tony Awards, and some of the other theater awards announced in May. Loading…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:32PM[SHARE]
Thursday, May 26, 2022

Fat Ham Review by Jonathan Mandell

'Fat Ham," this year's Pulitzer Prize winning play, which opened tonight at the Public Theater,  is inspired by "Hamlet," but it parts ways with the Bard, and not just because of all t…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:58PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Violence in America: Theater's Response by Jonathan Mandell

An 18-year-old yesterday shot and killed at least 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, a mass shooting that occurred just ten days after another 18-year-o…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:35AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, May 24, 2022

2022 Off Broadway Alliance Awards: Harmony, Sanctuary City, Oratorio for Living Things… by Jonathan Mandell

Harmony was designated new new musical and Sanctuary City best new play in the 11th annual Off Broadway Awards. (Check out my New York Theater Awards 2022 Guide and Calendar) BEST NEW MUS…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:42AM[SHARE]
Monday, May 23, 2022

Angela Lansbury Lifetime Tony! Award Season Favorites. Masks Extended. TEDx Broadway 2022 Talks. #Stageworthy News by Jonathan Mandell

Theater awards season is heating up, with four of the major annual theater awards announcing their winners or nominations this past week; favorite shows are coming into focus. I won't call t…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:54AM[SHARE]
Sunday, May 22, 2022

Roe v Wade 2.0: Making theater out of Supreme Court's oral arguments by Jonathan Mandell

There is no question which side playwright Margaret Vandenburg favors in her play "Roe v. Wade 2.0," which is inspired by the Supreme Court's oral arguments in the case Dobbs v. Jackson W…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:20PM[SHARE]
Saturday, May 21, 2022

The Karpovsky Variations Review. A musician in search of her sound, and her family. by Jonathan Mandell

The story that seems to be struggling to emerge from "The Karpovsky Variations" concerns Julia Karpovsky, an American Jew who spent her childhood abroad and is trying to connect with her fam…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:47PM[SHARE]
Friday, May 20, 2022

2022 Drama League Awards: Lehman Trilogy, A Strange Loop, Sutton Foster. by Jonathan Mandell

"The Lehman Trilogy" was voted outstanding play and "A Strange Loop" outstanding musical at the 88th annual Drama League Awards, which were announced today at the Ziegfeld Ballroom. Sutton F…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:46PM[SHARE]

Broadway Producer Emanuel Azenberg: "We've chased away an audience." by Jonathan Mandell

"When I was a kid in the Bronx, I went to the theater for $1.10," says Emanuel Azenberg. Granted that was a while ago; he's 88. But he is also a Broadway producer and general manager with ni…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:27PM[SHARE]
Thursday, May 19, 2022

English, and Wish You Were Here by Sanaz Toossi: Theater Reviews by Jonathan Mandell

Sanaz Toossi, California-born daughter of immigrants from Iran, has racked up awards for her two New York debut plays this season, "English" and "Wish You Were Here."* Both are set in Iran, …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:03PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, May 18, 2022

The 5 Ages of Musical Theater. When must an old show be shelved? by Jonathan Mandell

A century and a half after the first American musical, the art form "is growing up, and it is time for us to address the growing pains," historian Margaret Hall said at her TEDx Broadway tal…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:27PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, May 17, 2022

2022 Chita Rivera Award Nominations: by Jonathan Mandell

Below is the complete list of the nominations for 2022 Chita Rivera Awards for dance and choreography, on Broadway, Off-Broadway and the movies, with the love spread wide. The awards will be…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:11PM[SHARE]

2022 Outer Critics Circle Awards: Six, Lehman Trilogy, Kimberly Akimbo, Prayer for the French Republic by Jonathan Mandell

"Six"won outstanding Broadway musical, "Lehman Trilogy" outstanding Broadway play, "Kimberly Akimbo" Off-Broadway musical, and "Prayer for the French Republic" Off-Broadway play at the 71st …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:09AM[SHARE]
Monday, May 16, 2022

Theater Review: Will You Come With Me? Queer Love During Turkish Uprising by Jonathan Mandell

Having taken the trip to Gowanus to see "Will You Come With Me?," a play billed as exploring "the chaos and complexities of living through an uprising," I had dinner at a local vegan rest…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:35PM[SHARE]

2022  Drama Desk Award Nominations: Six and Kimberly Akimbo Lead by Jonathan Mandell

Six and Kimberly Akimbo lead in the nominations for the 66th annual Drama Desk Awards, which honors achievement by professional theater artists on Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:25PM[SHARE]

Miracles Happen on Broadway, to Two "Girls." Also: Lizzo Wants Broadway?! #Stageworthy News by Jonathan Mandell

In What happened last week at "Girl from the North Country" and "for colored girls…" might not be miraculous, precisely, but they're the kind of stories in the face of adversity that peopl…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:48AM[SHARE]
Sunday, May 15, 2022

Suffs Review. A women's suffrage musical after the Roe leak by Jonathan Mandell

There is an early number in "Suffs" that was as exciting to me in its way as any gathering-in of Superheroes from the Marvel or DC universe. I guess DC is more apt, since the song is about t…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:00PM[SHARE]
Saturday, May 14, 2022

Books on Broadway at Bryant Park Reading Room Spring Schedule by Jonathan Mandell

The first-ever Books on Broadway series, featuring conversations with authors and theater artists, will be part of the twentieth anniversary of the Bryant Park Reading Room every Tu…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:29AM[SHARE]
Friday, May 13, 2022

Gregg Mozgala Q and A. On Forward Fest and Broadway by Jonathan Mandell

If all goes as planned, Gregg Mozgala will be making his Broadway debut in the Fall,  three decades after the theater first "made me feel like a full human being," as he explains in th…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:55PM[SHARE]
Thursday, May 12, 2022

2022 New York Drama Critics Circle Awards: A Case for the Existence of God, Kimberly Akimbo by Jonathan Mandell

The New York Drama Critics' Circle has named Samuel D. Hunter's "A Case for the Existence of God" best play of the 2021-22 season, and David Lindsay-Abaire's and Jeanine Tesori's "Kimb…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:44PM[SHARE]

2022 Tony Award Winners " YOUR Pick? by Jonathan Mandell

Make your pick in the survey below for 12 of the 26 categories in the 75th annual Tony Awards, honoring Broadway's best. The awards ceremony will take place on June 12th at Radio Music Hall …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:16AM[SHARE]

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