All stories by Jonathan Mandell on BroadwayStars

Saturday, July 17, 2021

East to Edinburgh 2021 Reviews: Testament. Static. Democracy Sucks. by Jonathan Mandell

Each of these three plays from 59E59 Theater's "East to Edinburgh Goes Virtual 2021,"  a festival running through July 25, takes its inspiration from a familiar source " "Testament" br…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:49PM[SHARE]
Friday, July 16, 2021

Schmigadoon! Review. Sweet and stuck musical TV series parodying Broadway musicals by Jonathan Mandell

Being stuck is not necessarily a bad thing inside the world of "Schmigadoon!", the star-studded musical series parodying Golden Age musicals, the first two episodes of which launched on Appl…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:49PM[SHARE]
Thursday, July 15, 2021

Endure Review. Marathon Theater in Central Park. by Jonathan Mandell

In "Endure," a performer named Casey Howes ran through Central Park for more than an hour while we small band of theatergoers listened over earphones to an audio recording of her inner thoug…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:53PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, July 14, 2021

#Charlottesville Review by Jonathan Mandell

Priyanka Shetty, the writer and performer of this one-hour solo play about the 2017 Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, tells us early on that she decided to intervie…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:58PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, July 13, 2021

Red Bull Short New Play Festival 2021. Zoom classics? by Jonathan Mandell

The seven new plays presented this year in Red Bull's annual festival are odd hybrids that mimic the past, reflect our strange present, and suggest the future, perhaps inadvertently posing t…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:25PM[SHARE]
Monday, July 12, 2021

Tenacious New Yorkers Weather Outdoor Theater. Broadway Ups to 43. #Stageworthy News of the Week by Jonathan Mandell

Heat waves? Downpours? This week demonstrated that New York theatergoers are as tenacious as postal couriers are supposed to be, stayed by neither rain nor heat nor gloom of night " not even…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:32AM[SHARE]
Sunday, July 11, 2021

Seize the King Review: Seizing the Night, Rain Be Damned. by Jonathan Mandell

The evil, power-hungry Richard appeared on stage for the first time just a few minutes into "Seize the King," which the Classical Theater of Harlem bills as playwright Will Power's modern re…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:00PM[SHARE]
Saturday, July 10, 2021

Book Review: Putting It Together: How Stephen Sondheim and I Created "Sunday in the Park with George" by Jonathan Mandell

"Putting It Together: How Stephen Sondheim and I Created 'Sunday in the Park with George'" (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 416 pages) is an eccentric, valuable and entertaining book, which autho…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:24PM[SHARE]
Friday, July 9, 2021

Lines in the Dust review. The New Segregation and its Discontents by Jonathan Mandell

"Lines in the Dust," which New Normal Rep is streaming online through August 8th, is Nikkole Salter's three-character play about a vexing side effect of modern-day segregation. It was origin…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:35PM[SHARE]
Thursday, July 8, 2021

Fruma-Sarah (Waiting in the Wings) Review by Jonathan Mandell

"Fruma-Sarah (Waiting in the Wings)," at the Cell Theater through July 25, begins as an affectionate poke at theater folk, offering nearly everything theatergoers returning to live, in-perso…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:03PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, July 7, 2021

Theater Etiquette Revisited by Jonathan Mandell

Six years ago this month, theater etiquette made headlines. Patti LuPone confiscated a cell phone from an audience member who was texting during her performance of "Show for Days," then rant…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:44PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, July 6, 2021

Theater Blog Roundup: Are Theater Screens Here to Stay? Will Audiences Need Etiquette Reeducation? by Jonathan Mandell

As theater stages begin to reopen, theater artists aren't through with theater screens " as some of the theater bloggers make clear. Terry Teachout discusses "hybrid theater" aka "webcast th…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:58PM[SHARE]
Monday, July 5, 2021

42 Dates on Broadway! The Fight for Digital Theater!! Hamilton Needs Help?!!! #Stageworthy News of the Week by Jonathan Mandell

Every work of theater I saw this past week was live and in person " which would have been an impossibility a year ago, and an insane thing to say two years ago…because what else was there …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:19PM[SHARE]
Sunday, July 4, 2021

For the 4th of July: 25 Plays and Musicals about American History by Jonathan Mandell

Some of the best-known plays or musicals about American history actually depict the Fourth of July; one of them, "1776," is entirely about the events leading up to it. But most of the theate…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:50AM[SHARE]
Saturday, July 3, 2021

Enemy of the People Review. We are all complicit! by Jonathan Mandell

"Enemy of the People" at the Park Avenue Armory remakes Ibsen's drama into a striking one-woman show starring Ann Dowd that forces us to realize our complicity in the lead poisoning of the F…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:06PM[SHARE]
Friday, July 2, 2021

Theater for 4th of July Weekend: 10 Shows To See, Online or On Stage by Jonathan Mandell

Below is an alphabetical list of ten shows you can catch up on over the July 4th weekend, about half of them live in person.* I've put a √ next to those I've seen and especially reco…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:45PM[SHARE]
Thursday, July 1, 2021

The Watering Hole Review: Theater as a Sacred (Depressing) Water Ritual by Jonathan Mandell

"The Watering Hole," an art installation that takes over nearly every nook and cranny of The Pershing Square Signature Center, is meant to be healing and calming…like water. That's the cle…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:28PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Theater Quiz for June 2021 by Jonathan Mandell

How well were you paying attention to the theatrical doings in June? Answer the dozen quiz questions below to find out. (Clockwise from top left: Scenes from "In The Heights," "Hot Wing King…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:26PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, June 29, 2021

Seven Deadly Sins Review. Thrilling Theater in the Streets of the Meatpacking District by Jonathan Mandell

Lust was the best. Everybody seemed to agree, and it wasn't just because Cynthia Nixon was in the cast. But, in truth, none of the eight short plays by some of America's most original pla…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:09PM[SHARE]
Monday, June 28, 2021

Harry Potter and The Boss Back on Broadway! But Off Broadway etc Ain't Chopped Liver! #Stageworthy News of the Week by Jonathan Mandell

"It's great to see everybody unmasked sitting next to each other in one room," Bruce Springsteen said on opening night Saturday of the first Broadway show in 15 months … speaking on the…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:34PM[SHARE]

Four Chords and a Gun Review. The Ramones vs. Phil Spector by Jonathan Mandell

"Four Chords and a Gun" is John Ross Bowie's version of  a legendary (or at least deeply weird) moment in rock n roll history "  the making of "End of the Century," the 1980 albu…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:32AM[SHARE]
Sunday, June 27, 2021

Happy Pride! from Tina Landau and Friends on Little Island by Jonathan Mandell

"Happy Pride!" shouted the stage full of Tina Landau's friends, capping  the free two-hour concert that featured Bill Irwin rapping and Tony Yazbeck tapping with Jared Grimes, to lots …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:15PM[SHARE]
Saturday, June 26, 2021

Off Broadway 2021-2022 Season Preview Guide by Jonathan Mandell

Below is an attempt to answer the question: What's coming up Off-Broadway? Long-running favorites are reopening, there is exciting new work by a slew of much-heralded American playwrights " …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:37PM[SHARE]
Friday, June 25, 2021

Off Broadway The Play Review. An Indictment of Off Broadway. by Jonathan Mandell

As Off Broadway reopens, "Off Broadway," a play by Torrey Townsend, is streaming free online through Sunday to warn people away from Off Broadway.  It's hard to conclude otherwise,…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:29PM[SHARE]
Thursday, June 24, 2021

Ghosting Review: Secrets and Surprises of an Irish Woman Returning from Exile by Jonathan Mandell

In "Ghosting," Síle is a young woman from Waterford, Ireland who has exiled herself to the anonymity of London after her boyfriend Mark " "first person I kissed, I slept with, I needed" "…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:29AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Special Tony Awards to the Broadway Advocacy Coalition, "David Byrne's American Utopia" and "Freestyle Love Supreme" by Jonathan Mandell

Special Tony Awards will be given to the Broadway Advocacy Organization, and the Broadway shows "David Byrne's American Utopia" and "Freestyle Love Supreme," as part of the 74th annual Tony …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:54AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, June 22, 2021

June Rites!! Waterwell Wrongs?? by Jonathan Mandell

See a one-minute video of "June Rites!!" below.It sounded enticing, a great way to celebrate the beginning of summer,  the lifting of pandemic-era restrictions and the start of a new e…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:59PM[SHARE]
Monday, June 21, 2021

Summer Theater is Here! NYC's Most and Least Diverse Theaters. #Stageworthy News of the Week by Jonathan Mandell

I went island hopping this past week, without ever leaving New York City, all to see theatrical productions " Roosevelt Island, Governors Island, Little Island. These outdoor shows, along wi…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:36PM[SHARE]
Sunday, June 20, 2021

The Alcestiad. Thornton Wilder's flop resurrected on Roosevelt Island by Jonathan Mandell

The Magis Theater Company's staging of "The Alcestiad" beneath the dramatic sky on Roosevelt Island is a spectacular resurrection in several ways. The play by Thornton Wilder features a resu…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:44PM[SHARE]
Saturday, June 19, 2021

Intar's MicroTEATRO Festival. Turning Hell's Kitchen Into a Reimagined Theater Wonderland by Jonathan Mandell

"This hood isn't anything like how it used to be," Officer Garcia is telling me and a teenage girl named Sam, as I watch the two of them play basketball in the gym of the Police Athletic Lea…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:25PM[SHARE]
Friday, June 18, 2021

Juneteenth 2021: A New Federal Holiday, and a Day of Theater and Music by Jonathan Mandell

President Joe Biden signed into a law yesterday a bill establishing Juneteenth as a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States, and the online celebrat…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:15AM[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