All stories by Jonathan Mandell on BroadwayStars

Wednesday, March 3, 2021

Theater Blog Roundup: Getting Around the Pandemic Wall. Rethinking Race in The Book of Mormon. by Jonathan Mandell

An actor on the autism spectrum writes about how theater is "a surprisingly welcoming place," and you can see how some theater bloggers over the past month have been reacting to a year of is…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:06PM[SHARE]

Broadway and "Flexible" NYC Theaters Reopening April 2, 2021 in Pilot PopsUp Program by Jonathan Mandell

The Music Box Theater on Broadway is among the theaters scheduled to reopen on April 2nd for a series of NY PopsUp events, that will serve as a "pilot program" for safety protocols "that wil…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:44PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, March 2, 2021

Theater Quiz for February 2021 by Jonathan Mandell

How well were you paying attention to the theater news and reviews in February? Answer these ten questions to find out. Loading… Never miss another answer: Enter your email address to subs…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:05PM[SHARE]
Monday, March 1, 2021

NYC Mayoral Candidates on Bringing Back Broadway. Liza Love. Bette's Bye. Meryl's Broadway Blackout. #Stageworthy News of the Week. by Jonathan Mandell

Voting for the Tony Awards starts today, and in less than four months New Yorkers will start voting for mayor. The candidates have been offering their plans on how to bring back Broadway, wh…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:40PM[SHARE]

March 2021 Theater Openings, Week 1: Rent Returns! Festivals of women, science and dance! by Jonathan Mandell

Below are the day-by-day listings of online theater that is opening between March 1 and March 7, including the launching of galas and festivals celebrating Women's History Month, science, da…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:35PM[SHARE]
Sunday, February 28, 2021

Book Review: Mike Nichols A Life by Jonathan Mandell

Among his many talents, Mike Nichols had a talent for celebrity, which meant in part a talent for friendship, as we learn early and often in Mike Nichols: A Life (Penguin Press. 688 pages.).…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:42PM[SHARE]
Saturday, February 27, 2021

Theatre: A Love Story. Caridad Svich's riff on art, the world and sofas. by Jonathan Mandell

"Theatre: A Love Story" by Caridad Svich, which opened tonight and runs through March 27, begins with a vertiginous video tour through the streets of the theater district in Cincinnati, unti…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:38PM[SHARE]
Friday, February 26, 2021

Watch André De Shields As Frederick Douglass by Jonathan Mandell

"If there is no struggle, there is no progress," André De Shields thunders as Frederick Douglass, the great 19th century Black orator, writer, social reformer and statesman, in the 45 minut…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:17PM[SHARE]
Thursday, February 25, 2021

An Unspoken Upside, And Possible Downside, to Online Theater by Jonathan Mandell

After watching last night's streaming of six short plays by the students of Labyrinth's summer workshop as part of the theater company's Barn Series 2021, I was struck by what these shows sa…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:30PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, February 24, 2021

Watch Love Life, the lost musical by Alan Jay Lerner and Kurt Weill by Jonathan Mandell

The first reaction to "Love Life" (before even watching the Encores! 15-minute video about it with Kate Baldwin and Brian Stokes Mitchell below) has to be: Where have you been all my life? A…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:10PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Bad Dates Review. Andréa Burns in Theresa Rebeck's Crafty Comedy by Jonathan Mandell

In this virtual production of Theresa Rebeck's 2003 one-woman comedy, Andréa Burns portrays Haley Walker, a Texas divorcee who moved with her daughter and her 600 pairs of shoes to Manhatta…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:53PM[SHARE]
Monday, February 22, 2021

NY Pops Up, but Online Theater Connects. #Stageworthy News of the Week by Jonathan Mandell

There was a powerful if unintended lesson over the weekend with the start of the state-sponsored NY Pops Up performances at the cavernous and near-empty Jacob Javits Convention-turned-vaccin…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:50PM[SHARE]
Sunday, February 21, 2021

February 2021 Theater Openings Final Week: De Shields as Frederick Douglass. Baryshnikov in a Computer Chekhov. A New Labyrinth Play Every Day by Jonathan Mandell

Below are the day-by-day listings of online theater that is opening between February 22 and February 28. In this final week of the month, Labyrinth Theater is offering an original new play e…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:20PM[SHARE]
Saturday, February 20, 2021

Shows That Leave Me Speechless (Or, Why I Should Retire): Clippy and Ms. U. Before Fiddler. Little Miss Perfect. House Rules. by Jonathan Mandell

I have spent the past week watching one online theater piece after another that, for remarkably varied reasons, left me debating whether I should commit to saying anything publicly about the…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:00PM[SHARE]

The Past is The Past Review. A Black Son Confronts His Absent Father by Jonathan Mandell

At the start of MTC's new virtual reading of Richard Wesley's short play "The Past is the Past," available for free through February 28th, a middle aged man named Earl (Ron Cephas Jones, Emm…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:01PM[SHARE]
Friday, February 19, 2021

Watch "Empty Stage." Does it make you weep, swoon, or groan? by Jonathan Mandell

Benjamin Scheuer ("The Lion") and the Birmingham Royal Ballet collaborate on this five minute video, "dedicated to the ambition to keep ballet and performance alive." It illustrates Scheuer'…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:54PM[SHARE]
Thursday, February 18, 2021

Delejos (from afar) Review. Jose Zambrano, brought back to life by his girlfriend. by Jonathan Mandell

Jose Zambrano courted Julie Piñero so playfully that he Photoshopped silly made-up pictures of them together as a couple " outside Times Square without pants, for example.  This caused…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:58PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, February 17, 2021

Celebrating Iconic African American Performers by Jonathan Mandell

A 19th century Shakespearean actor, 20th century opera stars, a 21st century choreographer " these are among the artists that the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln C…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:44PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Village Song 3: Nostalgia for Ellen Stewart, Kenny's Castaways and Bob Dylan, Contempt for Zero Irving. by Jonathan Mandell

In this third and final episode of Rattlestick Theater's Village Song, the young songwriting students from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts illustrate once again the paradox of Greenwich Vi…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:41AM[SHARE]
Monday, February 15, 2021

Are we really ready to reopen, re-up and show up? #Stageworthy News by Jonathan Mandell

Indoor dining reopened in New York City last week, area arenas are scheduled to reopen next week, New York State is launching  New York Pops Up initiative (in-person performan…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:50PM[SHARE]

U.S. Presidents on Stage: From Washington to You Know Who by Jonathan Mandell

Whatever the future holds for a certain criminally inclined former President of the United States, one thing seems assured: Somebody will eventually portray him on Broadway. (He's already…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:51AM[SHARE]
Sunday, February 14, 2021

February 2021 Theater Openings Week 3: New York Pops Up Festival begins. Lillias White as Sarah Vaughan. by Jonathan Mandell

Below are the day-by-day theater openings from February 15 to 21st. In this third week of what's normally a fallow theater month, we get a return to in-person performances, with the launch o…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:42PM[SHARE]

Remember Stage Kisses? by Jonathan Mandell

Smooching is not exactly a lost art this Valentine's Day; it's more like in storage, along with many other practices, onstage and off. But it's a good day to remember how much theater has re…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:27AM[SHARE]
Saturday, February 13, 2021

Thank You, Impeachment Prosecutors. Rep Raskin's Closing Argument, Video and Transcript. by Jonathan Mandell

These nine members of Congress served as the impeachment "managers," prosecuting the cast against former President Donald Trump, in a trial that resulted in an acquittal, although the vote w…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:19PM[SHARE]
Friday, February 12, 2021

Abraham Lincoln: "You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today." by Jonathan Mandell

On Abraham Lincoln's 212th birthday, which happens to be the day that lawyers mount a defense of the impeached 45th president, a member of a Republican party that the 16th president of the U…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:55AM[SHARE]
Thursday, February 11, 2021

Black Liberation Reading List, Theater Division by Jonathan Mandell

Of the 94 books on the Black Liberation Reading List from the New York Public Library's Schomburg Center, only three are plays: "Fences" by August Wilson, "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine H…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:03PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, February 10, 2021

Negro Theatre Project WPA Photo Gallery: From Horse Play to Haiti to Macbeth by Jonathan Mandell

Below are photographs from productions of the "Negro Unit" of the Federal Theatre Project, some 30 of which were staged at Lafayette Theater in Harlem, between 1935 and 1939. They range from…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:15AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, February 9, 2021

Village Song 2: Self-Indulgence and Art; Plus: McSorley's Drinking Song by Jonathan Mandell

I was so enthusiastic about the first episode last week in this Rattlestick Theater series about Greenwich Village written by musical theater graduate students at NYU " that my disappointmen…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:40PM[SHARE]

NY Pops-Up: 50 Stars, 1000 Performances by Jonathan Mandell

Below are photographs of 50 of the stars, listed alphabetically by first name from Alec Baldwin to Tina Landau, who have signed up so far for NY Pops-Up, the series of free performances thro…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:10AM[SHARE]
Monday, February 8, 2021

#Stageworthy News of the Week. 376 Years of Theater Legends Lost. 11 Months of Grief and Gratitude and…Joy. by Jonathan Mandell

Four legendary actors died within little more than a week of one another, all in their nineties, long lifetimes devoted to their art. The latest Christopher Plummer and Hal Holbrook. It w…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:13AM[SHARE]

Watch 5 of the Best and 1 of the Creepiest Super Bowl LV Commercials by Jonathan Mandell

Below watch Super Bowl commercials featuring Daveed Diggs, Big Bird, Nick Jonas, Timothée Chalamet, Winona Ryder, Michael B. Jordan and Nick Jonas, both young and old, Matthew McConaughey i…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:32AM[SHARE]

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