All stories by Jonathan Mandell on BroadwayStars

Monday, November 11, 2019

Veterans and Theater. Slings and Arrows returns for real!? Van Hove's West Side Story Not Feeling Pretty. #Stageworthy News of the Week by Jonathan Mandell

On Veterans Day, a reminder from Adam Driver, Broadway veteran  and military veteran, and the founder of Arts in the Armed Forces, a nonprofit that brings theater to the military: "…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:37PM[SHARE]
Sunday, November 10, 2019

Broadbend, Arkansas Review: Three Generations of Racial Injustice, Sort Of by Jonathan Mandell

"Broadbend, Arkansas" is billed as a musical about three generations of an African-American family in the South grappling with injustice.  While technically accurate, that's a misleading …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:03PM[SHARE]

The Black History Museum Theater Review: From Slave Ships to Barber Shops, Satirical Scenes to Illuminating Installations by Jonathan Mandell

"Whoo, that was some heavy shit," our guide says after leading us through 400 years of African-American history. It was hard to disagree. Every inch of HERE Arts Center has been transformed …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:16PM[SHARE]
Saturday, November 9, 2019

The 2020 Book Report Review: 10 Campaign Memoirs Analyzed On Stage by Jonathan Mandell

David Lawson made a personal sacrifice as a public service: He read 10 campaign books, all but one by current candidates for President of the United States. From his reading, he has fashione…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:49AM[SHARE]
Friday, November 8, 2019

The Michaels Review. A family of dancers at yet another Richard Nelson Rhinebeck play by Jonathan Mandell

If Richard Nelson, the writer and director of "The Michaels," were hired to direct the next Marvel movie, would Iron Man, Thor and the Hulk sit around the kitchen table in Rhinebeck, New Yor…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:40AM[SHARE]
Thursday, November 7, 2019

Cyrano Review: Peter Dinklage Sings, Without a Fake Nose or Much Panache by Jonathan Mandell

Peter Dinklage's singing voice would not normally qualify him for a role in a musical, unless in a Disney animated movie as a singing rhinoceros. But Rex Harrison couldn't really sing either…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 07:12PM[SHARE]

Cyrano, Starring Peter Dinklage by Jonathan Mandell

Peter Dinklage's singing voice would not normally qualify him for a role in a musical, unless in a Disney animated movie as a singing rhinoceros. But Rex Harrison couldn't really sing either…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:02PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Bella Bella Review: Harvey Fierstein As Rep. Bella Abzug, Gutsy and Adorable by Jonathan Mandell

Bella Abzug spoke at my junior high school graduation, until Donna Florio's mother told her to shut up. "This is my daughter's graduation, not a political rally."  Abzug paused, apologize…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:36PM[SHARE]

Bella Bella Review: Harvey Fierstein as Rep. Bella Abzug by Jonathan Mandell

Bella Abzug spoke at my junior high school graduation, until Donna Florio's mother told her to shut up. "This is my daughter's graduation, not a political rally."  Abzug paused, apologize…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:21PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Dr. Ride's American Beach House Review: Lesbian Desire Launches in 1983 by Jonathan Mandell

The two ladies hanging out on the roof are lesbians; they just don't know it yet. The title of Liza Birkenmeier's play, which marks her Off-Broadway playwriting debut, may seem to promise so…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:30PM[SHARE]
Monday, November 4, 2019

Non-Profit Pays! Letts' Turn to Politics. #Stageworthy News of the Week by Jonathan Mandell

André Bishop, head of Lincoln Center Theater: $1 million Todd Haimes, Roundabout: $922,000. Oskar Eustis the Public Theater: $659,000 Lynne Meadows, MTC: $565,000 Carole Rothman, Second Sta…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:12AM[SHARE]
Sunday, November 3, 2019

Monsoon Season Review: Divorce as a bloody black comedy by Jonathan Mandell

Lizzie Vieh's black comedy about a divorced couple permanently underwater in Phoenix Arizona, is clever and merciless, but it is also oddly compassionate. Exhibit A is the bit with the hermi…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:09PM[SHARE]
Saturday, November 2, 2019

New York Theater Quiz for October 2019 by Jonathan Mandell

How much were you paying attention to New York theater in October? Take this quiz and find out.  

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:32AM[SHARE]
Friday, November 1, 2019

November 2019 New York Theater Openings by Jonathan Mandell

  Below is a selection of New York theater opening in November, organized chronologically by opening date, including five on Broadway "  a much anticipated epic gay play, a blockbuster…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:01PM[SHARE]

The Sound Inside Review: Mary-Louise Parker in Adam Rapp's suspenseful yarn and reading list by Jonathan Mandell

"The Sound Inside" is a dark drama by Adam Rapp that keeps us in the dark, literally and figuratively, which works better while watching it on stage than thinking about it afterwards. Mary-L…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:56PM[SHARE]
Thursday, October 31, 2019

Hamnet Review: Shakespeare's Forgotten Son at BAM. Also: He Did What? by Jonathan Mandell

William Shakespeare's only son, named Hamnet, died when he was 11 years old; a few years later, the playwright wrote "Hamlet."  The Irish theater troupe Dead Centre conjures up the Bard's…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:36AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Fear Review: Fighting Evil…or Causing It? by Jonathan Mandell

  "How do we fight evil without becoming evil?" asks Ethan, one of the two adult characters in "Fear," a play by Matt Williams.  "Isn't that the central question of the age, this age o…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:44PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Freestyle Love Supreme Review: Lin-Manuel Miranda's improv rappers on Broadway by Jonathan Mandell

Freestyle Love Supreme is not so much Lin-Manuel Miranda's Broadway follow-up to Hamilton as it is a subsidiary of Lin-Manuel Inc. The hip-hop improv group that Miranda co-founded 16 years a…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 06:24PM[SHARE]

Freestyle Love Supreme on Broadway by Jonathan Mandell

"Freestyle Love Supreme" is not so much Lin-Manuel Miranda's Broadway follow-up to "Hamilton" as it is a subsidiary of Lin-Manuel Inc.  The hip-hop improv group that Miranda co-founded 16…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:03PM[SHARE]
Monday, October 28, 2019

Seared Review: Raúl Esparza is Cooking, in Theresa Rebeck's Restaurant Comedy by Jonathan Mandell

Theresa Rebeck's slight but savory comedy  about  running a restaurant stars Raúl Esparza as Harry, a hilariously mercurial chef-owner of a hole-in-the-wall eatery  that's become…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:32PM[SHARE]

Refugees on Stage. Critics' Death and Rebirth (Review for the Times!) #Stageworthy News of the Week by Jonathan Mandell

Refugees are in the news these days, and their stories have suddenly come to New York stages. "I think it is important to ask an audience to recognize lives that we have literally fenced off…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:40AM[SHARE]
Sunday, October 27, 2019

Forbidden Broadway The Next Generation Review. Broadway Barbs Both Lethal and Loving by Jonathan Mandell

Three years after he spoofed "Hamilton" in "Spamilton" (with "I am not throwing away my shot" becoming "I am not gonna let Broadway rot,") Gerard Alessandrini paints Lin-Manuel Miranda less …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:36PM[SHARE]
Saturday, October 26, 2019

The Lightning Thief Review: On Broadway Battling Beasts and Bloat by Jonathan Mandell

I think if I were eight years old I might have loved "The Lightning Thief" on Broadway, but that's mostly because I would then have been too young to have seen it at the Lucille Lortel Theat…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:05PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Scotland, PA Review: Macbeth as a 1970s fast food musical comedy by Jonathan Mandell

There is one spectacularly funny moment in this musical comedy version of "Macbeth," which is based on Billy Morrissette's 2001 movie, and is set in a fast-food restaurant in the "podunk tow…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:47PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, October 22, 2019

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow is Enuf, Back at the Public Theater by Jonathan Mandell

Forty-one years after Broadway said goodbye after 742 thrilling performances to its first (and last) choreopoem, and a year after its author and original performer died at the age of 70, sev…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:30PM[SHARE]
Monday, October 21, 2019

Is This a Room Review. FBI Interrogation of Reality Winner by Jonathan Mandell

"Is This A Room" stages the verbatim transcript of the FBI interrogation of a 25-year-old former Air Force linguist with the improbable name of Reality Winner, who was eventually sente…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:53PM[SHARE]

Soft Power Review: David Henry Hwang's Sly Reverse Chinese Musical about America by Jonathan Mandell

David Henry Hwang was attacked by an unknown assailant with a knife and nearly died. That experience, along with the playwright's shock at the results of the 2016 Presidential election and h…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:01PM[SHARE]
Saturday, October 19, 2019

The Rose Tattoo Review: Marisa Tomei in Tennessee Williams' comedy about a love-struck Sicilian widow by Jonathan Mandell

There are many cues to what's wrong with this overly broad third Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams' dated play, starring Marisa Tomei as Serafina Delle Rose, a Sicilian immigrant seamst…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 02:54PM[SHARE]

The Rose Tattoo with Marisa Tomei by Jonathan Mandell

There are many cues to what's wrong with this overly broad third Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams' dated play, starring Marisa Tomei as Serafina Delle Rose, a Sicilian immigrant seamst…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:08PM[SHARE]
Friday, October 18, 2019

2019 Theater Book Award Winners and Finalists from TLA by Jonathan Mandell

Books about Bob Fosse and Yiddish theater have been named the best theater books of the year by The Theatre Library Association,  which is presenting its TLA Book Awards tonight at the…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:53PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, October 16, 2019

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Review: Junot Diaz's Dominican-American Novel On Stage by Jonathan Mandell

Oscar, a fat freshman in thick bifocals meeting his college roommate for the first time, greets him with what sounds like an insult: "Hail, dog of God!" His new roommate, the street-smart Yu…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:07PM[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