All stories by Jonathan Mandell on BroadwayStars

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Derren Brown Secret: Broadway Slight of Hand by Jonathan Mandell

In his Broadway debut, Derren Brown performs some dozen mind games and magic tricks over 150 minutes that depend on audience participation, all of which are meant to provoke us to ask: "How …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:15PM[SHARE]
Saturday, September 14, 2019

The Talmud Review: Jewish Tales With Kung Fu Moves by Jonathan Mandell

Talmudic scholars and kung fu movie fans will both find something familiar in this  singular hour-long hybrid by the eight-year-old theater company Meta-Phys Ed., in which four performers…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:19PM[SHARE]
Friday, September 13, 2019

AIDS Back on Stage by Jonathan Mandell

In my article for TDF Stages, I look at three new plays that focus on AIDS " "The Inheritance" by Matthew Lopez, which begins performances on Broadway September 27, opening in November; and …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:20PM[SHARE]
Thursday, September 12, 2019

Lin-Manuel Should Do A Cabaret Show! Also Lea Salonga,Beanie Feldstein, Adam Chanler-Berat…. by Jonathan Mandell

Who should do a cabaret act? That was a question posed in a recent ticket giveaway contest for the cabaret 54 Below. Here are some of the responses, listed alphabetically by performer, follo…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:53AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, September 11, 2019

American Moor Review: A Shakespearean Actor on Othello and Black vs. White in America by Jonathan Mandell

On the surface, "American Moor," written by and starring Keith Hamilton Cobb,  is about a veteran African-American actor auditioning to play Othello for a clueless young, white director. …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:50PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Off Broadway Fall 2019 Preview Guide by Jonathan Mandell

Some of the most thrilling theater in New York this Fall, and certainly much of the weirdest, promises to be Off-Broadway. There are revivals Off-Broadway of Tony Kushner's first play, one o…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:08PM[SHARE]
Monday, September 9, 2019

The Fall Season Begins: Broadway Picks. #Stageworthy News of the Week by Jonathan Mandell

The 2019-2020 Broadway season has begun, with the first Fall Broadway opening  of 15  scheduled from September through December,  and the first of the Fall previews, some coverin…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:52AM[SHARE]
Sunday, September 8, 2019

Play! and Theatre in the Dark: Carpe Diem. Challenging your notion of what theater is to get to "ahhh" by Jonathan Mandell

The audience creates the show in "Play!" The audience is the show in "Theatre in the Dark: Carpe Diem."  Those are the uncomfortable ideas embedded in the two latest theater pieces, openi…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:20PM[SHARE]
Saturday, September 7, 2019

Bad Penny and Sincerity Forever Reviews: Mac Wellman Revisited by Jonathan Mandell

  To appreciate these first two productions of the five-play Mac Wellman festival at The Flea, entitled "Perfect Catastrophes," it helps to know that Wellman " the 74-year-old co-found…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:00PM[SHARE]
Friday, September 6, 2019

Billy Rose at 120: Theatrical Highlights from NYPL Collection by Jonathan Mandell

Theatrical showman was born 120 years ago today, and, though he died in 1966, he lives on through The Billy Rose Theatre Division of The New York Public Library at Lincoln  Center, one of…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:49PM[SHARE]
Thursday, September 5, 2019

Review: It's all very removed and reserved in Harold Pinter's Betrayal, now back on Broadway. by Jonathan Mandell

There was a huge line to see the fourth Broadway production of Harold Pinter's 1978 play about an adulterous triangle.  The enthusiasm, I had assumed, was because the cast includes the mo…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 10:03PM[SHARE]

Betrayal on Broadway: Pics, Review by Jonathan Mandell

Harold Pinter's 1978 play about an adulterous triangle, which is being revived on Broadway starring Tom Hiddleston, Charlie Cox and Zawe Ashton,  is one of the most accessible and most…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:06PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Ticket Giveaway: Feinstein's/54 Below by Jonathan Mandell

Win two tickets to see the show of your choice at Feinstein's/54 Below  for free " plus $50 in food credit! Feinstein's/54 Below, a cabaret that calls itself Broadway's Supper Club, opene…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:10PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, September 3, 2019

Felix Starro Review: A Musical About A Faith Healer And/Or Fraud from the Philippines by Jonathan Mandell

At the beginning of this eye-opening musical written,  composed, directed and largely performed by artists of Filipino descent, Felix Starro has returned from the Philippines to San Franc…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:09PM[SHARE]

Hercules Review: Disney at the Delacorte, a Public Works Pageant by Jonathan Mandell

"Hercules," a stage adaptation of the 1997 Disney cartoon, is the latest free, Labor Day weekend spectacle at the Delacorte in Central Park by the Public Theater's Public Works, which for se…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:31PM[SHARE]

Sondheim on Broadway This Season and in Hollywood in 2039. Ticket price probe. RIP Rhoda. #Stageworthy News of the Week: by Jonathan Mandell

Coming to Broadway this season:  Katrina Lenk and Patti Lupone will star in a "re-gendered" revival of "Company" (which was a hit in London), opening at Bernard Jacobs Theater on March…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:44AM[SHARE]
Monday, September 2, 2019

A Question for Labor Day: Why is there so little theater about labor? by Jonathan Mandell

  Where are the American plays about unions, or workers, or even just workplaces? Of some 200 new plays I've seen or read  since I first asked that question exactly a year ago, on the …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:44AM[SHARE]
Sunday, September 1, 2019

September 2019 New York Theater Openings by Jonathan Mandell

  In this eclectic opening month of the New York Fall theater season laid out below, legendary theater artists Mac Wellman (74),JoAnne Akalaitis (82), and Peter Brook (94) each get showca…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:13AM[SHARE]
Saturday, August 31, 2019

To Kill A Mockingbird Review. Aaron Sorkin's play turns Harper Lee's novel into a detective story, a courtroom drama, political commentary…and s by Jonathan Mandell

"Something didn't make sense," Celia Keenan-Bolger as Scout Finch tells us, the first words in Aaron Sorkin's stage adaptation of Harper Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird." She's talking about th…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:23PM[SHARE]
Friday, August 30, 2019

New York Theater Quiz August 2019 by Jonathan Mandell

How well were you paying attention to the New York theater news and reviews in August? Answer these 14 questions and find out!

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:08AM[SHARE]
Thursday, August 29, 2019

House or How to Lose An Orchard in 90 Minutes or Less by Theater Mitu by Jonathan Mandell

Theater Mitu's latest devised theater piece is a 70-minute tech-heavy sensory bombardment, a collage  of disparate images, monologues, songs and sounds that are focused (if that's the rig…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:02AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Ticket Giveaway: Fiddler on the Roof by Jonathan Mandell

Win two tickets to see "Fiddler on the Roof"  for free I loved this production directed by Joel Grey, which is in Yiddish with both English and Russian Supertitles. I loved it when it was…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:45PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Fall 2019 Movie Preview for Theater Lovers by Jonathan Mandell

Below is a list of movies opening in the U.S. from September to December, organized chronologically by release date. Among the movies of interest to theater lovers: Finn Wittrock (Death of A…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:42PM[SHARE]
Monday, August 26, 2019

In Defense of Dance. Fall Favs. LSD on Broadway! #Stageworthy News of the Week. by Jonathan Mandell

  Good Morning America host Lara Spencer laughed at Prince George (aged 6), the future King of England, for taking ballet classes. The best thing about her ignorant comments is the suppor…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:33PM[SHARE]
Sunday, August 25, 2019

Broadway and the Blacklist. The Chelsea Girls. by Jonathan Mandell

Two books, one a novel and one non-fiction, bring us back to New York in the 1950s and the effect of the Red Scare on the theater.

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:41PM[SHARE]
Saturday, August 24, 2019

Watch Richard Nelson's Uncle Vanya, via WNET's Theater Close Up by Jonathan Mandell

Watch director Richard Nelson's much lauded production of Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya" here online. It was broadcast last night on WNET Channel 13 as part of the TV series Theater Close Up, which…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:21PM[SHARE]
Friday, August 23, 2019

Labyrinth Theater's Free Show in Support of Latinx on the Border by Jonathan Mandell

The Labyrinth Theater Company's new show, which it has entitled "Installation on America" and calls a weekend-long "guerilla theater/pop-up performance art/installation that unmasks the horr…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:20PM[SHARE]
Thursday, August 22, 2019

2019 Henry Hewes Design Awards: by Jonathan Mandell

The 2019 Henry Hewes Design Awards have been given to scenic designer Charlie Corcoran for The O'Casey Trilogy, at Irish Repertory Theatre; costume designer Montana Levi Blanco for Ain't No…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:03AM[SHARE]

Ticket Giveaway: The Play That Goes Wrong by Jonathan Mandell

Win two tickets to see "The Play That Goes Wrong" for free I'm holding this contest to help promote 20at20, a terrific program that offers $20 tickets to 20+ Off Broadway shows, 20 minutes b…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:34AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Broadway Poll: Most Anticipated Fall 2019 Show? by Jonathan Mandell

Choose the show that you are most looking forward to. The list below is for shows that have opening dates on Broadway from September through December 2019 as of this writing, and they are li…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:40AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Rebel Verses. Teenagers on Stage, Not Mean, Not Chill, Just Real. by Jonathan Mandell

Rebel Verses, an exciting and thought-provoking show presenting artists ages 13 to 19 from some dozen youth theater companies,  was almost as impressive for what was not on stage as for w…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:14PM[SHARE]

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