All stories by Jonathan Mandell on BroadwayStars

Sunday, December 10, 2023

How To Dance in Ohio Broadway Review by Jonathan Mandell

"How To Dance in Ohio" is a musical adaptation of a 2015 documentary film of the same name about a group of autistic young adults at a counseling center in Columbus, Ohio, who, as part of th…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:00PM[SHARE]
Saturday, December 9, 2023

Poll: Best and Worst Broadway Show of 2023? by Jonathan Mandell

What did you think was the best of the thirty-five shows opened on Broadway in 2023? Which was the worst? Take the two polls below. Judge the quality of the show as you see it, not how it di…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:01PM[SHARE]
Friday, December 8, 2023

Happy Hanukkah via Harmony by Jonathan Mandell

Watch the video below of the cast of the Broadway musical Harmony celebrating the first night of Hanukkah with a special post-matinee menorah lighting outside the Barrymore…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:49PM[SHARE]
Thursday, December 7, 2023

10 Most Watched Broadway Videos in 2023 by Jonathan Mandell

The ten videos below were the most viewed in 2023 of those that I've posted either on this blog or on my YouTube channel, @NewYorkTheaterme, arranged in order of popularity. I'm not sure …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:18PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, December 6, 2023

Poll: Best Broadway Cast Recording of 2023 by Jonathan Mandell

Choose your favorite Broadway cast recording released in 2023* from among the 12 in the poll below, ordered alphabetically. If I've somehow missed your favorite, fill in the "Other" slot. (I…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:05PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, December 5, 2023

Manahatta Review by Jonathan Mandell

"Manahatta" dramatizes two pivotal, and shameful, moments in New York City history, occurring four centuries apart " the Dutch West India Company's "purchase" of the island of Manhattan from…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:50PM[SHARE]
Monday, December 4, 2023

Life & Times of Michael K Review by Jonathan Mandell

There is a stunning kind of poetry in the puppetry employed to dramatize Nobel laureate J.M. Coetzee's forty-year-old novel about a simple man who makes an epic journey through the physicall…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:55PM[SHARE]

Jews and Theater: Jesse Green's Straight Talk Hanukkah Gift. Stageworthy News of the Week by Jonathan Mandell

Jewish theater artists in the three alternate magazine covers: Clockwise from left: Jesse Eisenberg, Matthew Broderick, Sam Gold, Amy Herzog, Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer and…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:12AM[SHARE]
Sunday, December 3, 2023

Holiday Shows in NYC 2023 by Jonathan Mandell

While there are always new shows in December (see December 2023 New York Theater Openings), the heart of theater during the month is in many ways the annual holiday shows " plays, ballets, o…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:22PM[SHARE]
Saturday, December 2, 2023

Broadway Spring 2024 Preview Guide by Jonathan Mandell

Eddie Redmayne, Jessica Lange, Kelli O'Hara with Brian d'Arcy James, Tyne Daly with Liev Schreiber, Jeremy Strong with Michael Imperioli are all performing in shows on Broadway " and Mich…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:18AM[SHARE]
Friday, December 1, 2023

December 2023 New York Theater Openings by Jonathan Mandell

Below is a day-by-day calendar of theater opening* in December, a month that features two Broadway openings " a play by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins starring Sarah Paulson (see December 18th), and…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:21PM[SHARE]
Thursday, November 30, 2023

Spain Review. Art or Propaganda? by Jonathan Mandell

A thick smoke billows over the stage as a character sings Spanish operatically in one of the last scenes of "Spain," a play by Jen Silverman that purports to tell the cloak-and-dagger backst…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:34PM[SHARE]

Theater Quiz for November 2023: A month of crises, and Barbra by Jonathan Mandell

How well were you paying attention to the theater news, views and reviews in November? Take this ten-question quiz and find out. Loading…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:54PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, November 29, 2023

Here in the Dark by Alexis Soloski by Jonathan Mandell

Alexis Soloski, a theater critic for the New York Times, has written a novel about a theater critic, but if that's the lure, beware:  "Here in the Dark" (Flatiron Books, 256 pages) is mor…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:12AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Giving Tuesday 2023: A List of NYC Theaters and Theater Charities by Jonathan Mandell

On this twelfth annual #GivingTuesday (created in 2012 by the 92nd Street Y), consider donating to theater in New York. Below, an alphabetical list of more than 100 New York theaters a…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:02AM[SHARE]
Monday, November 27, 2023

Cyber Monday for Theater Lovers 2023. Whence Cyber Theater? Stageworthy News of the Week. by Jonathan Mandell

Cyber Monday ticket deals in theater still exist in 2023 (see below) although they are harder to find now, in part because of Elon Musk's relentless degradation of the social media platform …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:06AM[SHARE]
Sunday, November 26, 2023

Fixing the Musical: How Technologies Shaped the Broadway Repertory by Jonathan Mandell

Theater may be an ephemeral experience on stage, but the ways we have presented and attempted to preserve American musicals everywhere else " the printed page, photographs, the cast album, f…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:54AM[SHARE]
Saturday, November 25, 2023

Top 10 Theater to be Grateful for in 2023 by Jonathan Mandell

My yearly list of New York stage shows for which I'm most grateful, which I started posting every Thanksgiving more than a decade ago, returns more or less to normal this year, as t…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:31PM[SHARE]
Friday, November 24, 2023

Holiday Gifts for Theater Lovers 2023 by Jonathan Mandell

My twelfth annual theater gift guide below features links and information on shopping for theater tickets,theater subscriptions/memberships,cast recordings,play scripts and books about th…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:50AM[SHARE]
Thursday, November 23, 2023

Watch Broadway at Thanksgiving Day Parade 2023 by Jonathan Mandell

Below are videos from the Broadway casts who performed at the 2023 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade: "& Juliet, "Spamalot," "Shucked" "How To Dance in Ohio," and rehearsal video from "Back…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:46AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, November 22, 2023

Amid Falling Walls Review. Holocaust Songs of Cheek and Worry and Rage by Jonathan Mandell

Long before Liza Minnelli and Joel Gray sang "The Money Song" in the musical "Cabaret," set in a cabaret in Nazi Germany, a performer sang a similarly satirical song about money in a real ca…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:21PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, November 21, 2023

The Gardens of Anuncia Review: The Anti Evita Musical by Jonathan Mandell

Graciela Daniele, a Broadway luminary for six decades, directs this lovely and peculiar musical written by her good friend Michael John LaChiusa, who uses Daniele's life as the inspiration f…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:54PM[SHARE]
Monday, November 20, 2023

Spamalot and Harmony: A Jew's View. Steve Carell, Jeremy Strong, Tammy Faye on Broadway. Anna Deavere Smith's New Play. Stageworthy News of the We by Jonathan Mandell

Of the eight shows I reviewed this past week, I probably reacted to two of them differently than I would have without the rise in antisemitism over the last six weeks.About the Broadway revi…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:52AM[SHARE]
Sunday, November 19, 2023

Broadway Thanksgiving Week Schedule 2023 by Jonathan Mandell

Below is the Broadway schedule for Thanksgiving Week 2023, which differs from the usual week's schedule: Only two shows of the 26 currently playing have performances on Thanksgiving Day (Thu…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:47PM[SHARE]

Hell's Kitchen Review: An Alicia Keys musical by Jonathan Mandell

"Hell's Kitchen," opening tonight at the Public Theater, is not a musical biography of Alicia Keys, nor, despite the title, is it about the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood where she grew up. It'…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:24PM[SHARE]
Saturday, November 18, 2023

A Good Day To Me Not To You Review by Jonathan Mandell

About halfway through Lameece Issaq's solo show, a younger man named Gabe dressed as an angel, in a wig and women's makeup, arrives at the home of the unnamed woman at the center of the stor…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:01PM[SHARE]
Friday, November 17, 2023

Jaja's African Hair Braiding: The Perks and Pitfalls of seeing it on Broadway Live via your Computer by Jonathan Mandell

For only the third time in Broadway history, you can see a play this weekend live as it's being performed on stage even if you live thousands of miles away. "Jaja's African Hair Braiding,…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:01PM[SHARE]
Thursday, November 16, 2023

Spamalot Broadway Review by Jonathan Mandell

In its first Broadway revival, "Spamalot" is high-stepping, low-brow and often hilarious. The cast, featuring such comic royalty of the Rialto as Christopher Fitzgerald, Michael Urie and Les…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:53PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, November 15, 2023

Scene Partners Review. Dianne Wiest as a maybe delusional movie star by Jonathan Mandell

In "Scene Partners," we first see Dianne Wiest in close-up on a screen, as pink and bejeweled as a movie star, though more nervous than one, as she says: "Hello! I'm Meryl Kowalski, comin…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:53PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, November 14, 2023

Waiting for Godot Review: Paul Sparks and Michael Shannon as Beckett's latest Didi and Gogo by Jonathan Mandell

On this, the seventieth anniversary year of the signature work of Nobel Prize winning author Samuel Beckett, a play in which (as one Beckett scholar famously put it) "nothing happens, …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:48PM[SHARE]
Monday, November 13, 2023

Harmony Broadway Review by Jonathan Mandell

When Barry Manilow's musical finally debuted in New York last year, I was thrilled. I had just one small reservation. On my second viewing of "Harmony," which opens tonight on Broadway, that…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:53PM[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