BroadwayStars | All Your Theater News from Broadway and Beyond

Jonathan Tunick, Stephen Sondheim’s longtime collaborator, unveiled a grand orchestration of “A Little Night Music” that deserves more than a concert.

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Monday, June 24, 2024

Virginia Woolf, but Make It a Polyphonic, Sensory Ballet

by Joshua Barone

American Ballet Theater brings Wayne McGregor’s “Woolf Works,” which evokes elements of three novels and the writer’s biography, to New York.

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Tuesday, June 18, 2024

‘Cats’ Returns, Ditching the Junkyard for Queer Ballroom

by Joshua Barone

As part of a wave of reimagined Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals, a new revival of “Cats” unfolds as a ballroom competition.

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Wednesday, June 5, 2024

Zack Winokur Leads an Arts Reboot at Little Island

by Joshua Barone

Zack Winokur, an ambitious dancer-turned-director, now has a New York stage to call his own as the park’s artistic leader.

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Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Review: ‘Oh, Mary!’ Turns an Unhinged Bit Into Real Theater

by Joshua Barone

Cole Escola’s play, which imagines Mary Todd Lincoln as a frustrated cabaret singer, surprisingly pulls off stretching a stupid joke to its extremes.

Linked From The New York Times Subscription at 13:36

Sunday, February 4, 2024

The Musical Force Behind the Communal, Queer ‘Bark of Millions’

by Joshua Barone

Matt Ray is a prolific songwriter and the musical nexus of New York’s alt-cabaret scene. His next project: Taylor Mac’s latest marathon performance.

Linked From The New York Times Subscription at 13:32

Wednesday, December 20, 2023

How Richard Nelson’s ‘Our Life in Art’ Was Translated, Twice

by Joshua Barone

Richard Nelson’s “Our Life in Art” has been translated into Russian and French. Both times required, above all, preserving a specific sensibility.

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Thursday, December 14, 2023

Stephen Sondheim Belongs in the Pantheon of American Composers

by Joshua Barone

Sondheim was a titan of musical theater. But four recent shows onstage in New York argue for his place among classical music luminaries, too.

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Tuesday, December 5, 2023

Best Classical Music Performances of 2023

by Zachary Woolfe and Joshua Barone

Feats, farewells and musical treasures in a year of post-pandemic financial pressures.

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Thursday, November 16, 2023

Philip Glass’s Piano Etudes: A Diary of an Influential Life

by Joshua Barone

Begun to improve his own technique, piano exercises that Glass wrote over decades are the subject this month of a new book, a concert and dances.

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Sunday, June 25, 2023

Meredith Monk’s ‘Indra’s Net’ Takes the Stage in Amsterdam

by Joshua Barone

The staged premiere of her new work “Indra’s Net” in Amsterdam comes as a set of recordings offers a retrospective of one of our most humane artists.

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Thursday, April 20, 2023

‘Carmen’ Review: We’re Not in Spain Anymore

by Joshua Barone

The choreographer Benjamin Millepied’s directing debut is an of-the-moment but scattered take on a classic love story.

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Friday, April 14, 2023

‘The Phantom of the Opera’: Thinking of a Spectacle Fondly

by Joshua Barone, Alexis Soloski and Elisabeth Vincentelli

As the longest-running musical in Broadway history closes, Times critics with a lasting affection for the show take stock of its legacy.

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Friday, March 31, 2023

Review: Philip Glass and the Meaning of Life

by Joshua Barone

The director Phelim McDermott, who has acted like a visual translator of Glass’s music, pays tribute to the composer in their show “Tao of Glass.”

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Monday, March 13, 2023

A Conductor Arrives at Encores! With Jerry Herman’s ‘Dear World’

by Joshua Barone

Mary-Mitchell Campbell, the series’ new music director, will lead a restored performance of “Dear World,” starring Donna Murphy.

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Wednesday, February 22, 2023

What to See This Spring in NYC: Broadway Shows, Concerts and More

by Steven McElroy, Joshua Barone, Siobhan Burke, Jon Pareles, Brian Seibert, Lindsay Zoladz and Roslyn Sulcas

“Life of Pi” and Laura Linney on Broadway, Lise Davidsen at the Met Opera, SZA on tour: Here’s what we’re looking forward to this season.

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Tuesday, January 24, 2023

Justin Peck’s New Americana, ‘Copland Dance Episodes’

by Joshua Barone and Mark Sommerfeld

At New York City Ballet, Peck’s “Copland Dance Episodes” brings the composer’s three classic ballet scores under one roof, at last.

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Monday, August 15, 2022

Solange Enters New Territory: Ballet Composer

by Joshua Barone

The multihyphenate pop star will compose her first ballet score for the Fall Fashion Gala at New York City Ballet in September.

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Thursday, April 21, 2022

Ivo van Hove on His Famously Short Rehearsal Times

by Joshua Barone

Since his first production a quarter-century ago, the director has honed a process defined by tight schedules and bold, decisive changes.

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Thursday, March 10, 2022

Review: A Rescue Operation Salvages Leonard Bernstein’s Final Opera

by Joshua Barone

In Paris, a new production of “A Quiet Place” makes a strong case for a work that has long struggled to join the repertory.

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Wednesday, January 26, 2022

Teresa Reichlen Retires From New York City Ballet

by Joshua Barone

A principal dancer since 2009, Reichlen will make her final appearance in George Balanchine’s one-act “Swan Lake” on Feb. 19.

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Monday, November 22, 2021

The Emails Behind the Opera ‘Eurydice’

by Joshua Barone

For several years, the composer Matthew Aucoin corresponded with Sarah Ruhl about how to adapt her play into the Met Opera’s latest premiere.

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Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Ballet Theater Gives the Stage to This Pianist’s Drag Persona

by Joshua Barone

Lypsinka, the alter ego of John Epperson, a longtime pianist for Ballet Theater, will perform as part of the company’s inaugural Pride Nights.

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Friday, October 22, 2021

Andrew Lloyd Webber Brings the Music of the Night Back to ‘Phantom’

by Joshua Barone

After a long pandemic pause, “The Phantom of the Opera” is returning to Broadway with some help from its creator.

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Friday, October 15, 2021

Glimmerglass Festival Unveils Its Leader’s Final Season

by Joshua Barone

Francesca Zambello, who has overseen a dozen editions of the opera festival in upstate New York, will depart next summer.

Linked From The New York Times Subscription at 14:32

Tuesday, September 14, 2021

A Climate Opera Arrives in New York, With 21 Tons of Sand

by Joshua Barone

“Sun & Sea (Marina),” an operatic installation that won the top prize at the Venice Biennale, is being staged at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

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Friday, September 3, 2021

When Opera Livestreams Became Live Performances

by Joshua Barone

This summer, three European productions, previously available to American audiences only online, were at last accessible in person.

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Wednesday, September 1, 2021

Richard Nelson’s New Play Closes a Chapter of Theater History

by Joshua Barone

“What Happened?: The Michaels Abroad” is the 12th and final installment in the quiet yet sweeping “Rhinebeck Panorama.”

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Sunday, August 15, 2021

Review: ‘The Threepenny Opera’ Returns Home, Liberated

by Joshua Barone

Barrie Kosky’s new production for the Berliner Ensemble, at the theater where the famous work premiered, knows where to break the rules.

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Tuesday, August 10, 2021

An Opera Screams for Human Dignity

by Joshua Barone

Luigi Nono’s furiously political and prophetic “Intolleranza 1960” arrives at the Salzburg Festival.

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Tuesday, May 25, 2021

‘Myths and Hymns,’ a Theater Cult Favorite, Changes Shape Again

by Joshua Barone

Adam Guettel’s genre-clashing song cycle has taken on many forms. The latest: a starry online mini-series.

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Thursday, March 25, 2021

Kurt Weill’s Path From Europe to Broadway Was a Straight Line

by Joshua Barone

Weill’s early, Weimar-era works reveal the qualities that found a natural home in his golden age American musicals.

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Wednesday, March 10, 2021

A New ‘Aida’ Lands in the Middle of France’s Culture Wars

by Joshua Barone

The production, which examines the work’s colonial legacy, opened after the far right accused the Paris Opera of “antiracism gone mad.”

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Sunday, October 18, 2020

Anne Washburn Just Wants Her Trump Play to Be Irrelevant

by Joshua Barone

“Shipwreck,” a fantasia about white liberals and the president’s infamous dinner with James Comey, has been adapted into an audio play.

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Sunday, May 24, 2020

The Fall of Autumn: Live Performance Producers Are Giving Up on 2020

by Michael Paulson, Joshua Barone, Ben Sisario and Zachary Woolfe

Uncertainty about the coronavirus and the challenge of protecting audiences and artists is prompting many prominent presenters to wait till next year.

Linked From The New York Times Subscription at 12:32

Monday, February 3, 2020

A Young Composer Takes On Opera’s Oldest Myth

by Joshua Barone

Matthew Aucoin and Sarah Ruhl have adapted “Eurydice,” her play about the Orpheus story, for Los Angeles Opera. Next stop: New York.

Linked From The New York Times Subscription at 10:36

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

‘Cats’: What to Know Before You See It

by Joshua Barone

Love it or hate it, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical is one of the most popular of all time. Before the new movie adaptation comes out, catch up on its four-decade history.

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Thursday, December 5, 2019

How to Spend the Holidays in New York City

by Joshua Barone

A roundup of events in every borough, from the Radio City Christmas Spectacular in Manhattan to the annual Holiday Train Show in the Bronx.

Linked From The New York Times Subscription at 19:48

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Park Avenue Armory Unveils Its 2020 Season

by Joshua Barone

Among the highlights are a commission for Bill T. Jones, a staging of Monteverdi by Pierre Audi, and Alex Lawther in “Hamlet.”

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Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Édouard Louis Would Like to Talk About Theater Now

by Joshua Barone

The French wunderkind’s books have quickly become magnets for the stage. Adaptations of “History of Violence” and “The End of Eddy” will play New York simultaneously.

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Friday, October 25, 2019

What Generations of Gay Men Hand Down in ‘The Inheritance’

by Joshua Barone

The professional and personal have blurred for young cast members of Matthew Lopez’s play, which offers a communion with victims of the AIDS crisis.

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Friday, September 6, 2019

Behind the Curtain at the Paris Opera

by Joshua Barone

Built nearly 150 years ago, the over-the-top Palais Garnier has become part of the identity of Paris.

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Monday, June 3, 2019

Coming to City Center: ‘Evita,’ ‘Swan Lake’ and a Rare Kurt Weill Musical

by Joshua Barone

New York City Center has unveiled its 2019-20 season. Here are the highlights.

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Tuesday, May 21, 2019

BAM Reimagines the Next Wave Festival

by Joshua Barone

David Binder, for his first festival as artistic director, has assembled a roster of Brooklyn Academy of Music newcomers.

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Wednesday, May 8, 2019

28 Portraits of This Year’s Tony Nominees

by Celeste Sloman, Michael Paulson, Jolie Ruben and Joshua Barone

Why they act. What they’ve learned. And what they’ll remember.

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Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Broadway Stars React to Their Tony Nominations

by Joshua Barone and Elizabeth A. Harris

We spoke with five actors to see how they were feeling after hearing about their Tony Award nods.

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Thursday, April 4, 2019

The Shed Is Finally Open. Here’s What You Need to Know.

by Joshua Barone

We offer a guide to navigating the new arts center set amid the towers of Hudson Yards.

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Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Exit Interview: Jeremy Pope Says Goodbye to ‘Choir Boy,’ and Hello to the Temptations

by Joshua Barone

Without missing a beat, the 26-year-old actor is moving from one Broadway show to another — and leaving behind a role he has owned since 2013.

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Sunday, February 3, 2019

At the Paris Opera, a Biblical Tale Told With Rothko and Children

by Joshua Barone

The director Romeo Castellucci explains some of the striking imagery in his staging of Scarlatti’s “Il Primo Omicidio.”

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Monday, January 28, 2019

Reporter’s Notebook: ‘DAU’ Has Finally Opened in Paris. Does It Live Up to the Hype?

by Joshua Barone

The immersive experience, with its frequent problems yet mounting mystique, is beginning to court comparisons with the Fyre Festival.

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Sunday, January 20, 2019

Drama Book Shop Hosts Its Final Event Before Closing

by Joshua Barone

On Friday, as the beloved store’s shelves approached emptiness before it relocates, it brought in the playwrights Annie Baker and Amy Herzog for a reading.

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Tuesday, January 8, 2019

The Shed, a Rare New Arts Center on the Hudson, Is Set to Open

by Joshua Barone

For its first season, beginning in April, the Shed has commissioned more than a dozen exhibitions, performances and lectures across disciplines.

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Thursday, December 6, 2018

The Holidays in New York City: An Event Guide

by Joshua Barone

The Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall, a site-specific “Christmas Carol” and more concerts, plays and events this holiday season.

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Monday, November 26, 2018

Park Avenue Armory Plans Premieres and Returns

by Joshua Barone

The venue has announced its 2019 season, which will include a new play by Christopher Shinn, art by Hito Steyerl and concerts by Barbara Hannigan.

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Monday, November 12, 2018

How ‘A Chorus Line’ Veterans Pass It on to a New Generation

by Joshua Barone

New York City Center’s gala production of the musical is being staged by Bob Avian and Baayork Lee, who have been with the show since its inception.

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Tuesday, October 23, 2018

A 100-Dance Merce Cunningham Celebration Is Coming to BAM

by Joshua Barone

The Brooklyn Academy of Music has announced its winter-spring season, which will also feature Mark Morris, Ivo van Hove and Bryce Dessner.

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Friday, July 13, 2018

Critic’s Notebook: The Trouble With Bernstein’s Broadway in the Concert Hall

by Joshua Barone

Recent concert stagings of “West Side Story” and “On the Town” show the pitfalls — and solutions — for symphonic performances of these musicals.

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Thursday, June 21, 2018

5 Ways to Celebrate Pride Away From the Mainstream

by Joshua Barone

NYC Pride can easily overwhelm even the most extroverted people. Here are five ways to take part away from the crowds.

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Monday, June 11, 2018

The Best and Worst of the Tony Awards 2018

by Ben Brantley, Jesse Green, Scott Heller and Joshua Barone

A look at the most memorable moments from this year’s ceremony celebrating Broadway.

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Sunday, June 10, 2018

Tonys Red Carpet: What Music Gets You Ready for the Stage?

by Joshua Barone

At this year’s Tony Awards red carpet, we asked current and former nominees what they listen to before shows. Here’s what they said.

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Friday, June 1, 2018

‘Carmen Jones’ Is Back, and Its Director Knows What You’re Thinking

by Joshua Barone

John Doyle’s Tony Award-winning style lends itself to working across racial boundaries, and breathing new life into a largely forgotten classic featuring an all-black cast.

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Monday, May 21, 2018

BAM’s Outgoing Leader Announces His Final Next Wave Festival

by Joshua Barone

This fall’s music, theater and dance performances will be the last ones overseen by Joseph V. Melillo, an impresario at the institution since 1983.

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Wednesday, May 16, 2018

City Center’s 75th Anniversary: ‘A Chorus Line,’ Balanchine and Broadway

by Joshua Barone

The performing arts center plans to assemble some of the world’s top ballet companies and performers for its ambitious 2018-19 season.

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Alanis Morissette Made the Most Woke Musical. Isn’t It Ironic?

by Joshua Barone

The stage version of “Jagged Little Pill” sets a story steeped in hot-button issues like opiate addition and gender identity to the singer’s raw 1995 album.

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Thursday, May 10, 2018

23 Dazzling Portraits of Tony Nominees

by Jesse Dittmar, Michael Paulson, Jolie Ruben and Joshua Barone

We invited Broadway’s best to pose for us just 24 hours after they were nominated for theater’s most prestigious award. Needless to say, they were a happy bunch.

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Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Jessica Hecht to Star in a New Play by Calvin Trillin

by Joshua Barone

“About Alice” is part of the coming season at Theater for a New Audience, which also includes European imports and “Julius Caesar.”

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Thursday, April 26, 2018

From Aristophanes to Hitchcock, Celebrating Birds and Culture

by Joshua Barone

Here are five highlights to see from “Birds: A Festival Inspired by Aristophanes,” a citywide festival featuring a range of cultural events.

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Thursday, March 8, 2018

An Uptown Artistic Director Moves Downtown

by Joshua Barone

Lili Chopra, a creative force behind festivals at the French Institute Alliance Française, will be a leader of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

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Monday, March 5, 2018

5 Things We Learned From Andrew Lloyd Webber’s New Memoir

by Joshua Barone

“Unmasked,” a 500-page doorstop out this week, tells rich stories about the projects he never made — and the childhood feline that inspired “Cats.”

Linked From The New York Times Subscription at 15:48

Friday, January 12, 2018

City Center to Honor Michael Friedman

by Joshua Barone

The theater’s Off-Center series, which Mr. Friedman led until his death last year, will stage his 2003 musical “Gone Missing” in July.

Linked From The New York Times Subscription at 15:44

Thursday, January 4, 2018

Ars Nova Finds a New Theater in Greenwich Village

by Joshua Barone

The Off Broadway company will keep its home in Hell’s Kitchen, but will use the Greenwich House Theater as its primary venue beginning in early 2019.

Linked From The New York Times Subscription at 15:25

Monday, January 1, 2018

Lena Hall Plans an Ambitious Tribute to Her Favorite Musicians

by Joshua Barone

The “Hedwig” actress will pay homage to David Bowie, Radiohead and many others as part of “Obsessed,” a project involving a new EP each month in 2018.

Linked From The New York Times Subscription at 13:46

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Capturing the Short, Glamorous Life of a Forgotten Broadway Lyricist

by Joshua Barone

Howard Pollack on writing “The Ballad of John Latouche,” the first biography to explore the cult figure’s prolific career.

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Wednesday, December 6, 2017

A Guide to Holiday Events in New York City

by Joshua Barone

Christmas stalwarts like the Rockettes’ Radio City show, participatory events including a festive caroling walk, and even a dose of Taylor Mac’s wild cabaret.

Linked From The New York Times Subscription at 07:18

Monday, December 4, 2017