All stories by Barbara Hoffman on BroadwayStars

Monday, November 6, 2017

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s totally unbiased son reviews ‘Hamilton’ by Barbara Hoffman

Tonys, Shmonys: Your musical’s only as good as your kid says it is. Luckily, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s son just gave “Hamilton” a big (little) thumbs up. From his perch atop two booster s…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 02:17PM
Thursday, November 2, 2017

Meet the ‘most unloved woman in New York’ by Barbara Hoffman

Once, sometimes twice a day, says Mercedes Ruehl, she’s “the most unloved woman in New York.” It happens during “Torch Song,” when her character, Mrs. Beckoff, tells her gay son sh…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 05:12PM
Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Definitive proof that Amy Schumer is ready for her Broadway debut by Barbara Hoffman

Amy Schumer’s about to make her Broadway debut in Steve Martin’s “Meteor Shower,” which has its first preview on Wednesday. She’s already box-office gold — but can the 36-year-o…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 03:18PM
Thursday, October 26, 2017

Pico Alexander can’t stop catching cougars by Barbara Hoffman

Pico Alexander’s leading lady came to his dressing room the other day with a suggestion. “It would be better the way we did it before,” Sherie Rene Scott told him, “when you were f�…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 05:42PM
Monday, October 16, 2017

Bill Murray makes his Carnegie Hall debut by Barbara Hoffman

To the exalted roster of artists who’ve performed at Carnegie Hall — Tchaikovsky, Leonard Bernstein, the Beatles — add Bill Murray. Decades after he crooned “Star Wars” on “SNL�…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 05:01PM
Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Idina Menzel’s little sis had a rough life growing up in her shadow by Barbara Hoffman

Sometimes it’s hard to let it go. That’s what Idina Menzel’s younger sister learned while growing up in the shadow of the future “Frozen” star — the Anna to her Elsa. As Cara Men…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 05:09PM
Thursday, October 5, 2017

Sweet ‘Downton’ mom turns ‘Mommie Dearest’ on stage by Barbara Hoffman

Elizabeth McGovern spent six years playing the ideal mother — the warm, wise and nurturing Lady Cora of “Downton Abbey.” Clearly, she was ready for a change, and now she’s found one.…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 04:42PM
Thursday, September 28, 2017

She used her beauty pageant money to become an opera star by Barbara Hoffman

She’s sung her way through six beauty pageants. Now Angel Blue, 2005’s Miss Hollywood, is ready for prime time: She’ll make her Met Opera debut Monday in “La Bohème.” Visually…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 04:06PM
Friday, September 22, 2017

The best of NYC theater, dance and classical music this fall by Barbara Hoffman

Here’s everything to see and listen to on NYC’s stages this fall. Theater Even in a season when The Boss comes to town — “Springsteen on Broadway” (previews Oct. 3, Walter …

SOURCE: The New York Post at 06:54PM
Friday, September 15, 2017

Turns out ‘Feud’ star Jackie Hoffman is a fan of Costco by Barbara Hoffman

If they gave an award Sunday night for Most Hilarious Emmy Campaign, Jackie Hoffman would win. Nominated for her role as Mamacita in “Feud: Bette and Joan,” she made a video of herself c…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 04:35PM
Thursday, September 7, 2017

This former stray cheated death to become a Broadway star by Barbara Hoffman

Her Playbill bio is longer than that of some of her co-stars. Then again, she’s had a helluva life, having narrowly escaped death row. Now, after three years on the road with “Annie,” …

SOURCE: The New York Post at 10:31PM
Thursday, August 31, 2017

Take a tour of NYC’s wackiest theater venues by Barbara Hoffman

“All the world’s a stage,” said Shakespeare. And he was right: His own work’s headed to four Hell’s Kitchen bars and a Brooklyn recycling center. Theaters are so 16th century. In t…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 06:48PM
Friday, August 18, 2017

6-foot-6 crooner Tommy Tune paints, too — but only tall things by Barbara Hoffman

It will take more than a solar eclipse to overshadow Tommy Tune, the 6-foot-6, 10-time Tony winner. Texas born and bred, his high-school graduation gift was a trip to New York: “I stayed a…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 07:33PM
Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Here’s how to get tickets to ‘Springsteen on Broadway’ by Barbara Hoffman

How long will it take for over 43,000 seats to disappear? We’ll find out Aug. 30 — the first day tickets go on sale for Bruce Springsteen’s solo show on Broadway. The Boss starts previ…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 11:18AM
Thursday, August 3, 2017

That time Maurice Sendak and Carole King wrote a musical by Barbara Hoffman

As it turns out, there really was a Rosie. Maurice Sendak found the spunky inspiration for “Really Rosie” — the musical he wrote with Carole King, in revival this week at City Center �…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 06:04PM
Wednesday, August 2, 2017

This saucy senior is getting laid more than you by Barbara Hoffman

Bobby Goldman was 51 when she started dating again, on doctor’s orders: “My shrink said, ‘Go out and get laid!’” Easier said than done. It was 1999, and Goldman’s husband, writer…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 04:50PM
Friday, July 28, 2017

When Lili Taylor isn’t on stage she’s birding in Bryant Park by Barbara Hoffman

Maybe it’s her soft voice that gets Lili Taylor cast as a caregiver, even if those she looks after happen to be dead, as they were in 1999’s “The Haunting.” These days, the “Six Fe…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 06:34PM
Friday, July 7, 2017

Broadway’s animal lovers remember Mary Tyler Moore by Barbara Hoffman

They were sitting in Mary Tyler Moore’s Manhattan apartment, discussing life and death issues, when they heard a crash. Bounding into the star’s elegant living room were a golden retriev…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 04:06PM
Thursday, July 6, 2017

These actors with disabilities are wowing theater crowds by Barbara Hoffman

Gregg Mozgala was born with cerebral palsy; Katy Sullivan, without lower legs. Yet there they are, delivering knockout performances in off-Broadway’s “Cost of Living.” In the play, the…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 07:42PM
Thursday, June 8, 2017

Which Tony nominee is bringing ‘a hip flask full of cabernet’ to the awards? by Barbara Hoffman

The Tony Awards are less of a fashion show than a night of song and dance and, if we’re lucky, some heartfelt drama. Here’s how a few of this year’s nominees are gearing up for Sunday�…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 09:28PM
Friday, June 2, 2017

Michael Urie bikes around with Pres. McKinley in his backpack by Barbara Hoffman

In 1998, a Texas theater student named Michael Urie discovered New York on a class trip. “It was the dead of summer, it was hot and stinky and we saw 13 shows in 10 days,” the “Ugly Be…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 05:15PM
Thursday, June 1, 2017

Broadway musical uses living trees for touching 9/11 lesson by Barbara Hoffman

The tree was dead, chopped down with two dozen others for the set of Broadway’s “Come From Away.” But a few months ago, something odd happened: That tree began to sprout. From its bark…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 05:33PM
Thursday, May 25, 2017

‘House of Cards’ and ‘Homeland’ actress hits the stage — as a man by Barbara Hoffman

Nothing says power like a woman in a pantsuit. Look where it’s gotten Elizabeth Marvel’s characters: Heather Dunbar nearly toppled Frank Underwood in “House of Cards,” while Elizabet…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 07:40PM
Thursday, May 4, 2017

Meet Broadway’s ‘Yiddish whisperer’ by Barbara Hoffman

You don’t have to be Jewish to love Yiddish. It’s the only language in the world that has as many words for “stupid” as Alaskans have for snow — a mitzvah in a city that doesn’t …

SOURCE: The New York Post at 06:24PM
Thursday, April 27, 2017

How Kate Burton escaped the hysteria that trailed Liz and Dick by Barbara Hoffman

When your famous actor father falls in love with a movie star, maybe the best thing your mom can do is move away. It worked for Kate Burton. When the Italian paparazzi descended on Richard B…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 09:02PM
Friday, April 21, 2017

Make Broadway’s hottest waffles for brunch this weekend by Barbara Hoffman

The Broadway play “Oslo” inspires many things: a deeper interest in the Mideast; admiration for two Norwegian peacemakers — and an uncontrollable craving for waffles. Palestinian and I…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 08:53PM
Friday, April 14, 2017

The time Harvey Fierstein was nearly ‘beaten and steamed’ before a show by Barbara Hoffman

“I was sort of born in the East Village,” says Harvey Fierstein, who actually hails from Brooklyn but came of age at La MaMa and other East Village haunts in the ’70s. Now, after 30 ye…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 09:06PM
Thursday, April 6, 2017

Here’s your chance to see life-size puppet elephants by Barbara Hoffman

At last, an elephant act even PETA would applaud: Meet Queenie and her son, Karanga, the puppet pachyderms of “Circus 1903,” now playing the Theater at Madison Square Garden. Not since �…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 04:54PM
Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Disabled actress is living her dream onstage with Sally Field by Barbara Hoffman

Sitting on the floor of her dressing room, the light glinting off her scooter, Madison Ferris finishes her pre-show, quinoa-and-kale supper and smiles. “This is the dream!” she says. In …

SOURCE: The New York Post at 07:47PM
Friday, March 31, 2017

This ‘Friends’ alum wears a Kristin Chenoweth hand-me-down by Barbara Hoffman

Jessica Hecht plays complicated women: Ross’ ex-wife’s second wife on “Friends”; Golde, the sharp-tongued matriarch of “Fiddler on the Roof,” and now, the devoted wife of Mark Ru…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 02:21PM
Thursday, March 30, 2017

Why Sonny and Cher were nixed from the ‘Groundhog Day’ Broadway musical by Barbara Hoffman

Any doubts Danny Rubin had about his dream project were vanquished by Stephen Sondheim, who said “Groundhog Day” would make a good musical. That was in 2003. By then, Rubin and Harold Ra…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 07:24PM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards