All stories by Charles McNulty on BroadwayStars

Thursday, May 18, 2023

Ben Platt, up for a Tony for his performance in 'Parade,' gets by with a little help from his friends by Charles McNulty

Ben Platt embraces the 'discomfort and anxiety' of 'Parade,' about the 1913 trial and subsequent lynching of Jewish American Leo Frank in Georgia.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 05:08PM
Tuesday, May 2, 2023

Commentary: The 2023 Tony Award nominations reflect a year of progress and backsliding on Broadway by Charles McNulty

The musical "Some Like It Hot" led with 13 Tony nominations. "Kimberly Akimbo," the critical pick for best musical, received 8. Tom Stoppard's play "Leopoldstadt," "Ain't No Mo'" and the re…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 05:45PM

The sublime Merle Dandridge is a musical theater dream come true in 'A Little Night Music' by Charles McNulty

This high-caliber production of 'A Little Night Music' is the crowning achievement of Pasadena Playhouse's six-month-long Sondheim Celebration festival.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 12:02PM
Friday, April 28, 2023

Jodie Comer on Broadway echoes the pain and fury of the Trump rape trial by Charles McNulty

In Suzie Miller's 'Prima Facie," Jodie Comer brings to Broadway her acclaimed West End performance as a successful criminal defense barrister who experiences the other side of the legal syst…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 02:32PM
Wednesday, April 26, 2023

'New York, New York' the film is not good. The new Broadway musical is worse by Charles McNulty

Martin Scorsese's 1977 film has been turned into a shlocky Broadway musical despite a Kander and Ebb score and additional lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:00PM
Monday, April 17, 2023

Review: In 'Ava,' Elizabeth McGovern casts a spell at Geffen Playhouse as a classic Hollywood femme fatale by Charles McNulty

It's hard to imagine 'Ava: The Secret Conversations' getting produced at the Geffen Playhouse without Elizabeth McGovern on the marquee as the show's star.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:08PM
Friday, April 14, 2023

Center Theatre Group is at an inflection point. New artistic director Snehal Desai aims to 'turn the ship' by Charles McNulty

Theater critic Charles McNulty interviews Snehal Desai, producing artistic director of East West Players, who has been named artistic director of Center Theatre Group.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 12:15PM
Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Review: Dustin H. Chinn's new Chance Theater comedy serves up the cultural politics of food by Charles McNulty

Chance Theater presents 'Colonialism Is Terrible, But Phở Is Delicious,' a comedy about food through a post-colonial lens.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:05PM
Thursday, April 6, 2023

Review: A potent and intimate take on 'Kiss of the Spider Woman' enthralls at A Noise Within by Charles McNulty

Manuel Puig's dramatic adaptation of his novel "Kiss of the Spider Woman" is directed by Michael Michetti at A Noise Within in Pasadena.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:49PM
Wednesday, April 5, 2023

Randy Rainbow on his viral Trump indictment parody video: 'No choice but to really go for it' by Charles McNulty

Randy Rainbow talks about his latest music video, 'Grumpy Trumpy Felon From Jamaica in Queens!',' prompted by Donald Trump's recent indictment.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:12PM

Commentary: The best theater in L.A. right now? It's in Pasadena by Charles McNulty

Pasadena Playhouse's producing artistic director, Danny Feldman, has proved that growth is still possible in a time of spiraling crisis for American theater.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:30AM
Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Review: Words aren't the only magic in this interactive production of Shakespeare's 'Tempest' by Charles McNulty

Shakespeare Center L.A. and After Hours Theatre Co. present a partly immersive staging of 'The Tempest,' William Shakespeare's magical late romance.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AM
Thursday, March 23, 2023

Review: Lucas Hnath conjures up the eerie, sensationally acted 'The Thin Place' at Echo Theater Co. by Charles McNulty

In 'The Thin Place,' an exploration of the line between the living and the dead, playwright Lucas Hnath turns theater into a seance.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:03PM
Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Review: A reimagined 'Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992' revival arrives at a time of protracted crisis by Charles McNulty

'Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992,' Anna Deavere Smith's documentary play about the Rodney King uprising, is reconceived for a new era with many of the same problems.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 12:03PM
Sunday, March 19, 2023

Review: 'The Lonely Few,' a Geffen musical about lesbian rockers in love, is full of old-fashioned heart by Charles McNulty

The world premiere of 'The Lonely Few' at L.A.'s Geffen Playhouse stars Tony winner Lauren Patten and an astonishing Ciara Renée.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 02:32PM
Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Commentary: Richard Gilman, the complicated subject of a new memoir, helped raise the bar for theater criticism by Charles McNulty

In 'The Critic's Daughter,' Priscilla Gilman writes about her complex relationship with her father, theater critic and Yale professor Richard Gilman.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 12:55PM
Tuesday, March 7, 2023

Review: A hypnotic new musical adaptation of 'The Outsiders' stays gold by Charles McNulty

S.E. Hinton's classic young-adult novel 'The Outsiders' is transformed into a new musical, with a book by playwright Adam Rapp and a score by Jamestown Revival and Justin Levine.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 01:45PM
Friday, March 3, 2023

Review: 'The Lifespan of a Fact' in L.A. makes engaging comedy out of the blurring of truth by Charles McNulty

"The Lifespan of a Fact," which starred Daniel Radcliffe on Broadway, opens at L.A.'s Fountain Theatre with new actors sparring in an epic journalistic battle.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AM
Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Review: A reimagined 'Secret Garden' fails to flower anew at the Ahmanson Theatre by Charles McNulty

Marsha Norman and Lucy Simon's musical, based on Frances Hodgson Burnett's beloved children's novel, gets a new production at at the Ahmanson Theatre with Broadway in the show's sights.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:00AM
Tuesday, February 21, 2023

A majestic 'Sunday in the Park With George' revival arrives at Pasadena Playhouse by Charles McNulty

Pasadena Playhouse's Sondheim Celebration kicks into gear with a revival of "Sunday in the Park With George," directed by Sarna Lapine.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:53PM
Friday, February 17, 2023

Review: Kristina Wong assembled 'aunties' to sew masks. Her pandemic mission is now a must-see show by Charles McNulty

Kristina Wong's performance piece on a pandemic mask-making project opens at the Kirk Douglas Theatre.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 12:22PM
Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Review: Why the new intergalactic musical 'Come Get Maggie' is light-years from being ready by Charles McNulty

With the premiere of Diane Frolov and Susan Justin's 'Come Get Maggie,' Rogue Machine Theatre produces its first musical.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AM
Monday, February 13, 2023

Review: A graceful 'Much Ado About Nothing' — in all its madcap zeal — shines at A Noise Within by Charles McNulty

Guillermo Cienfuegos directs a vivid and vivacious production of Shakespeare's comedy at A Noise Within, accomplishing what some starrier productions have failed to do.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:04PM
Saturday, February 11, 2023

Review: Conflict, intrigue and family dysfunction converge in 'The First Deep Breath' by Charles McNulty

The Geffen Playhouse presents Lee Edward Colston II's epic family drama, about the secrets and unresolved traumas of a Black family in Philadelphia.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:00AM
Thursday, February 9, 2023

Review: In Wooster Group's staging of Brecht's 'The Mother,' techno postmodernism turns political by Charles McNulty

The Wooster Group's first foray into the work of Bertolt Brecht brings "The Mother," a "learning play," to postmodern life at REDCAT.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:19PM
Tuesday, January 31, 2023

Review: 'The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci' is more impressively acrobatic than it is exciting by Charles McNulty

Tony winner Mary Zimmerman's performance collage based on the notebooks of the Italian Renaissance polymath arrives at the Old Globe in San Diego.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:09PM
Monday, January 30, 2023

Review: Empathy coach hits a brick wall in the wild, weird workplace comedy 'Do You Feel Anger?' by Charles McNulty

Circle X Theatre Co. presents the West Coast premiere of Mara Nelson-Greenberg's comedy at the Atwater Village Theatre in a production directed by Halena Kays.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:48PM
Monday, January 23, 2023

Commentary: Oscar or not, Paul Mescal makes screen acting look natural again by Charles McNulty

The most authentic performance of the year may not get an Oscar nomination. But if you care about acting, you should see Paul Mescal in 'Aftersun.'

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 02:00PM
Tuesday, January 17, 2023

Review: The play 'Home Front' confronts the bitter realities of post-WWII racism, homophobia by Charles McNulty

The West Coast premiere of Warren Leight's "Home Front" stars C. J. Lindsey as a World War II Black naval officer whose union with a white woman tests the tolerance of postwar America.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:13PM
Friday, January 13, 2023

Review: The main reason to see "Eisenhower"? Actor John Rubinstein's earnest portrayal of Ike by Charles McNulty

Tony winner John Rubinstein stars in Richard Hellesen's biographical drama "Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground," a Theatre West and New L.A. Repertory presentation at the Hudson MainStage Thea…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:00AM
Thursday, January 12, 2023

Commentary: A critic does therapy with Phil Stutz, go-to shrink for Jonah Hill and other stars by Charles McNulty

An encounter with Dr. Phil Stutz, the subject of 'Stutz,' the Netflix documentary Jonah Hill made about his beloved Hollywood therapist.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:45PM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 11, 2024: Oh, Mary! - Lyceum Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 17, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre
TBA: Titanic
TBA: Ragtime