All stories by David Cote on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Review: Second Stage Theatre’s ‘The Apiary’: Stinging or Sweet As Honey? by David Cote

Set 22 years from now — as climate change has doomed the bees and thus humanity — this high-concept play mixes sci-fi with black comedy.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 09:01PM
Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Review: Fake News Makes Musical Headlines in ‘The Connector’ by David Cote

This musical about a fabulist at a magazine draws on the Stephen Glass scandal of the ‘90s, but it’s more than a bit of stretch itself.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 07:01PM
Thursday, February 1, 2024

Public Obscenities by David Cote

All in the family: a PhD student visits India to film a documentary about queer life in Shayok Misha Chowdhury’s vibrant and charming debut play. Abrar Haque as Choton, Debashis Roy Chowd…

SOURCE: 4columns at 07:00PM
Tuesday, January 30, 2024

‘The Animal Kingdom’ Review: This Family Therapy Weepie Is a Flat Zoo Story by David Cote

Set entirely at group therapy sessions, this 80-minute exploration of psychodynamics and healing may leave you wishing for characters with more interesting problems.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 09:01PM
Saturday, January 27, 2024

Review: Don’t Sleep on Splendiferous Sutton Foster in ‘Once Upon a Mattress’ by David Cote

Foster generates waves of zany ecstasy in this delightful concert version of this fractured fairytale for City Center Encores.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 06:25PM
Tuesday, January 9, 2024

Review: ‘Prayer for the French Republic’ Is One of Broadway’s Best New Plays by David Cote

A Jewish family — shaken by a recent rise in European antisemitism — uproots itself in Joshua Harmon's passionately argued play.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 10:00PM
Tuesday, December 19, 2023

Review: ‘Appropriate’ Is a Family Album of White Supremacy  by David Cote

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s slow-burning satire of white privilege arrives on Broadway in an impeccable production with a dream cast, led by Sarah Paulson.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 11:03AM
Monday, December 18, 2023

Review: Cuba’s Past Sings Out in ‘Buena Vista Social Club’ by David Cote

This jukebox musical alternates passionate renditions of Afro-Cuban son, danzón, and bolero with scenes in English that chart the lives of musicians across four decades of love and loss.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 08:21PM
Sunday, December 10, 2023

Review: ‘How to Dance in Ohio’ Welcomes Autistic Youth Under the Disco Ball by David Cote

'How to Dance in Ohio' was clearly made with love, but this musical adaptation of an HBO documentary about autistic people learning to dance tries to balance good intentions and razzle-dazzl…

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 09:00PM
Tuesday, December 5, 2023

Review: An Earnest Yet Awkward Land Acknowledgement for ‘Manahatta’ by David Cote

Mary Kathryn Nagle’s play shifts between the Dutch colonization of Manhattan and the subprime mortgage crisis, a concept that looks good on paper but diminishes the characters and their ch…

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 09:00PM
Sunday, November 19, 2023

Review: Alicia Keys Is in a ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ State of Mind at the Public by David Cote

Part juke-box musical and part feel-good empowerment fable, this musical from Alicia Keys hungers for a home on Broadway.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 09:30PM
Tuesday, November 14, 2023

Review: Michael Shannon and Paul Sparks Are Well Worth Waiting for Godot  by David Cote

In the Theatre for a New Audience production of 'Waiting for Godot,' Michael Shannon and Paul Sparks bring uncommon clarity to Beckett's classic.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 09:00PM

Review: Stage Newbie Aubrey Plaza Dips Her Toe Into ‘Danny and the Deep Blue Sea’ by David Cote

Packed with profanity, anguished sexuality, and high-decibel meltdowns, 'Danny and the Deep Blue Sea' has been drama department fodder since its 1983 debut. Only this time, the acting studen…

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 10:07AM
Monday, November 13, 2023

Review: Barry Manilow Writes the Songs That Make ‘Harmony’ Sing by David Cote

The story of the Comedian Harmonists—the German (and Jewish) singing sensations forced to break up due to the Third Reich—is told in this amiable if derivative musical.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 09:18PM
Thursday, November 2, 2023

Review: Danny DeVito Hoards Laughter And Tears In ‘I Need That’ by David Cote

This tale of grief and release is the sort of crowd-pleaser that used to be common fare on Broadway but has long since migrated to small screens.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 09:00PM
Sunday, October 29, 2023

Review: ‘Stereophonic’ Has the Vinyl Word on ’70s Rock Drama by David Cote

This portrait of a Fleetwood Mac-like band slaving over an album is full of novelistic detail and luxurious fly-on-the-wall beauty.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 10:00PM
Monday, October 23, 2023

Review: Sondheim’s Swan Song Is Goofy, Satirical, And A Joy to Hear by David Cote

The one-percenters of Stephen Sondheim’s final work, 'Here We Are,' are living a life of pleasure, beauty, and infinite possibility. Until Act II, that is.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 02:39PM
Thursday, October 12, 2023

Review! Of! Gutenberg! The Musical! Print Is Hilariously Not Dead by David Cote

It the hilariously desperate 'Gutenberg! The Musical!' two would-be Broadway composers pitch their show about the 16th-century German inventor of the printing press.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 09:00PM
Tuesday, October 10, 2023

Review: Irish Joy and Pain Come to Life in Sean O’Casey’s Dublin Trilogy by David Cote

The Druid company's marathon of three plays from Sean O’Casey offers the chance soak up an Irish master who combined gimlet-eyed humanism with corrosive social critique.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 01:13PM
Thursday, September 28, 2023

Review: Melissa Etheridge Rocks and Reminisces on Broadway by David Cote

In no way does Etheridge reinvent the solo theatrical memoir. But she performs with a natural ease, like your wild aunt telling stories over beers one Thanksgiving.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 09:00PM
Wednesday, September 27, 2023

Review: Satire Comes in All Colors in Ossie Davis’s ‘Purlie Victorious’ by David Cote

At the center of a prodigious cast and Kenny Leon’s clockwork staging are Leslie Odom Jr. and the astonishing Kara Young.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 10:00PM
Sunday, September 17, 2023

‘Swing State’ Review: Small-Town Drama Shows Heartbreak in the Heartland  by David Cote

Playwright Rebecca Gilman's keenly observed drama arrives Off Broadway at the Minetta Lane Theater from Chicago’s Goodman Theatre for a limited run.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 09:00PM
Tuesday, September 12, 2023

Review: Annie Baker’s ‘Infinite Life’ Turns Chronic Pain Into Complex Pleasure by David Cote

The most satisfying new work since last season’s 'Downstate' has an obscenely gifted cast, led by Christina Kirk.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 09:30PM
Friday, September 1, 2023

Fall Theater Preview: A Dozen Shows Gets You Back to (Drama) School by David Cote

Experiments, parodies, Sondheim, Godot, and much more await you this fall.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 11:43AM
Thursday, August 17, 2023

Review: Savor High-Def Chekhov in a Marvelously Intimate ‘Uncle Vanya’ by David Cote

What’s gained by staging Chekhov in the round, with actors just feet away, sometimes lit only by a candle? It’s what you’d expect: a wonderfully intense experience of the text.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 08:00PM
Thursday, August 10, 2023

Review: Does ‘The Shark Is Broken’ Have Much Bite on Broadway? by David Cote

Robert Shaw's son Ian cowrote this behind the scenes look at the filming of 'Jaws,' and plays his father.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 09:00PM
Thursday, August 3, 2023

‘Back to the Future: The Musical’ Review: The DeLorean Flies, The Songs Sink by David Cote

This Broadway adaptation of the 1985 movie has some four-wheeled spectacle to offer. But not much else.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 10:01PM
Wednesday, June 28, 2023

Review: To Be or Not to Be at the Public’s ‘Hamlet’ in Central Park?  by David Cote

Singing! Rapping! Demonic possession! Kenny Leon's direction of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy has welcome, lively touches, but overall the staging feels undercooked.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 08:00PM
Monday, June 26, 2023

Review: Alex Edelman Noshes With The Enemy In The Hilarious ‘Just For Us’ by David Cote

In this one-man autobiographical show, an Orthodox Jewish comic attends a white supremacist meet-up and comes away with thoughts (and jokes) about “the way the world is right now."

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 08:00PM
Thursday, June 22, 2023

Review: ‘Once Upon A One More Time’ Won’t Leave Britney Alone! by David Cote

This family-friendly jukebox musical cobbled around Britney Spears songs see a group of classic fairytale princesses rebelling against a faithless Prince. But it's more marketing gimmick tha…

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 09:00PM

The Doctor by David Cote

Extremely loud and incredibly verbose: a new play from Robert Icke forgoes the subtleties of showing for too much telling. Juliet Stevenson as Ruth Wolff and Juliet Garricks as Charlie in T…

SOURCE: 4columns at 08:00PM

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