All stories by Gordon Cox on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, July 19, 2022

Why Bestselling Novelist Jodi Picoult Has Become a Prolific Musical Theater Creator by Gordon Cox

Most people know Jodi Picoult as the busy author of more than 25 bestselling books, including “My Sister’s Keeper,” “Small Great Things” and “The Pact.” But more recently, she�…

SOURCE: Variety at 04:01PM
Saturday, July 16, 2022

‘Black Panther’ General Danai Gurira on ‘Richard III,’ Toxic Masculinity and Surprise Guest Stars in Central Park by Gordon Cox

Before Danai Gurira returns this fall as the Wakandan general Okoye in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” she’s scheming and murdering her way onto the English throne in director Robert…

SOURCE: Variety at 12:00PM
Friday, July 15, 2022

‘Jack Absolute Flies Again’ Review: A Knockout New Comedy by the Writer of ‘One Man, Two Guvnors’ by Gordon Cox

No one saw it coming. Reworking Goldoni’s 18th-century comedy “A Servant of Two Masters” didn’t look like the recipe for a transatlantic comedy smash, but that was before Richard Bea…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:21PM
Friday, July 8, 2022

‘The Seagull’ Review: Emilia Clarke, Indira Varma Shine in a Production That Doesn’t Fly by Gordon Cox

The aesthetic is austere, the emotional range fiercely compressed and the intent is relentlessly pure, but that’s only to be expected in Samuel Beckett’s “The Seagull.” Wait, what? O…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:46AM
Wednesday, July 6, 2022

‘The Southbury Child’ Review: Well-Meaning Production Can’t Cover a Schematic Script by Gordon Cox

A place for everything and everything in its place. Although that maxim about neatness might apply to the intentions of the characters living in the English country vicarage in “The Southb…

SOURCE: Variety at 05:36PM
Tuesday, July 5, 2022

How Winning the Pulitzer Has Made James Ijames Bolder by Gordon Cox

The playwright James Ijames is no stranger to audacious choices. His adaptation of “Hamlet,” “Fat Ham,” sets the story at a backyard barbecue thrown by a Black family in the South �…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:48PM
Sunday, June 26, 2022

‘Mad House’ Review: David Harbour, Bill Pullman Make Theresa Rebeck’s Chaotic Melodrama Seem Better Than It Is by Gordon Cox

Jessica Lange was once asked if there couldn’t have been someone on the set of the painfully overwrought Southern gothic movie, Beth Henley’s “Crimes of the Heart,” who could have go…

SOURCE: Variety at 07:01PM
Tuesday, June 21, 2022

Why Tony-Winning Actor Joaquina Kalukango Has Started Telling Stories as a Writer, Too by Gordon Cox

Audiences already know Joaquina Kalukango as an actor onstage (“Slave Play”) and on screen (“One Night in Miami”) — and on the most recent Tony Awards telecast, when she capped off…

SOURCE: Variety at 03:17PM
Tuesday, June 14, 2022

‘Bruce’ Review: New Musical About the Making of ‘Jaws’ Is a Shaggy, Sometimes Soggy Saga by Gordon Cox

There’s nothing like mechanical malfunction to make you want to break into song. Though that may well be unique to “Bruce” — unless you can name another musical with a spectacularly …

SOURCE: Variety at 07:35PM
Monday, June 13, 2022

The Tony Awards Were So Good: 6 of the Most Memorable Moments from Broadway’s Biggest Night by Gordon Cox

Broadway celebrated its first full season after the COVID lockdown with the 75th annual Tony Awards, hosted by a newly minted Oscar winner and spotlighting stage work that included a media-d…

SOURCE: Variety at 02:55AM
Friday, June 10, 2022

From ‘A Strange Loop’ Sweep to an ‘MJ’ Upset: Who Will Win the 2022 Tony Awards? by Gordon Cox

The pool of people who vote for the Tony Awards is a small one — and this year, it’s probably even smaller. As Broadway gears up for its big night June 12, the industry’s annual progno…

SOURCE: Variety at 12:00PM
Wednesday, June 8, 2022

Tony Awards: Breakout Debuts Seize the Nominations Spotlight by Gordon Cox

Hugh Jackman, Sutton Foster, Phylicia Rashad, Mary-Louise Parker, LaChanze: All of these 2022 Tony Award nominees are Broadway regulars, and they’ve had plenty of experience with nominatio…

SOURCE: Variety at 03:30PM

Tony Bites: Landmark Nominations, Angela Lansbury’s Lifetime Honor by Gordon Cox

The Tony Awards Landmarks on This Year’s Nominations List In a Broadway season that was the first after the devastating 15-month shutdown caused by the pandemic, the Tony nominations list …

SOURCE: Variety at 03:00PM

For the Tony Awards, Ensembles Take the Spotlight by Gordon Cox

In a Broadway season filled with star turns and individual standouts, maybe the biggest breakout performance came from … ensemble casts. From the queens of “Six” to the Thoughts of “…

SOURCE: Variety at 02:00PM
Tuesday, June 7, 2022

Why Paula Vogel Thinks One Scene in ‘How I Learned to Drive’ Makes No Sense, and How David Morse Solved It by Gordon Cox

Playwright Paula Vogel won a Pulitzer Prize for her 25-year-old play “How I Learned to Drive,” which has been seen in productions around the world and is now on Broadway in a staging nom…

SOURCE: Variety at 04:41PM

‘Trading Places’ Review: Modern Touches Brighten Uneven Adaptation of Reagan-Era Movie Comedy by Gordon Cox

After the Great Recession of ’08 — not to mention anxiety about the current economy — will a Reagan-era comedy about insider trading and the glory of greed get the same laughs? Can it …

SOURCE: Variety at 08:00AM
Monday, June 6, 2022

‘1776’ Review: A Revolutionary Take On An Old Warhorse by Gordon Cox

When the Tony-winning musical “1776” debuted on Broadway in 1969, it celebrated America’s ideals on the eve of its Bicentennial. Half a century later, a radical makeover brings critiqu…

SOURCE: Variety at 07:00AM
Thursday, June 2, 2022

‘A Strange Loop’ Broadway Darling Michael R. Jackson Feels Pride — For Himself by Gordon Cox

It’s June 2022, and Michael R. Jackson has a lot to be proud of. His musical “A Strange Loop” leads the Broadway awards-season race with 11 Tony nominations and stands poised to net th…

SOURCE: Variety at 03:00PM
Wednesday, June 1, 2022

‘The Glass Menagerie’ Review: Underpowered Amy Adams Leads a Slow-Burn Rethink of Tennessee Williams’ Classic by Gordon Cox

With a cast headed by Amy Adams making her West End debut, you’d be forgiven for imagining the latest production of Tennessee Williams’ play “The Glass Menagerie” might be everything…

SOURCE: Variety at 02:02PM
Tuesday, May 31, 2022

Why Jesse Williams Is a Theater Guy Now by Gordon Cox

Jesse Williams is coming to the end of his debut Broadway gig — but he’s already betting it’ll be the first of many stage engagements for him. Listen to this week’s “Stagecraft”…

SOURCE: Variety at 02:08PM
Monday, May 23, 2022

‘The Father and the Assassin’ Review: A Star-Making Performance in a Dynamic Play About the Murder of Gandhi by Gordon Cox

“What are you staring at? Have you never seen a murderer up close before?” Ever since her startlingly assured 2007 debut “Free Outgoing,” shrewd playwright Anupama Chandrasekhar has …

SOURCE: Variety at 06:25PM
Tuesday, May 17, 2022

‘A Strange Loop’ Cast Members Hope Their Tony Nominations Will Make Space for Everyone by Gordon Cox

Michael R. Jackson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical “A Strange Loop” scored 11 Tony nominations last week — and the ensemble cast of “A Strange Loop” is inviting everyon…

SOURCE: Variety at 03:46PM
Monday, May 9, 2022

Tony Nominations 2022: The 7 Biggest Takeaways by Gordon Cox

On your mark, get set, go. The race for the Tony Awards has officially begun with the announcement of the 2022 nominations on Monday. In honoring and highlighting the work in a crowded, COVI…

SOURCE: Variety at 10:34AM
Friday, May 6, 2022

Tony Nominations 2022 Predictions: Here Are The Biggest Questions Facing Voters by Gordon Cox

Broadway just wrapped up its first season after the pandemic lockdown, and boy, was it a doozy: After all the delays, COVID surges and cast replacements, a whopping 35 new productions opened…

SOURCE: Variety at 07:43AM
Tuesday, May 3, 2022

Why Debra Messing Finds Her New Broadway Role ‘Far More Satisfying’ Than Grace by Gordon Cox

Debra Messing has only been in the Broadway play “Birthday Candles” since March, but in some ways, she feels more deeply connected to her character Ernestine than she felt to the leading…

SOURCE: Variety at 05:00PM
Friday, April 29, 2022

‘Macbeth’ Review: Daniel Craig, Ruth Negga Star in a Broadway Production That’s All Smoke by Gordon Cox

A bare set. Actors making stew on stage. An abundance of hand-held fog machines. Vague contemporary setting and costumes. A generally spooky atmosphere. Put all the ingredients together and …

SOURCE: Variety at 04:00PM
Thursday, April 28, 2022

‘POTUS’ Review: A Rollicking New Broadway Farce About the Women Behind the Idiot in the White House by Gordon Cox

I am woman, hear me roar — with laughter, at “POTUS: or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive,” playwright Selina Fillinger’s delicious feminist farce …

SOURCE: Variety at 12:43PM
Wednesday, April 27, 2022

‘Mr. Saturday Night’ Review: Billy Crystal Brings the Laughs in His New Broadway Musical by Gordon Cox

Sometimes being nice has its rewards. Take Buddy Young Jr., the bitter, self-centered, self-destructive comedian from the 1992 flop film “Mr. Saturday Night,” which Billy Crystal starred…

SOURCE: Variety at 10:00PM
Tuesday, April 26, 2022

‘A Strange Loop’ Review: Michael R. Jackson’s Pulitzer-Winning Broadway Musical Is an Unflinching Riot by Gordon Cox

Subjectivity is conditional. We can only understand our own points of view in relation to the differences that separate us. If art often intends to complete the circle (“look at how these …

SOURCE: Variety at 10:00PM
Monday, April 25, 2022

‘The Skin of Our Teeth’ Review: Thornton Wilder’s Beautifully Decorated Disaster on Broadway by Gordon Cox

Thornton Wilder’s allegorical play “The Skin of Our Teeth” is bizarre, abstract and convoluted; it’s not to be taken seriously. Or so Sabina (Gabby Beans) tells the audience at Linco…

SOURCE: Variety at 10:00PM
Sunday, April 24, 2022

‘Funny Girl’ Review: An Underpowered Revival Brings Fanny Brice Back to Broadway by Gordon Cox

“You ever feel like there’s someone watching from the shadows?” asks Beanie Feldstein’s Fanny Brice, as haunting apparitions from the Ziegfeld star’s past waft in and out in a kind…

SOURCE: Variety at 10:00PM

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 15, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 01, 2025: Glengarry Glen Ross
TBA: Titanic