All stories by Jesse Green on BroadwayStars

Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Tony Awards 2023: Who Will Win (and Who Should) by Jesse Green and Maya Phillips

Jesse Green, the chief theater critic, and Maya Phillips, a critic-at-large, name the shows and artists who they think will win, should win and should have been nominated for this year’s T…

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:32AM

For Broadway Dance, High Kicks and Low Comedy in a Season of Change by Jesse Green, Elisabeth Vincentelli and Brian Seibert

Is theatrical choreography at a turning point? Or just leaping, lurching and shimmying as usual? Our critics weigh in.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:01AM
Thursday, May 4, 2023

‘Oliver!’ Review: Tunes, Glorious Tunes, in a Grimly Cheerful Revival by Jesse Green

The Encores! production, directed by Lear deBessonet, looks to deepen and darken a musical that resists the change. But it’s still delightful.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:42PM
Monday, April 24, 2023

‘Good Night, Oscar’ Review: Sean Hayes With Demerol and Cadenzas by Jesse Green

The “Will & Grace” star is unrecognizable in a Broadway biography of Oscar Levant: wit, pianist and “Eeyore in a cheap suit.”

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:24PM
Sunday, April 23, 2023

Review: In ‘Prima Facie,’ Jodie Comer Makes the Case by Jesse Green

The “Killing Eve” star has a spectacular Broadway debut in a play that puts sexual assault jurisprudence on trial.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:24PM
Thursday, April 20, 2023

Review: In ‘The Thanksgiving Play,’ Who Gets to Tell the Story? by Jesse Green

Larissa FastHorse’s comedy of performative wokeness is also a brutal satire of American mythmaking.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:42PM
Wednesday, April 19, 2023

Review: Flying High and Falling Hard in ‘Peter Pan Goes Wrong’ by Jesse Green

Aerial mishaps and half-wit actors turn a fantasy classic into a farce. But, like Peter, not all of the jokes land.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:32PM
Thursday, April 13, 2023

Review: In a Sorkinized ‘Camelot,’ That’s How Conditions Are. Alas. by Jesse Green

A revival of the 1960 musical with the famously great score and infamously bad book gets a gorgeous makeover that makes no difference.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:54PM
Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Review: Skewering Masculinity, in a Hot and Sizzling ‘Fat Ham’ by Jesse Green

A modern gloss on “Hamlet” set at a backyard barbecue remakes the tragedy as a comedy, and as a challenge for today.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:36PM
Monday, April 10, 2023

Review: ‘White Girl in Danger’ Flips the Script on Soap Operas by Jesse Green

Michael R. Jackson’s wild new musical satire is packed with a thesis’ worth of insight about fate and representation.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:12PM
Tuesday, April 4, 2023

Review: In ‘Shucked,’ a Glut of Gleeful Puns and ‘Cornography’ by Jesse Green

A countrified musical about corn, and filled with it, too, transplants itself to Broadway, with songs by Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:32PM

John Kander’s Major Chord, Undiminished by Jesse Green

The 96-year-old composer of “Chicago” and “Cabaret” is making a brand-new start of it with “New York, New York,” his 16th Broadway musical.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:03AM
Sunday, March 26, 2023

Review: The Many Thrilling Flavors of a Full-Scale ‘Sweeney Todd’ by Jesse Green

Sondheim’s masterpiece, restored to its proper size and sung to the hilt by Josh Groban, makes a welcome Broadway return.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:00PM
Friday, March 24, 2023

‘Bad Cinderella’ Review: The Title Warned Us by Jesse Green

Andrew Lloyd Webber hopes to extend an unbroken 43-year streak on Broadway. But his 13th new musical may not be the charm.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:32AM
Sunday, March 19, 2023

Review: In Bob Fosse’s ‘Dancin’,’ a Wiggle Is Worth a Thousand Words by Jesse Green

A revival of the 1978 dancical has been substantially revamped to argue for Bob Fosse’s pure dance cred. It’s a joy anyway.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 08:00PM

Review: In Fosse’s ‘Dancin’,’ a Wiggle Is Worth a Thousand Words by Jesse Green

A revival of the 1978 dancical has been substantially revamped to argue for Bob Fosse’s pure dance cred. It’s a joy anyway.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 08:00PM
Thursday, March 16, 2023

Review: A Pageant of Love and Antisemitism, in ‘Parade’ by Jesse Green

Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond star in a timely and gorgeously sung Broadway revival of the 1998 musical about the Leo Frank case.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:00PM
Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Review: In ‘The Harder They Come,’ Innocence Lost to a Reggae Beat by Jesse Green

A stage adaptation of the 1972 movie about a Jamaican singer turned outlaw hero sounds great but falls hard at the Public Theater.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:00PM
Thursday, March 9, 2023

‘A Doll’s House’ Review: Jessica Chastain Plots an Escape by Jesse Green

Jamie Lloyd’s compelling, surgically precise revival of Ibsen’s 1879 drama throbs like an episode of “CSI: Norway.”

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 08:30PM
Thursday, March 2, 2023

Review: Holding Hands With the Homeless, in ‘Love’ by Jesse Green

Alexander Zeldin’s heartbreaking play set in a temporary housing facility retunes our attention from the big picture to the small accommodations.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:44PM
Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Review: A ‘Seagull’ Airlifted to a World of Soy Milk and Prada Sneakers by Jesse Green

Parker Posey stars in “The Seagull/Woodstock, NY,” as Chekhov comes to the Catskills.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 07:30PM
Monday, February 27, 2023

‘The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window’ Review: The Sin of Apathy by Jesse Green

Oscar Isaac and Rachel Brosnahan star as Village bohemians in a rare revival of Lorraine Hansberry’s indictment of liberal inertia.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 08:00PM
Tuesday, February 21, 2023

Review: Rude T-Shirts and Rude Awakenings in ‘A Bright New Boise’ by Jesse Green

An early play by Samuel D. Hunter finds the author developing his voice by lending it to the lost souls working at an Idaho Hobby Lobby.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:54PM

When ‘A Little Touch of Star Quality’ Is a Little Too Much by Jesse Green

In upcoming musical revivals, world leaders both real (Imelda Marcos, Eva Perón) and folkloric (King Arthur) get an image makeover they may not deserve.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:00AM
Thursday, February 16, 2023

Review: In ‘The Wanderers,’ Two Marriages and a Movie Star by Jesse Green

Anna Ziegler’s play about an Orthodox couple in the 1970s and an unorthodox one in the 2010s explores the limits of longing.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:30PM
Thursday, February 9, 2023

Review: How to Shoot Your Parents, in ‘Pictures From Home’ by Jesse Green

In a stage adaptation of Larry Sultan’s photo memoir, Nathan Lane stars as the father everyone’s aiming at.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:00PM
Thursday, January 19, 2023

How Do You Measure a Season on Broadway? In Cast Albums. by Jesse Green

From “A Strange Loop” to “Funny Girl,” most Broadway musicals of 2022 were recorded, offering listeners a chance to love or hate them again.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:02PM
Wednesday, January 18, 2023

At Under the Radar, Family Histories Bubble Up With No Easy Answers by Jesse Green, Laura Collins-Hughes and Elisabeth Vincentelli

The Public Theater’s experimental theater festival is back in person for the first time since 2020. Here, our critics review a second selection of the works on display.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:20PM
Tuesday, January 17, 2023

What’s Next for the Great Gay Play? Everything. by Jesse Green

In recent shows, ideas of gayness are expanding, combining and disappearing all at once.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 11:19AM
Friday, January 13, 2023

At Under the Radar, Stories Unfold via Sexts, Tweets and Puppeteers by Jesse Green, Laura Collins-Hughes and Alexis Soloski

The Public Theater’s experimental theater festival is back in person for the first time since 2020. Here, our critics review a handful of the works on display.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:02PM
Monday, December 19, 2022

Review: In ‘Between Riverside and Crazy,’ Real Estate Gets Real by Jesse Green

Stephen Adly Guirgis’s 2014 play finally comes to Broadway, its hilarious, loving and unvarnished vision of the universal human hustle intact.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:32PM

All that Chat