All stories by Johnny Oleksinski on BroadwayStars

Sunday, February 24, 2019

How Bradley Cooper went from Oscar golden boy to biggest loser by Johnny Oleksinski

Five months ago, it would have been a practical move to redub the Oscars the Bradleys. “A Star Is Born,” Bradley Cooper’s freshman directorial effort, scored smashing reviews out of th…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 11:15PM
Monday, January 28, 2019

Zac Efron kills it as Ted Bundy in ‘Extremely Wicked’ biopic by Johnny Oleksinski

PARK CITY, Utah — When Zac Efron sang “Breaking Free” in 2006’s “High School Musical,” little did we know he meant out of police custody. But 13 years later the actor has gone fr…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 10:08AM
Friday, January 11, 2019

Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston’s fun bromance saves ‘The Upside’ by Johnny Oleksinski

“The Upside” has a downside: We’ve seen it a million times before. Onstage and on-screen, crotchety rich people are changed forever by fun-but-flawed poor people. It’s become a g…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 07:21AM
Friday, December 21, 2018

This British holiday tradition kicks America’s Yuletide ass by Johnny Oleksinski

American holiday activities are worse than coal in a stocking. Each year, we schlep to super malls and force crying children to pose with creeper Santas. We trudge to local productions of �…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 01:54PM
Thursday, December 20, 2018

‘Network’ and other Broadway shows that ruined great movies by Johnny Oleksinski

Broadway fans love to whine about movie adaptations overtaking their beloved theaters. But can’t movie buffs also complain about their favorite films getting ruined by the stage? I will �…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 08:05AM
Thursday, November 1, 2018

Orson Welles’ final film has been in the works for almost 50 years by Johnny Oleksinski

Director Orson Welles’ latest movie hits theaters Friday — 33 years after he died. “The Other Side of the Wind,” the famed filmmaker’s final picture, has been in post-production fo…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 11:00PM
Friday, October 19, 2018

How Michael Cera and Lucas Hedges became wise-cracking BFFs by Johnny Oleksinski

Lucas Hedges and Michael Cera play allies in Broadway’s “The Waverly Gallery,” but offstage, they’re practically a vaudeville act. And while they’ve both been around — Hedges was…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 11:06AM
Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Finally, horror movies are starting to suck less by Johnny Oleksinski

What a haul-o-ween! The latest “Halloween” sequel, starring a returning Jamie Lee Curtis, is set to break a franchise box-office record, taking in a projected $50 million this weekend. (…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 06:09PM
Wednesday, October 10, 2018

The London shows that should come to NYC — and the ones that shouldn’t by Johnny Oleksinski

They’re Brexiting all the way to New York. “The Nap,” “Girl From the North Country” and “The Ferryman” are just a few of the shows that have leaped across the pond and land…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 01:30PM
Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Lady Gaga gives Oscar-worthy performance in ‘A Star is Born’ by Johnny Oleksinski

Lady Gaga has traveled by egg, donned skirt steak and taken part in a TV blood orgy. But her biggest transformation occurs in the new film “A Star Is Born.” In it, she becomes an Oscar-w…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 10:46PM
Wednesday, August 22, 2018

‘Happytime Murders’ is the most miserable puppet show ever by Johnny Oleksinski

Rescue me, Elmo! That’s what you’ll shout if you’re trapped in a movie theater playing “The Happytime Murders,” the wretched puppets-behaving-badly comedy directed by Brian Henson.…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 07:52PM
Wednesday, August 1, 2018

‘The Spy Who Dumped Me’ is a secret-agent spoof that doesn’t suck by Johnny Oleksinski

Don’t be fooled by its awful title. “The Spy Who Dumped Me” is the rare secret-agent spoof that doesn’t double-O-suck. You can thank the awesome fights for that. During the first…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 06:48PM
Thursday, July 26, 2018

Go-Go’s musical ‘Head Over Heels’ hasn’t got the beat by Johnny Oleksinski

Intermission, all I ever wanted! The new musical “Head Over Heels,” which opened Thursday on Broadway, takes the songs of ’80s American girl group the Go-Go’s, plops them in a Britis…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 09:55PM
Thursday, July 19, 2018

Not even Denzel Washington can save ‘The Equalizer’ by Johnny Oleksinski

“The Equalizer” should be locked in a room with “The Terminator.” Then this lousy series would finally be killed off. Denzel Washington is back in the sequel to his 2014 action f…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 05:01PM
Tuesday, July 17, 2018

‘Mamma Mia’ 2 is deliciously insane by Johnny Oleksinski

Ten years ago, “Mamma Mia!” felt like the result of one too many shots of ouzo. Charming on Broadway, it was bonkers on-screen: a romantic comedy set on a Greek island told through ABBA …

SOURCE: The New York Post at 04:01AM
Thursday, June 14, 2018

Why theatergoers are giving ‘Frozen’ the cold shoulder by Johnny Oleksinski

Want room to spread out? Head to the St. James Theatre on Broadway, where empty seats abound at the musical “Frozen.” But isn’t Disney’s story of ice queen Elsa and sister Anna suppo…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 07:57PM
Monday, June 11, 2018

The best and worst moments of the Tony Awards by Johnny Oleksinski

The Tony Awards are not always as good as the Broadway season they’re celebrating — sometimes they’re much better! Take Sunday night’s ceremony honoring the best of New Y…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 01:48PM
Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Lady Gaga is almost unrecognizable in new movie trailer by Johnny Oleksinski

“A Star Is Born”? More like “A Star Is Reincarnated.” The trailer for the new remake of the 1937 classic romance, in which Lady Gaga plays the title character, dropped Wednesday. In …

SOURCE: The New York Post at 04:35PM
Thursday, May 24, 2018

Only John Cameron Mitchell could turn Nicole Kidman punk by Johnny Oleksinski

When John Cameron Mitchell wrote and starred in the drag musical “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” in 1998, his theater pals were stumped. “They didn’t understand why I was doing it,” Mi…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 07:22PM
Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Forget Tyrion — this is the role Peter Dinklage was born to play by Johnny Oleksinski

Peter Dinklage has found the role of a lifetime — and its surname isn’t Lannister. The “Game of Thrones” actor will play Cyrano de Bergerac, the famed fictional French poet with a lo…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 03:21PM
Saturday, April 28, 2018

Inside Broadway’s cutthroat campaigns for Tony nods by Johnny Oleksinski

The Plastics want their gold. The four main ladies of Broadway’s “Mean Girls” — Erika Henningsen, Taylor Louderman, Ashley Park and Kate Rockwell — all have separate personal publi…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 04:42PM
Thursday, April 26, 2018

Cabaret star Marilyn Maye still a hot ticket at 90 by Johnny Oleksinski

For her 90th birthday, cabaret singer Marilyn Maye is flying high — and often. Over the past two months alone, the in-demand performer has carried her four huge suitcases to theaters in We…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 08:01PM

Behind-the-scenes secrets from Bowie’s cult classic ‘Labyrinth’ by Johnny Oleksinski

Jim Henson die-hards are still dancing the magic dance — 32 years later. The cult classic “Labyrinth” is headed back to select theaters on Sunday. And the film, which featured a cast o…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 06:32PM
Monday, April 23, 2018

The new Donna Summer musical is not hot stuff by Johnny Oleksinski

“When I’m bad, I’m so, so bad,” Donna Summer sang in “Last Dance,” and that perfectly describes the new Broadway musical about her life. “Summer,” which opened Monday, is…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 09:45PM
Sunday, April 22, 2018

‘Harry Potter’ epic is Broadway magic by Johnny Oleksinski

Harry Potter has come to Broadway. But The Boy Who Lived is a boy no longer: He’s 37 years old and going through a magical midlife crisis in J.K. Rowling and Jack Thorne’s outstanding pl…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 11:04PM
Saturday, April 21, 2018

Broadway’s box office is wasting away in ‘Margaritaville’ by Johnny Oleksinski

Broadway is looking more like Universal Studios than the epicenter of great theater these days. Mainstream brands are squeezing out scintillating art that once dominated the boards. Exeunt: …

SOURCE: The New York Post at 11:54AM
Wednesday, March 28, 2018

The reason ‘Rise’ kinda sucks by Johnny Oleksinski

What hath Zac wrought? Back in 2006, newcomer Zac Efron starred in an unassuming little Disney Channel movie called “High School Musical,” about a peppy band of teen stereotypes who turn…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 04:34PM
Tuesday, March 27, 2018

The hottest shows in London this spring by Johnny Oleksinski

Winter’s over, and theater in London is younger than springtime. Audiences are falling wig-over-heels for a teenage drag queen; the new Bridge Theatre’s “Julius Caesar” has a mosh pi…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 05:56PM
Thursday, March 22, 2018

Broadway has robbed ‘Frozen’ of its heart and fun by Johnny Oleksinski

For its new stage musical “Frozen,” Disney should’ve heeded the sage advice of Queen Elsa: Let it go. Broadway should be the place to see what you can do, to test the limits and break …

SOURCE: The New York Post at 09:01PM
Thursday, February 22, 2018

Someone turned ‘Jerry Springer’ into an opera by Johnny Oleksinski

Opera lovers may think they’ve heard it all, from the screams of Don Juan burning in hell to Brünnhilde’s cries of triumph and the coughs of countless women keeling over from consumptio…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 05:02PM
Thursday, January 18, 2018

New ‘Dolly!’ star once played a flying monkey by Johnny Oleksinski

Just five nights ago, Charlie Stemp was in London, taking his final bow in the holiday pantomime “Dick Whittington” at the Palladium next to West End royalty Elaine Paige. After the curt…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 05:37PM