All stories by Jonathan Mandell on BroadwayStars

Wednesday, February 4, 2026

Fringe: And Her Children. Agitprop for Gun Control by Jonathan Mandell

Anna Fierling, the spokesperson for the National Rifle Association who tells her story in “And Her Children,” is a fictional character clearly inspired by former NRA spokesperson Dana Lo…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:52PM
Tuesday, February 3, 2026

Off Broadway Week 2026: 2 for 1 Tickets by Jonathan Mandell

Tickets are now on sale for Off-Broadway Week, where you can buy two tickets for the price of one for 26 shows, for performances from February 16 through March 12. Sixteen of the shows are n…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:57PM

Poll: Which 2026 Best Picture Oscar Nominee Would Work the Best and Worst on Broadway? by Jonathan Mandell

In a year when one of the ten Oscar nominees for best picture ends with scenes from one of the greatest plays ever written, another is about a theater actress and her film director father, a…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:20PM
Monday, February 2, 2026

Theater celebrates (Obies, Grammys) and protests! #Stageworthy News of the Week by Jonathan Mandell

“Buena Vista Social Club” won the Grammy for best musical theater album, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande won for Best Pop Duo/Group Performances. Nazareth Hassan’s “Bowl EP,” Car…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:20AM
Sunday, February 1, 2026

Buena Vista Social Club Wins Best Musical Theater Album Grammy 2026 by Jonathan Mandell

Buena Vista Social Club has won the 2026 best musical theater album at the 68th annual Grammy Awards, beating out five other nominees, all current or recent Broadway shows (the fourth conse…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:35PM

February 2026 New York Theater Openings by Jonathan Mandell

Below is a calendar of selected theater opening* this month in New York. None are on Broadway, but there is enough happening Off and Off-Off Broadway to see a new show nearly every night in …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:51AM
Saturday, January 31, 2026

Obie Awards 2026 by Jonathan Mandell

The 69th annual Obie Awards, honoring achievement Off and Off Off Broadway, were announced tonight. Below is the complete list, which includes lifetime achievement awards to Carmelita Tropi…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:44PM
Friday, January 30, 2026

Theater Quiz for January 2026 by Jonathan Mandell

How well were you paying attention to the New York theater news, views and reviews in the month of January. Take this ten-question quiz and find out. Loading…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:47PM
Thursday, January 29, 2026

Theater Blog Roundup: Looking Back in Anger by Jonathan Mandell

The war on culture has played out in many ways over the past year, as chronicled by the bloggers/substackers,podcasters to whom I link below. There’s famously the mess at the Kennedy Cente…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:43AM
Wednesday, January 28, 2026

Masquerade Mania by Jonathan Mandell

“Masquerade”  has just been extended through July 5 – proof, if you needed it, that the immersive version of “The Phantom of the Opera” has caught on.This wasn’t a given when i…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:51AM
Tuesday, January 27, 2026

Under the Radar: Watch Me Walk by Jonathan Mandell

Anne Gridley’s favorite neurologist has told her that people can only concentrate on walking for about eight seconds; human beings are designed to walk without thinking about it.  But he…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:56PM
Monday, January 26, 2026

Broadway at the Oscars, in the Snow, at BroadwayCon. Sir Ian on the Edge. #Stageworthy News by Jonathan Mandell

A record-breaking 11.4 inches of snow reportedly fell on Central Park on Sunday, and the shows went on — mostly: Ten of the 31 shows currently running on Broadway did cancel. A storm warni…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:14AM

Watch Telly Leung, Ali Ewoldt, Shoba Nayaran et al perform at “This is What It Sounds Like: An AANHPI Concert of Joy” by Jonathan Mandell

“I don’t want to be an ambassador for Asians, but that’s part of the job when you’re in a country, and you work in an industry, that continues to see us as perpetual foreigners, inca…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:00AM
Sunday, January 25, 2026

Data Review by Jonathan Mandell

“Data” speaks to the precise moment in which we are living to an astonishing degree, and not just because of our concerns about AI. It begins and ends with characters playing ping pong! …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:23PM
Saturday, January 24, 2026

Broadway and the Blizzard 2026: Questions and Answers by Jonathan Mandell

A massive snow storm is expected to reach New York City Sunday morning, January 25, 2026 leading New Yorkers to ask one question — how bad will it get? — and New York theatergoers to…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:43PM

The Lost Boys Broadway musical: First Look by Jonathan Mandell

Below are two videos of LJ Benet, who will be making his Broadway debut as Michael Emerson in the forthcoming musical “The Lost Boys,” explaining the show, and singing one of the numbers…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:45AM
Friday, January 23, 2026

Edward Review. 27 Objects That Tell A Life by Jonathan Mandell

Ed Schmidt, a playwright and performer who should be better known, stood behind a table with twenty-seven objects on it, which he said were found in a box belonging to a man named Edward O�…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:36AM
Thursday, January 22, 2026

Oscar Nominations 2026 by Jonathan Mandell

“Sinners” received a record-breaking 16 Oscar nominations, followed by “One Battle After Another” with 13. Several theater-related films received nods, including nine (including Best…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:31AM
Wednesday, January 21, 2026

An Ark Review by Jonathan Mandell

When this is over…things will have changed forever,”  Ian McKellen told me near the start of “An Ark,” staring directly at me. I didn’t roll my eyes. At first that was only becau…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:41PM
Tuesday, January 20, 2026

Broadway Week. Fascist Year. #Stageworthy News by Jonathan Mandell

Last week was full of theater news, and politics. Hell’s Kitchen is closing; Darren Criss is leaving; Adrien Brody is making his Broadway debut. Dylvan Mulvaney is joining the cast of “S…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:09AM
Monday, January 19, 2026

Martin Luther King Jr’s Final Speech: “I’m so happy I didn’t sneeze” by Jonathan Mandell

The day before he was assassinated, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr delivered what is usually called the “I’ve Been To The Mountaintop” speech because of its stirring final moments.…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:39AM
Sunday, January 18, 2026

Audition: Three Insights about Theater in Katie Kitamura’s novel by Jonathan Mandell

The unnamed central character in Katie Kitamura’s acclaimed novel “Audition” (Riverhead Books, 197 pages) is a middle-aged actress of some repute and of great perception, who offers so…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:35PM
Saturday, January 17, 2026

Prototype Festival: What To Wear. Richard Foreman’s opera on beauty and ducks. by Jonathan Mandell

Why do the four opera singers repeat “This is Mad’line X” forty-one times?  What’s with the big ducks and why are they playing golf? Is the ensemble a group of courtiers or a deck o…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:50PM
Friday, January 16, 2026

Finding Dorothy Parker Review by Jonathan Mandell

Dorothy Parker hated the theater, especially the “wretched downtown plays. The actors represent characters like ‘truth’ or ‘poverty’ while the audience is content to represent ‘s…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:21PM
Thursday, January 15, 2026

Spring 2026 New York Theater Preview: 10 Shows to See* by Jonathan Mandell

In a season that promises to be rich in starry revivals and adaptations of familiar titles, the ten shows below are largely from beyond Broadway — most Off Broadway, some more out-of-the-w…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:16AM
Wednesday, January 14, 2026

Under the Radar: Try/Step/Trip by Jonathan Mandell

“Try/Step/Trip,”  a terrifically rhythmic, unconventional musical that merges rap with step-dancing, was inspired by the court-ordered stay in drug rehab by poet, composer and performe…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:59PM
Tuesday, January 13, 2026

Broadway Week 2-for-1 Tickets On Sale Now by Jonathan Mandell

There are seven new participants in the twice-yearly discount program: All Out:, Chess, Liberation, Marjorie Prime, Oedipus,Ragtime, Two Strangers (the links are to my reviews.) Click on the…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:41PM
Monday, January 12, 2026

Mamdani: Free tickets are just the beginning. APAP: “Outrage is not a strategy.” #Stageworthy News by Jonathan Mandell

At a press conference on Friday announcing 1,500 free tickets to the Under the Radar Festival, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said: “This is just one example of an agenda and an approach that we ar…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:38AM
Sunday, January 11, 2026

Bug Broadway Review by Jonathan Mandell

“I’m not an ax murderer,” Peter (Namir Smallwood) says to Agnes (Carrie Coon.) It’s his first line in “Bug,” Tracy Letts’ intentionally unsettling 1996 play, now in its Broadwa…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:50PM
Saturday, January 10, 2026

LaChanze on her journey to Broadway producer by Jonathan Mandell

LaChanze, a 19-time Broadway veteran. has won five Tony Awards,  one of them for her starring role in the original 2005 Broadway production of “The Color Purple,” the other four as a B…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:58AM
Friday, January 9, 2026

Under the Radar: Mami by Jonathan Mandell

A young man strips an older woman of her clothes, wipes her bottom and changes her diaper: It is an early scene in “Mami,” one of the many startling wordless moments that have the otherw…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:30PM

All that Chat

2025-2026 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 12, 2025: Call Me Izzy - Studio 54
Sep 16, 2025: Art - Music Box Theatre
Oct 08, 2025: Beetlejuice - Palace Theatre
Nov 13, 2025: Oedipus - Studio 54
Nov 16, 2025: Chess - Imperial Theatre
Mar 23, 2026: Giant - Music Box Theatre
Apr 06, 2026: Becky Shaw - Hayes Theater
Apr 16, 2026: Proof - Booth Theatre
Apr 26, 2026: Drama Desk Cut-Off