All stories by Jonathan Mandell on BroadwayStars

Thursday, December 9, 2021

Company on Broadway Review. Sondheim’s musical, and live tribute. by Jonathan Mandell

 “Company” is perfectly timed, sadly. Opening less than two weeks after the death of Stephen Sondheim at the age of 91, in a season delayed by more than a year and a half by the worldwi…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:03PM
Wednesday, December 8, 2021

Just For Us Review: Alex Edelman, a Jewish comic who tries to charm some antisemites by Jonathan Mandell

Alex Edelman read a Tweet from somebody he knew to be antisemitic – the man had previously attacked him online for being Jewish —  inviting people to go to an address in Astoria, Queen…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:41PM
Monday, December 6, 2021

Selling Kabul Review: Left Behind in Afghanistan by Jonathan Mandell

“Selling Kabul,” a play by Sylvia Khoury at Playwrights Horizons through December 23, tells a small, claustrophobic story about Taroon, an Afghani man who is holed up in his sister Afiya…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:50PM

The Arts Honored. Sondheim Rediscovered. #StageworthyNews by Jonathan Mandell

The President of the United States attended the 44th Kennedy Center Honors, in a return to tradition, and paid tribute not just to the honorees — opera singer Justino Díaz, Motown founde…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:01AM
Friday, October 22, 2021

Fall Forward Festival: New free short works by Kirsten Childs and Ngozi Anyanwu by Jonathan Mandell

The Vineyard Theater has launched its Fall Forward Festival with the first two of the five planned  “new works of alternative theater,” according to its website, works that promise to …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:21PM
Thursday, October 21, 2021

Lackawanna Blues On Screen and On Stage by Jonathan Mandell

After my tickets to “Lackawanna Blues” were canceled twice because Ruben Santiago-Hudson, the author, director and star of this autobiographical solo show, had injured his back, I search…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:02PM
Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Paradise Review. The Science of Love by Jonathan Mandell

Do chimpanzees fall in love? Can human couples really stay madly in love after many years, and can a brain scan prove it?  Will theatergoers still love digital theater now that in-person t…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:45PM
Tuesday, October 19, 2021

Book Review: Unprotected a Memoir by Billy Porter by Jonathan Mandell

“”You’re a singular talent, Billy. Nobody knows what to do with you.’“And there it is again—the smoke up my ass…Singular talent without a gig don’t pay the rent, and a bitch …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:40PM
Monday, October 18, 2021

Thoughts of A Colored Man, Lehman Trilogy, Dana H. 51 Shows on Broadway! Sanctuary City Goes Hybrid! #Stageworthy This Week by Jonathan Mandell

There were five Broadway openings (and reopenings) this week, in what promises to be the oddest and busiest Broadway season in memory. There are now 51 shows on the Broadway 2021-2022 season…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:36AM
Sunday, October 17, 2021

Dana H. Broadway Review. Deirdre O’Connell lip-syncs an incredible trauma by Jonathan Mandell

“Dana H.” is unlike any play you’ve ever seen on Broadway. It’s 75 minutes of an actress sitting on a chair, lip-syncing to a tape of a woman recounting the horrific story of a deran…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:48PM
Thursday, October 14, 2021

The Lehman Trilogy on Broadway Review. Changing with the times, but enough? by Jonathan Mandell

The country has changed in the two and a half years since The Lehman Trilogy came to America, wowing audiences at the Park Avenue Armory with a theatrical epic, inventively staged and extra…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:24PM
Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Thoughts of a Colored Man Review: Ntozake Shange meets The Wire by Jonathan Mandell

“Thoughts of a Colored Man,”  Keenan Scott II’s often powerful, often entertaining debut Broadway play about a day in the life of seven Black men in Brooklyn,  is performed by a te…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:52PM
Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Letters of Suresh Review. Unfolding the mysteries of the heart by Jonathan Mandell

Rajiv Joseph’s epistolary play begins with some meager clues to the mysteries at its heart – a stack of letters from a man named Suresh, and an origami sculpture of a bird – before it …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:02PM

Six, Chicken & Biscuits, Is This A Room. Theater Boosters. Darren Criss, Pal Joey to hustle on Broadway at last. #Stageworthy This Week by Jonathan Mandell

“Booster” has taken on a new meaning in the age of COVID, which Broadway has embraced in its own way. Some 250 people have been hired (so far) to serve as safety team members in Broadway…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:59AM
Monday, October 11, 2021

Broadway Review: Is This A Room. Reality Winner’s FBI Interrogation Verbatim by Jonathan Mandell

Much is improbable about “Is This A Room,” starting with the name of the real-life whistleblower who’s the subject of the play (Reality Winner), and the fact that she received a stupef…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:47PM
Sunday, October 10, 2021

Chicken & Biscuits on Broadway Review. Funny Funeral with Happy Ending by Jonathan Mandell

Beverly Jenkins doesn’t wear black to her father’s funeral. “We already Black! We should be honoring my Daddy in style, COLOR! Hell, canary yellow was his favorite, and he wore it l…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:04PM
Saturday, October 9, 2021

Hit Your Mark, Die Beautiful Review. What’s so bad about Off Off Broadway. by Jonathan Mandell

 “Hit Your Mark, Die Beautiful” lured me in because it was being promoted as a “Waiting for Guffman” for Off Off Broadway, which I took to mean a comic but affectionate look at how …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:26AM
Thursday, October 7, 2021

Six Review. Wronged Queens in a Broadway Musical of Sonic Wave Feminism by Jonathan Mandell

“Divorced. Beheaded. Died. Divorced. Beheaded. Survived.” The first six words of “Six” sum up the fate of each of King Henry VIII’s six wives. The first six minutes of “Six” (t…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:40AM
Tuesday, October 5, 2021

Saving New York Independent Theater: An Update by Jonathan Mandell

If you think that reopening has solved the problems of New York’s theaters and theater artists, listen up: “We’re talking about life and death: The life and death of our neighborhoods;…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:23PM
Monday, October 4, 2021

Reopening…and Reclosing? Daniel Craig, Thornton Wilder Back on Broadway. #Stageworthy This Week by Jonathan Mandell

In what may be the busiest October for theater in generations, there are fifteen shows scheduled to open on Broadway, more than half of which are new, as well as much Off and Off Off Broadwa…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:56AM
Sunday, October 3, 2021

Chasing Jack Review. Theatrical Malpractice That Might Set Records. by Jonathan Mandell

In “Chasing Jack,” nothing is as it seems. That’s true of Dr. Jack Chase, the heart surgeon who is being sued for malpractice after his patient died on the operating table. And it’s …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:38PM
Saturday, October 2, 2021

The Nosebleed Review: A Long-Dead Father, Vulnerability, Failure and Healing by Jonathan Mandell

“The Nosebleed,” Aya Ogawa’s sly, strange and ultimately rewarding autobiographical play that’s at the Japan Society through October 10, focuses on Ogawa’s long-dead father and the…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:01PM
Friday, October 1, 2021

October 2021 New York Theater Openings and Reopenings by Jonathan Mandell

Below is a day-by-day selection of the theater that is scheduled to open in October, organized by opening date*, including fifteen shows on Broadway, more than half of which are new, as wel…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:24PM
Thursday, September 30, 2021

Theater Quiz for September 2021: Reopening and Awarding. by Jonathan Mandell

How well were you paying attention to a very busy theater month? Answer these ten question to find out. Loading…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:42PM
Wednesday, September 29, 2021

La MaMa Puppet Festival 2021: Lunch with Sonia by Jonathan Mandell

Aunt Sonia, who is gathering the whole clan for one last meal before she ends her life, looks different from when I last saw her. She once was just a huge head, with a mouth that seemed per…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:08PM
Tuesday, September 28, 2021

Persuasion Review. Bedlam’s staging of Jane Austen’s last, romantic novel by Jonathan Mandell

Bedlam’s return to live in-person theater with its new adaptation of Jane Austen’s romantic final novel — about a woman who meets once again the man whose proposal of marriage she reje…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:19PM
Monday, September 27, 2021

A Commercial Jingle for Regina Comet Review by Jonathan Mandell

In this slight musical comedy with an on-the-nose title, Broadway veteran Bryonha Marie Parham portrays a fading diva named Regina Comet who hires two aspiring jingle writers (Alex Wyse and …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:30PM

Tony Night 2021: Memorable Moments and Contradictions. #Stageworthy This Week by Jonathan Mandell

Four hours full of spectacular musical numbers, ending with three famous musical duets from the past  — Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel performing “For Good” from Wicked, Anthony…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:07AM
Sunday, September 26, 2021

2020 Tony Award Winners (in 2021) by Jonathan Mandell

Below are the winners of the much-delayed 74th annual Tony Awards, honoring the much-truncated 2019-2020 Broadway season, selected from 18 eligible shows, which opened between April of 2019…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:10PM

I Squeezed Really Hard: The Healing Power of Theater, Whether on Broadway or Off Off Avenue B by Jonathan Mandell

The day of the Tony Awards might seem a strange time to write about an Off-Off Broadway solo play, playing in a theater off Avenue B, with the downbeat title “I Squeezed Really Hard” (a …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:48PM
Saturday, September 25, 2021

Watch 5 New Broadway Musicals Previewed in Bryant Park by Jonathan Mandell

Watch musical numbers performed by cast members from the new Broadway musicals “Six,” “Diana,” and “Mrs. Doubtfire,” as well as the new revivals of “Company” and “Caroline …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:22PM