All stories by Jonathan Mandell on BroadwayStars

Friday, December 11, 2020

Watch Nicole Kidman in Zazz. Read my review of The Prom by Jonathan Mandell

See  below a video of “Zazz,” the musical number starring Nicole Kidman and Jo Ellen Pellman,  from The Prom, the film adaptation of the Broadway musical, released today on Netflix —…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:27PM

One Night Only: The Best of Broadway. But was it the best? by Jonathan Mandell

For those who missed the special last night, NBC is offering  “One Night Only: The Best of Broadway” online.  I’m not sorry I saw it; among the pile-up of familiar songs from famili…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:19AM
Thursday, December 10, 2020

Broadway: Happy Hanukkah. The Folksbiene Chanukah Spectacular by Jonathan Mandell

Joel Grey sings “Give My Regards to Broadway” – in Yiddish. And he’s not alone among the 50 performers of the Folksbiene Chanukah Spectacular, a fast-moving, entertaining 80 minutes …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 07:06PM

Happy Hanukkah via Broadway: Folksbiene’s Chanukah Spectacular by Jonathan Mandell

Joel Grey sings “Give My Regards to Broadway” – in Yiddish. And he’s not alone among the 50 performers of the Folksbiene Chanukah Spectacular, a fast-moving, entertaining 80 minutes …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:06PM
Wednesday, December 9, 2020

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom on Netflix. Chadwick Boseman, Viola Davis and August Wilson’s Words by Jonathan Mandell

  Some four decades before “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” was turned into a film on Netflix featuring spectacular performances by  the late Chadwick Boseman in his final role and Viola D…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:22PM
Tuesday, December 8, 2020

The Golden Collection: 15 Plays by Black Playwrights Jeremy O. Harris Thinks You Should Read by Jonathan Mandell

The following 15 plays/play collections by Black playwrights make up the Golden Collection, curated by playwright Jeremy O. Harris, who has announced plans to donate the collection to libra…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:29PM
Monday, December 7, 2020

Dr. Fauci and Lloyd Webber:The vaccine will reopen Broadway. Jeremy O. Harris: Hollywood should subsidize theater. #Stageworthy News. by Jonathan Mandell

A good news, bad news week. IF approved by federal regulators, a vaccine could start arriving in New York City next week, and, say both Dr. Anthony Fauci and impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber, …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:34AM
Sunday, December 6, 2020

Oscar and Walt. The Day When Oscar Wilde Met Walt Whitman by Jonathan Mandell

Watch Oscar and Walt, a play by Donald Steven Olson about the real-life meeting between Oscar Wilde and Walt Whitman, starring Judy Kuhn, John Rubinstein and Sam Underwood. “I come as a po…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:47PM
Saturday, December 5, 2020

Before “Mank”: Herman J. Mankiewicz, Man of The Theater: Witty Critic, Obituary Writer, Playwright, Performer by Jonathan Mandell

“Mank,” the new film on Netflix by David Fincher focuses on Herman J. Mankiewicz, drunk and laid up after a car accident, writing the screenplay for “Citizen Kane,” one of the most …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:38PM

New Works Virtual Festival, December 5-25 by Jonathan Mandell

Below is the schedule of the new plays being presented with impressively starry casts each evening at 8 pm through Christmas, as part of the first ever New Works Virtual Festival, which will…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:14AM
Friday, December 4, 2020

Old Friends New Works: Laura Linney, Edie Falco, Jeremy Pope by Jonathan Mandell

Watch “Old Friends New Works” below until December 7 “You broke my heart. You let me down. You cut my teeth out…You pulverized my sense of self…And I recovered,” Edie Falco says …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:21PM
Thursday, December 3, 2020

Review: Jefferson Mays’ extraordinary solo performance in filmed Christmas Carol by Jonathan Mandell

The credits at the end of this A Christmas Carol list a cast of 51 characters – 50 of them portrayed by Jefferson Mays. He’s the narrator, as well as Ebenezer Scrooge, Scrooge’s clerk …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 04:12PM

A Christmas Carol with Jefferson Mays: Review, Pics and Video by Jonathan Mandell

The credits at the end of this “A Christmas Carol” list a cast of 51 characters – 50 of them portrayed by Jefferson Mays…even The Dying Fire and An Indignant Potato…..But the main …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:03PM
Wednesday, December 2, 2020

The Prom on Netflix Review: Movie Stars as Broadway Divas, Hams and Indiana Lesbians by Jonathan Mandell

Meryl Streep made me laugh out loud, repeatedly, during “It’s Not About Me,” which she sings in her role as the self-absorbed Broadway diva Dee Dee Allen in “The Prom,” Ryan Murphy…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:57AM
Tuesday, December 1, 2020

#GivingTuesday: A List of NYC Theaters and Theater Charities To Support by Jonathan Mandell

This ninth annual #GivingTuesday (created in 2012 by the 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation) is unlike any that have gone before it for New York area theaters, theater compani…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:51AM

December 2020 Theater Openings by Jonathan Mandell

Below is a selection of New York theater openings* in December, organized chronologically by opening date. Starry casts feature in several revivals, such as Phylicia Rashad in  “Night of …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:12AM
Monday, November 30, 2020

Screens are now the norm, for Andrew Lloyd Webber and Daniel J. Mertzlufft alike. #Stageworthy News of the Week by Jonathan Mandell

“I’m a theater animal. I’m not really a cinema animal, ” Andrew Lloyd Webber said in an interview with CNBC on Friday, “and I don’t believe you can really, really ever, at the mo…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:20AM
Sunday, November 29, 2020

Theater Quiz for November 2020 by Jonathan Mandell

How well were you following theater news and reviews in the month of November? Answer these ten questions to find out. Loading…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:43PM
Saturday, November 28, 2020

Holiday Gifts For Theater Lovers 2020 by Jonathan Mandell

My ninth annual holiday gift guide is, like theater itself, greatly altered from the previous years. Below are recommendations for albums , play scripts, librettos and new and cherished boo…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:45PM
Friday, November 27, 2020

Top 10 Theater to Be Grateful for in 2020 by Jonathan Mandell

In a year when theater has been shut down, and opened up; when it’s been re-defined , and in effect defunded; when it’s been a force for unity, and a cause for division – in such a yea…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:38PM

Theater to see Thanksgiving Weekend 2020 by Jonathan Mandell

The Christmas Carols have begun — new innovative versions — and there’s plenty of other theater on which to spend your time this weekend. Some of it even has nothing to do with the hol…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:43AM
Thursday, November 26, 2020

Watch Broadway at Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade 2020 by Jonathan Mandell

Watch the 94th annual Macys Thanksgiving Day Parada, which is different from the 93 preceding it: It’s an event produced exclusively for at home viewing, without the millions of spectators…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:00AM

Thanksgiving Address by President-elect Joe Biden: We’re at war with a virus, not with each other by Jonathan Mandell

Below are the transcript and video of President-elect Joe Biden’s Thanksgiving address, in which he says COVID-19 “has brought us pain and loss and frustration, and it has cost so many …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:31AM
Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Theater Blog Roundup: The Benefits of Giving Thanks, The Importance of Theater by Jonathan Mandell

Thoughts of Thanksgiving loom large among theater bloggers this month at a time when both Thanksgiving and theater have… changed. On Stage lists the scientific benefits of gratitude; a pla…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:12AM
Tuesday, November 24, 2020

Best Musical Theater Album #Grammy Nominations by Jonathan Mandell

The cast recordings for Amelie – A New Musical , American Utopia on Broadway, Jagged Little Pill, Little Shop of Horrors , The Prince of Egypt  and Soft Power were nominated for best musi…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:27PM

Richard Rodgers, Daughter Mary Rodgers and Grandson Adam Guettel at the 92nd St Y by Jonathan Mandell

“Writing for musical theater was not something I ever wanted to do; it was the family business,” Adam Guettel, son of Mary Rodgers and grandson of Richard Rodgers, is quoted as saying in…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:55AM
Monday, November 23, 2020

The Best of Broadway Past and Future. #Stageworthy News of the Week by Jonathan Mandell

Theaters have been bursting with announcements of future shows during a week that would normally be one of the busiest of the theater season.  Thanksgiving on Thursday may be reduced this y…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:50PM

Review: Howard University featured in Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me on HBO by Jonathan Mandell

About 15 minutes into the HBO film adaptation of “Between The World and Me,” Ta-Nehisi Coates best-selling 2015 book framed as a letter to his son about what it means to be Black in Amer…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:42PM

Between The World And Me on HBO: This is Us by Jonathan Mandell

About 15 minutes into the HBO film adaptation of “Between the World and Me”, Ta-Nehisi Coates best-selling 2015 book framed as a letter to his son about what it means to be Black in Amer…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:28AM
Sunday, November 22, 2020

The Burdens Review: William Jackson Harper and Ali Ahn as comically squabbling Jewish siblings intent on homicide by Jonathan Mandell

“The Burdens” is a dark comedy starring William Jackson Harper and Ali Ahn as a brother and a sister who plot to kill their grandfather. But it’s also a play on words, and that makes…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:34PM
Saturday, November 21, 2020

Uncle Vanya Review: Alan Cumming Complaining and Seducing on Zoom by Jonathan Mandell

Neil LaBute’s surprisingly faithful adaptation of Chekhov’s 1899 play nevertheless feels forged in the present day – even in this very moment: The proceedings remind me of a Thanksgivi…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:04PM