All stories by Jonathan Mandell on BroadwayStars

Monday, September 14, 2020

Watch #Miscast20 and read my review by Jonathan Mandell

Joshua Henry, who is the theater world’s most unlikely Annie, sang “Tomorrow” (“The sun will come out tomorrow…”) at Miscast, followed by Heather Headley singing “Endless Night…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:06PM

After Six Months, What? #Stageworthy News of the Week by Jonathan Mandell

To mark the six months of Broadway’s shutdown this past weekend, we could look back, as I did — The Best Theater in Six Months of No Theater — or we could compile suggestions for a ch…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:02AM
Sunday, September 13, 2020

X is for Xavier Rubiano, a Broadway casting director who likes Miscast by Jonathan Mandell

Casting director Xavier Rubiano loves attending “Miscast,” the annual concert produced by MCC Theater in which Broadway stars perform songs in roles for which they would never be cast. E…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:22AM
Saturday, September 12, 2020

The Best Theater in Six Months of No Theater by Jonathan Mandell

I went to the theater in New York for the last time the day after they shut down Broadway on March 12th, six months ago today. My theatergoing on Friday the 13th Off-Off Broadway (which was …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 05:42PM

Theater to See This Weekend September 12-13: From Bette to BD to Baby Jessica by Jonathan Mandell

Exactly six months after Broadway was shut down, there is LIVE, in-person theater to go to today — although it’s quite far from Broadway, or from conventional theater. And there’s ple…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:54AM
Friday, September 11, 2020

Review: Incidental Moments of the Day: The Apple Family Finally Talks About Race by Jonathan Mandell

Things are looking up for the Apple family, but not for me, as the characters talk to one another on a Zoom call yet again. Richard Nelson’s third play in four months about the same set of…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 07:48PM

Watch Incidental Moments of the Day and Read My Review: The Apples Finally Talk About Race by Jonathan Mandell

Things are looking up for the Apple family, but not for me, as the characters talk to one another on a Zoom call yet again. Richard Nelson’s third play in four months about the same set of…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:41PM

Paul Rudnick On Coastal Elites, Trash-Tweeting Ivanka, and How Bette Midler and Theater Give Him Hope by Jonathan Mandell

You’re getting attention for “Coastal Elites,” which was supposed to be a play at the Public Theater, but launches as a film on HBO September 12th, starring Bette Midler, Kaitlyn Dever…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:25AM
Wednesday, September 9, 2020

Lynn Nottage on Theatre for One, and theater for many, and keeping busy during COVID by Jonathan Mandell

Lynn Nottage, two-time Pulitzer Prize winning playwright (Ruined, Sweat), was put on the waitlist to see Theatre for One’s “Here We Are”; ;that should give you a sense of its popularit…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:29PM
Tuesday, September 8, 2020

The Fall Season. Nick Cordero Tribute. #ArtsWorkersUnite #Stageworthy News by Jonathan Mandell

Week in Reviews. Week in Theater News. Week in Theater Videos. #Stageworthy News of the Week. The Fall season has officially begun, but the theater season is shaping up as the most unusual, …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:41AM
Monday, September 7, 2020

Z is for Zero Mostel on Broadway. by Jonathan Mandell

Samuel Mostel supposedly got his nickname from his mother; if he didn’t do better in school, he would amount to a zero. He did do better — an A student, a linguist who spoke four languag…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:05PM

Labor Day and the Pandemic: Will there now be more theater about workers and working? by Jonathan Mandell

On past Labor Days, I’ve asked: Where are the American plays about unions, or workers, or even just workplaces? But now that “arts workers” have turned Labor Day into an #ArtsWorkersU…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:49AM
Sunday, September 6, 2020

Taking Action to Save the Arts: Turning from playwriting to bill writing by Jonathan Mandell

Matthew-Lee Erlbach first realized he would become an actor and a playwright when he saw “True West” on Broadway at age 14 – “It was like gods performing rituals to mortals,” he sa…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:27PM
Saturday, September 5, 2020

Y is for Yul Brynner on Broadway by Jonathan Mandell

Yul Brynner starred on Broadway as Odysseus in “Home Sweet Homer,” a musical that opened and closed on the same night.  He had better luck in his 1941 Broadway debut at the age of 21, a…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:45PM
Friday, September 4, 2020

Labor Day Weekend Shows to Watch Sept 4-7. Porgy and Bess, The B-Side, Brandon Victor Dixon by Jonathan Mandell

The long weekend offers concerts by theater stars (including several in-person), a festival,  and online theater that’s both opening and soon to end, as well as more long-lasting videos t…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:58PM
Thursday, September 3, 2020

Composers Their Lives and Works. Where are Broadway, Black composers? by Jonathan Mandell

Composers: Their Lives and Works (DK, 320 pages) is a richly illustrated coffee table book in which eight authors profile some 160 composers over a thousand years of Western music, starting…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:23AM
Wednesday, September 2, 2020

Love in the Time of Corona on FreeForm. A lesson for theater? by Jonathan Mandell

There is one moment in particular that struck me in “Love in the Time of Corona,” the first TV series made about, and during, the pandemic, co-produced and co-starring “Hamilton” Ton…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:05PM

The Arts Are Reopening! NY Arts Council lists 50 in NYC by Jonathan Mandell

Arts and cultural organizations across New York State are reopening, including 50 in New York City, according to an announcement today by the New York State Council of the Arts. In keeping w…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:22PM
Tuesday, September 1, 2020

September 2020 Theater Openings: What’s streaming day by day by Jonathan Mandell

Below is the day-by-day calendar of “theater openings”* in September, 2020, as we enter the sixth month of winging it online — and experimenting back offline. This month will see Brian…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:36AM
Monday, August 31, 2020

New York City IS Theater. #Stageworthy News of the Week by Jonathan Mandell

Week in Reviews. Week in Theater News. Week in Theater Videos. #Stageworthy News: “Every corner was like a theater production happening right in front of me…” James Altucher recalls ab…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:12AM
Sunday, August 30, 2020

Theater Quiz for August 2020 by Jonathan Mandell

How well were you following theater news and reviews in the month of August? Take this quiz to find out.   Loading…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:23AM
Saturday, August 29, 2020

W is for William Shakespeare. The Bard’s Broadway Career in Photos and Video by Jonathan Mandell

There have been 66 known productions of Hamlet on Broadway since 1761, the last one in 2009 starring Jude Law; 48 Macbeths (Ethan Hawke in 2013), 36 Romeo and Juliets (Orlando Bloom and Cond…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:31PM
Friday, August 28, 2020

In The Long Run Book Review. 15 Longest Running Broadway Plays by Jonathan Mandell

In the history of Broadway, twenty-six plays have had runs of more than 1,000 consecutive performances, none before 1918, and none after 1986. Jordan Schildcrout looks at 15 of them in “In…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:52PM
Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Women’s Rights Statue unveiled in Central Park, with audio play starring Meryl Streep et al by Jonathan Mandell

  The Women’s Rights Pioneers Monument was unveiled this morning in Central Park, accompanied by a new audio play “Talking Statue” by Joanne Parrent, in which Viola Davis, Jane Alexan…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:11PM
Tuesday, August 25, 2020

48 Hours in Harlem 10th Anniversary Festival: A New Take on Classic Black Plays by Jonathan Mandell

Two members of a book club for Black women have invited M’Balia, an author who advocates violent revolution, to speak to their group and perhaps help turn it into a revolutionary cadre, in…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:25AM
Monday, August 24, 2020

Tonys At Last. #BroadwayforBiden. #Stageworthy News of the Week by Jonathan Mandell

#Stageworthy News of the Week. The Broadway community made its political preference clear last week – with performances by Billy Porter and Jennifer Hudson; heck, the producers of the Tony…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:23AM
Sunday, August 23, 2020

V is for Vanessa Redgrave. Her Broadway career in photos. by Jonathan Mandell

Vanessa Redgrave, the “Greatest Actress of Our Time,” according to playwrights Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller — also the daughter, the sister, the mother and the romantic partner…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:53PM
Saturday, August 22, 2020

Theater Blog Roundup: 4 Essential Aspects of Playwriting, 15 Favorite Musicals, 50 Two-Handers, 74th annual Tony Awards by Jonathan Mandell

COVID, loneliness and lack of inclusion are certainly present in some of the theater blogging this month, summarized below, but there seems space these days for a look back.  On About Last …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:02PM
Friday, August 21, 2020

Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Biting Quips at 2020 Democratic National Convention by Jonathan Mandell

During her hosting duties for the fourth and final night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention, Julia Louis-Dreyfus shot out some zingers. The actress, who became friends with Joe Biden…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:50AM

Joe Biden’s Theater Moment: Quoting Sophocles/Seamus Heaney in His 2020 Democratic Convention Speech by Jonathan Mandell

Near the end of Joe Biden’s acceptance speech on the final night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention (transcript below), he quoted from a poem by Seamus Heaney, the great Irish writ…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:09AM
Thursday, August 20, 2020

Watch Jennifer Hudson Sing A Change Is Gonna Come at the Democratic Convention Day 3 by Jonathan Mandell

Jennifer Hudson sings Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come,” at the end of Day 3 of the 2020 Democratic National Convention, from the elegant Harold Washington Cultural Center in Hudson…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:17AM