All stories by Jonathan Mandell on BroadwayStars

Sunday, January 28, 2024

Days of Wine and Roses Broadway Review: Kelli O’Hara and Brian d’Arcy James together again by Jonathan Mandell

Brian d’Arcy James and Kelli O’Hara return to Broadway for the first time together since 2002 to portray a couple who fall in love with alcohol as much as with one another in this musi…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:09PM
Saturday, January 27, 2024

Obie Awards 2024: Dark Disabled Stories, Downstate, Public Obscenities artists among those honored by Jonathan Mandell

The 67th annual Obie Awards, honoring achievement Off and Off Off Broadway, were announced tonight. The 23 winners are listed below, some of them linked to my reviews BEST NEW AMERICAN PLAY …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:25PM
Friday, January 26, 2024

Aristotle Thinks Again Review. Dreadful and lovely human nature, then and now. by Jonathan Mandell

The first disturbing story that we’re told in this hour-long collage of dancing and diatribes, horror and love, concerns a man named Tantalus, who killed his son and chopped him up with th…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:30PM
Thursday, January 25, 2024

Once Upon A Mattress Encores Review by Jonathan Mandell

Sutton Foster, trying her hand at goofy physical comedy and affecting a rapid-fire comic patter reminiscent of early Barbra Streisand, is an undeniable draw in the Encores! series revival of…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:26PM
Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Broadway at the Oscars Quiz, 2024 by Jonathan Mandell

Nominations for the 96th annual Academy Awards were announced yesterday, and theater lovers cheered the latest Broadway connections. The Oscars have always had Broadway connections. Test you…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:17AM
Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Oscar Nominations 2024 by Jonathan Mandell

The complete list of nominations for the 96th annual Academy Awards, which will be held on Sunday, March 10 at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and televised LIVE on ABC. Watch the…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:31AM
Monday, January 22, 2024

Spring Previews. Opening: Patriots, Stereophonic. Closing: Harmony, How to Dance. Stageworthy News of the Week by Jonathan Mandell

There are now twenty-one shows scheduled to open on Broadway during the Spring 2024 season, three of them announced just within the past week. As Time Out’s Adam Feldman points out, much o…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:06AM
Sunday, January 21, 2024

Prototype Online: Swann, Vodalities, Whiteness by Jonathan Mandell

From the wordless to the wordy, these short worldly works– all three directly or indirectly reflecting the story of race in America; all three intriguing examples of digital theater — we…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:44PM
Saturday, January 20, 2024

Pride House Review. How Cherry Grove became a gay mecca by Jonathan Mandell

A play called “Pride House,” set in Cherry Grove on Fire Island, and produced by a gay theater company? It’s reasonable to presume it the kind of formulaic gay play that has proliferat…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:53PM
Friday, January 19, 2024

The Fire This Time Festival at 15 by Jonathan Mandell

The Black couple go overboard in congratulating their daughter for coming out, donning rainbow T-shirts and hanging up a banner, but they learn to their shock that Niani is not coming out as…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:15PM
Thursday, January 18, 2024

Prototype Festival: Terce by Jonathan Mandell

There are two ways to appreciate this latest work of musical theater by Heather Christian, which is part of the eleventh annual Prototype festival of opera theater and musical theater. One i…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:23PM
Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Spring New York Theater Preview: 10 “Can’t Miss” Shows by Jonathan Mandell

Rachel McAdams of Slings and Arrows and Michael Imperioli of The Sopranos making their Broadway debuts; a new quirky musical from the team behind “A Band’s Visit,” a new play by Paula …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:22PM
Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Elton John gets an EGOT. Eva Noblezada, Corey Cott, Ramin Karimloo back on Broadway. Broadway Week beings. Stageworthy News by Jonathan Mandell

At the 75th annual Primetime Emmy Awards last night, Elton John became the nineteenth person to achieve an EGOT — winner of an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony — when he won  for “…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:16AM
Monday, January 15, 2024

Martin Luther King Jr on “history’s scapegoats, the Jews” by Jonathan Mandell

“My people were brought to America in chains. Your people were driven here to escape the chains fashioned for them in Europe,” Martin Luther King Jr. said in his address to the American …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:00AM
Sunday, January 14, 2024

Best and Worst Hollywood Movie to Broadway Musical to Hollywood Musical? by Jonathan Mandell

 “The Color Purple” and “Mean Girls,” were both Hollywood movies adapted from books (Alice Walker’s novel “The Color Purple” and Rosalind Wiseman’s non-fiction  “Queen…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:12PM
Saturday, January 13, 2024

10 Mean Girls Movie Musical Reviews, from Meanest to Nicest by Jonathan Mandell

“Mean Girls” was Tina Fey’s smart, funny 2004 movie that she turned with her husband into an overlong, ill-timed Broadway musical (as I wrote in my review) in 2018, which has now been …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:02AM
Friday, January 12, 2024

PhysFestNYC: Send in the Clowns? by Jonathan Mandell

I saw three shows that featured clowns at PhysFestNYC, billed as the first-ever festival in New York City to showcase physical theater, which is wrapping up its ten-day run on Sunday.  P…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:41PM
Thursday, January 11, 2024

Prayer for the French Republic Broadway Review by Jonathan Mandell

In the two years since I first saw Joshua Harmon’s ambitious, busy play about antisemitism, in which five generations of a single French family in two different eras fear for their safety,…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:43PM
Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Broadway Week 2024: 2 for 1 Tickets. by Jonathan Mandell

Tickets are now on sale for Broadway Week, where you can buy two tickets for the price of one for performances from January 16 through February 4, 2024 of 23 Broadway shows, from “& Ju…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:31AM
Tuesday, January 9, 2024

Theater Blog Roundup: Assessing 2023, Hoping and Fearing for 2024 by Jonathan Mandell

“For the theatre community, it was a time of tumult, turnover, ‘the field is in crisis’ essays, show cancellations due to illness, and budgetary shortfalls.” But also a response: “…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:04PM
Monday, January 8, 2024

Da’Vine is Golden. Kimberly is Closing. Under the Radar is Making Waves. Stageworthy News. by Jonathan Mandell

Hollywood and Broadway intertwined in complicated ways once again when Broadway veterans Paul Giamatti and Da’Vine Joy Randolph both won Golden Globe Awards last night for their roles in …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:11PM
Sunday, January 7, 2024

Under the Radar at Lincoln Center: Queens of Sheba, The First Bad Man, Search Party. by Jonathan Mandell

I saw these three hour-long shows from the 19th Under the Radar Festival one after the other on the same floor of the Rose building at Lincoln Center Queens of Sheba Muki Zubis stood on stag…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:02PM
Saturday, January 6, 2024

It’s a Motherf—ing Pleasure Review. Making Fringey-fun of Ableism, and the Disabled. by Jonathan Mandell

Created and performed by a trio who call themselves FlawBored and describe themselves as a “disability-led theater company” – two of the three are legally blind – this export from th…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:25PM

Under the Radar: Open Mic Night by Jonathan Mandell

Billed as “an experimental theater piece about the end of an experimental theater,” this opening night show in the 19th annual Under the Radar festival turned out to be, as the title pro…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:12AM
Friday, January 5, 2024

January 2024 New York Theater Openings by Jonathan Mandell

Below is a calendar of selected theater opening* this month in New York, including two Broadway shows that are both transfers from Off-Broadway.  The bulk of theatrical fare in January lon…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:50PM
Thursday, January 4, 2024

January Theater Festivals Make a Comeback! by Jonathan Mandell

Below is a preview of the theater festivals in New York City this month, which are presenting more than eighty shows, many of them far from traditional theater — call them experimental, av…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:43PM
Wednesday, January 3, 2024

Broadway Poll: Spring 2024 Show You Most Want To See by Jonathan Mandell

Choose the show that you are most looking forward to, among the 18 that (so far) have firm opening dates on Broadway between now and April 25, 2024, when the 2023-2024 season ends. They are …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:57AM
Tuesday, January 2, 2024

Broadway 2024: What’s Ahead? 2023 In Review. Stageworthy News by Jonathan Mandell

How will the “crisis in theater” be addressed? That’s the first of my 5 Major Questions for The Theater in 2024 and Beyond. I also Ring IN The Old in 2024: 16 Broadway veterans in thei…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:39AM
Monday, January 1, 2024

5 Major Questions for The Theater in 2024 and Beyond by Jonathan Mandell

We can’t see the future clearly, of theater or anything else, but we can look at the recent past and wonder how things will play out. My questions about theater in 2024 are prompted by the…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:45AM
Sunday, December 31, 2023

Ring IN The Old in 2024: Broadway veterans in their 90s by Jonathan Mandell

Let us celebrate surviving to a new and hopefully better year, by honoring these sixteen Broadway veterans in their nineties — celebrated performers, playwrights, producers, directors, com…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:51AM
Saturday, December 30, 2023

Year End Theater Quiz: A Look Back at 2023 by Jonathan Mandell

How much do you remember of this year in New York theater? Answer these 16 questions to find out. My most challenging quiz yet, about a most challenging year. Loading…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:36PM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Nov 17, 2024: Elf - Marquis Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 17, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre