All stories by Maya Phillips on BroadwayStars

Monday, January 1, 2024
Sunday, December 3, 2023

10 Performances That Pushed Emotional Limits by Maya Phillips

For our critic-at-large, the year was marked by the Black excellence of “Purlie Victorious,” the brutality of “Bottoms” and rage of “Beef.”

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:32AM
Monday, November 13, 2023

“Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” Makes Black Women Feel at Home by Maya Phillips

“Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” is a play where the Black women in the audience are the ones who feel most at home.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:36PM
Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Review: In ‘Daphne,’ Remaking a Myth, With Mixed Results by Maya Phillips

The playwright Renae Simone Jarrett makes her professional stage debut with a surreal reworking of a Greek myth about a river nymph.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 08:43PM
Thursday, October 12, 2023

Review: In ‘(pray),’ Nourish Thyself With Song and Dance by Maya Phillips

An exploration of how faith intersects with Black womanhood, through a mix of music, movement, ritual and poetry.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 07:00AM
Monday, October 9, 2023

Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ and Its Insight Into Grief, Family and Gender by Maya Phillips

For one critic, every encounter with this Shakespeare play deepens her understanding of its insights into grief, family and gender.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 08:37AM
Thursday, June 29, 2023

‘The Great Gatsby’ Review: Raising a Glass to an American Tragedy by Maya Phillips

This immersive staging of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic invites audience members to join the party, but the pathos of the novel is stretched too thin.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:25PM
Wednesday, June 14, 2023

‘A Simulacrum’ Review: A Magic Show in the Making, and Unmaking by Maya Phillips

The magician Steve Cuiffo and the playwright Lucas Hnath try to find the reality beneath the illusions in this Atlantic Theater Company production.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:19PM
Monday, June 12, 2023

Best and Worst Moments of the 76th Tony Awards by Jesse Green, Maya Phillips, Elisabeth Vincentelli, Laura Collins-Hughes, Alexis Soloski and Sarah Bahr

With a clever opening number and repeated support for striking writers, the Tonys celebrated Broadway’s shows, performers and creative teams.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:07AM
Wednesday, May 24, 2023

‘Demons’ Review: Grief Is the Thing with Red Fur by Maya Phillips

A family processes its bereavement in the midst of a demonic haunting in Keelay Gipson’s new play for Bushwick Starr.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:06PM
Friday, May 19, 2023

‘The Fears’ Review: Group Therapy Was Never More Triggering by Maya Phillips

For the fragile souls in this new play, presented by Steven Soderbergh, a Buddhist group that once offered them solace loses its way.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:36PM
Friday, May 12, 2023

Review: Despite the Primping, ‘The Cotillion’ Is Far From Flawless by Maya Phillips

Colette Robert’s play takes aim at antiquated rites of passage, and how they can promote classism, colorism and retrograde gender politics.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 08:36PM
Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Tony Awards 2023: Who Will Win (and Who Should) by Jesse Green and Maya Phillips

Jesse Green, the chief theater critic, and Maya Phillips, a critic-at-large, name the shows and artists who they think will win, should win and should have been nominated for this year’s T…

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:32AM
Thursday, April 27, 2023

‘Welcome to Clowntown’ Review: Raunchy Stories and Giant Balloon Animals by Maya Phillips

In a production decidedly for grown-ups, Tanya Perez’s one-woman show draws on her life as a professional clown (and occasional stripper).

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:36PM
Tuesday, April 18, 2023

Review: In ‘Plays for the Plague Year,’ the Soundtrack of Our Lives by Maya Phillips

Suzan-Lori Parks wrote one play a day for 13 months during the pandemic. Those stories come to life onstage in the form of monologues, dialogues and songs at Joe’s Pub.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:12PM
Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Review: Arson, Snowmen, Avian Attacks in ‘Regretfully, So the Birds Are’ by Maya Phillips

A family of adoptees reckon with Asian American identity in this surreal play from Playwrights Horizons and WP Theater.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:18PM
Friday, March 31, 2023

Michael R. Jackson on the Soap Opera Origins of ‘White Girl in Danger’ by Maya Phillips

The musical’s creator and creative team discuss their influences, including “Days of Our Lives,” “Showgirls” and D’Angelo.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:48PM
Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Review: In ‘Hang Time,’ Lynched Men Tell Finely Tuned Tales by Maya Phillips

Zora Howard’s new play at the Flea catches three men during a few moments of their breathless eternity.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:15PM
Monday, March 13, 2023

‘How to Defend Yourself’ Review: The Murkiness of Consent, and Friendship by Maya Phillips

In Liliana Padilla’s play at New York Theater Workshop, college students find empowerment and life lessons in a DIY self-defense class.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 08:14PM
Tuesday, February 28, 2023

‘Fall River Fishing’ Review: So She Dated an Axe Murderer by Maya Phillips

A casually absurd play about the infamous Lizzie Borden, presented by Bedlam, cleverly undercuts the central dramatic event.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:10PM
Sunday, February 26, 2023

Review: ‘black odyssey’ Sails Through Black Past and Present by Maya Phillips

This wine-dark sea threads through Harlem, and its Ulysses, buffeted by the gods, is a soldier fighting in Afghanistan who makes a fatal mistake.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:00PM
Thursday, February 23, 2023

They Invited Shakespeare to the Cookout. They Got ‘Fat Ham.’ by Maya Phillips

The playwright James Ijames and the director Saheem Ali built a “Hamlet”-inspired play, opening in April on Broadway, around their artistic friendship.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:00AM
Monday, February 20, 2023

Review: In Eulalie Spence’s Harlem, the 1920s Come to Life by Maya Phillips

“She’s Got Harlem on Her Mind,” three of Spence’s one-acts, packaged together at the Metropolitan Playhouse, are filled with gender and class politics.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:42AM
Friday, January 27, 2023

‘The Smuggler’ Review: A Barman’s Rambling Yarn by Maya Phillips

The one-man show means to draw the audience into a moral quandary pitting immigrants and the American poor against each other.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:27PM
Saturday, January 14, 2023

When Black Characters Double-Deal to Make Ends Meet, It’s Never Enough by Maya Phillips

In three Broadway plays this season, a quest for financial stability can’t undo the trauma of the past or dismantle the architecture that places a ceiling on Black futures.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:00AM
Friday, December 16, 2022

‘Des Moines’ Review: Drowning in the Drink by Maya Phillips

A new production of Denis Johnson’s final play showcases many of his signatures: deadpan absurdism, misfit characters, heavy drinking and statements on the bleak fact of human mortality.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:12PM
Tuesday, December 6, 2022

‘Your Own Personal Exegesis’ Review: Blessed Be the Young and Lustful by Maya Phillips

Julia May Jonas’s play-as-Mass for LCT3 is imaginative, but falters as it nears the finish line.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:36PM

10 Stages and Screens Where I Saw Connection by Maya Phillips

For our critic-at-large, “Fat Ham,” “Severance,” “A Strange Loop” and “Sandman” were some of the places she found truth and transcendence.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:42AM
Sunday, December 4, 2022

Review: ‘Becky Nurse of Salem’ Brings the Witches but Forgets the Magic by Maya Phillips

Deirdre O’Connell shines as a modern-day descendant of an accused witch in Sarah Ruhl’s unfocused new play at Lincoln Center.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 08:18PM
Tuesday, November 22, 2022

‘The Patient Gloria’ Review: A Theatrical Remedy for Toxic Therapy by Maya Phillips

Gina Moxley’s punchy, punk-rock play counters a woman’s betrayal by her therapists, exposing the sexism in her treatment.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:18PM
Tuesday, November 8, 2022

‘A Delicate Balance’ Review: Tipping the Scales by Maya Phillips

This Off Broadway production of Edward Albee’s drama is the first to feature a full cast of Asian American actors.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:18PM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards