All stories by Naveen Kumar on BroadwayStars

Wednesday, December 6, 2023

‘Manahatta’ Review: Tracing the Blood-Soaked Roots of American Capitalism by Naveen Kumar

Straddling the 17th and early 21st centuries, Mary Kathryn Nagle’s play at the Public Theater examines the exploitation of the Lenape by Dutch settlers.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:02PM
Tuesday, December 5, 2023

‘Life & Times of Michael K’ Review: An Arduous Trek That’s a Marvel to Watch by Naveen Kumar

This captivating adaptation of J.M. Coetzee’s novel, a collaboration with Handspring Puppet Company, follows a man and his ailing mother during a civil war in South Africa.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:36PM
Wednesday, November 29, 2023

What a new class of artistic directors could mean for Broadway and beyond by Naveen Kumar

Roundabout Theatre Company, Second Stage and Lincoln Center Theater will experience significant leadership changes by 2025.

SOURCE: Broadway News at 08:00AM
Tuesday, November 21, 2023

Full Exposure? Four Solo Shows Ponder the Art of True Nature. by Naveen Kumar

Lameece Issaq’s “A Good Day to Me Not to You” strives for intimacy, but that is not necessarily the aim of works by Alexandra Tatarsky, Milo Cramer and Ikechukwu Ufomadu.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:24PM
Tuesday, November 7, 2023

‘Snatch Adams’ Review: Gross-Out Humor for Not-So-Easily-Shocked Liberals by Naveen Kumar

Becca Blackwell and Amanda Duarte’s amorphous variety show aims to be a queer spectacle but is mostly improv strung together with non sequiturs.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:24PM
Wednesday, November 1, 2023

‘Poor Yella Rednecks’ Review: A Writer’s Origin Story Remixes Conventions by Naveen Kumar

Qui Nguyen’s crowd-tickling comedy about a Vietnamese family in Arkansas mixes hip-hop and martial arts with soapy twists and turns.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:36PM
Tuesday, October 31, 2023

‘Artificial Flavors’ Review: Blame ChatGPT for This Musical by Naveen Kumar

Each performance culminates in a production, composed on the spot, with misguided help from artificial intelligence.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:37PM
Monday, October 23, 2023

Why Broadway curtain times are changing by Naveen Kumar

More productions are shaking up their schedules in response to shifting audience habits.

SOURCE: Broadway News at 07:00AM
Wednesday, October 11, 2023

‘The Refuge Plays’ Review: A Surreal Family Saga on the Homestead by Naveen Kumar

A family in exile contends with its future, and its ghosts, in Nathan Alan Davis’s new Off Broadway play starring Nicole Ari Parker.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:33PM
Tuesday, October 10, 2023

The Broadway Review: A revival that makes sense and sizzle out of ‘Merrily We Roll Along’ by Naveen Kumar

The first Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s notorious bomb explodes with heart and sophistication. 

SOURCE: Broadway News at 07:12PM
Friday, October 6, 2023

Review: In ‘Bite Me,’ Taking Aim at Familiar Teenage Tropes by Naveen Kumar

Eliana Pipes’s new play is too pat to convincingly explore the societal imbalances resulting from race, class and gender.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 07:43PM
Thursday, September 21, 2023

‘9 Kinds of Silence’ Review: A Soldier’s Battle Is Within by Naveen Kumar

In Abhishek Majumdar’s tense play at 122CC Theater in Manhattan, every sound underscores what’s left unsaid after a shellshocked veteran’s homecoming.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:43PM
Tuesday, August 15, 2023

How the regional theater crisis will be felt on Broadway by Naveen Kumar

Producers Sue Frost and Aaron Glick, playwright Douglas Lyons and more predict possible benefits and challenges caused by the ripple from America’s theaters.

SOURCE: Broadway News at 09:40AM
Thursday, August 10, 2023

Review: ‘The Shark Is Broken’ offers fan service without teeth by Naveen Kumar

Transferring from London’s West End, the comedy relies on nostalgia and fandom.

SOURCE: Broadway News at 10:00PM
Tuesday, August 1, 2023

‘Let’s Call Her Patty’ Review: Rhea Perlman as an Uptown Matriarch by Naveen Kumar

Rhea Perlman stars as a quintessential Upper West Sider in Zarina Shea’s snapshot of affluent, self-flagellating motherhood

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:37PM
Friday, July 21, 2023

Review: ‘Flex’ Hits the Right Rhythms on the Court and Off by Naveen Kumar

The writer Candrice Jones and the director Lileana Blain-Cruz show a mastery of the game in this play about a girls’ basketball team in rural Arkansas.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:19PM
Friday, July 7, 2023

Theater District pedicabs have become a safety hazard and a risk to industry-related businesses by Naveen Kumar

Congestion, dangerous driving, price-gouging and more are a growing problem.

SOURCE: Broadway News at 07:32AM
Thursday, June 22, 2023

‘The Light in the Piazza’ Review: When It Comes to Love, They’re Outsiders by Naveen Kumar

A meet-cute on an Italian excursion sends a mother and daughter on parallel journeys of self-discovery in an Encores! staging of the 2005 musical.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:33PM
Thursday, June 15, 2023

Review: ‘The Whitney Album’ Looks to Theater to Remake a Painful Past by Naveen Kumar

Eschewing a conventional narrative, Jillian Walker’s soulful show seeks to heal deep wounds through ritual and celebratory singalongs.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:07PM
Thursday, June 8, 2023

Demystifying achievement in sound design by Naveen Kumar

Three sound designers weigh in on how to determine excellence in their field.

SOURCE: Broadway News at 07:00AM
Sunday, June 4, 2023

Review: In ‘Love + Science,’ a Meet Cute Becomes a Medical Mystery by Naveen Kumar

In 1980s Manhattan, two medical students find themselves at the forefront of the AIDS crisis in David J. Glass’s new play at New York City Center.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 07:32PM
Friday, June 2, 2023

For Her New Play, Tori Sampson Revisited Her ‘Black Power Household’ by Naveen Kumar

“This Land Was Made,” at the Vineyard Theater, is rooted in the playwright’s personal connection to a political movement’s awakening.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:48PM
Thursday, May 25, 2023

‘Primary Trust’ Review: Sipping Mai Tais, Until Bitter Reality Knocks by Naveen Kumar

In Eboni Booth’s new play, William Jackson Harper performs with astonishing vulnerability as a man alone and adrift.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:36PM
Monday, May 22, 2023

Review: In ‘Bees & Honey,’ Love Is Both Sweet and Sticky by Naveen Kumar

In this play by Guadalís Del Carmen, a couple’s shared heritage is integral to their meeting and the ups and downs of their daily relationship.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 07:24PM
Thursday, May 4, 2023

‘shadow/land’ Review: What the Storm Washes Away by Naveen Kumar

In the play, at the Public Theater, a mother and daughter endure the devastation of Hurricane Katrina inside the bar that connects them to their pasts.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:02PM

‘Hong Kong Mississippi’ Review: The Bluesman Next Door by Naveen Kumar

Wesley Du explores complex intersections of identity in a coming-of-age story about a Chinese American boy who finds escape in Black music.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:12PM
Friday, April 7, 2023

‘Smart’ Review: A.I. in the Living Room by Naveen Kumar

Three women seeking companionship turn to an Alexa-like digital presence in this family drama at Ensemble Studio Theater.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:42PM
Monday, March 20, 2023

Review: ‘The Good John Proctor’ Imagines Girlhood BFFs by Naveen Kumar

The play, directed by Caitlin Sullivan at the Connelly Theater, focuses on two girls in the year leading up to the action depicted in “The Crucible.”

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:55AM
Friday, March 10, 2023

Review: In ‘Misty,’ a Restless Artist Grapples With a Gentrifying City by Naveen Kumar

At the Shed, Arinzé Kene mixes spoken word, music and comedy to tell a story of racial tension and male identity in a changing London.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:14PM
Monday, March 6, 2023

Review: In ‘The Best We Could,’ the Players Follow Directions by Naveen Kumar

The playwright Emily Feldman structures this work like a personal GPS that plots the course of a family.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:28PM
Friday, March 3, 2023

‘1 + 1’ Review: She Just Wants to Be His Plaything by Naveen Kumar

Stale views of gender dynamics power Eric Bogosian’s play about an aspiring actress caught in the clutches of a duplicitous man.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:27PM

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
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