All stories by Peter Debruge on BroadwayStars

Monday, March 6, 2023

Critic’s Notebook: Stumped by Sondheim After Spending ‘Sunday in the Park with George’ by Peter Debruge

As a critic, I’m always looking for a fresh challenge, which is one reason I took up writing about theater: It still has the capacity to scare me. I’ve reviewed nearly 1,700 movies in my…

SOURCE: Variety at 04:30PM
Friday, August 5, 2022

‘Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man and the Pool’ Review: Young Man, There’s No Need to Feel Down by Peter Debruge

If you’ve ever seen Mike Birbiglia before, whether on stage or screen (or a couple months back, filling in for Jimmy Kimmel), then “The Old Man and the Pool” feels like catching up wit…

SOURCE: Variety at 10:19PM
Tuesday, May 3, 2022

‘Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ Review: A Fearless Calista Flockhart Tears Into Zachary Quinto in 60th Anniversary Revival by Peter Debruge

The trick of stage acting comes in playing the same thing every night as if it were happening for the first time, right there in front of the audience’s eyes. But once-controversial Americ…

SOURCE: Variety at 07:00PM
Wednesday, July 7, 2021

‘Annette’ Review: Adam Driver Slow-Motion Implodes in Leos Carax’s Tragic Pop Opera by Peter Debruge

Debuting on opening night of the Cannes Film Festival a full year after it was originally expected to appear, “Annette” arrives on a pedestal from which it’s too easily toppled. This l…

SOURCE: Variety at 07:49AM
Saturday, May 29, 2021

‘Oslo’ Review: Timely HBO Movie Tackles Landmark Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks by Peter Debruge

Perhaps it’s time for another meeting between officials from Israel and Palestine like the series of off-the-books negotiations that took place in Oslo, Norway, back in 1993. Those session…

SOURCE: Variety at 07:02PM
Wednesday, April 14, 2021

ArcLight Hollywood May Be Closing, But It’s Not Too Late to Save Other Cinemas by Peter Debruge

Even after a year of indoor theaters being shuttered in Los Angeles, it’s hard to imagine a future without the ArcLight Hollywood, the tony 15-screen megaplex that countless Angelenos cons…

SOURCE: Variety at 08:45PM
Friday, January 22, 2021

Derek DelGaudio’s ‘In & of Itself’ Review: A Magic Show That Transforms the Audience’s Sense of Self by Peter Debruge

Magic never works the same way in movies that it does in person, which is not to say that it doesn’t work in movies. It just takes a different kind of finesse, typically relying on editing…

SOURCE: Variety at 05:13AM
Wednesday, January 13, 2021

‘The Dig’ Review: Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes Politely Challenge the Foundations of British History by Peter Debruge

It started with a hunch. Edith Pretty and her husband bought a house at Sutton Hoo, the estate of which contained several large mounds of earth. For years, there had been theories about what…

SOURCE: Variety at 06:26PM
Friday, April 26, 2019

L.A. Theater Review: ‘The Niceties’ by Peter Debruge

A colleague who teaches recently pointed out a surprising insight into the current generation of university-age students: According to an informal show-of-hands poll she conducted, hardly an…

SOURCE: Variety at 04:44PM
Saturday, March 23, 2019

L.A. Theater Review: ‘Black Super Hero Magic Mama’ by Peter Debruge

What function do superhero stories play in American society? Are they merely escapist distractions for head-in-the-clouds teens, or could those same formats actually serve a practical functi…

SOURCE: Variety at 12:10PM
Sunday, February 10, 2019

L.A. Theater Review: Matthew Bourne’s ‘Cinderella’ by Peter Debruge

How much can you change “Cinderella” before it is no longer “Cinderella”? In the case of choreography maestro Matthew Bourne — who, it should be said, first unveiled his spin on th…

SOURCE: Variety at 05:40PM
Sunday, January 27, 2019

Sundance Film Review: Kelvin Harrison Jr. in ‘Luce’ by Peter Debruge

When people say a movie feels like a play, they often mean it as a kind of insult — less showy than talky, self-contained, more concerned with ideas than authenticity — but in the case o…

SOURCE: Variety at 06:49PM
Friday, January 4, 2019

10 Directors to Watch: Bradley Cooper’s Debut Proves a Director Is Born by Peter Debruge

Cooper may have achieved movie star status before getting the chance to direct — “luckily, in the end,” he says — but that gave the actor time to find his voice before making “A S…

SOURCE: Variety at 11:20AM
Friday, November 30, 2018

Film Review: ‘Bathtubs Over Broadway’ by Peter Debruge

Anyone who loves musical theater owes it to themselves to see “Bathtubs Over Broadway,” a delightful deep-dive documentary into one man’s obsession with the obscure world of industrial…

SOURCE: Variety at 07:24PM
Thursday, November 8, 2018

L.A. Theater Review: ‘Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol’ by Peter Debruge

The question arises every year: When is the right time to toss the fake spider webbing and carved pumpkins in favor of inflatable snowmen and fiberglass reindeer? Must you wait until Thanksg…

SOURCE: Variety at 02:40PM
Sunday, August 26, 2018

L.A. Theater Review: ‘Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations’ by Peter Debruge

The less you know about the Temptations, the more you’ll get out of “Ain’t Too Proud,” a finger-snapping, hand-clapping new jukebox musical passing through Los Angeles’ Ahmanson Th…

SOURCE: Variety at 06:16PM
Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Film Review: Denzel Washington in ‘The Equalizer 2’ by Peter Debruge

It’s a credit to Denzel Washington’s career choices that he’s gone four decades without making a single sequel. That’s not to say that breaking the pattern with “The Equalizer 2”…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:00AM
Sunday, June 10, 2018

L.A. Theater Review: Tom Hanks in ‘Henry IV’ by Peter Debruge

Before “Big,” before “Bachelor Party” — heck, before even “Bosom Buddies” — Tom Hanks studied theater at Chabot College and performed three seasons in the Great Lakes Shakes…

SOURCE: Variety at 03:48PM
Thursday, November 9, 2017

Ridley Scott’s Decision to Replace Kevin Spacey Sends the Right Kind of Message (Opinion) by Peter Debruge

On Wednesday, director Ridley Scott announced a plan that is virtually unprecedented in the history of Hollywood: With his new film “All the Money in the World” already in the can and le…

SOURCE: Variety at 08:08PM
Sunday, September 24, 2017

L.A. Theater Review: Matthew Bourne’s ‘The Red Shoes’ by Peter Debruge

While there are few who would dispute the place Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s “The Red Shoes” holds as the greatest dance film of all time — focusing as it does on the back…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:00AM
Friday, September 22, 2017

L.A. Theater Review: Paul Rudnick’s Oscars Comedy ‘Big Night’ by Peter Debruge

Where to begin with all that’s wrong with Paul Rudnick’s new play, “Big Night,” which takes place in a swanky Hollywood hotel suite before and after the Academy Awards ceremony where…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:14PM
Thursday, August 17, 2017

L.A. Theater Review: ‘Hamilton’ at Hollywood Pantages by Peter Debruge

Lin-Manuel Miranda's hip-hop musical finally reaches L.A., celebrating a time when politics was about passion, and everyone was an immigrant.

SOURCE: Variety at 03:16PM
Sunday, July 23, 2017

L.A. Theater Review: ‘So Long Boulder City’ by Peter Debruge

Jimmy Fowlie imagines the one-woman Emma Stone performs off-screen in 'La La Land,' nailing the narcissism of a certain kind of actress.

SOURCE: Variety at 12:23PM
Friday, June 30, 2017

L.A. Theater Review: ‘Letters from a Nut by Ted L. Nancy,’ Produced by Jerry Seinfeld by Peter Debruge

Randall Arney Artistic Director Geffen Playhouse 10886 Le Conte Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90024 Dear Sir: First, let me just say that I am a great admirer of your institution, the Geffen Playhous…

SOURCE: Variety at 04:45PM
Tuesday, May 9, 2017

L.A. Theater Review: Rajiv Joseph’s ‘Archduke’ by Peter Debruge

How do you make a comedy about the absurdity of modern terrorism? For bold, outside-the-box American playwright Rajiv Joseph (“Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo”), you set the satire a cen…

SOURCE: Variety at 06:32PM
Tuesday, February 14, 2017

L.A. Theater Review: ‘Zoot Suit’ by Peter Debruge

Back in style after 40 years, Luis Valdez’s “Zoot Suit” is as custom-tailored a Los Angeles stage experience as they come: Commissioned back in 1977 by Center Theatre Group founding ar…

SOURCE: Variety at 04:44PM
Friday, February 10, 2017

L.A. Theater Review: ‘Long Day’s Journey Into Night’ by Peter Debruge

Death, heavy as the fog that surrounds the Tyrone family home and somber as the low sea-monster cry of the foghorn echoing across the water, hangs over “Long Day’s Journey Into Night.�…

SOURCE: Variety at 08:43PM
Thursday, December 29, 2016

There Could Be No ‘Artist,’ No ‘La La Land’ Without Debbie Reynolds by Peter Debruge

In “Singin’ in the Rain,” Debbie Reynolds plays a reluctant ingénue, drawn into “the pictures” after Gene Kelly, playing a silent-era matinee idol trying to escape a mob of autogr…

SOURCE: Variety at 12:51PM
Monday, December 19, 2016

L.A. Theater Review: ‘Amélie, a New Musical’ by Peter Debruge

The most adorable character in all of French cinema finds her way to the American stage in the new musical adaptation of “Amélie,” and while it’s practically impossible not to love a …

SOURCE: Variety at 06:53PM
Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Disney’s Pixar Acquisition: Bob Iger’s Bold Move That Reanimated a Studio by Peter Debruge

It has been just over a decade since Bob Iger engineered the deal that brought Steve Jobs’ Pixar Animation Studios to Disney, negotiating a $7.4 billion stock purchase that raised eyebrows…

SOURCE: Variety at 10:30AM
Sunday, November 20, 2016

L.A. Theater Review: ‘The Beauty Queen of Leenane’ by Peter Debruge

Martin McDonagh’s 1996 play “The Beauty Queen of Lenane” was the first of half a dozen scripts to come pouring out of McDonagh during a particularly prolific period back in the mid…

SOURCE: Variety at 10:24PM

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