All stories by Harry Haun on BroadwayStars

Wednesday, July 26, 2023

Jason Alexander Makes His Broadway (Directing) Debut With ‘The Cottage’ by Harry Haun

"The hardest part of putting a comedy together is that you put it together without an audience," Jason Alexander says of his Broadway directing debut, 'The Cottage.' "You just keep your fing…

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 01:27PM
Monday, July 17, 2023

Alex Edelman on the Comedy and Tension of His One-Man Broadway Triumph by Harry Haun

“There’s humor in every difficult situation,” Edelman says of 'Just For Us,' which tells the story of this Orthodox Jewish comedian attending a gathering of white supremacists in Queen…

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 01:52PM
Wednesday, July 5, 2023

Juliet Stevenson: One Of Our Greatest Actors On Her Return to the New York Stage by Harry Haun

For the first time in 20 years Stevenson is back in New York, drawing standing ovations nightly in 'The Doctor.' She talks about updating a play from 1912 for the world today, why she loves …

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 11:00AM
Monday, June 5, 2023

Paul Sparks On Bringing a Scary Rarity To Broadway With the Horror of ‘Grey House’ by Harry Haun

“I call it a fever dream,” the actor says of the cabin-in-the-woods thriller. “There aren’t a lot of plays like this that end up on Broadway."

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 03:55PM
Wednesday, April 19, 2023

Pulitzer Prize Winning Playwright Doug Wright On Why Sean Hayes Was the Only Actor For ‘Good Night, Oscar’ by Harry Haun

Doug Wright calls Sean Hayes "a national treasure." But at first he had trouble picturing him as the drug-driven, witheringly witty, piano-playing genius Oscar Levant.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 09:42AM
Friday, April 7, 2023

Broadway Team Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty On 40 Years (And Counting) of Musicals by Harry Haun

As a one-night-only-benefit evening of their music approaches, the team behind shows like 'Ragtime' and movies like 'Anastasia' talks about their past, present, and future.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 02:51PM
Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Robert Horn On Growing a Broadway Musical, ‘Shucked,’ From the Ground Up by Harry Haun

The playwright explains how the new musical 'Shucked' started as a spoof of 'Hee-Haw' and blossomed into a corn-fed 'Brigadoon.'

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 02:20PM
Thursday, March 16, 2023

For Christine Pedi, the Show Goes On, With New Challenges by Harry Haun

Emerging from the pandemic, Christine Pedi discovered her vision had dimmed. But it hasn't stopped her from taking the stage Off Broadway in 'The Rewards of Being Frank.'

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 04:52PM
Thursday, March 2, 2023

Wayne Cilento Brings Bob Fosse’s Dancin’ Back to Broadway by Harry Haun

Director and choreographer Wayne Cilento — who was part of the original company of 'A Chorus Line' — on his life onstage and bringing 'Bob Fosse's Dancin'' back to Broadway.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 12:30PM
Tuesday, February 21, 2023

A Lorraine Hansberry Revival At BAM Reveals Her Playwrighting As Activism by Harry Haun

Director Anne Kauffman says 'The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window' touches on everything from history, philosophy and politics to interpersonal relationships and identity. "It’s the kitc…

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 04:37PM
Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Samuel D. Hunter, Author of ‘The Whale,’ On His Artistic Turning Point by Harry Haun

A single heartbreaking truth in both 'The Whale' and the newly revived 'A Bright New Boise' provided a pivot for the playwright turned screenwriter.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 03:22PM
Friday, February 10, 2023

Re-Bringing Up ‘Baby’: The Second Life (And New Cast Recording) Of A Broadway Musical by Harry Haun

The Tony-winning director-lyricist Richard Maltby Jr. explains how the '80s musical 'Baby' was reborn for a new era.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 09:54AM
Tuesday, January 31, 2023

The 92nd Street Y Throws John Guare A Star-Studded 85th Birthday Bash by Harry Haun

The author of such landmarks as "Six Degrees of Separation" and "The House of Blue Leaves" recalls his long career, which started with two plays written at age 11.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 03:43PM

How Playwright Sharr White Built A Broadway Domestic Dramedy From Family Photos by Harry Haun

White created 'Pictures from Home' from photographer Larry Sultan's 1992 memoir of the same name. "It’s heartbreaking and also very funny."

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 01:03PM
Tuesday, January 17, 2023

Eduardo Machado’s ‘Not About Me’ Is A Memory Journey Through Parallel Plagues by Harry Haun

The death of a close colleague from COVID-19 helped inspire Eduardo Machado's new play at the Theater for the New City.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 02:07PM
Friday, December 30, 2022

Stephen McKinley Henderson Is Center Stage As Pulitzer Prize Winner ‘Between Riverside and Crazy’ Comes to Broadway by Harry Haun

This revival — with most of the original cast — brings the show new urgency, and one new actor: Common, making his Broadway debut.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 01:54PM
Thursday, December 29, 2022

Paul Bettany On Transforming Into Andy Warhol In ‘The Collaboration’ by Harry Haun

Paul Bettany dons a white wig to make his Broadway debut in this play about Andy Warhol's partnership with Jean-Michel Basquiat.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 04:53PM
Monday, December 5, 2022

Audra McDonald Is Broadway’s Busiest (And Most Awarded) Star by Harry Haun

The six-time Tony winner spent Saturday onstage at Carnegie Hall and opens in 'Ohio State Murders' on Broadway on Thursday, in what she calls "the most difficult role I’ve ever played."

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 12:32PM
Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Three-Time Tony Winner Jack O’Brien Explains “How to Goddamn Direct” In New Memoir by Harry Haun

Having spent 54 of his 83 years directing stunning theater, Jack O’Brien talks about working with Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tom Stoppard and Neil Simon, as well as his next Broadway show, 'Shuc…

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 01:19PM
Tuesday, November 22, 2022

Bruce Norris On The Moral Complexities of ‘Downstate’ by Harry Haun

The playwright’s latest examines society’s need to identify collective villains that can be perpetually punished.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 10:48AM
Wednesday, November 9, 2022

The Directors of ‘1776’ Explain How The Revival Represents America Today by Harry Haun

"Every single person on that stage is someone who would not have been allowed to be inside Independence Hall in 1776."

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 12:56PM
Wednesday, November 2, 2022

Father and Son Reed and Ephraim Birney Bring ‘Chester Bailey’ to Life at the Irish Rep by Harry Haun

Family ties provide added resonance to this two-character play about a welder who suffers a devastating injury, for both the audience and the actors. "But we’re still really goofy with eac…

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 11:39AM
Monday, October 10, 2022

‘Leopoldstadt’: Tom Stoppard’s Epic Five-Act Tour of His Family Tree by Harry Haun

Stoppard's new show traces a Jewish family in Vienna as darkness overtakes them. Betsy Aidem and director Patrick Marber talk about the Broadway production.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 02:49PM
Wednesday, September 21, 2022

Dominic Fumusa Takes the Stage In a Play That Scares Him With ‘Jasper’ by Harry Haun

The actor — known for his role on 'Nurse Jackie' — talks about the challenges of playing a father with an ill son — and a fantasy life — in 'Jasper.'

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 01:25PM
Friday, September 16, 2022

Samuel L. Jackson Was Once an Understudy in “The Piano Lesson.” Now He’s A Star. by Harry Haun

Jackson gets the chance to revisit the August Wilson play that almost — but not quite — afforded him his Broadway debut.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 01:25PM
Tuesday, September 6, 2022

Daniel K. Isaac Brings A Korean Epic, Full of Fairy Tales and History, To The La MaMa Stage by Harry Haun

Best known for his role on 'Billions,' Isaac has written 'Once Upon a (korean) Time,' which traces the journey of a family from the wars in Korea to the riots in Los Angeles.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 05:24PM
Monday, August 22, 2022

Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton Talk About Taking Their Children’s Book Empire to the Stage by Harry Haun

After a mouse popped up in a Broadway theater, Julie Andrews and her daughter turned into a children's book. Now 'The Great American Mousical' is headed toward a run in Los Angeles.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 11:21AM
Monday, August 8, 2022

Mary Rodgers, Jesse Green and the Making of a No-Holds-Barred Memoir by Harry Haun

“I spent hundreds of hours with her, laughing, and I wanted to duplicate that,” Jesse Green says of the no-holds-barred Mary Rodgers memoir 'Shy.'

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 05:16PM
Monday, July 25, 2022

Alison Fraser Is a Different Kind of Big Mama In An Innovative ‘Cat On a Hot Tin Roof’ by Harry Haun

Alison Fraser — who plays Big Mama in the new Off Broadway production of 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' — calls the production "renegade theater."

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 02:11PM
Thursday, June 16, 2022

In ‘The Orchard’ Jessica Hecht Shares the Stage With Mikhail Baryshnikov And a Robot by Harry Haun

In 'The Orchard' Jessica Hecht performs Chekhov alongside Mikhail Baryshnikov—and a 12-foot-tall robotic arm.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 02:35PM
Friday, June 10, 2022

Julie White Gets Loud—and Tony Nominated—in the Broadway Farce ‘POTUS’ by Harry Haun

Julie White says the new Broadway farce 'Potus' breaks the rules of playwriting: "Suzy Nakamura and I are getting to play the Nathan Lane/Matthew Broderick roles. It’s really fun to do the…

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 01:10PM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 11, 2024: Oh, Mary! - Lyceum Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 17, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 01, 2025: Glengarry Glen Ross
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre
TBA: Titanic