All stories by Ben Brantley on BroadwayStars

Thursday, May 26, 2011

ArtsBeat: Theater Talkback: Stage Resuscitation for Career-Challenged Celebrities by Ben Brantley

I am proposing a little list that matches stars in search of redemption with stage roles tailor-made to their particular skills and images.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:16PM
Sunday, May 22, 2011

Theater Review | 'Follies': Broadway Babies’ Glory Days by Ben Brantley

As you watch the stars of a Kennedy Center revival of “Follies” put on glittery costumes and make like comics from a Broadway of yore, you realize just why the show is one of the greates…

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:01PM
Thursday, May 12, 2011

On Broadway, Old Friends Walking on Air by Ben Brantley

Two seemingly moribund staples, the musical and the comic drama, have come throbbing back to life.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 11:19AM
Monday, May 9, 2011

Theater Review | 'By the Way, Meet Vera Stark': A Black Actress Trying to Rise Above a Maid by Ben Brantley

“By the Way, Meet Vera Stark” imagines the back story of one of those talented black actresses seen on 1930s movie screens almost exclusively in the roles of maids, slaves or mammies.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:24PM
Friday, May 6, 2011

Theater Review | 'The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism With a Key to the Scriptures': Debating Dialectics and Dad’s Suicide Plan by Ben Brantley

The long-awaited new play by Tony Kushner is a densely textured portrait of a Brooklyn family losing its (strictly secular) religion.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:00AM
Thursday, May 5, 2011

Theater Review | 'King Lear': He’s a Grumpy Old Man, but Don’t Dare Run Away by Ben Brantley

Derek Jacobi helps make Michael Grandage’s production of “King Lear” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music a true entertainment.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:01PM

ArtsBeat: Theater Talkback: The Honorable Tony Kushner by Ben Brantley

An extraordinary, active empathy pervades every one of Tony Kushner's plays, extended even to those who would not appear to be his allies.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:25PM
Tuesday, May 3, 2011

ArtsBeat: This Time, The Tonys Grow Up and Get It Right by Ben Brantley

The nominations Tuesday confirm that high-quality legitimate dramas are still being written.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 11:45AM
Thursday, April 28, 2011

Theater Review | 'The People in the Picture': What Bubbie Did During the War by Ben Brantley

Donna Murphy plays an elderly Yiddish actress with a secret from the Holocaust in the Roundabout Theater Company’s “People in the Picture.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:05PM
Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Theater Review | 'The Normal Heart': Raw Anguish of the Plague Years by Ben Brantley

“The Normal Heart,” Larry Kramer’s 1985 play about the AIDS epidemic, comes to Broadway in a revival with a top-notch cast.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:01PM
Monday, April 25, 2011

Theater Review | 'The House of Blue Leaves' : A Papal Visit Has Dreamers Dreaming by Ben Brantley

There’s little that’s transporting in the somber new Broadway revival of John Guare’s “House of Blue Leaves.”

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:01PM
Friday, April 22, 2011

Critic's Notebook: Tale of the Iraq War, Still Resonating by Ben Brantley

“Black Watch,” a group portrait of Scottish soldiers in Iraq that was first seen here in 2007, returns to St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:56PM
Thursday, April 21, 2011

Theater Review: This Blessed Plot, This Trailer, This England by Ben Brantley

Mark Rylance plays a roaring wreck of a hero in “Jerusalem,” Jez Butterworth’s state-of-the-nation comedy about Britain.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:01PM

ArtsBeat: Theater Talkback: The Curious Case of 'Clybourne Park' by Ben Brantley

New Yorkers will be happy to learn that they can still catch a performance of Bruce Norris's "Clybourne Park," this year's Pulitzer Prize winner for drama, in a much-lauded production in a b…

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 07:00AM
Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Theater Review | 'Picked': Actors Live Their Double Lives, Both on the Screen and Off by Ben Brantley

In “Picked,” Christopher Shinn’s new play, an actor gets the chance to move up to the A-list.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:17PM
Monday, April 18, 2011

Critic’s Notebook: From Belarus, Dynamic Drama With Limited Means by Ben Brantley

The Belarus Free Theater, now performing three plays in repertory at La MaMa, should be seen by everyone who wants confirmation of the continuing relevance and vitality of theater.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 07:52PM
Thursday, April 14, 2011

Theater Review | 'War Horse': A Boy and His Steed, Far From Humane Society by Ben Brantley

“War Horse,” the hit London play about the horrors of World War I, and its captivating star come to life at Lincoln Center.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:01PM
Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Theater Review | 'Sleep No More': Shakespeare Slept Here, Albeit Fitfully by Ben Brantley

Punchdrunk, a British site-specific theater company, has taken over three abandoned warehouses to enact the sorry sights of the murderous Macbeths’ career in a movable orgy titled “Sleep…

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 11:21PM
Monday, April 11, 2011

Theater Review | 'The___________ With the Hat': A Love Not at a Loss for Words by Ben Brantley

“The___________ With the Hat,” Stephen Adly Guirgis’s vibrant and surprisingly serious new comedy, is at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:01PM
Sunday, April 10, 2011

‘Catch Me if You Can’ at Neil Simon Theater - Review - NYTimes.com by Ben Brantley

“Catch Me if You Can,” the new Broadway musical by much of the team behind “Hairspray,” is full of elaborate deceptions and corkscrew twists, but not many surprises.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:18PM

Theater Review | 'Catch Me if You Can' : Scamming as Fast as He Can by Ben Brantley

“Catch Me if You Can,” the new Broadway musical by much of the team behind “Hairspray,” is full of elaborate deceptions and corkscrew twists, but not many surprises.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:01PM
Thursday, April 7, 2011

Theater Review | 'Anything Goes': A Glimpse of Stocking? Shocking! by Ben Brantley

Sutton Foster stars in Kathleen Marshall’s rousing Broadway revival of Cole Porter’s willfully silly musical “Anything Goes.”

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:01PM

Theater Talkback: The Joys of Feel-Bad Drama by Ben Brantley

Sometimes theater can make audiences uncomfortable in a way that penetrates to the marrow.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:00PM
Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Theater Review | 'Marie and Bruce': There’s Room for Everyone Aboard a Marital Misery Tour by Ben Brantley

“Marie and Bruce,” Wallace Shawn’s 1979 portrait of marital misery, has been revived at the Acorn Theater.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:30PM
Monday, March 28, 2011

Critic’s Notebook: Her Sequins, Plumes and Foghorn Voice by Ben Brantley

Harvey Fierstein joins the cast of “La Cage aux Folles” at the Longacre Theater.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:30PM
Sunday, March 27, 2011

Theater Review | 'How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying': Wizard of Corporate Climbing by Ben Brantley

You root for Daniel Radcliffe, who stars in the revival of Frank Loesser’s “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” though Rob Ashford’s production is charm free.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:00PM
Friday, March 25, 2011

Theater Review | 'Macbeth': The Deed Is Done, the Doers Undone by Ben Brantley

John Douglas Thompson stars as Macbeth, and Annika Boras as his wife, in Arin Arbus’s production at the Duke on 42nd Street.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:30PM
Thursday, March 24, 2011

Theater Review | 'The Book of Mormon' : Missionary Men With Confidence in Sunshine by Ben Brantley

“The Book of Mormon,” a collaboration between the creator’s of “South Park” and the composer of “Avenue Q,” is that rare thing: an old-fashioned, pleasure-giving musical.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:01PM

An Appraisal: Lanford Wilson’s Losers, Beloved by Their Creator by Ben Brantley

Lanford Wilson reflected the disenchantment that came to pervade the United States in the 1960s and 1970s but his work exuded a sentimentality that seemed to come from an earlier time.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:03PM

ArtsBeat: Theater Talkback: Speaking the Speech, Trippingly by Ben Brantley

From e-mail from readers, I gather that audibility problems are not uncommon to New York theatergoers.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:53PM

Theater Talkback: Speaking the Speech, Trippingly by Ben Brantley

From e-mail from readers, I gather that audibility problems are not uncommon to New York theatergoers.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:48PM

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