All stories by Ben Brantley on BroadwayStars

Friday, September 22, 2017

Review: ‘KPOP’ Sings and Dances Its Way Through a Divided Culture by Ben Brantley

A new immersive musical set in a Korean hit factory moves to the beats of satire, soap opera and everything in between.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:54PM

Amy Herzog’s New Play Mines the Personal and Political by Ben Brantley

“Mary Jane” is a portrait of a mother’s relationship with her chronically ill young son. Carrie Coon of “The Leftovers” stars.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 07:33AM
Sunday, September 17, 2017

Review: ‘In the Blood’ and the Singular Talent of Suzan-Lori Parks by Ben Brantley

The play, about a single mother with five children, explores the dimensions of American sexual and societal guilt in a first-rate revival.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:18PM
Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Review: 3 Generations Aching to Connect ‘On the Shore of the Wide World’ by Ben Brantley

Simon Stephens’s play explores the dreams and disappointments in one working-class family.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:42PM
Monday, September 11, 2017

Review: A Play With a Crude Name and a Powerfully Dark View by Ben Brantley

Suzan-Lori Parks’s Brechtian riff on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter” returns to the stage with a new vitality.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:36PM

An Appraisal: Michael Friedman, a Man of Many Voices and a Gift for Prophecy by Ben Brantley

His versatility as a composer of musicals was matched by his emotional ardor and political shrewdness.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:54PM
Thursday, September 7, 2017

Reinventing Shakespeare, According to the Gospel of Joseph Papp by Ben Brantley

A new play about Papp, the founder of the Public Theater, sets the tone for a season of audacious interpretations of the Shakespeare canon.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:04PM
Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Review: In ‘Inanimate,’ a Forbidden Love Dares to Speak Its Name by Ben Brantley

Nick Robideau’s sly new comedy at the Flea considers the pain and pleasures of objectophilia in small-town Massachusetts.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:36PM
Thursday, August 24, 2017

Review: A Prince’s Broadway Kingdom is Scattered to the Winds by Ben Brantley

“Prince of Broadway,” an anthology musical of shows overseen by the mighty Harold Prince, travels aimlessly through the decades.

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

The Last Days to Catch ‘The Great Comet’ Are Here by Ben Brantley

The musical “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812” ends its exuberant run on Broadway on Sept. 3.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:18PM
Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Critic’s Notebook: Overcoming Through Song in a Summer of Discontent by Ben Brantley

“Primer for a Failed Superpower,” a concert in Brooklyn directed by Rachel Chavkin, asked an audience to raise its voice in protest songs of many generations.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:36PM
Thursday, August 17, 2017

Review: Listening (Yes, Listening) to the Beauty of van Gogh by Ben Brantley

An exquisite multidisciplinary performance piece blurs the senses in considering the life and work of this Dutch artist.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:04PM
Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Hard Truths or Easy Targets? Confronting the Summer of Trump Onstage by Ben Brantley, Jesse Green and Alexis Soloski

Theater has quickly taken on the Trump presidency. Whether what’s onstage can change minds or spark action is open to debate.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:06PM
Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Brantley in Britain: Retrogressing in London With Meat Loaf and Adrian Mole by Ben Brantley

Stage adaptations of “Bat Out of Hell” and “The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾” allow the middle-aged to retreat to the age of innocence.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:33AM
Tuesday, August 8, 2017

7 Shows for President Trump to Watch on His Vacation by Neil Genzlinger, Mike Hale, Margaret Lyons and Ben Brantley

The president is spending 17 days in New Jersey and New York. A few of our critics weigh in with recommendations of shows to watch (besides the news).

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:12AM
Monday, August 7, 2017

Brantley in Britain: Women Without Options and Spoiled for Choice by Ben Brantley

Plays in London spanning more than a century suggest how much and how little has changed for British women.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:33PM
Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Brantley in Britain: How Rupert Murdoch Became the King of England by Ben Brantley

On London stages: A new look at the rise of a media mogul, and two anniversary revivals that explore a nation tilting between hedonism and despair.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:04PM

Must-See Shows if You’re in New York This Month by Ben Brantley

Political plays by Suzan-Lori Parks and Michael Moore, Harold Prince’s hit anthology and New York premieres from Simon Stephens and Bruce Norris.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:48PM
Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Brantley in Britain: Review: In ‘Girl From the North Country,’ Rolling Stones Gather Regrets by Ben Brantley

The Irish playwright Conor McPherson weaves an American tale of nomads out of the Bob Dylan songbook in this play at the Old Vic Theater in London.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 07:54PM

Williamstown Theater Festival: Three Sisters and Lots of Kvetching by Ben Brantley

In “Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow,” the playwright Halley Feiffer reimagines Chekhov.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:06PM
Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Brantley in Britain: Review: Sienna Miller Coaxes New Life From an Old ‘Cat’ by Ben Brantley

“Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” has rarely ignited in recent years. But this production in London dazzles.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:48PM
Monday, July 24, 2017

Brantley in Britain: Hamlet and the Surveillance State of Denmark by Ben Brantley

Andrew Scott’s portrayal in a London production of “Hamlet” almost banishes other performances from memory.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:36PM
Sunday, July 16, 2017

Review: What the Singing Dead Remember in ‘Spoon River’ by Ben Brantley

This exuberant musical out of Toronto, adapted from the poems by Edgar Lee Masters, presents an all-souls hootenanny.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 11:33PM
Thursday, July 13, 2017

Review: The Greatest of Danes, as Oscar Isaac Takes On ‘Hamlet’ by Ben Brantley

Sam Gold’s funny and heartbreaking production treats Shakespeare’s daunting masterpiece with disarming familiarity.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 11:24PM
Wednesday, July 12, 2017

When You Switch Up on a (Broadway) Star by Ben Brantley and Jesse Green

One night a week, Donna Murphy takes over the title role in “Hello, Dolly!” from Bette Midler. Alternates, like her, and replacements can help make or break a hit show.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:18PM
Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Review: Thinking Outside (and Inside) B.F. Skinner’s Box by Ben Brantley

A British theater troupe considers the uses and abuses of psychological experimentation in “Opening Skinner’s Box.”

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:32PM
Monday, July 10, 2017

Review: A Mother Fervently Tries to Protect Her Son in ‘Pipeline’ by Ben Brantley

Dominique Morisseau’s new play at Lincoln Center plunges us into the fatalistic worldview of the mother of an African-American teenager.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 11:12PM
Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Exploring the Public School/Private School Divide in ‘Pipeline’ by Ben Brantley

Dominique Morisseau is one of the theater’s most penetrating voices. In her latest play, she focuses on issues of class and education.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:32PM
Thursday, June 22, 2017

Review: Doubling Down on Doublespeak in ’1984’ by Ben Brantley

An often irritating British-born adaptation of George Orwell’s novel suggests that all facts are alternative.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:18PM
Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Review: An Immersive ‘Seeing You’ Sends Its Audience to War by Ben Brantley and Jesse Green

Our chief theater critics went to see the interactive performance piece on the same night, expecting to have vastly different experiences. They didn’t.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:36PM
Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Review: ‘Fulfillment Center’ Finds the Poetry in Missed Connections by Ben Brantley

In this impeccably realized play by Abe Koogler, four mismatched characters reach out to each other in a New Mexico desertscape.

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

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