All stories by Ben Brantley on BroadwayStars

Friday, August 21, 2015

ArtsBeat: London Journal: Inside, Vodka and Stilettos; Outside, the Revolution by Ben Brantley

In Abi Morgan’s “Splendour” at the Donmar Warehouse, Sinead Cusack plays a dictator’s wife who drinks shots with her guests at the palace in a revolution-torn city.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:27PM
Thursday, August 20, 2015

ArtsBeat: London Journal: A Nonstop Carnival of Culpability by Ben Brantley

A throbbing, infectious production of Euripides’ “The Bakkhai” stars Ben Whishaw as Dionysos; and Rory Kinnear plays Joseph K, Kafka’s bewildered and shame-stained hero, in “The Tr…

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:37PM
Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Theater Review: In Philip Ridley’s ‘Mercury Fur,’ It’s the World’s End, and the Party’s Here by Ben Brantley

This dark play features grotesque festivities that are staged in New York after society has become only a shadow of what it once was.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:37PM

ArtsBeat: London Theater Journal: Maximally Minimal by Ben Brantley

Ben Brantley reviews “Three Days in the Country” and “Operation Crucible.”

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:03PM

The Week Ahead: ‘On the Town’ Is Pulling Up Anchor Soon by Ben Brantley

New York won’t be quite the same helluva town after Sept. 6, when this happy revival closes. Misty Copeland, the reigning It girl of American ballet, joins the cast Tuesday.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:51PM
Friday, August 14, 2015

Review: ‘Mother of the Maid,’ a Lesson on Raising a Teenage Saint by Ben Brantley

Jane Anderson’s new play, a Shakespeare & Company production in Lenox, Mass., is about the headaches of rearing a truly gifted child: Joan of Arc.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 07:10PM
Monday, August 10, 2015

Virgin Eyes: A Searing First Encounter With David Lynch’s ‘Blue Velvet’ by Ben Brantley

How I would love to see this dark masterpiece again, in that same state of unsullied expectation.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:55PM
Sunday, August 9, 2015

Review: In ‘A Moon for the Misbegotten,’ Audra McDonald Is Front and Center by Ben Brantley

This revival of Eugene O’Neill’s play centers on people who assume false roles that allow them to function in their daily lives.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:13PM
Thursday, August 6, 2015

Review: ‘Hamilton,’ Young Rebels Changing History and Theater by Ben Brantley

In its move to Broadway, the show about America’s founding fathers is proof that the musical is not only surviving but evolving in ways that should allow it to thrive.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 08:18PM
Thursday, July 23, 2015

Review: ‘Ubu Roi,’ Mom and Dad’s Party of Grown-Up Grotesques by Ben Brantley

The British troupe Cheek by Jowl infuses Alfred Jarry’s satirical drama with the kind of angry adolescent sentiment that gave birth to it.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:26PM
Wednesday, July 22, 2015

The Week Ahead: Transport Group’s ‘Three Days to See,’ Inspired by Helen Keller by Ben Brantley

Taking their cues from an essay Keller wrote, actors try to approximate how she perceived the world.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:08PM
Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Review: ‘Kinship’ Stars Cynthia Nixon as a Journalist by Ben Brantley

Carey Perloff’s heavy-breathing drama at the Williamstown Theater Festival centers on two newspaper colleagues on the brink of an affair.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:16PM
Friday, July 17, 2015

Review: ‘Vinegar Tom’ and ‘Judith’ Examine Woman as Myth by Ben Brantley

The Potomac Theater Project presents an earnest pair of feminist plays by Caryl Churchill and Howard Barker.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:34PM
Thursday, July 16, 2015

Review: ‘The Wild Party,’ With Sutton Foster as a Louche Jazz Baby by Ben Brantley

Encores! presents a concert revival of Andrew Lippa’s version of a lurid 1920s poem about a gathering full of sex, drugs and violence.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:34PM
Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Review: ‘Scenes From an Execution’ Features Jan Maxwell as a Difficult Artist by Ben Brantley

Ms. Maxwell, a five-time Tony nominee, says that the play, set in 16th-century Venice and produced by the Potomac Theater Project at Atlantic Stage 2, will be her last.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:54PM
Monday, July 13, 2015

Review: ‘DruidShakespeare: The History Plays’ Is Complete With a Crown Fit for Many Kings by Ben Brantley

This work, under the direction of Garry Hynes and performed by Ireland’s Druid Theater Company is a seven-hour adaptation of “Richard II,” “Henry IV” and “Henry V.”

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:46PM
Sunday, July 12, 2015

Review: ‘Penn & Teller on Broadway’ Explores the Illusions of Technology by Ben Brantley

The magicians perform many familiar tricks in their show at the Marquis Theater, but they also demonstrate a 21st-century edge.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:58PM
Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Review: ‘Off the Main Road’ Stars Kyra Sedgwick as a Wife in Distress by Ben Brantley

This William Inge play revolves around a midcentury woman whose troubles include an abusive husband.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:27PM
Monday, July 6, 2015

Review: ‘Legacy,’ an Uneasy Comedy of Morals at Williamstown Festival by Ben Brantley

This play by Daniel Goldfarb focuses on an older author (Eric Bogosian) who becomes obsessed with having a child, to the dismay of his wife (Jessica Hecht).

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 07:09PM

Review: ‘Oklahoma!’ Preserves a Classic While Adding Punch by Ben Brantley

Daniel Fish’s excavation of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic at Bard College asks that we listen with virgin ears to the show that changed the Broadway musical.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:57AM
Thursday, July 2, 2015

Review: In ‘Little Shop of Horrors,’ a Ravenous Plant Is Reborn at City Center by Ben Brantley

Encores! Off-Center summer series revives Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s 1982 musical with Jake Gyllenhaal and Ellen Greene, returning to her signature role.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:15PM
Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Review: In ‘Of Good Stock,’ Alicia Silverstone Is a Sister in Distress by Ben Brantley

This play from Melissa Ross centers on three sisters with romantic challenges and other issues.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:28AM
Monday, June 29, 2015

Theater Review: Review: ‘Shows for Days,’ With Patti LuPone as a Diva With Depth by Ben Brantley

Douglas Carter Beane’s new play, at Lincoln Center, draws on his memories of working at a community playhouse as a teenager.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:28PM
Thursday, June 25, 2015

Review: ‘A New Brain’ Gambols Tunefully Through a Vale of Death by Ben Brantley

William Finn and James Lapine’s musical, revived at City Center, stars Jonathan Groff as a composer who learns that he needs immediate, possibly fatal surgery.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:10PM
Wednesday, June 24, 2015

The Week Ahed: Patti LuPone as a Diva in ‘Shows for Days’ by Ben Brantley

In Douglas Carter Beane’s comedy, Ms. LuPone plays a community-theater star.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:21PM
Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Review: ‘Men on Boats’ Blurs Genders in Recalling John Wesley Powell’s Expedition by Ben Brantley

The cast isn’t quite what it seems in this Jaclyn Backhaus play set in the 1869 American West.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:28PM
Sunday, June 21, 2015

Review: ‘Ada/Ava,’ a Conjuring of Loneliness and Comfort in Plain Sight by Ben Brantley

“Ada/Ava,” from Manual Cinema and playing at 3LD, lets the audience in on the secrets behind the shadows in this spectral story of loss.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 11:56PM
Thursday, June 18, 2015

Review: ‘My Perfect Mind’ Softens Fear of the Fallible With the Stuff of Slapstick by Ben Brantley

This show, which takes its title from “King Lear,” is a deceptively jolly account of a traumatic chapter in the life of the actor Edward Petherbridge.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:01PM
Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Review: ‘Gloria,’ at the Vineyard Theater, Looks at a Toxic Workplace by Ben Brantley

The play, written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, is set in the magazine industry and explores its tense culture.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:31PM
Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Review: ‘The Tempest’ Stars Sam Waterston and the Weather at Delacorte Theater by Ben Brantley

This Shakespeare in the Park production about a duke living in exile features well-known names and the unpredictability of the weather.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:28PM

Review: David Mamet’s ‘Ghost Stories,’ Bedtime Tales With a Gunshot by Ben Brantley

The Atlantic Theater presents two early Mamet one-acts, “Prairie du Chien,” from 1979, and “The Shawl,” from 1985.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:28PM

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