All stories by Ben Brantley on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

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
Monday, June 15, 2015

Theater Review: Review: ‘Preludes’ Shows Rachmaninoff Failed by His Muse and Killing Time by Ben Brantley

This new play by Dave Malloy, who wrote “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812,” is set in the hypnotized mind of Sergei Rachmaninoff.

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

Review: In ‘10 out of 12’ at Soho Rep, the Audience Tunes In to the Crew by Ben Brantley

Anne Washburn makes a theater piece out of the chaos that characterizes the tech rehearsal of a play.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:34PM
Sunday, June 7, 2015

Review: ‘Card and Gift,’ Set in a Seldom-Patronized Shop by Ben Brantley

Kate E. Ryan’s play at the Wild Project revolves around three women at a store in a New Hampshire town that has seen better days.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:24PM
Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Review: ‘Heisenberg,’ With Mary-Louise Parker, Mines the Extraordinary in the Commonplace by Ben Brantley

A woman of unusual force barrels into the life of a butcher in his mid-70s in “Heisenberg,” a play by Simon Stephens about an unlikely pairing.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:27PM
Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Theater Review: Review: ‘The Spoils’ Stars Jesse Eisenberg as Narcissist by Ben Brantley

In this play, Mr. Eisenberg plays a self-centered character who wants to win of love of an engaged woman whom he’s been smitten with since childhood.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:42PM
Thursday, May 28, 2015

The Week Ahead: Mary-Louise Parker Stars in ‘Heisenberg,’ a Play About the Implications of a Kiss by Ben Brantley

In this production at City Center, Ms. Parker plays a woman who alters destiny when she kisses a stranger on the neck in a London train station.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:30PM
Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Review: ‘D Deb Debbie Deborah,’ a Dizzying Subversion of Identity by Ben Brantley

In Jerry Lieblich’s play in Clubbed Thumb’s Summerworks series, questions of who’s playing whom become as giddy as a “Who’s on first?” routine.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:31PM
Monday, May 25, 2015

Theater Review | 'Next to Normal': Marin Mazzie and Jason Danieley Lead New Cast by BEN BRANTLEY

The real-life spouses Marin Mazzie and Jason Danieley lead a new cast in the acclaimed musical about a family dealing with bipolar disorder.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

Theater Review | 'Trust': Zach Braff Stars as a New Millionaire by BEN BRANTLEY

Zach Braff stars in “Trust,” a New Yorker-cartoonish comedy that seems to be based on the premise that we all have feelings of worthlessness and urges to control and be control…

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

Capeman Outdoors, Starring the City by Ben Brantley

The workshop of Paul Simon's The Capeman was set in its proper urban element at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

Voices Pitched to a Fine-Tuned Hollow Sound by Ben Brantley

A select company of actors at the Berkshire Theater Festival is very much savoring Edward Albee's words in a first-class revival of "A Delicate Balance."

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

Forgetting of Things Past: A Duet Off-Key by Ben Brantley

In The Memory Show, the young composer Zach Redler has written a score that follows the patterns of minds grasping, often in vain, for clarity, conviction and lost time.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

An Audience Visits With Hedda Gabler at Home, a Real Home by Ben Brantley

A site-specific production of Ibsen's Hedda Gabler is performed for an audience of two dozen in an East Village town house.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

Theater Review | 'Troilus and Cressida': The Cynical Side of Shakespeare, but With a River View by BEN BRANTLEY

At the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, a “Troilus and Cressida” that doesn’t shortchange the title characters.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

Theater Talkback: Just When You Think You Know Somebody . . . by BEN BRANTLEY

Sometimes performers make you see familiar characters in new ways.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

Theater Review | 'Vision Disturbance': Seeing in Just 2 Dimensions as Her Marriage Breaks Up by BEN BRANTLEY

In Christina Masciotti’s “Vision Disturbance,” a Greek-born woman experiences a strange eye disorder while going through a divorce.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

Critic’s Notebook: Ah, Hamlet, I Thought I Knew You Well by BEN BRANTLEY

Hedda and Hamlet, Nora and Blanche. Once in a while, an actor will shake your preconceptions of these classic characters.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

Think You’ve Seen It All? You Have by BEN BRANTLEY

Broadway this season is the land of second chances for celebrities looking to reignite their careers and for plays that failed miserably in their first outings.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

Theater Review | 'Me, Myself & I': I Know You Are, but What Am I, and Who Is He? by BEN BRANTLEY

The saggy production of Edward Albee’s larky comedy of ideas “Me, Myself & I” at Playwrights Horizons reminds us that plays can sometimes lose their sense of purpose.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

Theater Review | 'The Sun Also Rises (The Select)': For Whom the Glass Is Always Half-Empty by BEN BRANTLEY

“The Sun Also Rises (The Select),” Elevator Repair Service’s entertaining if slightly under-par adaptation of Hemingway’s boozy novel, is part of the Philadelphia…

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

Theater Review | 'The Little Foxes': A Dysfunctional Family, Greedy With ‘the Gimmes’ by BEN BRANTLEY

Looked upon as a theater workshop inhabited by some very brave and talented souls, Ivo van Hove’s production of “The Little Foxes” bears definite dividends.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

Theater Review: No Doubt, Not a Typical Singing Nun by BEN BRANTLEY

Charles Busch sends up some old films, and serves up a Mother Superior with a journalistic past, in his new comedy.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

Theater Review | 'Brief Encounter': Arm’s-Length Soul Mates, Swooning but Stoically Chaste by BEN BRANTLEY

The acrobatics of love are performed in high style in “Brief Encounter,” which is surely the most enchanting work of stagecraft ever inspired by a movie.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

Theater Review | 'Brief Encounter': Arm’s-Length Soul Mates, Swooning but Stoically Chaste by BEN BRANTLEY

The acrobatics of love are performed in high style in “Brief Encounter,” which is surely the most enchanting work of stagecraft ever inspired by a movie.
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

Theater Review | 'The Pitmen Painters': Stoking a Fiery Passion for Art by BEN BRANTLEY

Lee Hall’s drama “The Pitmen Painters” explores the meaning of art through a group of aesthetically adventurous miners in Northern England during the 1930s and ’4…

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

Theater Talkback: The Dregs of Drag? by BEN BRANTLEY

Is drag as a theatrical phenomenon doomed to extinction?

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

Theater Review | 'Mrs. Warren's Profession': ’Tis No Pity She’s a C.E.O. by BEN BRANTLEY

Cherry Jones and Sally Hawkins star in Doug Hughes’s revival of the Shaw play “Mrs. Warren’s Profession,” about a prosperous madam re-entering the life of her dau…

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

Theater Review | 'Gatz': Borne Back Ceaselessly Into the Past by BEN BRANTLEY

“Gatz,” a work of singular imagination and intelligence, chronicles one reader’s gradual but unconditional seduction by a single, ravishing novel.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

Theater Review | 'A Life in the Theatre': From Mamet, a Backstage Bouquet by BEN BRANTLEY

David Mamet’s 1977 play, “A Life in the Theatre,” opened in an ill-advised Broadway revival starring Patrick Stewart and T. R. Knight.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

Theater Review | 'Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson': Ideal President: A Rock Star Just Like Me by BEN BRANTLEY

There’s not a show in town that more astutely reflects the state of this nation than “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson,” the rowdy political carnival that opened on Broadway.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:58PM

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