All stories by Charles McNulty on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, June 20, 2023

Review: A new play that traces Billie Jean King's inspiring story ought to be a musical by Charles McNulty

The world premiere of Anna Deavere Smith's 'Love All' at La Jolla Playhouse brings to the stage the story of tennis great and equality champion Billie Jean King in production starring Chilin…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:15PM[SHARE]
Saturday, June 17, 2023

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s last night on Earth imagined in clear-eyed 'Mountaintop' by Charles McNulty

Katori Hall's two-person drama 'The Mountaintop' opens at the Geffen Playhouse.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:00AM[SHARE]
Thursday, June 15, 2023

Appreciation: Glenda Jackson, formidable English talent who helped change contemporary acting's tone by Charles McNulty

The two-time Academy Award winner Glenda Jackson, who died Thursday after a short illness at the age of 87, was one of the leading British actors of her generation.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 05:28PM[SHARE]
Monday, June 12, 2023

Commentary: An unscripted Tony Awards 2023 found meaning and eloquence on a historic night by Charles McNulty

Solidarity with striking screenwriters from the WGA inspired moving speeches onstage at the 2023 Tony Awards.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 02:28PM[SHARE]
Sunday, June 11, 2023

Ranking this year's Tony best musical nominees from worst to best by Charles McNulty

The 2023 best musical nominees are ranked by our critic. 'Kimberly Akimbo,' '& Juliet,' 'Some Like It Hot,' 'Shucked,' 'New York, New York' -- which tops the list?

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 01:42PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, June 6, 2023

Commentary: Why the Tony Awards should give one to the audience this year by Charles McNulty

Broadway audiences deserve a Tony Award this year for helping to make shows like "Leopoldstadt," "Parade" and "Fat Ham" not just excellent productions but unforgettable shared events.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:00AM[SHARE]
Friday, June 2, 2023

Review: A compassionate 'Transparent' musical is stymied by its chaotic production by Charles McNulty

The Mark Taper Forum presents the world premiere of 'A Transparent Musical,' inspired by the Prime Video series and featuring a book by MJ Kaufman and Joey Soloway and a score by Faith Solow…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AM[SHARE]
Friday, May 26, 2023

After four decades, 'A Soldier's Play' is still urgent in Tony-winning revival by Charles McNulty

The Tony-winning revival of Charles Fuller's 1981 drama 'A Soldier's Play,' directed by Kenny Leon, arrives at the Ahmanson Theatre with a cast that includes Norm Lewis and Eugene Lee.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 11:00AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Josh Groban realizes an impossible dream: Making a killer impression on Broadway by Charles McNulty

Josh Groban, who received a Tony nomination for his performance in the new Broadway revival of 'Sweeney Todd,' talks about living out his Sondheim dream.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:42PM[SHARE]

With Regional Theatre Tony win, Pasadena Playhouse is undoubtedly out of the woods by Charles McNulty

Pasadena Playhouse wins the Tony Award for regional theater excellence, becoming only the second Los Angeles institution to earn the honor and continuing its triumphant streak after years of…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 12:00PM[SHARE]
Thursday, May 18, 2023

Ben Platt, up for a Tony for his performance in 'Parade,' gets by with a little help from his friends by Charles McNulty

Ben Platt embraces the 'discomfort and anxiety' of 'Parade,' about the 1913 trial and subsequent lynching of Jewish American Leo Frank in Georgia.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 05:08PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, May 2, 2023

Commentary: The 2023 Tony Award nominations reflect a year of progress and backsliding on Broadway by Charles McNulty

The musical "Some Like It Hot" led with 13 Tony nominations. "Kimberly Akimbo," the critical pick for best musical, received 8. Tom Stoppard's play "Leopoldstadt," "Ain't No Mo'" and the re…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 05:45PM[SHARE]

The sublime Merle Dandridge is a musical theater dream come true in 'A Little Night Music' by Charles McNulty

This high-caliber production of 'A Little Night Music' is the crowning achievement of Pasadena Playhouse's six-month-long Sondheim Celebration festival.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 12:02PM[SHARE]
Friday, April 28, 2023

Jodie Comer on Broadway echoes the pain and fury of the Trump rape trial by Charles McNulty

In Suzie Miller's 'Prima Facie," Jodie Comer brings to Broadway her acclaimed West End performance as a successful criminal defense barrister who experiences the other side of the legal syst…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 02:32PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, April 26, 2023

'New York, New York' the film is not good. The new Broadway musical is worse by Charles McNulty

Martin Scorsese's 1977 film has been turned into a shlocky Broadway musical despite a Kander and Ebb score and additional lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:00PM[SHARE]
Monday, April 17, 2023

Review: In 'Ava,' Elizabeth McGovern casts a spell at Geffen Playhouse as a classic Hollywood femme fatale by Charles McNulty

It's hard to imagine 'Ava: The Secret Conversations' getting produced at the Geffen Playhouse without Elizabeth McGovern on the marquee as the show's star.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:08PM[SHARE]
Friday, April 14, 2023

Center Theatre Group is at an inflection point. New artistic director Snehal Desai aims to 'turn the ship' by Charles McNulty

Theater critic Charles McNulty interviews Snehal Desai, producing artistic director of East West Players, who has been named artistic director of Center Theatre Group.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 12:15PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Review: Dustin H. Chinn's new Chance Theater comedy serves up the cultural politics of food by Charles McNulty

Chance Theater presents 'Colonialism Is Terrible, But Phở Is Delicious,' a comedy about food through a post-colonial lens.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:05PM[SHARE]
Thursday, April 6, 2023

Review: A potent and intimate take on 'Kiss of the Spider Woman' enthralls at A Noise Within by Charles McNulty

Manuel Puig's dramatic adaptation of his novel "Kiss of the Spider Woman" is directed by Michael Michetti at A Noise Within in Pasadena.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:49PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, April 5, 2023

Randy Rainbow on his viral Trump indictment parody video: 'No choice but to really go for it' by Charles McNulty

Randy Rainbow talks about his latest music video, 'Grumpy Trumpy Felon From Jamaica in Queens!',' prompted by Donald Trump's recent indictment.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:12PM[SHARE]

Commentary: The best theater in L.A. right now? It's in Pasadena by Charles McNulty

Pasadena Playhouse's producing artistic director, Danny Feldman, has proved that growth is still possible in a time of spiraling crisis for American theater.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:30AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Review: Words aren't the only magic in this interactive production of Shakespeare's 'Tempest' by Charles McNulty

Shakespeare Center L.A. and After Hours Theatre Co. present a partly immersive staging of 'The Tempest,' William Shakespeare's magical late romance.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AM[SHARE]
Thursday, March 23, 2023

Review: Lucas Hnath conjures up the eerie, sensationally acted 'The Thin Place' at Echo Theater Co. by Charles McNulty

In 'The Thin Place,' an exploration of the line between the living and the dead, playwright Lucas Hnath turns theater into a seance.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:03PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Review: A reimagined 'Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992' revival arrives at a time of protracted crisis by Charles McNulty

'Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992,' Anna Deavere Smith's documentary play about the Rodney King uprising, is reconceived for a new era with many of the same problems.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 12:03PM[SHARE]
Sunday, March 19, 2023

Review: 'The Lonely Few,' a Geffen musical about lesbian rockers in love, is full of old-fashioned heart by Charles McNulty

The world premiere of 'The Lonely Few' at L.A.'s Geffen Playhouse stars Tony winner Lauren Patten and an astonishing Ciara Renée.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 02:32PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Commentary: Richard Gilman, the complicated subject of a new memoir, helped raise the bar for theater criticism by Charles McNulty

In 'The Critic's Daughter,' Priscilla Gilman writes about her complex relationship with her father, theater critic and Yale professor Richard Gilman.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 12:55PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, March 7, 2023

Review: A hypnotic new musical adaptation of 'The Outsiders' stays gold by Charles McNulty

S.E. Hinton's classic young-adult novel 'The Outsiders' is transformed into a new musical, with a book by playwright Adam Rapp and a score by Jamestown Revival and Justin Levine.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 01:45PM[SHARE]
Friday, March 3, 2023

Review: 'The Lifespan of a Fact' in L.A. makes engaging comedy out of the blurring of truth by Charles McNulty

"The Lifespan of a Fact," which starred Daniel Radcliffe on Broadway, opens at L.A.'s Fountain Theatre with new actors sparring in an epic journalistic battle.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Review: A reimagined 'Secret Garden' fails to flower anew at the Ahmanson Theatre by Charles McNulty

Marsha Norman and Lucy Simon's musical, based on Frances Hodgson Burnett's beloved children's novel, gets a new production at at the Ahmanson Theatre with Broadway in the show's sights.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:00AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, February 21, 2023

A majestic 'Sunday in the Park With George' revival arrives at Pasadena Playhouse by Charles McNulty

Pasadena Playhouse's Sondheim Celebration kicks into gear with a revival of "Sunday in the Park With George," directed by Sarna Lapine.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:53PM[SHARE]
Friday, February 17, 2023

Review: Kristina Wong assembled 'aunties' to sew masks. Her pandemic mission is now a must-see show by Charles McNulty

Kristina Wong's performance piece on a pandemic mask-making project opens at the Kirk Douglas Theatre.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 12:22PM[SHARE]

All that Chat

2025-2026 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 12, 2025: Call Me Izzy - Studio 54
Sep 16, 2025: Art - Music Box Theatre
Oct 08, 2025: Beetlejuice - Palace Theatre
Nov 13, 2025: Oedipus - Studio 54
Nov 16, 2025: Chess - Imperial Theatre
Mar 23, 2026: Giant - Music Box Theatre
Apr 06, 2026: Becky Shaw - Hayes Theater
Apr 16, 2026: Proof - Booth Theatre
Apr 26, 2026: Drama Desk Cut-Off