All stories by Charles McNulty on BroadwayStars

Friday, September 6, 2024

Review: 'Memnon' restores a forgotten African hero to the Classical pantheon at the Getty Villa by Charles McNulty

Will Power's "Memnon," a co-production between the Getty Villa and the Classical Theatre of Harlem, has its world premiere.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:07PM
Friday, August 23, 2024

Review: The Tarell Alvin McCraney era begins at the Geffen with powerful 'The Brothers Size' by Charles McNulty

At Geffen Playhouse, Biljan Sheibani directs a crackling revival of 'The Brothers Size,' part of Tarell Alvin McCraney's acclaimed trilogy 'The Brother/Sister Plays.'

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:53PM
Tuesday, August 20, 2024

Review: Sasha Velour, winner of 'RuPaul's Drag Race,' tells her own story in 'Velour: A Drag Spectacular' by Charles McNulty

'Velour: A Drag Spectacular," created by Sasha Velour and Moisés Kaufman, is worthy of its title in world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:54PM
Thursday, August 15, 2024

Review: Pop culture and populist revolt collide in Old Globe's thrilling 'Henry 6' by Charles McNulty

Barry Edelstein adapts and directs 'Henry 6,' Shakespeare's early history play, condensed into two parts, as San Diego's Old Globe completes the playwright's canon with an entertaining adapt…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:00AM
Friday, August 9, 2024

Review: In 'Dance First,' a biopic of Samuel Beckett, Gabriel Byrne portrays the man, not the myth by Charles McNulty

Director James Marsh's film on the life of Samuel Beckett, starring Gabriel Byrne and written by Neil Forsyth, infuses surrealism into a conventional format.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 05:36PM
Saturday, August 3, 2024

Review: Gender-swapped 'Company' revival dazzles, capturing the spirit of Sondheim by Charles McNulty

Marianne Elliott's Tony-winning gender-swapped revival of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's 'Company' dazzles at the Hollywood Pantages.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:00AM
Thursday, August 1, 2024

Review: 'Clue: Live on Stage' reinvigorates the 1985 movie with mindless fun by Charles McNulty

'Clue: Live on Stage!,' playing at the Ahmanson Theatre, earns its exclamation point through the breathless exuberance of its physical comedy.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:36PM
Wednesday, July 31, 2024

Two ambitious plays by Tom Jacobson on rise of Nazism are unsettling in their timeliness by Charles McNulty

Tom Jacobson's new plays 'The Bauhaus Project' and 'Crevasse' are thrilling in the scope of their ambition. They are also unsettling as America faces its own fascist peril.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:00AM
Wednesday, July 24, 2024

Review: An offbeat comedy takes a brutal turn in Echo Theater's 'Dido of Idaho' by Charles McNulty

Romance goes afoul in Abby Rosebrock's 'Dido of Idaho' at Echo Theater Company as offbeat comedy takes a brutal turn.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:00AM
Friday, July 19, 2024

Review: 'Tartuffe: Born Again' in the American South kicks up its heels at Theatricum Botanicum by Charles McNulty

Freyda Thomas adapts Moliere's 'Tartuffe' with an American twist in a winning production at Topanga's beloved Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:00AM
Tuesday, July 16, 2024

Review: Rob Morrow and Marcia Cross relight 'The Substance of Fire' in uneven production by Charles McNulty

Rob Morrow and Marcia Cross star in an uneven revival of Jon Robin Baitz's 'The Substance of Fire' at Ruskin Group Theatre in Santa Monica.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:00AM
Wednesday, June 26, 2024

Dreading four more months of the presidential campaign? Our critic turned to the classics by Charles McNulty

With the first presidential debate of the 2024 election between Donald Trump and Joe Biden set for Thursday, a critic calls on Homer and psychoanalysis to survive till November and beyond.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:00AM
Tuesday, June 25, 2024

Review: 'Janet Planet,' the luminous film debut of playwright Annie Baker, is a poem of childhood by Charles McNulty

Julianne Nicholson stars as a mother with boundary problems raising a precocious, strong-minded 11-year old daughter in playwright Annie Baker's A24 release.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 11:00AM
Monday, June 24, 2024

Review: 'tiny father,' a new play about unexpected parenthood, is disappointingly minor key by Charles McNulty

The West Coast premiere of a play by Mike Lew, 'tiny father' tells the story of an accidental father thrust into a neonatal ICU in this Geffen Playhouse production directed by Moritz von Stu…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:00AM
Monday, June 17, 2024

A 2024 Tony Awards lesson for regional theaters nationwide: Be fearless by Charles McNulty

Wins for "Stereophonic," "The Outsiders" and others prove that nonprofit and regional theaters can succeed by prioritizing ambitious work and giving it time to develop.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:00AM
Thursday, June 6, 2024

Why the Tony-winning author of 'A Strange Loop' wants to upend the American musical by Charles McNulty

A conversation with Michael R. Jackson, whose Tony-winning musical "A Strange Loop" is having its Los Angeles premiere at the Ahmanson Theatre.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:00AM
Tuesday, June 4, 2024

Review: Imperfect, yes, but 'Jelly's Last Jam' is still wildly entertaining in Pasadena revival by Charles McNulty

Directed by Kent Gash, a new revival of 'Jelly's Last Jam' at Pasadena Playhouse makes the almost classic musical worth another look.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 12:48PM
Sunday, June 2, 2024

Danny Feldman: The man who saved L.A. theater by Charles McNulty

At a time of widespread retrenchment in American theater, Danny Feldman is boldly experimenting in real time at Pasadena Playhouse.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:00AM
Thursday, May 30, 2024

Jessica Lange on playing 'wildly emotional characters' and finding roles that still fit by Charles McNulty

An interview with Jessica Lange, who received a Tony nomination for her performance in Paula Vogel's "Mother Play" and stars in the new HBO film "The Great Lillian Hall."

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:00AM
Wednesday, May 29, 2024

How Maria Friedman and Jonathan Groff cracked the riddle of Sondheim's 'Merrily' by Charles McNulty

Jonathan Groff, star of the Broadway revival of 'Merrily We Roll Along,' and director Maria Friedman explain how they cracked Stephen Sondheim's problematic musical.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:00AM
Thursday, May 23, 2024

Review: A brilliant chat fest at A Noise Within, courtesy of George Bernard Shaw by Charles McNulty

Guillermo Cienfuegos directs George Bernard Shaw's cunning sociopolitical drama "Misalliance" at Pasadena's A Noise Within.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:00AM
Friday, May 17, 2024

Review: 'Girl From the North Country' blows into the Pantages on a Bob Dylan wind by Charles McNulty

'Girl From the North Country,' now having its L.A. premiere at the Hollywood Pantages, stitches together Bob Dylan classics in a play by Irish playwright Conor McPherson.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:00AM
Thursday, May 9, 2024

Commentary: What's missing in two starry new productions of Ibsen and Chekhov on Broadway by Charles McNulty

Steve Carell in Chekhov's 'Uncle Vanya' and Jeremy Strong in Ibsen's 'An Enemy of the People' lend excitement to new Broadway revivals that struggle to update these plays for a contemporary …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:30AM
Wednesday, May 1, 2024

Review: Ralph Fiennes, an older Macbeth, builds sympathy for a killer with soulful weariness by Charles McNulty

A cinematic presentation of a London production of "Macbeth" starring Ralph Fiennes and Indira Varma has a limited engagement in movie theaters.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 02:17PM
Tuesday, April 30, 2024

Tony nominations reflect a Broadway year in which long shots eclipsed safe bets by Charles McNulty

'Stereophonic,' 'Merrily We Roll Along,' 'Illinoise,' Alicia Keys' 'Hell's Kitchen,' Sarah Paulson, Jessica Lange, Rachel McAdams, Jeremy Strong: This year even known quantities had to stret…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 12:07PM
Friday, April 26, 2024

Review: 'Illinoise,' based on Sufjan Stevens' concept album, clears a fresh Broadway path by Charles McNulty

Choreographer and director Justin Peck brings an athletic grace to a new, category-defying Broadway musical spun from a Sufjan Stevens' album. The singing? It's gorgeous

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 02:47PM
Sunday, April 21, 2024

Review: 'Cabaret' with a kinetic Eddie Redmayne can't redeem a faltering Broadway revival by Charles McNulty

The Olivier Award-winning revival of "Cabaret," starring a physically precise and theatrically audacious Eddie Redmayne, comes to Broadway but misses his London co-star, Jesse Buckley

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:30PM
Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Review: 'Monsters of the American Cinema' confronts the horror in grief by Charles McNulty

Christian St. Croix's 'Monsters of the American Cinema' has its Los Angeles premiere at the Matrix Theatre in a Rogue Machine production directed by John Perrin Flynn.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 11:10AM
Thursday, April 11, 2024

Review: An August Wilson master class in acting at Pasadena's A Noise Within by Charles McNulty

Gregg T. Daniel directs a muscular revival of 'King Hedley II," a difficult play done well. Veralyn Jones' performance is extraordinary.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 02:05PM
Monday, April 8, 2024

Review: 'Fat Ham' at the Geffen Playhouse slathers barbecue sauce on 'Hamlet" for delicious comedy by Charles McNulty

The Broadway production of 'Fat Ham,' James Ijames' Pulitzer Prize-winning riff on 'Hamlet,' has its West Coast premiere at the Geffen Playhouse in L.A. It's gripping, outrageous fun.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 02:28PM
Thursday, April 4, 2024

Review: A dazzling Katerina McCrimmon makes for an authentic Fanny Brice in 'Funny Girl' by Charles McNulty

The Broadway touring production of Michael Mayer's 2022 revival of "Funny Girl" arrives at the Ahmanson Theatre with a star-making lead performance from Katerina McCrimmon.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:32PM

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
Nov 17, 2024: Elf - Marquis Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 17, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre
TBA: Titanic
TBA: Ragtime