All stories by Charles McNulty on BroadwayStars

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Embracing the chill in Jimmy Buffett's 'Escape to Margaritaville' by Charles McNulty

'Escape to Margaritaville,' Jimmy Buffett, La Jolla Playhouse, Christopher Ashley

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 05:55PM[SHARE]
Sunday, June 18, 2017

In 'The Conduct of Life,' witness an American classic that's more often taught than staged by Charles McNulty

Hero Theatre organized a festival last year in celebration of Cuban American playwright María Irene Fornés, a key figure in the off-off-Broadway theater movement who has had an influence…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 01:30PM[SHARE]
Thursday, June 15, 2017

The astrophysicist's rom-com: 'Constellations' at the Geffen by Charles McNulty

The opening scene of "Constellations," the play by British dramatist Nick Payne that had a Broadway production in 2015 with Ruth Wilson and Jake Gyllenhaal, offers variations of the meet-cut…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:00PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, June 13, 2017

And the winner is ... a tie? Why this year's Tony Awards are so impossible to predict by Charles McNulty

You know it's an interesting year for the Tony Awards when a critic is still arguing with himself in June over what should win best musical and best play. I'm divided between "Dear Evan Hans…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:36PM[SHARE]
Monday, June 12, 2017

Critic's analysis: Tonys spread the love in a year of innovation and risk-taking on Broadway by Charles McNulty

Inequality is a brute fact of American life and Broadway, increasingly divided between blockbuster hits and struggling also-rans, is hardly immune. But the Tony Awards tried to impose some j…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:00AM[SHARE]
Monday, June 5, 2017

The secret to Tony Award nominee Laurie Metcalf's success? Brilliance and a whole lot of hard work by Charles McNulty

The secret to Tony Award nominee Laurie Metcalf's success? Brilliance and a whole lot of hard work

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 11:02PM[SHARE]

Racism, injustice and the echo of history in the one-man internment drama 'Hold These Truths' by Charles McNulty

In turbulent times, history itself becomes a source of suspenseful drama, as anxious citizens look to the past to predict what fresh hell is in store for them. "Hold These Truths," a solo dr…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:35PM[SHARE]

The secret to Tony Awards nominee Laurie Metcalf's success? Brilliance and a whole lot of hard work by Charles McNulty

For many aspiring thespians, the dream is to become a working actor. For Laurie Metcalf, a three-time Emmy-winner for her role as hapless Jackie on the sitcom "Roseanne" and a strong contend…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 01:00PM[SHARE]
Sunday, May 21, 2017

Center Theatre Group's starry 50th: From offending Ronald Reagan to Trump-era provocations by Charles McNulty

Center Theatre Group's "50th Celebration," which gathered celebrities, devoted patrons, philanthropists and swells in their spiffiest attire for a Saturday night shindig at the Ahmanson, was…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:20PM[SHARE]
Friday, May 19, 2017

At the Ahmanson, 'Jersey Boys' puts another quarter in the jukebox by Charles McNulty

"Jersey Boys," that perennial jukebox moneymaker, is back at the Ahmanson Theatre for reasons that are easily surmised. The coffers at Center Theatre Group are clearly crying out for repleni…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:50PM[SHARE]

Portrait of the artist as an ageless man: At 92, Peter Brook treads a different path through 'The Mahabharata' by Charles McNulty

Peter Brook talks about his production of "Battlefield" and the process of stripping away to get to theater's essence.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 12:00PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, May 16, 2017

'Kiss' at the Odyssey: A rising Chilean playwright explores what gets lost in translation by Charles McNulty

A note in the press packet for the West Coast premiere of Guillermo Calderón's "Kiss" at the Odyssey Theatre requests that critics "not give away details of the plot" in their reviews. Th…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:45PM[SHARE]
Monday, May 15, 2017

And you thought your contractor was bad. Meet 'The Monster Builder' at South Coast Rep by Charles McNulty

Comedy of the crowd-pleasing variety is making a comeback on our stages this season. The Geffen Playhouse notched a hit with Matthew Lopez's "The Legend of Georgia McBride," a giggly romp ab…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:45PM[SHARE]
Monday, May 8, 2017

Rajiv Joseph's 'Archduke' at the Taper is an ambitious mix of history, comedy and tragedy by Charles McNulty

"Archduke," the title of Rajiv Joseph's new play, sounds like the answer to a high school social studies quiz on 20th century European history. As I hope all of you remember, the assassinati…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:10PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, May 2, 2017

A critic's take on the Tony nominations: Kudos for rewarding inventive shows that take risks by Charles McNulty

What a difference a year makes. When the 2016 Tony nominations were announced, the suspense was over how many "Hamilton" would get. The show was a lock in most of the major categories, shift…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:25PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, April 18, 2017

With a heroic performance by its injured star, 'Groundhog Day' limps through opening night by Charles McNulty

Andy Karl, the star of the new Broadway musical "Groundhog Day," reported for duty on Monday night at the August Wilson Theatre for the production's official New York opening. It was uncerta…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:35PM[SHARE]
Sunday, April 16, 2017

Ibsen's radical 1879 play about women's equality gets a 2017 sequel: Lucas Hnath's 'A Doll's House, Part 2' by Charles McNulty

A door dominates the backdrop of Lucas Hnath's "A Doll's House, Part 2," which picks up the story 15 years after Henrik Ibsen's landmark drama ends. This is the door that Nora slammed (famou…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:25PM[SHARE]
Thursday, April 13, 2017

Column: Tony Awards need a role for Hillary Clinton by Charles McNulty

Since the presidential election, private citizen Hillary Clinton has permitted herself two main types of recreation: hiking in the woods outside her Westchester County home and attending Bro…

SOURCE: St. Louis Today at 09:18PM[SHARE]
Monday, April 10, 2017

Why Hillary Clinton's Next Big Stage Should Be the Tony Awards by Charles McNulty

Draft Hillary Clinton to make a pro-NEA statement at the Tony Awards

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:21PM[SHARE]

Why Hillary Clinton's next big stage should be at the Tony Awards by Charles McNulty

Since the presidential election, private citizen Hillary Clinton has permitted herself two main types of recreation: hiking in the woods outside her Westchester County home and attending Bro…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 02:15PM[SHARE]
Friday, April 7, 2017

Stripped-down staging brings clever moments in this long, long journey 'Into the Woods' by Charles McNulty

The trees are ropes resembling piano strings. The birds are folded sheets of stationery. The princes ride on stick horses. And the wolf stalking Little Red Ridinghood is mounted like a hunti…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 11:55AM[SHARE]
Thursday, April 6, 2017

She's stepping down from A.C.T., but Carey Perloff continues the fight for women's stories by Charles McNulty

The moment I turned on my phone after landing in San Francisco for the opening of "Hamilton," I was greeted with momentous local news: Carey Perloff, the artistic director of the American Co…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:00AM[SHARE]
Saturday, April 1, 2017

A backstage, meditative adventure with 'The Encounter's' Simon McBurney by Charles McNulty

A conversation with British actor, writer and director Simon McBurney is a meditative adventure not unlike one of his genre-blurring theatrical collages created with his London-based interna…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 11:00AM[SHARE]
Friday, March 31, 2017

Amy Brenneman as a damsel in distress? 'Rules of Seconds' has some surprises up its sleeve by Charles McNulty

The characters in "Rules of Seconds," a new play by John Pollono at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, are a lively anachronistic mix. Their boots and pistols suggest the drama's 1855 Boston se…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 05:05PM[SHARE]
Thursday, March 30, 2017

Lisa Loomer's 'Roe': An abortion drama that settles nothing by Charles McNulty

It has been 44 years since the Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade decision decriminalized abortion, but the debate has hardly been settled. The rhetoric has only grown more inflammatory, a…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AM[SHARE]
Friday, March 24, 2017

When feminist debate turns into an ideological free-for-all: It's the Wooster Group's 'Town Hall Affair' by Charles McNulty

The Wooster Group, venerable purveyor of postmodern performance collages, has come upon a gender-politics gold mine in the company's latest adventure in cockeyed cultural excavation. "The To…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 11:15AM[SHARE]
Saturday, March 11, 2017

Deaf West sets out to tame 'Edward Albee's At Home at the Zoo' by Charles McNulty

Deaf West Theatre is back at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts after the company's heralded revival of "Spring Awakening," which catapulted itself to Broadway after its Bev…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 11:15PM[SHARE]
Monday, February 27, 2017

After all the crazy Oscar drama live onstage, one idea endures: the power of empathy by Charles McNulty

And the winner actually is … The final-act confusion over the best picture award that had movie moguls staggering out of the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood after Sunday's Academy Awards was…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:40PM[SHARE]
Friday, February 24, 2017

This 'Fun Home' weaves tragedy and comedy into a wholly original American musical by Charles McNulty

A musical with all the dramatic richness of a memorable play opened at the Ahmanson Theatre on Wednesday " a rare sighting that could induce a theater critic to genuflect if not erupt in a c…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:35AM[SHARE]
Thursday, February 23, 2017

Casey versus Denzel: Oscar's lead actor race is a dramatic study in contrasts by Charles McNulty

On the surface, Lee Chandler, the protagonist of "Manchester by the Sea," and Troy Maxson, the central character of "Fences," wouldn't seem to have much in common. Sprung from different play…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AM[SHARE]
Thursday, February 16, 2017

'Come From Away,' 'Amélie' and the long, bumpy road from West Coast to Broadway by Charles McNulty

"New musicals are never finished, only abandoned," director Christopher Ashley quipped by phone a few days before flying to New York for the start of rehearsals for "Come From Away," the mus…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 01:00PM[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