All stories by Elisabeth Vincentelli on BroadwayStars

Sunday, January 26, 2020

‘The Transfiguration of Benjamin Banneker’ Review: An Unwieldy Ride by Elisabeth Vincentelli

A tale about the 18th-century African-American mathematician includes actors, a vibrant marching band and wackadoo puppetry.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 07:36PM
Friday, January 24, 2020

‘Oscar Wao’ Review: The Tragedy, and Comedy, of Manhood by Elisabeth Vincentelli

In a Spanish-language stage adaptation of the Junot Díaz novel, the friendship between two Dominican men is a testing ground for competing visions of masculinity.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:12PM
Monday, January 20, 2020

Review: Bess Myerson’s ‘Ugly Daughter’ Recalls Miss America Dearest by Elisabeth Vincentelli

Barra Grant’s autobiographical solo play plumbs her fraught relationship with her mother, the famous politician and beauty queen Bess Myerson.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:36PM
Sunday, January 12, 2020

Review: ‘Cartography’ Hops Around a Fractured World Map by Elisabeth Vincentelli

This documentary show, created to teach young audiences about the experiences of refugees, focuses on optimism and hope, perhaps to a fault.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:36PM
Friday, January 10, 2020

Call Charles Busch a ‘Drag Legend,’ if We Must Use Labels by Elisabeth Vincentelli

With a gown and love for old Hollywood, Busch stars in his latest zany romp, “The Confession of Lily Dare.”

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:48AM
Friday, December 13, 2019

Review: Five Pieces From ‘Nine,’ and Plenty More From Its Composer by Elisabeth Vincentelli

“Anything Can Happen in the Theater: The Musical World of Maury Yeston” is an old-fashioned revue that ably showcases the Tony-winning songwriter.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:42PM
Sunday, December 8, 2019

‘Sleeping Car Porters’ Review: Billy the Kid Meets the Zodiac Killer by Elisabeth Vincentelli

This cryptic play at the Brick Theater examining a certain kind of mythological American noir is wonderfully flabbergasting, and often genuinely creepy.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:03PM
Thursday, December 5, 2019

Review: Facing Life’s Final Stretch in ‘Harry Townsend’s Last Stand’ by Elisabeth Vincentelli

George Eastman’s Off Broadway play is lifted by its direction and performances, but often feels like a cornball sitcom.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:12AM
Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Best Theater of 2019 by Ben Brantley, Jesse Green, Laura Collins-Hughes, Alexis Soloski and Elisabeth Vincentelli

Shows that defied categorization offered a stark choice: Escape an angry world, or face up to its travails. Beyond Broadway, writers explored race, inequality and addiction.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:18AM
Friday, November 22, 2019

The Pop Musical: Go Big (and Loud) or Go Home by Elisabeth Vincentelli

It’s time for Broadway to embrace what’s most joyous about songbook shows. Not biography, not coherence, but excess. Even “Moulin Rouge!” doesn’t quite get it right.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 11:24AM
Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Review: Female Chemistry in ‘The Half-Life of Marie Curie’ by Elisabeth Vincentelli

A new play focuses on the first woman to win the Nobel Prize and her friendship with Hertha Ayrton, a fellow scientist played by Kate Mulgrew.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 11:24PM
Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Review: In ‘Reparations,’ Righting Wrongs Comes With a Cost by Elisabeth Vincentelli

James Sheldon’s play examines what happens when trauma is used to material ends.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:54PM
Tuesday, October 29, 2019

‘Fear’ Review: 3 Men in a Shed, 1 Missing Girl on Their Minds by Elisabeth Vincentelli

A tepid thriller from Matt Williams leaves too much time to ponder the holes in its plot.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 08:42PM
Monday, October 28, 2019

‘Seared’ Review: For a Pompous Chef, Comeuppance on the Menu by Elisabeth Vincentelli

Raúl Esparza faces the realities of the restaurant business in Theresa Rebeck’s energetic but formulaic art-versus-commerce comedy.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:18PM
Friday, October 25, 2019

How Do You Impersonate Judy Garland? Ask a Drag Queen by Elisabeth Vincentelli

While Renée Zellweger plays the star onscreen, a host of cabaret performers pay homage to the gay icon night after night onstage.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:18PM
Sunday, October 20, 2019

For 24 Hours Onstage, Alia Shawkat Felt Great to Feel ‘Shameless’ by Elisabeth Vincentelli

The “Arrested Development” actress made quite the New York stage debut, repeating one fiery scene opposite about 100 different actors in “The Second Woman.”

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:12PM
Friday, October 18, 2019

‘Chasing Rainbows’ Review: Judy Garland’s Happy Days by Elisabeth Vincentelli

Focusing on the entertainer’s early years, this Paper Mill Playhouse musical offers buoyant tap numbers but sidesteps the material’s most troubling implications.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:48PM
Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Review: A Startling ‘Swan Lake’ That’s Hard to Recognize by Elisabeth Vincentelli

In a work opening with a goat tethered to a cinder block, the closest we get to Tchaikovsky’s ballet is four dancers representing swans.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:48PM
Sunday, October 13, 2019

Review: A Son Mourns in ‘Notes on My Mother’s Decline’ by Elisabeth Vincentelli

Intimate but distant by design, Andy Bragen’s play takes us on a journey many are likely to face with an aging parent.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 08:42PM
Monday, October 7, 2019

Review: ‘Dublin Carol’ Gets Lost in Its Drink by Elisabeth Vincentelli

Set in a bar on Christmas Eve, this revival at the Irish Repertory Theater plays alcoholism for drama without resorting to boozy histrionics.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:24PM
Monday, September 30, 2019

Review: In ‘Why’d Ya Do It,’ a Spiky Séance With Marianne Faithfull by Elisabeth Vincentelli

The downtown rock raconteuse Tammy Faye Starlite is celebrating the 40th anniversary of “Broken English” in this hybrid of a show.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:33PM
Sunday, September 29, 2019

Review: ‘jazz singer’ Looks to Complicate a Film’s Fraught History by Elisabeth Vincentelli

A director and a composer play versions of themselves in a fascinating but frustrating reconsideration of a movie infamous for its use of blackface.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:24PM
Friday, September 6, 2019

It’s ‘Opening Night’ for Two Shows That Pay Homage to Cassavetes by Elisabeth Vincentelli

An Australian production features the same scene repeated 100 times, while a French version stars Isabelle Adjani in the Gena Rowlands role.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:24AM
Thursday, September 5, 2019

Review: In ‘Dust,’ the Measure of a Life After Suicide by Elisabeth Vincentelli

A woman watches those she left behind in Milly Thomas’s unsentimental solo show at the Fourth Street Theater.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:42PM
Sunday, August 25, 2019

Review: ‘HOUSE’ Nods to Chekhov, but the References Don’t Stop There by Elisabeth Vincentelli

The latest production by Theater Mitu is a high-concept, low-reward aggregate of undigested allusions.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:03PM
Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Review: Motherhood Masters Dysfunction in ‘Little Gem’ by Elisabeth Vincentelli

In Elaine Murphy’s play, three women from one Dublin family tell a slice-of-life story through interwoven, interlocking monologues.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:54PM
Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Review: A Vaclav Havel Trilogy Drives Evening of Political Theater by Elisabeth Vincentelli

“Havel: The Passion of Thought,” along with work by Harold Pinter and one by Samuel Beckett (dedicated to Havel), takes on morality and tyranny.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:03PM
Sunday, July 14, 2019

What Makes Michael R. Jackson Tick, and What Ticks Him Off by Elisabeth Vincentelli

The young, gay, black creator of the musical “A Strange Loop” talks about his process, Liz Phair, soap operas and just about everything else.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:36PM
Friday, July 5, 2019

The Boys in the Band Get to Broadway. Why Not the Girls? by Elisabeth Vincentelli

“The Prom” is the rare show with lesbian themes to reach theater’s biggest stage. Gay women deserve more than drawing their own conclusions about Princess Elsa and Scout Finch.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:03PM
Thursday, July 4, 2019

Review: ‘Rock of Ages’ Returns, Scaled Down but Big Hair Intact by Elisabeth Vincentelli

In a limited run Off Broadway, the jukebox musical about love and rocking out in the 1980s now includes songs by Def Leppard.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:48PM
Monday, June 17, 2019

Review: A One-Act Marathon Anchored by the Armageddon by Elisabeth Vincentelli

Plays in this Ensemble Studio Theater series include stories of the Second Coming told seven ways and two women in search of a hot duck.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:36PM

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 15, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 01, 2025: Glengarry Glen Ross
TBA: Titanic