All stories by JONATHAN MANDELL on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, July 5, 2022

RIP Peter Brook, 97. Summer theater dilemma: To go or not to go? #Stageworthy News by Jonathan Mandell

As a new season begins, the big questions posed in the best theater co-exist with a more immediate question: Are theatergoers safe? Starting last Friday, Broadway attendance requires neither…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:58AM
Monday, July 4, 2022

Women’s Declaration of Independence: 10 Songs for the 4th of July. by Jonathan Mandell

“You don’t own me,” Lesley Gore sings, in one of the videos below of anthems, pop ballads and raps sung by women that have taken on a new, urgent meaning this Fourth of July, a holiday…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:28PM
Sunday, July 3, 2022

Theater Quiz for June 2022: Freedom from Health Edition by Jonathan Mandell

How well were you paying attention to the news and its impact on theater this past month? Answer these dozen questions on abortion and masks and the Tonys, plus a bonus question on hybrid th…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:39PM
Friday, July 1, 2022

July 2022 New York Theater Openings by Jonathan Mandell

Below is a selection of theater opening in New York in July, featuring two Broadway shows, a revival of Sondheim and Lapine’s “Into the Woods” and a stage adaptation of “The Kite Ru…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:42PM
Thursday, June 30, 2022

20 New Theater Books for Summer Reading 2022 by Jonathan Mandell

Below is a list of theater books — recently published, soon-to-be published, or newly relevant — in four categories: Scripts and Play AnthologiesBiographies and MemoirsTheater History, C…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:29AM
Wednesday, June 29, 2022

Broadway 2022-2023 Season Preview Guide by Jonathan Mandell

Below is my annual preview guide of Broadway openings in the 2022-2023 season, which features starry revivals of some of America’s most acclaimed plays and musicals, new adaptations of bel…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:52AM
Monday, June 27, 2022

Broadway Unmasked. Theater vs. Abortion Ruling. #Stageworthy News by Jonathan Mandell

The Broadway League will no longer require Broadway theatergoers to wear masks starting this Friday – not the most shocking decision announced last week, but like the Supreme Court rulin…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:02PM
Wednesday, June 22, 2022

Corsicana Review: Heroes of the Weird by Jonathan Mandell

Lot bristles at the label “special needs.”  He is a recluse and a self-trained artist who composed a song called “Weird” and collects trash to turn into sculpture. Yes, he says, he…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:27PM
Tuesday, June 21, 2022

Broadway Black’s Antonyo Award Nominations by Jonathan Mandell

The theater award season continues with nominations announced today by Broadway Black for its second Antonyo Awards, intended to honor extraordinary achievements in the Black theater communi…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:59PM
Monday, June 20, 2022

2022 Chita Rivera Award Winners: Myles Frost AND Jared Grimes, Paradise Square, for colored girls by Jonathan Mandell

Myles Frost of “MJ The Musical” AND Jared Grimes of “Funny Girl” both won the Chita Rivera Awards for outstanding male dancer in a Broadway show, one of two ties in the annual award …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:05PM

A Week of The Weird Art. Broadway Celebrates Juneteenth. #Stageworthy News by Jonathan Mandell

The words “weird” or “weirdo” appear some two dozen times in “Corsicana,” a play by Will Arbery which opens on Wednesday, and which co-stars Dierdre O’Connell, who last week (c…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:08PM
Sunday, June 19, 2022

God’s Fool Review. Francis of Assisi in a Martha Clarke dance by Jonathan Mandell

“God’s Fool,” the 70-minute theater piece about St. Francis of Assisi conceived and directed by Martha Clarke that’s at LaMaMa through July 2, would probably be best appreciated by t…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:47PM

Lessons in Survival 1971. James Baldwin Talks Race and Writing With Nikki Giovanni by Jonathan Mandell

“Lessons in Survival 1971,” running at the Vineyard Theater through June 30, is based on then-28-year-old poet Nikki Giovanni’s interview-turned-conversation with the famous writer Ja…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:40PM

Celebrating #Bloomsday with Ulysses by Elevator Repair Service at Symphony Space by Jonathan Mandell

On the 100th anniversary of the publication of James Joyce’s monumental modernist novel “Ulysses,” Symphony Space gave over its annual Bloomsday celebration to a new theater piece, als…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:59PM
Thursday, June 16, 2022

The Orchard Review. Chekhov on stage and online featuring Baryshnikov, the Ukraine war, ASL and a pet robot. by Jonathan Mandell

The moments in “The Orchard” that suggest the current Russian invasion of Ukraine would surely get the most attention in a more conventionally focused adaptation of “The Cherry Orchard…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:20PM
Tuesday, June 14, 2022

Circle Jerk Review: Gay Digital Spoof Now On Stage by Jonathan Mandell

In the prologue of “Circle Jerk” — a funny, campy, discombobulating hybrid theater piece that’s a spoof of both gay and digital culture (and also an example of each) — the Troll, …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:23PM
Monday, June 13, 2022

Tony Awards 2022: Memorable Moments. #Stageworthy News this week by Jonathan Mandell

There were delightful surprises and predictable disappointments during the 75th Tony Awards, honoring the first full season since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down theaters in March 2020 and…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:18AM
Sunday, June 12, 2022

2022 Tony Award Winners by Jonathan Mandell

Below the winners of the 75th annual Tony Awards (Here’s a guide to the full 2021-2022 Broadway season, including those not nominated, and those that reopened.)(Here is the list of the nom…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:09PM
Saturday, June 11, 2022

Broadway Theater To Be Named After Lena Horne. Here’s why. by Jonathan Mandell

Years before the end of her long illustrious life, Lena Horne, singer, actor, dancer,  elegant beauty, fierce civil rights activist, pioneering movie star — the first Black performer to …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:58PM
Thursday, June 9, 2022

2022 Tony Awards: Who SHOULD Win, and Why by Jonathan Mandell

In this most trying of seasons, the theater community has been attempting to redefine what Broadway means, and that includes producing work that surely would not have made it to Broadway bef…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:13PM
Wednesday, June 8, 2022

2022 Drama Desk Award winners: Kimberly Akimbo, Company… by Jonathan Mandell

(Full list of nominees here) (Don’t know the difference between the Drama Desk and the Drama League and the Drama Critics Circle and the Outer Critics Circle awards? Check out my New York…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:13PM

Watch 2022 Theater World Award Winners on Their First Time, and Tough Times by Jonathan Mandell

A dozen luminous first-time New York stage performers, plus Harvey Fierstein, and 21 members of the ensemble of The Music Man, were honored at the 76th annual Theatre World Awards — the fi…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:41AM
Monday, June 6, 2022

Tony Countdown. #Stageworthy News of the Week by Jonathan Mandell

The 75th Annual Tony Awards will be presented next Sunday at Radio City Music Hall and live on your TV or (more likely) computer, celebrating the strangest of Broadway seasons, which officia…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:21AM
Sunday, June 5, 2022

Michael Jackson vs Michael R Jackson. Watch MJ and A Strange Loop videos by Jonathan Mandell

Below are two short videos from the two new Broadway musicals that were most nominated for 2022 Tony Awards: “A Strange Loop” by Michael R. Jackson received 11 Tony nominations, “MJ th…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:56AM
Saturday, June 4, 2022

Alexandria Wailes on Deaf Dancing, CODA Switching and Turning Purple by Jonathan Mandell

When Alexandria Wailes was growing up, people would stop her mother, incredulous, and ask her: “ Your deaf daughter is dancing!? How is that possible?” She reminded Wailes of this over …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:54PM
Thursday, June 2, 2022

Theater Reviews: what the end will be, and Exception to the Rule by Jonathan Mandell

In Mansa Ra’s new play, three generations of Black gay men live under the same roof –  grandfather, father and son. If it’s hardly unusual of late to see Black queer male characters …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:04PM
Wednesday, June 1, 2022

June 2022 New York Theater Openings by Jonathan Mandell

Below is a selection of theater opening in June, presented in a day-by-day calendar and featuring several festivals, mostly outdoors and mostly free, as well as an usual number of hybrid pr…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:22PM
Tuesday, May 31, 2022

Broadway: Looking Ahead, Looking Behind. #Stageworthy News of the Week by Jonathan Mandell

While we await the remaining theater awards to top off the triumphant and traumatic 2020/21-2022 season, the next Broadway season is starting to take shape. The latest announcement: The New …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:49AM
Monday, May 30, 2022

Memorial Day 2022: Remembering Americans Who Died from War, COVID-19, and Firearms by Jonathan Mandell

Memorial Day became an official national holiday in 1971 to honor Americans who died in military service, some 1.1. million people since the nation’s founding.  But it feels appropriate t…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:29AM
Sunday, May 29, 2022

Tony Awards Quiz for May 2022 by Jonathan Mandell

Take this quiz about the nominations for the 2022 Tony Awards, and some of the other theater awards announced in May. Loading…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:32PM
Thursday, May 26, 2022

Fat Ham Review by Jonathan Mandell

‘Fat Ham,” this year’s Pulitzer Prize winning play, which opened tonight at the Public Theater,  is inspired by “Hamlet,” but it parts ways with the Bard, and not just because of…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:58PM

All that Chat