All stories by JONATHAN MANDELL on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

2014 Outer Critics Circle Nominations: Gentlemen’s Guide, Aladdin, Fun Home Lead. by Jonathan Mandell

“A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder”, “Aladdin” and “Fun Home” had the greatest number of nominations for the 64th annual Outer Critics Circle…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:13PM
Monday, April 21, 2014

The Velocity of Autumn Review: Estelle Parsons and Stephen Spinella Fight, Age by Jonathan Mandell

With the best title of any Broadway play this season, two always-impressive actors as the cast, and a theme of loss and aging that hits close to home, “The Velocity of Autumn” is the sor…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:35PM
Sunday, April 20, 2014

Violet Review: Sutton Foster on a Bus To Beautiful by Jonathan Mandell

Before she wrote the songs for the astonishing “Fun Home” or collaborated with Tony Kushner on the extraordinary “Caroline, Or Change,” Jeanine Tesori wrote the music for “Violet,…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:16PM

The Cripple of Inishmaan Review: Daniel Radcliffe Back on Broadway by Jonathan Mandell

  There was no applause for Daniel Radcliffe when he first enters “The Cripple of Inishmaan,” the first and first-rate Broadway production of Martin McDonagh’s harsh 1996 comedy. …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:12PM
Thursday, April 17, 2014

Act One Review: Moss Hart’s Beloved Theater Memoir Brought to Broadway Stage by Jonathan Mandell

“Act One,” the  well-meaning stage adaptation of the beloved theatrical memoir by Moss Hart, aims to explore the intoxicating appeal of the theater, but it instead demonstrates …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:00PM

Broadway Dogs of 2014 by Jonathan Mandell

Broadway barks indeed. This season, dogs are in the casts of four Broadway shows. All four were rescued from a dog pound, and now perform eight shows a week. Are their Pooper-Scoopers monogr…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:37AM
Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Santino Fontana’s Act One, The Unluckiest Lucky Actor in New York by Jonathan Mandell

“The theatre is not so much a profession as a disease, and my first look at Broadway was the beginning of a lifelong infection,” playwright and director Moss Hart wrote in Act One, his l…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:16AM
Monday, April 14, 2014

2014 Pulitzer Prize for Drama Winner: Annie Baker’s The Flick by Jonathan Mandell

Annie Baker’s The Flick has won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Here is my review of The Flick. Citation: “Awarded to “The Flick,” by Annie Baker, a thoughtful dr…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:04PM

Bullets and Billie Holiday on Broadway. Tax Help for Artists. Spring Beefcake. The Week in New York Theater by Jonathan Mandell

Eight Broadway shows are opening in the next ten days. Two opened last week, Bullets Over Broadway and Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill. It’s tax time, which may be why there …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:21AM
Sunday, April 13, 2014

Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill Review: Audra McDonald as Billie Holiday by Jonathan Mandell

click on any photo to see it enlarged Audra McDonald is the same age as the Billie Holiday she is depicting in the first Broadway production of “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill,” a…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:47PM
Thursday, April 10, 2014

Bullets Over Broadway Reviews and Photographs by Jonathan Mandell

“Bullets Over Broadway,” based on Woody Allen’s 1994 movie about a novice playwright in the 1920s whose show is saved by a mobster, is opening tonight at the St. James Thea…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:36PM
Monday, April 7, 2014

Denzel, Menzel, Michael C. Hall. RIP Mickey Rooney. The Broadway Effect. NYC on Stage. Week in New York Theater by Jonathan Mandell

If/Then with Idina Menzel, A Raisin in the Sun with Denzel Washington and The Realistic Joneses  with Michael C. Hall opened on Broadway; Adrian Lester gives a star turn portraying the f…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:13PM
Sunday, April 6, 2014

The Realistic Joneses Review: Michael C. Hall, Marisa Tomei, Toni Collette, Tracy Letts On Broadway With Beckett Light by Jonathan Mandell

In “The Realistic Joneses,” a kind of “Endgame” reoriented to the American suburbs, Michael C. Hall and Marisa Tomei as a couple named Jones pay an unexpected visit to introduce the…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:02PM
Saturday, April 5, 2014

A Raisin in the Sun Review. Denzel Washington, Anika Noni Rose: Age-blind Casting in a Masterpiece by Jonathan Mandell

“Me and my family…we are very plain people,” Denzel Washington says in “A Raisin in the Sun,” at the start of a monologue that by the end – “we are very proud people” —…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:54PM
Thursday, April 3, 2014

If/Then Review: Idina Menzel, Of Two Minds by Jonathan Mandell

In “If/Then,” Idina Menzel portrays two different versions of the same character Elizabeth, and at the beginning of the musical, I was feeling like two versions of myself as well.  Eliz…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:46PM

The Mysteries: The Flea Takes On The Bible, Epically, Irreverently by Jonathan Mandell

  Ed Iskandar talked with God. Then it was Lucifer’s turn. Now he was addressing Adam and Eve. “The audience has just paid $50 to watch the Bible, so bite the fuck out of the apple …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:18AM
Wednesday, April 2, 2014

April 2014 Openings Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off Broadway by Jonathan Mandell

In April, there are more than 30 shows opening on Broadway,  Off-Broadway or Off-Off Broadway, at least one for each day of the month, although the schedule is more chaotic than that. (Get …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:40PM
Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Off Broadway Best: Fun Home, Here Lives Love, Natasha Pierre, 2014 Lortel Award Nominees by Jonathan Mandell

Here Lies Love; Fun Home, and Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 received the most nominations for the 2014 Lucille Lortel Awards celebrating Off-Broadway, presented by the Off-Broa…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:57PM
Monday, March 31, 2014

New York March 2014 Quiz by Jonathan Mandell

How well were you paying attention to the New York theater news in March, 2014? Answer these 10 questions and find out.

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:03PM

Red Velvet Review: Adrian Lester as First Great Black Shakespearean Actor by Jonathan Mandell

When Ira Aldridge played Othello in London, they were still debating whether it was a good thing to end slavery in the British colonies. Aldridge is the real-life African-American actor port…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:54PM
Sunday, March 30, 2014

If/Then Reviews: Idina Menzel Returns To Broadway by Jonathan Mandell

In “If/Then,” the new musical by the team that created Next To Normal, Idina Menzel returns to Broadway after a nine-year absence, playing Elizabeth, a city planner who returns t…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:44PM

Neil Patrick Harris AS Hedwig, Complete With Blonde Wig, Custom Heels by Jonathan Mandell

We saw the poster of Neil Patrick Harris as Hedwig – a close-up of his face with a little mascara and lipstick — but now we’re getting him in full dress — or full ho…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:29AM
Saturday, March 29, 2014

Broadway’s April Avalanche. Hugh Jackman Sings Wolverine The Musical. The Week in New York Theater by Jonathan Mandell

In the calm before the April avalanche — with 13 shows opening on Broadway alone within the next four weeks,  piling up to open as close as possible to the Tony Awards cut-off deadlin…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:43PM
Friday, March 28, 2014

Poll: What Broadway Show Opening in April 2014 Are You Most Looking Forward To? by Jonathan Mandell

There are 12 shows opening on Broadway in April, 2014.

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:13AM
Thursday, March 27, 2014

House of Cards Writer Goes Off-Off: Breathing Time Review by Jonathan Mandell

  Kevin Spacey doesn’t strangle a dog within the first few minutes, nor become President of the United States in the last few, but “Breathing Time,” a play by Beau Willimon, the c…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:29PM

Today Is World Theatre Day — How will you be celebrating? by Jonathan Mandell

World Theatre Day, created in 1961, is celebrated annually on March 27. How will you be celebrating? International Message by Bretty Bailey The 2014 World Theater Day International Message i…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:55AM
Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Tennessee Williams, Born Today, Forever Quotable by Jonathan Mandell

“Time is the longest distance between two places.” — Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams was born on March 26, 1911 — he would be 103 years old today &…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 04:16PM

Watch Toni Braxton in After Midnight on Broadway by Jonathan Mandell

Toni Braxton and Babyface are the guest stars of the Broadway musical After Midnight, which offers an evening of the kind of entertainment that was in Harlem’s Cotton Club in the 1930s…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:11AM
Monday, March 24, 2014

Mothers and Sons Review: Tyne Daly as Andre’s Mother, Still Angry, Grieving by Jonathan Mandell

In “Mothers and Sons,” Terrence McNally’s well-acted, sometimes touching new play, Tyne Daly as Katherine Gerard pays an unexpected visit to Cal (Frederick Weller) the lover of her son…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:09PM

New Les Miz. New Phantom. Aladdin Alights. Sondheim Favs. The Week in New York Theater by Jonathan Mandell

Broadway’s big guns fired the first volley this week of what will be a month-long assault — 13 more shows are opening within the next month, ending the 2013-14 Broadway season. B…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:20PM

The Book of Mormon, Three Years Old by Jonathan Mandell

The Book of Mormon opened three years ago today. It won 11 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Costing about $9.1 million to mount, it has earned nearly $250 million on Broadway alone (with…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:40PM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards