All stories by JONATHAN MANDELL on BroadwayStars

Thursday, February 20, 2014

The Bridges of Madison County Broadway Reviews by Jonathan Mandell

“The Bridges of Madison County,” the new Broadway musical based on Robert James Waller’s bestselling novel about the brief affair between Francesa,  an Italian-born Iowa f…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:20PM
Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Love and Information Review: Caryl Churchill’s 10-second Play Festival by Jonathan Mandell

At the end of Caryl Churchill’s dazzling experimental play “Love and Information,” theatergoers have spent two hours watching 15 actors portray 100-plus characters in more than 60 scen…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:01PM
Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Hugh Jackman, Elaine Stritch, Titanic Return. kd lang, Sky debut. The Week in New York Theater by Jonathan Mandell

President Obama has nominated a new head of the National Endowment of the Arts, Sky the winner of the Westminster Dog Show was cast in Kinky Boots, and Elaine Stritch has started to Tweet. Y…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:05PM
Friday, February 14, 2014

Titanic Returns With Original Broadway Cast by Jonathan Mandell

Seventeen years after “Titanic: The Musical” won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, the musical will be presented by Manhattan Concert Productions Monday, February 17, �…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:53PM
Thursday, February 13, 2014

Dinner With Friends Review: Love letter to the terrors of marriage by Jonathan Mandell

Near the end of “Dinner With Friends,” an insightful comedy that restores the word “adult” to its rightful meaning, Gabe confesses to his wife Karen that he’s fallen out of love �…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:25PM
Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Theater and Love. A Valentine’s Day Appreciation by Jonathan Mandell

Can any theater define love the way so many songs do? The musical “Aida” did for Starleisha Gingrich.  ”As an African American woman dating a man who is half Irish and ha…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:30PM
Monday, February 10, 2014

Stage Kisses! Oprah on Broadway? Diahann Carroll Not on Broadway! Oscar Wilde on Russia. The Week in New York Theater by Jonathan Mandell

Photos of the most memorable stage kisses stories told to Playwrights Horizons Theater exists only for a moment, but it also goes back for thousands of years.  This week, Oscar Wilde and th…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:15PM

The Tribute Artist Review. Charles Busch in a Real Estate Lesbian Drag Farce for Senior Citizens by Jonathan Mandell

Don’t call him a drag queen. “I’m a celebrity tribute artist,” Charles Busch says, in the role of his latest creation, Jimmy, who has lost his job at the Flamingo Hotel’s Boys Will…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:23AM
Sunday, February 9, 2014

Oscar Wilde’s First Play, About Russia, Revived After 131 Years by Jonathan Mandell

“Reforms in Russia are very tragic,  but they always end in a farce,” says a character in the first play by Oscar Wilde, who, as it turns out, had plenty to say about oppression in Russ…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:49PM
Friday, February 7, 2014

Dylan Farrow accuses Woody Allen of molesting her. Woody Allen responds. by Jonathan Mandell

“…when I was seven years old, Woody Allen took me by the hand and led me into a dim, closet-like attic on the second floor of our house. He told me to lay on my stomach and play …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:41PM
Thursday, February 6, 2014

Bronx Bombers Broadway Review. The Yankees Foul by Jonathan Mandell

You almost have to admire the chutzpah of the producers of “Bronx Bombers,” a dramatically inert play about the Yankees that was poorly received when it ran briefly Off-Broadway but neve…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:00PM
Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Almost, Maine Review: Triumphant New York Return Of Magical Tales About Love by Jonathan Mandell

Almost, Maine, returning triumphantly to New York City for the first time since it flopped here in 2006, is one of those plays that has reached such legendary status that it’s a must-see f…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:35PM

Ticket Giveaway: The Realistic Joneses with Toni Collette, Michael C. Hall, Tracy Letts and Marisa Tomei by Jonathan Mandell

Win two tickets to see The Realistic Joneses, by Will Eno, which the New York Times called “a tender, funny terrific new play with the Spring’s most enticing cast” — …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:15AM

RIP Pete Seeger, Philip Seymour Hoffman. Rude Mechs at Lincoln Center. Porno Back on 42nd Street. Week in New York Theater. by Jonathan Mandell

Pete Seeger and Philip Seymour Hoffman both died this week, one’s life more than twice as long as the other; one the quintessential optimist, the other an unwavering pessimist; both ta…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:34AM
Sunday, February 2, 2014

Philip Seymour Hoffman, 1967-2014 by Jonathan Mandell

Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of the most talented stage and screen actors of his generation, was found dead in his Greenwich Village apartment today, at the age of 46. The cause of death is a…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:18PM

Super Bowl XLVIII Commercials by Jonathan Mandell

More than 100 million people will be watching the 2014 Super Bowl game: How many will be watching for the ads? Here are some Super Bowl XLVIII commercials: Animals Puppy Love — Budweis…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:55AM
Saturday, February 1, 2014

New York Theater January 2014 Quiz by Jonathan Mandell

How well were you paying attention to New York theater news in January? Answer these 10 questions and see.

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:59AM
Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Intimacy Review: Pornography On Theatre Row by Jonathan Mandell

“Intimacy,” the latest provocation by Thomas Bradshaw, begins with promise and ends in pornography. A fresh-faced teenager, Matthew (Austin Caldwell), delivers a heartfelt monologue abou…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:15PM

Off-Broadway Openings in February, 2014 by Jonathan Mandell

February a fallow month for theater? Feh. While it’s true there are only two plays scheduled to open in February on Broadway, there are far more Off-Broadway, part of a vibrant Off-Bro…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:39AM
Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Pool Play Q and A: Erin Mee on Immersive Theater, Art vs. Academia, Her Famous Father by Jonathan Mandell

“Pool Play” is immersive theater taken to a literal extreme – everybody, actors and audience, is immersed in water. Conceived and directed by Erin B. Mee, the fully-scripted play will …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:01AM
Monday, January 27, 2014

Stop Hitting Yourself Review: Rude Mechs Spice Up Lincoln Center with Lots of Cheese by Jonathan Mandell

Click on any photograph to see it enlarged “Stop Hitting Yourself,” playful chaos brought to you by the acclaimed Austin theater collective Rude Mechs, is the first stage show I could ca…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:14PM

Debra Messing, Bradley Cooper, Glenn Close on Broadway! Broadway Responds to Gay Ban. The Week in New York Theater by Jonathan Mandell

It’s that time of year: trees thrown out, critics on overseas trips, snow covering cityscape, few shows opening – and ticket bargains! Now through Feb 6 — #BroadwayWeek.  No…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 03:46PM
Sunday, January 26, 2014

Outside Mullingar Review: Debra Messing’s Weird Broadway Debut by Jonathan Mandell

If you didn’t speak English, or could somehow turn off the sound of “Outside Mullingar,” John Patrick Shanley’s charming, wonderfully acted and overly weird romantic comedy, the fina…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:33AM
Friday, January 24, 2014

Ticket Giveaway: Orlando Bloom in Romeo and Juliet, Broadway Valentine’s Day Broadcast by Jonathan Mandell

Win two tickets to see the Valentine’s Day broadcast of the Broadway production of “Romeo and Juliet,” starring Orlando Bloom and Condola Rashad.  The film will run in mov…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:00AM
Thursday, January 23, 2014

Broadway Responds to Russia’s ‘Gay Propaganda’ Ban by Jonathan Mandell

Broadway responds satirically to official LGBT discrimination in Russia, and a specific Russian law, enacted in June, 2013, punishing citizens “who disseminate information aimed at min…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:18PM
Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Broadway and the Blizzard of 2014, Take 2 by Jonathan Mandell

As I wrote during the blizzard scare earlier in January, dubbed Hercules: The two questions theatergoers want answered whenever a big snowstorm threatens are: Will the shows be canceled? Wil…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:46AM
Monday, January 20, 2014

Daniel Radcliffe, Hugh Jackman, Frozen Heading to Broadway. Week in New York Theater by Jonathan Mandell

Disney is turning its animated film “Frozen” into a Broadway musical, and NBC has chosen “Peter Pan” as the successor to “The Sound of Music” for its Dece…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:19AM
Sunday, January 19, 2014

Year of the Rooster Review: Fully-Realized Fowl, Foul Humans by Jonathan Mandell

Has there ever before been such a touching love scene between poultry?  A young rooster named Odysseus Rex, played by Bobby Moreno like an angry punk with a knife, is introduced to Lucky La…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:23PM
Saturday, January 18, 2014

Green Porno at BAM: Isabella Rossellini on Sex and the Single Snail by Jonathan Mandell

“Why does sex exist?” asks Isabella Rossellini, the Parisian-bred actress, model and director, the glamorous daughter of the Hollywood star Ingrid Bergman and the European filmmaker Robe…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 02:16AM
Friday, January 17, 2014

King Lear Review: Frank Langella at BAM by Jonathan Mandell

Click on any photograph to enlarge it As King Lear, Frank Langella goes through four distinct and remarkable phases. He begins, brightly lit, in gold crown and red robe, in voice and gesture…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:09AM
Thursday, January 16, 2014

Machinal Review: Is this what feminism looked like in 1928? by Jonathan Mandell

Machinal, now opened in a stunning production at the American Airlines Theater, is the first Broadway revival of Sophie Treadwell’s haunting 1928 play, inspired by the murder trial of …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:11PM

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