All stories by Jesse Green on BroadwayStars

Wednesday, June 2, 2021

A Chance to Fix the Tonys, and So Many Things to Fix by Jesse Green

It has been a tough year for Broadway. Now it’s time to get tough on the show that too often honors investors instead of achievers.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:12PM
Monday, May 31, 2021

For 40 Years, He Climbed Ev’ry Mountain for Rodgers & Hammerstein by Jesse Green

Ted Chapin steps down as the head of the organization that makes sure you revisit “Oklahoma!” and keep hearing “The Sound of Music.”

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:06AM
Friday, May 21, 2021

Three Dramas Explore the Margins of the Digital Form by Jesse Green

Talking dogs, green screen thrillers and gold turtles: Online productions, intended as a stopgap, are testing the boundaries of what makes theater theater.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:54PM
Tuesday, May 18, 2021

‘Breathe’ Review: A Pandemic Musical That Strains to Surprise by Jesse Green

Linked vignettes from five songwriting teams offer lots of head-scratching switcheroos but little for the heart.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:03PM
Thursday, May 13, 2021

‘Woman’s Party’ Review: At War With Inequality, and Each Other by Jesse Green

In Rinne B. Groff’s historical comedy, the failure of the Equal Rights Amendment in 1947 looks awfully familiar today.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 07:18PM
Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Come to the Cabaret, Old Chum. Or at Least Stream It. by Jesse Green

New concerts from Sutton Foster, Jeremy Jordan and Marilyn Maye offer examples of what the most intimate art form can and can’t do.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:18PM
Friday, May 7, 2021

Review: ‘Waiting for Godot’ in the Bleakest Zoom Room Ever by Jesse Green

Ethan Hawke and John Leguizamo star as Beckett’s tragicomic tramps — minus the comic part.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:18PM
Sunday, May 2, 2021

With Her Final Album, Rebecca Luker Bids a Fond Farewell by Jesse Green

The much-loved Broadway soprano, who died in December, had one more miracle up her sleeve.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:18PM
Thursday, April 29, 2021

‘Fat Ham’ Review: A Queer, Black ‘Hamlet’? Ay, There’s the Spice Rub. by Jesse Green

Set at a Southern barbecue, James Ijames’s hilarious update on Shakespeare sees a recipe for liberation in the story of family disaster.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:32PM
Thursday, April 22, 2021

Review: ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ Cut in Half and Twice as Good by Jesse Green

Josh O’Connor and Jessie Buckley star as the star-crossed lovers in a compelling stage-film hybrid adaptation.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:36PM
Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Review: A Perfect Storm of Weather and Racism in ‘shadow/land’ by Jesse Green

Erika Dickerson-Despenza’s play about Black women struggling to survive Hurricane Katrina gets an ear-tingling podcast production.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:36PM
Sunday, April 4, 2021

Review: Live Theater Returns, With Mike Daisey and His Beefs by Jesse Green

The monologuist appeared onstage, indoors, in front of a real audience, on the first day possible. Maybe he shouldn’t have rushed.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:32PM
Wednesday, March 31, 2021

What Makes ‘Follies’ a Classic? 7 Answers and 1 Big Problem. by Jesse Green

Fifty years ago, Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman exploded the Broadway “concept” musical by conjuring the bittersweet reunion of aging showgirls.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:42AM

Casting a ‘Follies’ of the Future, With Beyoncé and Ben Platt by Jesse Green and Scott Heller

In the 50 years since the musical’s debut, revivals and concerts have served its great songs to great stars. Who’d be our Broadway babies 25 years from now?

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:42AM
Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Review: Building a Better Girl in ‘Honestly Sincere’ by Jesse Green

Liza Birkenmeier’s new play about a shape-shifting teenager makes a fitting contribution to Theater in Quarantine’s revamp of the avant-garde.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:32PM
Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Should the American Theater Take French Lessons? by Jesse Green

Arts workers are protesting closings and occupying playhouses all over France. On Broadway, that drama has yet to open.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:18PM
Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Review: Royalty as Horror Show in ‘Duchess! Duchess! Duchess!’ by Jesse Green

An uncanny new play imagines Meghan (and Kate, too) trapped in a nightmare palace where racism reigns.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:12PM
Thursday, March 4, 2021

Review: Your Arm Is a Canvas, in ‘As Far as Isolation Goes’ by Jesse Green

Because of pandemic restrictions, a performance piece about refugees requires you to draw on yourself, in both senses

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:32PM
Sunday, February 28, 2021

Making Black Lives, Not Just Black Deaths, Matter Onstage by Jesse Green

The tragedy of racism is only part of the story in two very different plays from London that carry a dimension of meaning not usually seen in this country.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:48PM
Friday, February 19, 2021

Attend the Tale of ‘Anyone Can Whistle,’ Then and Now by Jesse Green

A sparkling new recording of the 1964 musical makes half the case for Stephen Sondheim’s endlessly inventive score.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:24AM
Sunday, February 14, 2021

Review: Beware the Text, and Other Tales From ‘Smithtown’ by Jesse Green

Four not-very-believable characters in a chain of monologues are rescued by a cast of exceptionally believable actors.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:03PM
Tuesday, February 9, 2021

Review: Fathers, but Not Yet Men, in the Prison Drama ‘Shook’ by Jesse Green

Samuel Bailey’s knockout professional debut isn’t so much about the pipeline to incarceration than about the toxic masculinity that keeps it flowing.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:54PM
Friday, February 5, 2021

Christopher Plummer’s Robust Final Act Crowned a Noble Career by Jesse Green

At home in the footlights, he knew the power of charm and every trick of the stage trade. But even after a celebrated “King Lear,” there was more to play.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:24PM
Wednesday, February 3, 2021

Bringing Out the Best of Sondheim, Herman and … Schraubstader? by Jesse Green

Three new revues offer war horses, showstoppers and standards — but, even better, rarities.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:33PM
Sunday, January 31, 2021

Review: Seeking a Date but Finding Hypocrisy in ‘Hi, Are You Single?’ by Jesse Green

All Ryan J. Haddad wants is a boyfriend. But his pride — or is it his prospects’ prejudice? — keeps getting in the way.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:32PM
Thursday, January 28, 2021

Review: Playwriting and Bug-Hunting Wed in ‘The Catastrophist’ by Jesse Green

Pandemics and ordinary tragedies clash in Lauren Gunderson’s overwrought portrait of her husband, the virologist Nathan A. Wolfe.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:24PM
Wednesday, January 27, 2021

Virtual Readings Take Center Stage as a New Genre of Theater by Jesse Green

With minimal rehearsal and production values, online events are becoming a distinct (and worthy) new genre of theater.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:36PM

In Virtual Readings, Less (a Lot Less) Is Sometimes More by Jesse Green

With minimal rehearsal and production values, online events are becoming a distinct (and worthy) new genre of theater.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:18AM
Tuesday, January 19, 2021

It’s Time to Turn the Page on the Trump-Shakespeare Comparisons by Jesse Green

Pundits have likened the president to Lear, to Hamlet, to Macbeth, to Coriolanus. That may have been four years of wishful thinking.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:03PM
Friday, January 8, 2021

Conspicuous Consumption, Getting More Conspicuous Onstage by Jesse Green

Forget tragic lovers. At the Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival, fast cars and other luxuries fuel tragedies about the love of things.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:24PM
Sunday, January 3, 2021

‘Ratatouille’ Review: What’s Small and Hairy With Big Dreams? by Jesse Green

What started as a TikTok meme and became a crowdsourced musical could have online lessons to offer for Broadway.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:18PM

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 17, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 01, 2025: Glengarry Glen Ross
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre
TBA: Titanic