All stories by Johnny Oleksinski on BroadwayStars

Monday, August 25, 2025

‘Twelfth Night’ review: Lupita Nyong’o, Sandra Oh and Peter Dinklage yuk it up in Central Park by Johnny Oleksinski

“Twelfth Night,” a comedy of disguises and mistaken identities, is a smart play to reopen Shakespeare in the Park with after a two-year-long renovation break.

SOURCE: The New York Post at 03:25PM
Saturday, August 23, 2025

Dolly Parton’s Broadway-bound musical gets vicious reactions in Nashville: ‘Drag bar in Vegas’ by Johnny Oleksinski

Working 9 to 5? Dolly Parton’s new musical is going to need to be worked on 24/7, 365 to be remotely ready for its planned Broadway bow next year.

SOURCE: The New York Post at 08:57AM
Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Rachel Zegler is breathtaking in an ‘Evita’ that should come to Broadway by Johnny Oleksinski

This bracing revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s “Evita" in London is the best and liveliest in ages.

SOURCE: The New York Post at 06:09PM
Friday, August 15, 2025

Disney can’t get ‘Hercules’ right — musical doesn’t go the distance again in London by Johnny Oleksinski

Hercules is flexing and flailing once more in London at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

SOURCE: The New York Post at 01:45PM

‘Mamma Mia!’ review: Back on Broadway, a much-needed summer splash of ABBA by Johnny Oleksinski

“Mamma Mia!” is a much-needed vacation from all the seriousness and drear. The foremother of the old-pop-songs-in-a-new-story genre is still the very best in the game.

SOURCE: The New York Post at 09:00AM
Saturday, August 9, 2025

‘Hamilton’ shook Broadway 10 years ago in a way it hasn’t been since by Johnny Oleksinski

2015 was an unbelievably exciting time to be in New York — thanks, in no small part, to Broadway and Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical.

SOURCE: The New York Post at 02:25PM
Saturday, August 2, 2025

Broadway is in a bizarre uproar over the race of an actor playing a robot by Johnny Oleksinski

Broadway's summer controversy has finally arrived in the form of a piping hot controversy at this year’s Best Musical Tony Award winner, “Maybe Happy Ending.”

SOURCE: The New York Post at 03:32PM
Saturday, July 26, 2025

‘A Chorus Line’ turns 50 — and Broadway is desperate for another hit musical like it by Johnny Oleksinski

The mood of “A Chorus Line”’s half-century fete is bittersweet. Because the last time I walked out of a new Broadway musical feeling the thrill of having just watched a really big hit …

SOURCE: The New York Post at 02:35PM
Thursday, July 24, 2025

‘Ginger Twinsies’ review: Campy off-Broadway ‘Parent Trap’ parody is millennial catnip by Johnny Oleksinski

It's positively loony watching a room full of millennials, drunk on nostalgia, mouthing every word and knowing every beat of a 27-year-old kids movie.  

SOURCE: The New York Post at 10:00PM
Saturday, July 5, 2025

‘Mamma Mia!’ — returning to Broadway — was a glittery boost to NYC after 9/11 by Johnny Oleksinski

Twenty-four years ago, the then-new show lifted up New York City when it was at its lowest. “Mamma Mia!" debuted less than a month after the 9/11 attacks.

SOURCE: The New York Post at 11:55AM
Saturday, June 28, 2025

Broadway’s right — Jay-Z’s Times Square casino bid must fail by Johnny Oleksinski

Broadway was singing a different showtune this week. Luck be a lady… somewhere else!

SOURCE: The New York Post at 03:46PM
Thursday, June 12, 2025

‘Call Me Izzy’ review: Jean Smart’s good, but this Broadway play is a hack job by Johnny Oleksinski

Why, why, why has Jean Smart chosen to return to Broadway in this anemic, copy-and-paste star vehicle fit for the junkyard? 

SOURCE: The New York Post at 11:00PM

‘Angry Alan’ review: A commanding John Krasinski takes on YouTube in compelling off-Broadway play by Johnny Oleksinski

For years, audiences grew to love John Krasinski’s mild-mannered Jim on “The Office”: His half-grins, dry confessionals, knowing glances at Pam. Jim was one of TV’s nicest guys. That…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 12:00AM
Monday, June 9, 2025

‘How to Train Your Dragon’ review: Live-action remake is nice, but doesn’t always soar by Johnny Oleksinski

Hey, at least the decent “How To Train Your Dragon” update is better than “Snow White.”

SOURCE: The New York Post at 05:40PM
Sunday, June 8, 2025

The 2025 Tony Awards honored the best shows of the year — for once! by Johnny Oleksinski

Sunday night was a signed, sealed, delivered happy ending for “Maybe Happy Ending,” the stratospherically original South Korean gem about robots in love starring Darren Criss that dese…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 11:50PM
Saturday, June 7, 2025

Tony Award predictions 2025: Audra McDonald vs. Nicole Scherzinger by Johnny Oleksinski

Post critic Johnny Oleksinski gives his predictions on who will win big at Sunday night's Tony Awards.

SOURCE: The New York Post at 09:00AM
Tuesday, June 3, 2025

Broadway shows are fuming that the Tony Awards won’t let them perform by Johnny Oleksinski

Two big shows were fuming Tuesday that they’re being left out of the Tony Awards broadcast on CBS Sunday night: “Boop! The Betty Boop Musical” and “Smash.”

SOURCE: The New York Post at 01:40PM
Saturday, May 17, 2025

How Nicole Scherzinger, Audra McDonald, Darren Criss and Jonathan Groff are battling for Tony Awards by Johnny Oleksinski

There was a torrent of activity in the race to the Tony Awards on June 8 — a lot of campaigning, some award shake-ups and the Broadway League’s Spring Road Conference.

SOURCE: The New York Post at 02:56PM
Monday, May 12, 2025

Andrew Lloyd Webber dreams of buying this famous theater: ‘The best stage on Broadway’ by Johnny Oleksinski

There’s one building on Broadway Andrew Lloyd Webber has had his eye on for years.

SOURCE: The New York Post at 03:47PM

Andrew Lloyd Webber was convinced to cut this big song from ‘Sunset Blvd.’: ‘Quite radical’ by Johnny Oleksinski

“Sunset” aficionados will hear a difference on Broadway: An entire number has been scrapped: “The Lady’s Paying.” 

SOURCE: The New York Post at 02:15PM
Saturday, May 10, 2025

Andrew Lloyd Webber is overjoyed he got Nicole Scherzinger to Broadway: ‘The happiest person in history’ by Johnny Oleksinski

A week ago, the starkly reimagined production of "Sunset Boulevard" deservedly scored seven Tony Award nominations, including for Best Revival, the indomitable Scherzinger, her exciting lead…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 12:40PM
Saturday, May 3, 2025

Back on Broadway, Bernadette Peters misses her friend Stephen Sondheim: ‘I’ve had dreams about him’ by Johnny Oleksinski

Peters is back on Broadway this season after seven years away, alongside Lea Salonga and 15 others in a wonderful revue of the late composer’s work called “Old Friends.” 

SOURCE: The New York Post at 01:32PM
Thursday, May 1, 2025

Good for the Tony Awards for rejecting pricey Broadway cash-grabs and their A-list stars by Johnny Oleksinski

Denzel Washington, Kieran Culkin and Robert Downey Jr. were rightly snubbed by the Tony Award nominations, while smaller shows like "Maybe Happy Ending" and "Oh, Mary!" soared.

SOURCE: The New York Post at 02:10PM
Sunday, April 27, 2025

‘Dead Outlaw’ review: Wild corpse musical is too tame on Broadway by Johnny Oleksinski

The corpse musical “Dead Outlaw,” which opened Sunday at the Longacre Theatre, has been schlepped from the cool and intimate Minetta Lane Theater in Greenwich Village to a big Broadway h…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 05:00PM
Saturday, April 26, 2025

‘Just in Time’ review: Jonathan Groff parties like it’s 1965 in stellar Bobby Darin musical by Johnny Oleksinski

Director Alex Timbers and his irrepressible star Jonathan Groff have made magic with the Bobby Darin musical “Just in Time,” which opened Saturday night at the Circle in the Square The…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 10:09PM
Thursday, April 24, 2025

‘Pirates! The Penzance Musical’ review: Hilarious high-seas hijinks with David Hyde Pierce by Johnny Oleksinski

This slaphappy, reworked revival of “The Pirates of Penzance,” which opened Thursday night on Broadway, shifts the absurd action some 2,800 nautical miles west to New Orleans, Louisian…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 10:00PM
Wednesday, April 23, 2025

‘Stranger Things: The First Shadow’ review: Netflix’s Broadway play is an assault on the senses by Johnny Oleksinski

All of the blaring special effects are in service of a throwaway play in which the real villain ain't Vecna — it's the writing.

SOURCE: The New York Post at 12:00AM
Tuesday, April 22, 2025

‘Floyd Collins’ review: Jeremy Jordan stars in a Broadway musical about a forgotten American tragedy by Johnny Oleksinski

“Floyd Collins,” the real story of a trapped Kentucky cave explorer, is a musical split in two — and not for the better.

SOURCE: The New York Post at 11:32AM
Monday, April 14, 2025

‘John Proctor is the Villain’ review: ‘Stranger Things’ star Sadie Sink leads likable, long MeToo drama by Johnny Oleksinski

Kimberly Belflower’s often entertaining, mostly clever, frequently phony dramedy that opened Monday night at the Booth Theatre could have used another draft. 

SOURCE: The New York Post at 11:00PM
Saturday, April 12, 2025

The best Broadway restaurants for a bite, beverage — and an A-List celeb sighting by Johnny Oleksinski

The best part of venturing out into jam-packed Times Square in the busy spring? Venturing inside into a somewhat less jam-packed bar or restaurant for a meal, a martini — and a star spotti…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 01:06PM
Thursday, April 10, 2025

‘Smash’ review: Shocker — Broadway musical based on old flop TV show is terrible by Johnny Oleksinski

“Let’s Be Bad” is a song from the Broadway musical “Smash.” It is also the production's motto.

SOURCE: The New York Post at 10:30PM

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