All stories by Jonathan Mandell on BroadwayStars

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Allegiance Review: George Takei, Lea Salonga in Musical about Japanese-American internment by Jonathan Mandell

Some 120,000 Japanese-Americans were incarcerated a few months after Pearl Harbor, by order of President Roosevelt. George Takei and his family were among  them.  The actor, best known as …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 08:51PM
Thursday, November 5, 2015

The Comedy of Errors review: Shakespeare in prison, now at the Public by Jonathan Mandell

Kwame Kwei-Armah, the artistic director of Center Stage, has been leaving Baltimore over the past few weeks to go to prison in New York.  He’s also been busy in homeless shelters and recr…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 09:16PM

On Your Feet Review: Emilio and Gloria Estefan’s Story in Song and Dance by Jonathan Mandell

From the first moments of On Your Feet, the Broadway musical celebrating the life and music of Emilio and Gloria Estefan, I thought: This show is sure to be a hit despite what any critics sa…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 08:13PM
Sunday, November 1, 2015

King Charles III Review: The Current British Royal Family in A Shakespearean “Future History Play” by Jonathan Mandell

Is there some reason why an American audience should care about the future of the British monarchy? That’s the question that hangs over King Charles III,  playwright Mike Bartlett’s cle…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 08:50PM
Thursday, October 29, 2015

Thérèse Raquin Review: Keira Knightley, Adultery and Murder by Jonathan Mandell

Nobody applauds Keira Knightley when she first appears on stage for her Broadway debut in Thérèse Raquin. The audience doesn’t recognize her; she’s in the background under faded light,…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 09:37PM
Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Sylvia Review: Annaleigh Ashford is the Best Dog Ever by Jonathan Mandell

Annaleigh Ashford  has starred on Broadway in Wicked, Legally Blonde, Hair and Kinky Boots; accepted a Tony for what she called “the worst dancing that ever happened on Broadway” an…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 08:36PM
Thursday, October 22, 2015

Dames at Sea on Broadway Review: A Hollywood Musical that began Off-Off Broadway by Jonathan Mandell

At the curtain call it struck home what’s special about the first Broadway production of Dames at Sea, the 1930’s musical created in the 1960s: Only six performers take bows. Busby Berke…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 08:42PM
Wednesday, October 21, 2015

First Daughter Suite Review: Growing Up in the White House by Jonathan Mandell

Amy Carter is 47 years old now, but she is forever 12 in history, and also in First Daughter Suite, Michael John LaChiusa’s fanciful musical at the Public Theater.  In the musical, howeve…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 09:37PM
Wednesday, October 14, 2015

The Gin Game Review: James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson put their cards on the table by Jonathan Mandell

The two characters in The Gin Game do little more than play card games and, once, (spoiler alert) dance. But they’re portrayed by James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson – with some 130 years …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:50PM
Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Ugly Lies The Bone Review: Mamie Gummer as an Injured Veteran Helped by Virtual Reality by Jonathan Mandell

Ugly Lies The Bone, a new play with Mamie Gummer as a severely injured veteran, recalls the original spirit of the Roundabout Theater, which began 50 years ago in the basement below a superm…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 09:27PM
Saturday, October 10, 2015

Kathleen Turner helms Would You Still Love Me If… about a transgender transition (Review) by Jonathan Mandell

When it was first announced that a cast including Kathleen Turner and Deborah Cox would be performing in an Off-Broadway play about a woman in a lesbian relationship who is secretly transgen…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 09:16PM
Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Old Times review: Clive Owen in a Pinter puzzle by Jonathan Mandell

In the lobby of the theater where Clive Owen is making his Broadway debut in a revival of Harold Pinter’s 1971 Old Times, a t-shirt on sale is printed with the single word “pause.”  T…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 09:10PM
Monday, September 28, 2015

Daddy Long Legs review at the Davenport Theatre by Jonathan Mandell

In a program note for Daddy Long Legs, director John Caird wonders why the 1912 novel on which the musical is based isn’t considered a great American classic. I wonder the opposite – why…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 09:36PM
Sunday, September 27, 2015

Spring Awakening Review: signing and singing, celebrating sexuality by Jonathan Mandell

The Deaf West production of Spring Awakening at the Brooks Atkinson tangibly enhances an acclaimed musical about rebellious and repressed adolescents. By cleverly pairing deaf actors who are…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 08:52PM
Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Critic John Lahr’s theatrical joy ride by Jonathan Mandell

We are pleased to welcome noted theatre critic John Lahr back to Washington with this interview, conducted last week in New York. ————————R…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 09:10AM
Thursday, September 17, 2015

The Christians: Imagine There’s No Hell (review) by Jonathan Mandell

Do theology and theater mix? Is there an unspoken separation between church and stage?  A day after the announcement that Amazing Grace will close on Broadway after little more than three m…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 09:00PM
Thursday, August 6, 2015

Hamilton Broadway Review: Revolutionary! by Jonathan Mandell

When Hamilton opened Off-Broadway in February, I called it groundbreaking and breathtaking – and I was trying not to gush.  Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop musical about the life and times…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 08:49PM
Thursday, July 16, 2015

Amazing Grace review: A Broadway Musical about the man behind the hymn by Jonathan Mandell

To see President Obama break into “Amazing Grace” at the June funeral for Rev. Clementa Pinckney was to witness the continuing force of a hymn written more than two and a half centuries …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 10:37PM
Monday, July 6, 2015

Shows for Days Review: Patti LuPone As Community Theatre Tyrant by Jonathan Mandell

Shows for Days, starring Patti LuPone as a ruthless regional diva and Michael Urie as a sweet stand-in for playwright Douglas Carter Beane, dramatizes Beane’s memories of his introduction …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 08:27PM
Friday, June 5, 2015

Act of God review: Jim Parsons as the Almighty rewrites the Ten Commandments by Jonathan Mandell

Basic questions such as the origin of the universe – Big Bang Theory vs. Divine Creation –  may fiercely divide the world, but on stage at Studio 54, they are a source  of jokes b…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:33PM
Monday, June 1, 2015

This year’s Tony Awards – here’s who SHOULD win by Jonathan Mandell

– Kristin Chenoweth and Alan Cumming host the 2015 Tony Awards Sunday, June 7 from Radio City Music Hall. If, we asked our New York critic Jonathan Mandell, choosing the winners was c…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 10:27AM
Monday, May 25, 2015

Backstage Onstage by Jonathan Mandell

Why the recent boom in theatre about theatre? Patrick Stewart has portrayed a spaceship captain, a mutant, Scrooge, and Macbeth, but the character he’s performing this season on Broad…

SOURCE: TDF at 05:58PM

Review: Patrick Stewart in A Mamet Unlike His Others by Jonathan Mandell

It is Patrick Stewart’s skills as a performer - his life in the theater — that offer some of the major pleasures in the Broadway version of this slight, sweet, slow, sentimental …

SOURCE: The Faster Times at 05:58PM

La Bete Review: Death by Cheese, and Worse, In Verse by Jonathan Mandell

The only problem with “La Bete,” which has now opened on Broadway, is what certainly shot it down in 1991 — the play itself, an imitation Moliere comedy set in 17th century…

SOURCE: The Faster Times at 05:58PM

Lombardi Review: Tackling Football On Broadway by Jonathan Mandell

Thanks primarily to the impressive performances of Lauria as the explosive coach and Light as his wife, “Lombardi” is nowhere near as bad as might be assumed by those who cannot …

SOURCE: The Faster Times at 05:58PM

Elf Review: The Grim Business of Christmas Cheer by Jonathan Mandell

“Elf” the musical, a harmless and occasionally charming stage adaptation that has now opened at the Al Hirschfeld Theater and runs just until January 2, more or less replicates t…

SOURCE: The Faster Times at 05:58PM

A Free Man of Color Review by Jonathan Mandell

If it frustrates our expectations, “A Free Man of Color” - ambitious, inventive, daring — is an honorable failure with much to recommend it, even while it is difficult to s…

SOURCE: The Faster Times at 05:58PM

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