All stories by Jonathan Mandell on BroadwayStars

Monday, March 18, 2024

Love on Stage: The Notebook, The Effect. Platt Plays the Palace. Digital Theater at Year 4. Stageworthy News of the Week. by Jonathan Mandell

New York theater revs up for its final stretch, with 16 of the 38 shows of the Broadway 2023-2024 season opening up over the next six weeks. I’m not even halfway through the 10 “can’t…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:49AM
Sunday, March 17, 2024

Broadway Spring 2024 Previews: The Final 16 by Jonathan Mandell

A look at the final stretch of the Broadway 2023-2024 season:: The sixteen Broadway shows opening over the next six weeks, starting tomorrow and ending April 25th, the cut-off date for Tony …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 01:41PM
Saturday, March 16, 2024

Broadway Ephemera: Brando singing; Bernhardt thanked; Irving Berlin and Tallulah Bankhead, Herman and Merman by Jonathan Mandell

Marlon Brando singing “Luck Be A Lady” in rehearsal with “Guys and Dolls” composer Frank Loesser. Fifteen pairs of Liza Minnelli’s false eyelashes. A first edition of “West Side …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:37AM
Friday, March 15, 2024

Digital Theater’s Next Act. ACTA Year 4 by Jonathan Mandell

Four years ago today – the ides of March, 2020 – the COVID-19 pandemic forced the then-mayor of New York City to shut down the smaller In-person theaters that had remained open after t…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:04AM
Thursday, March 14, 2024

The Notebook Broadway Review by Jonathan Mandell

They’re selling a little box of tissues branded with the logo of “The Notebook: The Musical” at  Broadway’sGerald Schoenfeld Theater, where it’s opening tonight – perhaps the …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:33PM
Wednesday, March 13, 2024

The Effect Review. Is love real? by Jonathan Mandell

In “The Effect,” two researchers are conducting clinical trials of a new antidepressant, but their experiment stumbles and crashes after two volunteers undergoing the drug tests fall for…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:50PM
Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Old Broadway On the Move: Reanimating Theater at NYPL Lincoln Center by Jonathan Mandell

During the Golden Age of Broadway, theater photographer Leo Friedman used his specialized still camera to capture image after image of show after show. The action on stage was rarely still, …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:31PM
Monday, March 11, 2024

Corruption Review. Murdoch’s phone hacking scandal by Jonathan Mandell

As he did more successfully with “Oslo” and “Blood and Gifts,” playwright J. T. Rogers dramatizes a complicated moment in history with sophistication, humor, some clarity, even some …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:12PM

Broadway at the Oscars 2024. A week of Doubt and Dance Theater. Stageworthy News by Jonathan Mandell

Broadway at the Oscars 2024, clockwise from top left: New Academy Award winners and Broadway veterans Da’Vine Joy Randolph (who was nominated for  a Tony  in 2012 for Ghost the Musical…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:26AM
Sunday, March 10, 2024

Oscar Winners 2024: Oppenheimer: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, 4 more. by Jonathan Mandell

Best Picture Oppenheimer Best Director Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer Best Actor Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer Best Actress Emma Stone, Poor Things Best Supporting Actor Robert Downey Jr., Opp…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:21PM

Sen. Katie Britt or Scarlett Johansson: Which was the better parody? by Jonathan Mandell

“I”m worried about the future of our children, and this is why I invite you into this strange, empty kitchen, because Republicans want me to appeal to women voters. And women love kitche…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:13AM
Saturday, March 9, 2024

Oasis of Impunity Review. Abstracted cruelty in theater from Chile by Jonathan Mandell

“No carnival without cruelty,” a man dressed much like the horror movie character Freddy Krueger screams desperately in Spanish, trapped in a glass cube crowded with others who are grote…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:36PM
Friday, March 8, 2024

The 19 Women Playwrights Who Have Won Pulitzers by Jonathan Mandell

In honor of International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, here are the women playwrights who have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, an annual award given for “a distinguished pl…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:26PM
Thursday, March 7, 2024

Doubt Review by Jonathan Mandell

The nun is certain, or says she is, that the priest is molesting one of the students in her school, but we never are so sure, thanks to John Patrick Shanley’s exquisitely well-crafted pla…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:54PM

Illinoise Review by Jonathan Mandell

For all the high-powered theatrical talent involved, this stage interpretation of Sufjan Stevens’ acclaimed 2005 album “Illinois” could probably use a warning label. It’s extraordina…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:11PM
Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Broadway Poll: Favorite March and April 2024 Shows, in 4 Categories by Jonathan Mandell

Choose the shows that you are most looking forward to, in the four categories into which I’ve divided the 18 play and musicals that are opening on Broadway in March and April, 2024. These …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:59AM
Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Theater Blog Roundup: Spring Theater Hopes Eternal by Jonathan Mandell

Whether offering a Spring Review, or praising a Broadway run, or welcoming the news that the Washington Post will indeed be hiring a new theater critic after all, the theater bloggers below …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:12PM
Monday, March 4, 2024

Broadway Overflowing! Overpriced? Overblown?? Stageworthy News of the Week by Jonathan Mandell

“With all the activity on Broadway, there will be plenty of good targets,” says Gerard Alessandrini, the wit behind the satirical revue “Forbidden Broadway,” which after more than …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:59AM
Sunday, March 3, 2024

Broadway Rush and Lottery for Spring 2024 Shows by Jonathan Mandell

Eighteen shows are opening in the final eight weeks of the 2023-2024 Broadway season, each of which offers discounts of one kind or another — rush, lottery, digital rush, digital lottery. …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:23AM
Saturday, March 2, 2024

Theater Quiz for February 2024 by Jonathan Mandell

How well were you paying attention to New York theater in the month of February? Answer these ten questions to find out, plus an extra question to match the extra day because it’s a Leap Y…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 12:11PM
Friday, March 1, 2024

March 2024 New York Theater Openings by Jonathan Mandell

Below is a calendar of theater opening* in March, including five shows opening on Broadway, two of them new musical adaptations of popular novels. Jeremy Strong returns to Broadway after 16…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 08:31AM
Thursday, February 29, 2024

Puppetopia: Adventures of Curious Ganz and Pescador by Jonathan Mandell

The Adventures of Curious Ganz I could tell you about the fascinating life of Joachim Ganz, who was the first Jew to settle in the first English colony in America in the late 1500s. He was a…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:49PM
Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Dragon Lady. Sara Porkalob gives 100 percent by Jonathan Mandell

“You might have seen me in the official revival of “1776” playing Edward Rutledge, aka the villain,” Sara Porkalob begins. And indeed we did – although many New York theatergoers m…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:40PM
Tuesday, February 27, 2024

The Ally Review by Jonathan Mandell

With “The Ally,” playwright Itamar Moses clarifies with laser precision the dilemma facing liberal American Jews largely because of Israel. But the play takes wider aim as well, explorin…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 09:53PM
Monday, February 26, 2024

The Seven Year Disappear Review. Cynthia Nixon as 8 characters by Jonathan Mandell

It’s been seven years since Cynthia Nixon has appeared on a New York stage (when she won a Tony for “The Little Foxes”), but that’s not what Jordan Seavey’s new play is about, desp…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:48PM

18 Broadway Openings: How to Choose. Off Broadway Extensions. Stageworthy News of the Week by Jonathan Mandell

There will be 18 shows opening on Broadway in March and April, starting next week! Sure, that might feel overwhelming. But in his article on the “Crazily Crowded Broadway Spring Season”…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:01AM
Sunday, February 25, 2024

The Hunt Theater Review by Jonathan Mandell

In “The Hunt,” Tobias Menzies portrays a preschool teacher whose community turns against him after a false accusation by one of his five-year-old students.  The play is an English-lan…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 07:55PM
Saturday, February 24, 2024

Broadway Decoded by Jonathan Mandell

I didn’t know what a bunny hug is, nor its place in musical theater history, and I couldn’t precisely describe a surrey, before I browsed Thomas S. Hischak’s “Broadway Decoded: Music…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 10:24PM
Friday, February 23, 2024

Puppetry Preview: At a Festival, in a Horror Movie, on Broadway and Beyond by Jonathan Mandell

Puppets are in the spotlight this weekend and over the next couple of weeks, most prominently at the third annual Puppetopia Festival: Puppetopia 2024 HERE Arts Center, February 27 to March …

SOURCE: New York Theater at 11:10AM
Thursday, February 22, 2024

Jelly’s Last Jam Encores Review and Videos by Jonathan Mandell

“Jelly’s Last Jam” offers a starry showcase of exquisite blues singing, lively jazz playing and energetic tap dancing to tell the fascinating story of an important figure in the histor…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 06:00PM
Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Could Barbie Work on Broadway? Oppenheimer? 10 Best Picture Nominees of 2024 as potential plays or musicals by Jonathan Mandell

Unlike past years, none of the ten best picture Oscar nominees in 2024  were adapted from a play or musical. But could any of them be adapted into one?   Answering this question, which I…

SOURCE: New York Theater at 05:03PM

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