All stories by MICHAEL SOMMERS on BroadwayStars

Sunday, April 15, 2018

Mlima's Tale: Lynn Nottage Incarnates the Ivory Trade with Cruel Irony by Michael Sommers

★★★★ An imaginative quasi-documentary sees an elephant's precious tusks pass through a chain of ivory traffickers The post Mlima’s Tale: Lynn Nottage Incarnates…

SOURCE: New York Stage Review at 09:54PM[SHARE]
Thursday, April 12, 2018

Carousel: A Real Nice Clambake That's Nicer to Hear Than See by Michael Sommers

★★★★ The bittersweet Rodgers & Hammerstein classic sounds far lovelier than it looks The post Carousel: A Real Nice Clambake That’s Nicer to Hear Than See …

SOURCE: New York Stage Review at 07:00PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Miss You Like Hell: Can a Latina Mom Fight Deportation? by Michael Sommers

★★★ An incandescent Daphne Rubin-Vega blazes through a topical new musical at The Public The post Miss You Like Hell: Can a Latina Mom Fight Deportation? appeared first on …

SOURCE: New York Stage Review at 10:00PM[SHARE]
Monday, April 9, 2018

This Flat Earth: A School Shooting Raises Sad Questions by Michael Sommers

★★ A sorrowful teen survivor wonders: "So why don't the grown-ups just fix it?" The post This Flat Earth: A School Shooting Raises Sad Questions appeared first on New York Stage …

SOURCE: New York Stage Review at 07:15PM[SHARE]
Monday, March 26, 2018

Lobby Hero: Longeran's Law and Disorder Looks Timely by Michael Sommers

★★★★ Chris Evans and Michael Cera face off in a provocative study of shady behavior at the newly redone Hayes Theater

SOURCE: New York Stage Review at 10:00PM[SHARE]
Sunday, March 25, 2018

The Stone Witch: Dan Lauria Depicts a Grumpy Genius by Michael Sommers

★ Dan Lauria depicts an arrogant artist in a tedious mix of shallow dramatics and fanciful visuals.

SOURCE: New York Stage Review at 06:30PM[SHARE]
Sunday, March 18, 2018

Harry Clarke: Billy Crudup Charms as a Misleading Man by Michael Sommers

★★★★ Billy Crudup smoothly portrays a seductive rogue and his many admirers in a new solo play.

SOURCE: New York Stage Review at 07:00PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Later Life: A.R. Gurney Offers a Brief Re-Encounter by Michael Sommers

★★★ In Later Life, A.R. Gurney paints a Jamesian portrait of a gentleman's second chance at true love.

SOURCE: New York Stage Review at 11:27PM[SHARE]
Thursday, March 8, 2018

Good for Otto: Not So Great for Ed Harris and Company by Michael Sommers

★★ Ed Harris leads excellent actors through a loosely-knit string of case studies in David Rabe's overlong new drama.

SOURCE: New York Stage Review at 07:00PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Peccadillo's Tone-Deaf Revival of George Kelly's "The Show-Off" Is Nothing to Brag About by Michael Sommers

Possibly you are familiar with a guy like Aubrey Piper, the egotistical title figure of THE SHOW-OFF: Aubrey is a noisy know-it-all whose sense of truth is only marginally anchored in realit…

SOURCE: Village Voice at 03:46PM[SHARE]
Friday, August 19, 2016

Theater | New Jersey: Review: A King's Long Goodbye in Madison by Michael Sommers

In "Exit the King" by the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey, a 400-year-old ruler must go, eventually.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 08:52PM[SHARE]
Sunday, July 17, 2016

Review: 'Coriolanus' in Madison Has 20th-Century Costumes and 21st-Century Conflict by Michael Sommers

The rarely produced play, visually updated in this revival by the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey, pits a scornful Roman consul against a boisterous populace.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:34PM[SHARE]
Friday, June 24, 2016

Arts | New Jersey: Review: Annie Baker's Drama Is First Show in Mile Square Theater's Hoboken Home by Michael Sommers

The award-winning 'Circle Mirror Transformation,' a study of an amateur drama class, is the inaugural offering of a formerly vagabond company.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:01PM[SHARE]
Friday, June 10, 2016

Arts | New Jersey: Review: 'West Side Story' Returns to Paper Mill Playhouse After 25 Years by Michael Sommers

This revival in the New Jersey theater stays true to the classic musical with traditional staging, high-flying dances and teenage-fueled emotion.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:23PM[SHARE]
Friday, May 27, 2016

Arts | New Jersey: A Three-Character Drama That Keeps You Guessing by Michael Sommers

A trio of shady ladies figure in "Villainous Company," Victor L. Cahn's new play, with duplicitous doings and plot twists.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 08:09PM[SHARE]
Friday, May 20, 2016

Arts | Connecticut: Review: 'A Song at Twilight' at Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey by Michael Sommers

Noël Coward's play, about a man whose ex-lover confronts him with details of his dark past, offers conflict, surprise and an affecting conclusion.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 07:19PM[SHARE]
Sunday, May 15, 2016

Arts | New Jersey: Hard Truths About Racism in 'White Guy on the Bus' by Michael Sommers

Upbeat suburban scenes are interrupted by travels to a different world in inner-city Philadelphia, with a deadly serious twist.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:25PM[SHARE]
Friday, April 22, 2016

Arts | New Jersey: Review: 'Old Love New Love' Explores the Pain of Alzheimer's by Michael Sommers

Poignant moments punctuate "Old Love New Love," a play by Laura Brienza that is receiving its world premiere at Luna Stage Company in West Orange, N.J.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:37PM[SHARE]
Saturday, April 16, 2016

Arts | New Jersey: New Jersey Series Frees Some Playwrights From 'Developmental Hell' by Michael Sommers

The new program NJPAC Stage Exchange commissions plays and promises staged readings and eventually full productions in Newark.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:45PM[SHARE]
Sunday, March 27, 2016

Arts | New Jersey: In 'For Worse,' an Affair Doesn't Wreck a 30-Year Marriage by Michael Sommers

The play by Deborah Rennard, in its world premiere at the New Jersey Repertory Company in Long Branch, portrays two women in love with a scoundrel.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:56PM[SHARE]
Saturday, March 5, 2016

Arts | New Jersey: Review: In 'Ropes,' a High-Wire Act of Brotherly Bonding by Michael Sommers

The play, by Bárbara Colio, focuses on three men bound uneasily together by their distant ties to their father, a tightrope walker who abandoned them as boys.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:26PM[SHARE]
Friday, February 26, 2016

Arts | New Jersey: Review: Comic Drama in 'Sister Play' in Summit by Michael Sommers

Two siblings, one highhanded and the other free-spirited, form the core of Dreamcatcher theater's staging of John Kolvenbach's work.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:06PM[SHARE]
Saturday, February 13, 2016

Arts | New Jersey: Review: In 'Nureyev's Eyes,' a Bond Between a Painter and a Dancer by Michael Sommers

The play, at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, depicts the friendship between Jamie Wyeth and Rudolf Nureyev.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:57AM[SHARE]
Sunday, February 7, 2016

Arts | New Jersey: Taking Stock of a Fixer-Upper in 'The Substance of Bliss' by Michael Sommers

Talk of ceiling tiles leads to questions about failings that may have led to a child's drug addiction in a new play at New Jersey Repertory Company.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:25PM[SHARE]
Sunday, January 24, 2016

Arts | New Jersey: Review: Passions Ignite in 'Lives of Reason' at Two River Theater by Michael Sommers

In "Lives of Reason," a play by Robert Rechnitz and Kenneth Stunkel having its world premiere in Red Bank, several academics compete for a deanship .

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:52PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Theater | New Jersey: An Enduring Musical Comedy Gets a Gender-Bending Twist by Michael Sommers

An all-male version of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" at the Two River Theater in Red Bank, N.J., is a delightfully unorthodox production that succeeds on several levels.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:00PM[SHARE]
Thursday, November 5, 2015

Theater | New Jersey: In 'The Seedbed,' an Uneasy Marital Truce Frays Over Dinner by Michael Sommers

The psychological drama by Bryan Delany is having its world premiere at the New Jersey Repertory Company in Long Branch.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:40PM[SHARE]
Friday, October 23, 2015

Theater | New Jersey: Review: Performances of 'Comedy of Tenors' and 'Bandstand' by Michael Sommers

Two new shows, a comedy by Ken Ludwig and a musical by Richard Oberacker, evoke the light and dark sides of bygone eras.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:27PM[SHARE]
Thursday, October 15, 2015

Theater | New Jersey: Reviews of 'The Nether' and 'Song for the Disappeared' in New Jersey by Michael Sommers

Two new plays by female writers that explore both the virtual and real worlds have premieres in the Garden State this fall.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 07:27PM[SHARE]
Thursday, September 24, 2015

Theater | New Jersey: When Shakespeare Is the Subject, Not the Scribe by Michael Sommers

In "Equivocation," Shakespeare, called Shag here, faces a conundrum when King James I asks for him to write a play.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:22PM[SHARE]
Thursday, September 3, 2015

Theater | New Jersey: Previewing New Jersey's Fall Theater Schedule by Michael Sommers

The New Jersey fall theater schedule includes new works by the critically acclaimed playwrights Joe DiPietro, Jennifer Haley and Ken Ludwig.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:40PM[SHARE]

All that Chat

2025-2026 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 12, 2025: Call Me Izzy - Studio 54
Sep 16, 2025: Art - Music Box Theatre
Oct 08, 2025: Beetlejuice - Palace Theatre
Nov 13, 2025: Oedipus - Studio 54
Nov 16, 2025: Chess - Imperial Theatre
Mar 23, 2026: Giant - Music Box Theatre
Apr 06, 2026: Becky Shaw - Hayes Theater
Apr 16, 2026: Proof - Booth Theatre
Apr 26, 2026: Drama Desk Cut-Off