All stories by Matthew Murray on BroadwayStars

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

THE OUTER SPACE - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

The Outer Space, the new concert-musical by Ethan Lipton that just opened at Joe's Pub, turns on a familiar axiom: "Things are the same all over."

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:24PM
Thursday, March 2, 2017

SIGNIFICANT OTHER - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Can someone who's truly deprived of joy give it abundantly to others?

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:17PM

ALL THE FINE BOYS - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Love and sex are complicated at any age, but they're especially so for adolescents who lack the experience, wisdom, and good judgment needed to properly wrangle their simmering feelings.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:45AM
Wednesday, March 1, 2017

BULL IN A CHINA SHOP - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Is it written somewhere that we can only learn from the past by filtering it through the present?

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:53PM

SWEENEY TODD - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

If you're familiar with Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, the 1979 musical by Hugh Wheeler and Stephen Sondheim, you're probably inclined (with good reason) to not be in the mo…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:50PM
Tuesday, February 28, 2017

THE VIEW UPSTAIRS - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

You've undoubtedly heard that those who do not learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:12PM

LINDA - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Invisibility? I can't see it. Not that I'm contesting it's an issue for women "of a certain age" - in this case, over 50 - but that Janie Dee is a woman who demands, even needs, to be seen w…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:20PM

THE PENITENT - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

The Penitent, the new play by David Mamet at the Atlantic Theater Company, is a stylish and sharp-looking stab at issues that rarely arise in New York theatre today.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:53AM

WAKEY, WAKEY - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

I'd love to tell you what Wakey, Wakey, which just opened at the Pershing Square Signature Center, is about, but it ain't easy.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:53AM
Thursday, February 23, 2017

SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

An artist whose brilliance goes unheralded because of other people's inability to put him into any of their conventional boxes?

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:26PM
Wednesday, February 22, 2017

KID VICTORY - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

From the Nazi occupation of Germany (Cabaret) and the toxic relationship between murder and celebrity (Chicago) to tortured sexuality amid just plain torture (Kiss of the Spider Woman) and e…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:51PM

IF I FORGET - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Some things are just too terrible to say, invoking horrifying ghosts and suggesting blood-curdling motives even if the underlying intentions are pure (or something close it, at any rate).

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:51PM

EVERYBODY - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Should Death really be so appealing?

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:43AM
Sunday, February 19, 2017

ON THE EXHALE - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Enemies are not hard to come by, if only you know where to look.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:02PM
Thursday, February 16, 2017

EVENING AT THE TALK HOUSE - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Theatre is a notoriously chatty medium, and those who create it - and, let's face it, those who watch it - are usually unable to keep their mouths shut.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:54PM

MAN FROM NEBRASKA - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

A man desperately searching for answers but encountering only silence in response to his pleas is the central issue of Tracy Letts's play Man From Nebraska, which just opened at Second Stage…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:01AM
Sunday, February 12, 2017

RING TWICE FOR MIRANDA - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

A politically and economically ravaged dystopia, divided into "districts" that are presided over by lord-like dictators who luxuriate in comfort and wealth while everyone below them is barel…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 06:44PM
Friday, February 10, 2017

BIG RIVER - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

The scenic backdrop for the City Center Encores! concert of Big River, which is playing through this weekend, is a black-and-white photo of the Mississippi River that's about as expansive an…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:20AM
Thursday, February 9, 2017

THE OBJECT LESSON - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

The old axiom that one person's trash is another person's treasure is beautifully illustrated by most of The Object Lesson, a kind of theatrical art installation by Geoff Sobelle that just o…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:16PM

SUNSET BOULEVARD - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Silent film star Norma Desmond learns the hard way that remaining a legend isn't easy,

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 06:42PM
Wednesday, February 8, 2017

FADE - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

For her play Fade, which just opened at the Cherry Lane Theatre in a Primary Stages production, Tanya Saracho has constructed a fascinating foundation: When social identity and racial identi…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:35PM
Monday, January 30, 2017

YEN - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

What's going on inside Hench's head? There's no way to be sure, but boy, do you ever want to find out.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:16PM
Thursday, January 26, 2017

THE LIAR - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Playwright David Ives has long been adept at finding drama - however small the kernels of it may be - within the deepest comedy.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:31PM
Monday, January 23, 2017

TELL HECTOR I MISS HIM - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

In the program for her new play at the Atlantic Theater Company's Stage 2 space, Tell Hector I Miss Him, playwright Paola Lázaro references winning the 2011 Arts Entertainment Scholarship A…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:51PM

THE OREGON TRAIL - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

No one would argue that it's far better to learn about cholera from a computer game than from actually dying from it ...

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:33PM
Sunday, January 22, 2017

THE GREAT AMERICAN DRAMA - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

"Democracy," quipped H.L. Mencken, "is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard."

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 06:23PM
Friday, January 20, 2017

LONELY, I'M NOT - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Falling in love is hard enough, but who knew that not falling in love could be such a struggle?

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:18AM
Thursday, January 19, 2017

JITNEY - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

August Wilson, who built his playwriting name on his "Century Cycle" covering the African-American experience during each decade of the 20th century, eventually proved expert at intertwining…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:19PM
Wednesday, January 18, 2017

THE DORK KNIGHT - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Obsessive behavior is usually treated as pitiable, but why shouldn't what we love—or what we love too much—represent who we are?

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:00AM
Monday, December 19, 2016

BRIGHT COLORS AND BOLD PATTERNS - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

There may be no sadder or more sobering experience than getting what you always thought you wanted or needed, only to discover downsides you never imagined possible.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:15PM
Tuesday, December 13, 2016

THE FIRST NOEL - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Christmas theatre, like Christmas songs, Christmas movies, and Christmas TV shows, tends to follow a predictably tooth-rotting pattern about bringing people around to the "spirit of the seas…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:59PM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards