All stories by Naveen Kumar on BroadwayStars

Thursday, June 15, 2023

Review: ‘The Whitney Album’ Looks to Theater to Remake a Painful Past by Naveen Kumar

Eschewing a conventional narrative, Jillian Walker’s soulful show seeks to heal deep wounds through ritual and celebratory singalongs.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:07PM
Thursday, June 8, 2023

Demystifying achievement in sound design by Naveen Kumar

Three sound designers weigh in on how to determine excellence in their field.

SOURCE: Broadway News Subscription at 07:00AM
Sunday, June 4, 2023

Review: In ‘Love + Science,’ a Meet Cute Becomes a Medical Mystery by Naveen Kumar

In 1980s Manhattan, two medical students find themselves at the forefront of the AIDS crisis in David J. Glass’s new play at New York City Center.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 07:32PM
Friday, June 2, 2023

For Her New Play, Tori Sampson Revisited Her ‘Black Power Household’ by Naveen Kumar

“This Land Was Made,” at the Vineyard Theater, is rooted in the playwright’s personal connection to a political movement’s awakening.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:48PM
Thursday, May 25, 2023

‘Primary Trust’ Review: Sipping Mai Tais, Until Bitter Reality Knocks by Naveen Kumar

In Eboni Booth’s new play, William Jackson Harper performs with astonishing vulnerability as a man alone and adrift.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:36PM
Monday, May 22, 2023

Review: In ‘Bees & Honey,’ Love Is Both Sweet and Sticky by Naveen Kumar

In this play by Guadalís Del Carmen, a couple’s shared heritage is integral to their meeting and the ups and downs of their daily relationship.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 07:24PM
Thursday, May 4, 2023

‘shadow/land’ Review: What the Storm Washes Away by Naveen Kumar

In the play, at the Public Theater, a mother and daughter endure the devastation of Hurricane Katrina inside the bar that connects them to their pasts.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:02PM

‘Hong Kong Mississippi’ Review: The Bluesman Next Door by Naveen Kumar

Wesley Du explores complex intersections of identity in a coming-of-age story about a Chinese American boy who finds escape in Black music.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:12PM
Friday, April 7, 2023

‘Smart’ Review: A.I. in the Living Room by Naveen Kumar

Three women seeking companionship turn to an Alexa-like digital presence in this family drama at Ensemble Studio Theater.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:42PM
Monday, March 20, 2023

Review: ‘The Good John Proctor’ Imagines Girlhood BFFs by Naveen Kumar

The play, directed by Caitlin Sullivan at the Connelly Theater, focuses on two girls in the year leading up to the action depicted in “The Crucible.”

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:55AM
Friday, March 10, 2023

Review: In ‘Misty,’ a Restless Artist Grapples With a Gentrifying City by Naveen Kumar

At the Shed, Arinzé Kene mixes spoken word, music and comedy to tell a story of racial tension and male identity in a changing London.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:14PM
Monday, March 6, 2023

Review: In ‘The Best We Could,’ the Players Follow Directions by Naveen Kumar

The playwright Emily Feldman structures this work like a personal GPS that plots the course of a family.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:28PM
Friday, March 3, 2023

‘1 + 1’ Review: She Just Wants to Be His Plaything by Naveen Kumar

Stale views of gender dynamics power Eric Bogosian’s play about an aspiring actress caught in the clutches of a duplicitous man.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:27PM
Tuesday, February 21, 2023

Review: In ‘Leo Reich: Literally Who Cares?!,’ He’s Too Hot to Live by Naveen Kumar

Reich, a comedian and writer, transforms into the avatar of Gen Z disaffection in his taut, biting solo show at Greenwich House Theater.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:58PM
Wednesday, February 8, 2023

‘Lucy’ Review: There’s Something About the Babysitter by Naveen Kumar

A workplace comedy set at home, this cleverly detailed production explores child care as both labor and primal instinct.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:54PM
Thursday, January 26, 2023

‘Memorial’ Review: An American Story, Set in Stone by Naveen Kumar

The national controversy surrounding Maya Lin’s design for the Vietnam War Memorial is the subject of Livian Yeh’s nimble, process-driven play.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:00AM
Monday, January 23, 2023

‘Sugar Daddy’ Review: The Grief Comes Out in Laughs by Naveen Kumar

In his show about mourning his boyfriend, the comedian Sam Morrison confronts overwhelming loss with punch lines and panache.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:55PM
Thursday, December 15, 2022

Review: A Solo ‘Great Expectations’ That Calls for Endurance by Naveen Kumar

The British comedian Eddie Izzard plays every part in this relatively straightforward adaptation of Charles Dickens’s classic story.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:18PM
Sunday, December 11, 2022

‘Some Like It Hot’ makes a modern case for a screen gem by Naveen Kumar

Transforming beloved IP into compelling musical theater is an inexact science, but the transformation part is nonnegotiable. As the discard pile of recent VHS-inspired flops can attest, audi…

SOURCE: Broadway News Subscription at 10:02PM
Friday, December 9, 2022

Review: In ‘La Race,’ a Fight Back From the Margins by Naveen Kumar

Bleu Beckford-Burrell’s play about a City Council campaign aims to catalog a gamut of social ills and how Black women rise to meet them.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:24PM
Thursday, November 17, 2022

‘The Bandaged Place’ Review: A Dance With His Devils by Naveen Kumar

Evocative choreography and warm performances hold together Harrison David Rivers’s play about the slippages between desire and trauma.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:06PM
Thursday, November 10, 2022

‘Where We Belong’ Review: A Performer Wonders, What’s in a Name? by Naveen Kumar

In an autobiographical solo show at the Public Theater, Madeline Sayet grapples with her Indigenous ancestry and the responsibility that comes with her name.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:18PM
Friday, November 4, 2022

Review: In ‘Where the Mountain Meets the Sea,’ Missed Connections by Naveen Kumar

A father and a son recall parallel journeys that reflect shared experiences of otherness in Jeff Augustin’s play, performed with music by the Bengsons.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:06PM
Friday, October 21, 2022

‘A Little Life’ Review: A Collage of Unrelenting Torment by Naveen Kumar

Hanya Yanagihara’s best-selling novel comes to the BAM stage, and raises the question: How much suffering can the protagonist (and the audience) endure?

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:03PM
Thursday, October 20, 2022

‘The Gold Room’ Review: Gay Sexuality on Shuffle Mode by Naveen Kumar

Two men circling each other for a hookup talk through fantasies and everyday doubts in this play by Jacob Perkins.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:33PM
Tuesday, October 18, 2022

‘Hedda Gabler’ and ‘The Winter’s Tale’: 2 Takes That Shout Subtext by Naveen Kumar

Irreverence can be illuminating. But Bedlam’s energetic productions of classics by Ibsen and Shakespeare lose insight in the process.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:07PM
Tuesday, September 27, 2022

‘Sesame Street: The Musical’ Review: Everything’s A-OK by Naveen Kumar

Jonathan Rockefeller’s Off Broadway production blends the charm and wit of the show’s early days with more modern characters.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:07PM
Thursday, August 4, 2022

‘The Nosebleed’ Review: Reconciling the Ghosts in the Attic by Naveen Kumar

Aya Ogawa’s memoir-like excavation tests the boundaries of love and family obligation through intimate confession.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 07:37PM
Tuesday, August 2, 2022

Review: In ‘The Butcher Boy,’ an Anti-Coming of Age Story by Naveen Kumar

The new musical, based on the novel by Patrick McCabe, follows a boy in 1960s Ireland as he recounts a tale of boyhood mischief and alienation.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:48PM
Friday, July 29, 2022

‘Happy Life’ Review: Ghosts in the Studio by Naveen Kumar

The playwright Kathy Ng imagines a world where mortality, eroticism and Hello Kitty collide in a spirited, if sometimes muddled, contemplation of loneliness and loss.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:42AM
Tuesday, July 12, 2022

‘Mister Miss America’ Review: A Fight for the Crown by Naveen Kumar

The first male contestant in his small-town beauty pageant is determined to win hearts, minds and the crown, in this solo play from the writer and performer Neil D’Astolfo.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:12PM

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