Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Irish Rep Is Having A Friel Day by Harry Haun

'Translations' is the first of three Brian Friel plays that Irish Rep is staging this season. "It has a kind of politics, but it’s so embracing of human life," director Doug Hughes says.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 10:44AM
Sunday, November 19, 2023

Review: Alicia Keys Is in a ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ State of Mind at the Public by David Cote

Part juke-box musical and part feel-good empowerment fable, this musical from Alicia Keys hungers for a home on Broadway.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 09:30PM
Wednesday, November 15, 2023

‘Merrily We Stole A Song’ Gives Sondheim the Forbidden Broadway Treatment by Harry Haun

"You can’t cheat with Sondheim,” says Gerard Alessandrini of the song spoofs in 'Forbidden Sondheim: Merrily We Stole a Song.' “I try to make the rhymes correct—and still be funny."

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 09:46AM
Tuesday, November 14, 2023

Review: Michael Shannon and Paul Sparks Are Well Worth Waiting for Godot  by David Cote

In the Theatre for a New Audience production of 'Waiting for Godot,' Michael Shannon and Paul Sparks bring uncommon clarity to Beckett's classic.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 09:00PM

Review: Stage Newbie Aubrey Plaza Dips Her Toe Into ‘Danny and the Deep Blue Sea’ by David Cote

Packed with profanity, anguished sexuality, and high-decibel meltdowns, 'Danny and the Deep Blue Sea' has been drama department fodder since its 1983 debut. Only this time, the acting studen…

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 10:07AM
Monday, November 13, 2023

Review: Barry Manilow Writes the Songs That Make ‘Harmony’ Sing by David Cote

The story of the Comedian Harmonists—the German (and Jewish) singing sensations forced to break up due to the Third Reich—is told in this amiable if derivative musical.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 09:18PM
Thursday, November 2, 2023

Review: Danny DeVito Hoards Laughter And Tears In ‘I Need That’ by David Cote

This tale of grief and release is the sort of crowd-pleaser that used to be common fare on Broadway but has long since migrated to small screens.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 09:00PM
Wednesday, November 1, 2023

Nathan Lane On The Return Of His Sondheim Collaboration ‘The Frogs’ by Harry Haun

As he prepares for a two-night concert of the Sondheim musical 'The Frogs,' Nathan Lane explains how what started with a chance bookstore encounter grew to a collaboration that involved seve…

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 04:17PM
Tuesday, October 31, 2023

Dances of Vice’s Halloween Voyage into the Underworld by Payton Selby, Payton Selby

Soaring sphynxes, Dionysian dance, Arachne's weavers and more than a little modern kink were on display at this fantastical and fetishistic Halloween happening.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 04:35PM

John Weidman Talks About Bringing ‘I Can Get It For You Wholesale’ Back to Broadway by Harry Haun

“The idea of collaborating with your late father demands a deep breath,” John Weidman says of revisiting his dad's show 'I Can Get It For You Wholesale.'

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 02:34PM
Sunday, October 29, 2023

Review: ‘Stereophonic’ Has the Vinyl Word on ’70s Rock Drama by David Cote

This portrait of a Fleetwood Mac-like band slaving over an album is full of novelistic detail and luxurious fly-on-the-wall beauty.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 10:00PM
Thursday, October 26, 2023

Patrick Stewart On Shakespeare, Ian McKellen’s Terrible Career Advice and Trying Not To Kill Paul McCartney by Olivia-Anne Cleary, Olivia-Anne Cleary

"I started reading these words and, I have to confess, there were so many that I didn’t understand. The narrative of what I was trying to read made no sense to me, but there was something …

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 04:01PM
Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Taylor Myers’ No. 9 Shows Us How Real We Can Be When Playing Make-Believe by Payton Selby, Payton Selby

The show trains our brains and bodies to sit alongside one another long enough to break down the self-imposed barriers we've built between us.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 05:17PM
Monday, October 23, 2023

Review: Sondheim’s Swan Song Is Goofy, Satirical, And A Joy to Hear by David Cote

The one-percenters of Stephen Sondheim’s final work, 'Here We Are,' are living a life of pleasure, beauty, and infinite possibility. Until Act II, that is.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 02:39PM
Thursday, October 12, 2023

Review! Of! Gutenberg! The Musical! Print Is Hilariously Not Dead by David Cote

It the hilariously desperate 'Gutenberg! The Musical!' two would-be Broadway composers pitch their show about the 16th-century German inventor of the printing press.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 09:00PM

Maria Friedman On Directing The Hit Revival of Sondheim’s ‘Merrily, We Roll Along’ by Harry Haun

"It’s a masterpiece," the director says of 'Merrily, We Roll Along.' "It’s one of the great, great pieces of musical theater. It belongs on a Broadway stage."

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 11:31AM
Wednesday, October 11, 2023

Why Punchdrunk’s ‘Sleep No More’ Is Still a Hot Ticket by Payton Selby, Payton Selby

Our imaginings feel remarkably truthful and present, while our real-world selves linger somewhere back at the Manderley Bar.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 03:36PM
Tuesday, October 10, 2023

Review: Irish Joy and Pain Come to Life in Sean O’Casey’s Dublin Trilogy by David Cote

The Druid company's marathon of three plays from Sean O’Casey offers the chance soak up an Irish master who combined gimlet-eyed humanism with corrosive social critique.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 01:13PM
Monday, October 9, 2023

John Rubinstein Gets Presidential In One-Man Show ‘Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground’ by Harry Haun

He made his Broadway debut 41 years ago playing the title role in 'Pippin' and has appeared on TV in everything from 'Matlock' to 'The Wizards of Waverley Place.' But this is John Rubinste…

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 02:11PM
Thursday, September 28, 2023

Review: Melissa Etheridge Rocks and Reminisces on Broadway by David Cote

In no way does Etheridge reinvent the solo theatrical memoir. But she performs with a natural ease, like your wild aunt telling stories over beers one Thanksgiving.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 09:00PM
Wednesday, September 27, 2023

Review: Satire Comes in All Colors in Ossie Davis’s ‘Purlie Victorious’ by David Cote

At the center of a prodigious cast and Kenny Leon’s clockwork staging are Leslie Odom Jr. and the astonishing Kara Young.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 10:00PM
Monday, September 25, 2023

Leslie Odom Jr. Returns To Broadway In The Show He’s Wanted To Do For Years by Harry Haun

Since 'Hamilton,' he's been Oscar nominated, won a Golden Globe, written his autobiography, and recorded an album. Now he's back on Broadway in 'Purlie Victorious,' a show he first saw as a …

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 01:05PM
Friday, September 22, 2023

Playwright Theresa Rebeck Doubles Down With Two New Shows On and Off Broadway by Harry Haun

Playwright Theresa Rebeck has two shows this season—'Dig' Off Broadway and 'I Need That' on Broadway—and she's already at work on her next play.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 02:15PM
Monday, September 18, 2023

Arnie Burton On The Off-Broadway Spooky Season Spoof ‘Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors’ by Harry Haun

Arnie Burton made his mark on Broadway with the Hitchcock parody 'The 39 Steps,' in which four actors play over 100 roles. The raucous 'Dracula, A Comedy Of Terrors' allots him a mere two ch…

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 02:06PM
Sunday, September 17, 2023

‘Swing State’ Review: Small-Town Drama Shows Heartbreak in the Heartland  by David Cote

Playwright Rebecca Gilman's keenly observed drama arrives Off Broadway at the Minetta Lane Theater from Chicago’s Goodman Theatre for a limited run.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 09:00PM
Tuesday, September 12, 2023

Review: Annie Baker’s ‘Infinite Life’ Turns Chronic Pain Into Complex Pleasure by David Cote

The most satisfying new work since last season’s 'Downstate' has an obscenely gifted cast, led by Christina Kirk.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 09:30PM
Friday, September 8, 2023

A Musical Rendition of ‘The Tempest’ Marks the End of an Era at the Delacorte by Annie Levin, Annie Levin

Community theater is a beautiful thing, and we don’t have anywhere near enough of it in New York City.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 10:00AM
Friday, September 1, 2023

Fall Theater Preview: A Dozen Shows Gets You Back to (Drama) School by David Cote

Experiments, parodies, Sondheim, Godot, and much more await you this fall.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 11:43AM
Wednesday, August 30, 2023

Ian Shaw Steps Into His Father’s Shoes In ‘The Shark Is Broken’ by Harry Haun

In 1974, four-year-old Ian Shaw visited his father Robert on the set of 'Jaws' and was scared by Bruce, the mechanical shark. Forty-nine years later he's playing his father on Broadway in 'T…

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 10:52AM
Thursday, August 17, 2023

Review: Savor High-Def Chekhov in a Marvelously Intimate ‘Uncle Vanya’ by David Cote

What’s gained by staging Chekhov in the round, with actors just feet away, sometimes lit only by a candle? It’s what you’d expect: a wonderfully intense experience of the text.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 08:00PM
Thursday, August 10, 2023

Review: Does ‘The Shark Is Broken’ Have Much Bite on Broadway? by David Cote

Robert Shaw's son Ian cowrote this behind the scenes look at the filming of 'Jaws,' and plays his father.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 09:00PM

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
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