Monday, December 8, 2025

Variety Wins 20 National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards, Including Print Journalist of the Year by Chris Willman

Variety won 20 first-place trophies Sunday night at the 18th annual National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards, up from the 14 the publication scored in last year’s competition. Var…

SOURCE: Variety at 02:26AM
Thursday, December 4, 2025

How ‘Chess’ Went From Cult Fave to Broadway Breakout—With the Help of a Winning Score by Gordon Cox

It was a heck of an opening gambit: In its first week on Broadway, the new revival of “Chess” earned more than $1.2 million from just four sold-out performances. A few weeks later, the s…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:42PM
Monday, December 1, 2025

Theater Veteran Sean Cercone Launches Licensing House to Provide Representation for Musicals and Plays by Rebecca Rubin

Theater industry veteran Sean Cercone is launching The Licensing House, a boutique theatrical licensing imprint that will provide representation for plays and musicals. Cercone is the founde…

SOURCE: Variety at 04:21PM

Nathan Lane, Laurie Metcalf to Star in Broadway’s ‘Death of a Salesman’ Revival by Rebecca Rubin

Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf will return to Broadway in the Arthur Miller classic “Death of a Salesman.” A revival of the acclaimed play will run for 14 weeks at the Winter Garden Thea…

SOURCE: Variety at 12:38PM
Sunday, November 30, 2025

‘Paddington’ Review: A Furry, Funny, Fantastic Musical Comedy by Gordon Cox

“Is this bear an endangered species?” asks Tarinn Callender as the hapless helper of Victoria Hamilton-Barritt’s (very) arch-villainess Millicent Price. With growling glee as insanely …

SOURCE: Variety at 06:59PM
Saturday, November 29, 2025

Tom Stoppard, Playwright and Oscar-Winning ‘Shakespeare in Love’ Screenwriter, Dies at 88 by Jack Dunn

Playwright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard, a four-time Tony winner for his plays “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” “Travesties,” “The Real Thing” and “The Coast of Utopia…

SOURCE: Variety at 12:32PM
Thursday, November 27, 2025

Stephen Schwartz on His Two New ‘Wicked: For Good’ Songs and What They Say About America, Plus Spinoff Prospects: ‘I Might Be Participating in O by Chris Willman

What a long, strange bubble ride it’s been. But the work of songwriter Stephen Schwartz on “Wicked” — the property he first discovered as a source novel and has led into Broadway and…

SOURCE: Variety at 12:06PM

Kristin Chenoweth Responds to ‘The Queen of Versailles’ Closing: ‘I’m So Proud of This New Art That We’ve Created’ by Jack Dunn

Kristin Chenoweth took to Instagram Wednesday night to share her thoughts on the recent cancellation of her musical “The Queen of Versailles” and to thank her fans for supporting the sho…

SOURCE: Variety at 12:28AM
Monday, November 24, 2025

Kristin Chenoweth’s ‘The Queen of Versailles’ to Close on Broadway in January by J. Kim Murphy

Kristin Chenoweth’s “The Queen of Versailles” has already set its final Broadway performance, less than two weeks after opening. The production disclosed Monday evening that its final …

SOURCE: Variety at 05:59PM
Thursday, November 20, 2025

Cult Hits ‘Gwyneth Goes Skiing’ and ‘Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story’ Announce U.S. Tour Dates (EXCLUSIVE) by Brent Lang

Awkward Productions are bringing their viral shows, “Gwyneth Goes Skiing” and “Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story,” to select U.S. cities in 2026. “Diana: The Untold and Untrue Sto…

SOURCE: Variety at 04:40PM
Wednesday, November 19, 2025

‘Paranormal Activity’ Review: Only Nominally Related to the Blumhouse Horror Franchise, Haunted-House Show Ditches Hidden Cameras for Live Scares by Peter Debruge

After seven movies, the “Paranormal Activity” franchise doesn’t frighten audiences the way it once did — that is, through the power of suggestion, using home security cameras, smartp…

SOURCE: Variety at 04:38PM
Sunday, November 16, 2025

‘Chess’ Review: Lea Michele Reigns as Queen of This Uneven Broadway Revival by Gordon Cox

How do you solve a problem like “Chess”? With music and lyrics by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus (of ABBA) and Tim Rice, and now with a new version of Rice’s book by Danny Strong, …

SOURCE: Variety at 11:00PM

‘Working Girl’ Review: La Jolla Playhouse Invests in ’80s Nostalgia, Launching Mike Nichols Adaptation With Retro-Sounding Cyndi Lauper Songs by Peter Debruge

In “Working Girl,” an upwardly mobile Melanie Griffith embodied Tess McGill, a secretary from Staten Island with big hair and even bigger dreams. She thought her new boss (played by Sigo…

SOURCE: Variety at 06:52PM
Thursday, November 13, 2025

Alan Cumming Sets 2026 Pitlochry Festival Theatre Lineup: ‘My Fair Lady,’ ‘King Lear’ and More by Leia Mendoza

Alan Cumming has unveiled Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s programming for 2026. This will mark Cumming’s inaugural year as the theater’s artistic Ddirector for the theater and coincide wi…

SOURCE: Variety at 07:00AM
Tuesday, November 11, 2025

‘Slam Frank,’ Off-Broadway Show Reimagining Anne Frank’s Story as Genderqueer, Afro-Latin Hip-Hop Musical, Extends Through December (EXCLUSIVE) by Brent Lang

“Slam Frank,” a provocative new musical that reimagines Anne Frank’s story to satirize progressive politics and media, is extending through the end of 2025. The off-Broadway show, whic…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:25PM
Sunday, November 9, 2025

‘The Queen of Versailles’ Broadway Review: Kristin Chenoweth’s Electric Performance Can’t Save this Overly Ambitious Slog by Aramide Tinubu

In 2012, award-winning documentarian Lauren Greenfield’s film, “The Queen of Versailles,” became a Sundance darling. The documentary followed Jackie and David Siegel, billionaires and …

SOURCE: Variety at 11:59PM
Friday, November 7, 2025

How ‘30 Rock’ Helped Jane Krakowski and Cheyenne Jackson Prepare for Broadway’s ‘Oh, Mary!’ by Rebecca Rubin

Jane Krakowski felt a pang of jealousy the first time she saw “Oh, Mary!,” the hit comedy that imagines former first lady Mary Todd Lincoln as a deranged wannabe cabaret star. The Tony-w…

SOURCE: Variety at 10:30AM
Wednesday, November 5, 2025

‘Picnic at Hanging Rock: The Musical’ Announces Greenwich House Theatre Run (EXCLUSIVE) by Brent Lang

“Picnic at Hanging Rock: The Musical,” an adaptation of Joan Lindsay’s eerie novel, will begin performances on Dec. 16 at the Greenwich House Theatre (27 Barrow Street) for a strictly …

SOURCE: Variety at 10:10AM
Monday, November 3, 2025

Jon Stewart Renews at ‘Daily Show’ for Another Year by Brian Steinberg

Paramount didn’t want to keep Stephen Colbert at CBS, but the company has signed Jon Stewart for another year of hosting “The Daily Show” once per week on Comedy Central. Stewart will …

SOURCE: Variety at 02:21PM
Sunday, November 2, 2025

Nicole Scherzinger Norma-lizes a Mix of ‘Sunset Blvd.’ Bravura and Pussycat Doll Playtime in Commanding Turn at Disney Hall: Concert Review by Chris Willman

If only we could hear Norma Desmond rise up and sing: Don’t cha wish your girflriend, that little tart Betty Schaefer, was hot like me? That does not happen in Nicole Scherzinger’s curre…

SOURCE: Variety at 06:20PM
Thursday, October 30, 2025

‘Little Bear Ridge Road’ Review: Laurie Metcalf Shines in a Flawed but Fascinating COVID Story by Danvariety

The script for Samuel D. Hunter’s “Little Bear Ridge Road” indicates that the play takes place at “a couch in a void.” As the lights come up, we see it — a white leather monstros…

SOURCE: Variety at 10:00PM
Wednesday, October 29, 2025

Daniel Radcliffe Sets Broadway Return With Solo Play ‘Every Brilliant Thing’ by Rebecca Rubin

Daniel Radcliffe is returning to Broadway this spring in the solo play “Every Brilliant Thing.” The actor, who became famous for playing the Boy Who Lived in eight wildly popular “Harr…

SOURCE: Variety at 10:11AM
Tuesday, October 28, 2025

‘Liberation’ Broadway Review: An Impressive Memory Play That Delivers a Fresh and Frank Take on the Women’s Rights Movement  by Aramide Tinubu

It can be challenging to deliver something fresh and unique to the memory play genre. However, in writer Bess Wohl’s new Broadway show, “Liberation,” she manages to do just that. Direc…

SOURCE: Variety at 10:00PM

Nicole Scherzinger Is Ready for Her Close-Up: The Tony Winner on Movie Offers After ‘Sunset Boulevard,’ Turning Down ‘Evita’ and Why Christian by William Earl

Jamie Lloyd had tried once before to lure Nicole Scherzinger to the stage. Several years ago, the renegade British theater director pursued the former Pussycat Dolls frontwoman to star in �…

SOURCE: Variety at 03:00PM
Thursday, October 23, 2025

Broadway Strike Averted as Musicians Reach Tentative Deal on New Contract by Brent Lang

The marquees on Broadway will remain illuminated after the musicians union announced it had reached a tentative agreement on a new contract, averting a strike that would have severely impact…

SOURCE: Variety at 07:59AM
Wednesday, October 22, 2025

How Four of Broadway’s Biggest Shows, ‘Chess,’ ‘Ragtime,’ ‘The Queen of Versailles’ and ‘Waiting for Godot,’ All Came Together by Gordon Cox

A Broadway opening often marks the culmination of a years-long journey for the collaborators who have created a show, whether they’re working on a new musical or a revival of a familiar pl…

SOURCE: Variety at 02:37PM

A24, Robert Downey Jr. and Susan Downey to Produce Netflix Adaptation of Hit Brian Watkins Play ‘Weather Girl’ (EXCLUSIVE) by Brent Lang

Stacey Gross, a perky meteorologist who uses a thermos of Prosecco and a stream of peppy banalities as crutches, has been taking audiences on an emotional roller coaster ever since “Weathe…

SOURCE: Variety at 12:12PM
Monday, October 20, 2025

Ari Emanuel’s MARI Acquires TodayTix Theater and Events Ticketing Company by Todd Spangler

MARI, Ari Emanuel’s global events and experiences company, has acquired TodayTix Group, which operates an online platform selling tickets to Broadway shows and other live events. Emanuel, …

SOURCE: Variety at 09:58AM
Thursday, October 16, 2025

‘Ragtime’ Review: Broadway Revival Is a Timely, Glorious Panorama of Changing Times in America by Gordon Cox

Whether “Ragtime” is presented in productions mammoth (as in its 1998 premiere) or modest (the 2009 revival), the musical, adapted from E.L. Doctorow’s kaleidoscopic 1975 novel, reverb…

SOURCE: Variety at 11:00PM

‘Jaja’s African Hair Braiding’ Review: The Mark Taper Forum Has an Ensemble Comedy Rich and Rewarding Enough to Merit Extensions by Chris Willman

If ever a play seemed tailor-made — tailor-braided? — for the Mark Taper Forum stage, at least in the 2020s, it’s “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding.” The most intimate of the three M…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:00PM

Elliot Page, Constance Wu, Brandon Flynn Will Explore ‘Good Sex’ in Experimental Off Broadway Play (EXCLUSIVE) by Rebecca Rubin

“How do you have sex onstage?” That’s the central question of “Good Sex,” an unconventional play that spotlights intimacy coordinators. Here’s the unorthodox part: The show pairs…

SOURCE: Variety at 05:45PM

All that Chat