5,772 stories by "JONATHAN MANDELL"
How will you celebrate Thanksgiving? In "The Thanksgiving Play," billed as a satire and running at Playwrights Horizons through December 2 (though not on Thanksgiving Day), playwright Lariss…
This week in New York theater, I seem to have zigged while others zagged, even when it comes to zazz. To explain: 1. I don't completely understand the high level of snark about "King Kong." …
"The Prom" is really two musicals in one. One is a funny, knowing backstage comedy, satirizing the self-regard of theater folk. The other is a loud, fast high school musical. What ties them …
Both King Kong and Olaf, the goofy snow man from Frozen, will loom large on Thanksgiving Day — but not on Broadway; neither current musical is one of the four Broadway shows performing…
We must be silent, here in this secret attic apartment where two Jewish families are hiding from the Nazis. And so, in "The Hidden Ones," a spare and chilling immersive theater piece, the se…
Like a boxer faking out an opponent, Michael C. Hall as Thom Pain plays tricks on the audience: "Now I think would be a good time for the raffle," he says at one point, then shortly afterwar…
Like a boxer faking out an opponent, Michael C. Hall as Thom Pain plays tricks on the audience in Will Eno’s one-character play….For Thom's jousts and jabs to feel like something…
King Kong is spectacular — those dreamy eyes, that expressive sniffing of his nose, the earthquake of a roar. He is such a singular creature that, like Ann Darrow, the damsel he picks …
The heart of Hansol Jung's play at the Public Theater is the relationship between two lonely, awkward people in South Korea who connect through an online dating site. But the play also featu…
In celebration of the Blue Wave " which has grown steadily in the week since Election Day — a silly observation: There have been 51 Broadway shows with "Blue" in the title. I'm relucta…
“The New One “isn't literally new. Mike Birbiglia's solo show debuted Off-Broadway three months ago " where it sold out quickly. It's now on Broadway " same cast (i.e. Mike Birbi…
"The Female Role Model Project" is a pioneering work of theater by a new company called Transforma, in which artists and scientists collaborate to explore attitudes about women, and question…
Afong Moy was the first Chinese woman in the United States. Brought to New York in 1834, she was put on display in a museum. Out of this true story, playwright Lloyd Suh has fashioned "Th…
My favorite character in Frozen on Broadway by far is Sven the reindeer. I’ve been a fan of Avenue QÂ before it opened Off-Broadway the first time. Does anybody doubt The Lion King�…
While anxiously waiting in a Miami police station for word of what happened to her son Jamal, an educated African-American woman named Kendra (Kerry Washington) talks with her estranged whit…
While anxiously waiting in a Miami police station for word of what happened to her son Jamal, an educated African-American woman named Kendra (Kerry Washington) talks with her estranged whit…
Today is Election Day! If you live in NYC, find your polling site here. If you live anywhere in America, you can go to Vote.org for some cool info — like, for example, what’s on …
When Torch Song opened Off-Broadway a year ago, I noted that the issues affecting gay people that it explored remained unfortunately relevant 35 years after the play had debuted on Broadway,…
The 1982 Broadway production of Torch Song Trilogy, starring Harvey Fierstein as Arnold Beckoff, a sometime drag queen and gay Jewish romantic searching for love and acceptance, could be cre…
"It's a terrible time to be alive. There's just nothing left to discover," says Jake (Noah Robbins) in the second half of Lewiston/Clarkston, two powerfully affecting plays by Samuel D. Hunt…
Food for the Gods is about the killing of black men; Exodus addresses the current refugee crisis; Blind is a solo work about disability. These may not sound like typical subjects for puppet …
Six shows are opening on Broadway in November. And yes, one of them features a giant ape feeling unwelcome in New York City, and another marks the annual holiday stopover for a perennial…
How well were you paying attention to the theater, and theater news, in October? Answer these 10 questions to find out.
This has been a wonderful week for theater " with openings for terrific Broadway shows The Ferryman, The Waverly Gallery, The Lifespan of a Fact. And not just on Broadway: The 21st New York …
"India Pale Ale," a play by Jaclyn Backhaus running Off-Broadway, suddenly becomes shockingly timely with the killing of 11 Jews in a synagogue in Pittsburgh. Halfway through the play, a cha…