5,851 stories by "JONATHAN MANDELL"
In the busiest week on Broadway all year, I saw three plays involving nuns, three involving drug dealers " and one with both a nun and a drug dealer. Two performers debuted on Broadway and b…
Whatever else its charms, "Born Yesterday" is most noteworthy for having made a star out of Judy Holliday, and for having given the dumb blonde joke a novel twist. Its latest revival with Ji…
"War Horse" is a touching love story between a boy and his horse, it is a shocking war story, but above all, it is a breathtaking work of stagecraft, employing theatrical ingenuity at the se…
"Take some more tea, " the March Hare says to Alice. "I haven't had any yet, so I can't take more." "You mean you can’t take LESS,’ says the Mad Hatter: “It’s very ea…
In the very first moment that Mark Rylance appears on the stage and in the very last, "Jerusalem" soars from his daredevil performance as Johnny "Rooster" Byron, a fiery spirit about to be e…
Patina Miller, the newly-discovered diva making her Broadway debut as star of "Sister Act," doesn't thank God in her Who's Who bio, and thank God for that. She thanks Whoopi Goldberg and her…
"High," a play starring Kathleen Turner as a tough nun who tries to save a drug addict, is playing on a street of Broadway that has become a drug corner: Right next door is "The MotherF**ker…
The end of April offers the ultimate test for the Broadway decathlete: 10 openings in two weeks. The schedule of Broadway shows from January to July include: War Horse 4/14, Wonderland 4/17,…
Nikolai Khalezin and Natalia Koliada's powerful play is the most conventional, focused, and accessible of the three shows being offered in repertory by Belarus Free Theater.
Conceived by Natalia Koliada, Nikolai Khalezin, and Vladimir Shcherban this repertory offering of Belarus Free Theatre is most effective when most political.
January, 2011 The Importance of Being Earnest American Airlines Theater Opened: January 12, 2011 Director: Brian Bedford Cast: Brian Bedford (as Lady Bracknell) Bedford directs and stars (in…
Before Chris Rock even appeared on stage, "The MotherF**ker With The Hat," despite its off-putting title, had me hooked. Veronica is talking on the phone with her mom, in-between snorts of c…
The Palestinian family in "Urge for Going" argues about what happened in 1948 and 1967, and why they now live in Lebanon, in "temporary camps built 60 years ago." But they argue the loudest …
The most talked-about show this week in New York theater closed after four performances. That was the plan — an all-star New York Philharmonic "concert" of Stephen Sondheim's "Company.…
The con man sums up his story shortly after "Catch Me If You Can" begins: "I flew over five million miles as a Pan Am pilot, practiced medicine at a top Atlanta hospital, and worked as a pro…
Just about the time early in "Company" when Martha Plimpton karate chops Stephen Colbert to the ground " long before Neil Patrick Harris strips off his shirt and beds Christina Hendricks …
Born in the Depression, blessed with some of Cole Porter's most popular songs, and featuring a book equal parts funny, dopey and embarrassing, "Anything Goes" is being revived once again, in…
Laurie Metcalf, still best-known as the sister in "Rosanne" but currently mesmerizing audiences every night in "The Other Place," is the latest of a surprising number of faces familiar from …
He calls her darling and sweetheart. She calls him turd, an idiotic pig, and a horrible piece of meat. Today is the day Marie is going to tell Bruce that she is leaving him. There are severa…
It’s April, which means in the next three weeks, 13 shows will open on Broadway alone. In this week in New York theater, “Bengal Tiger At The Baghdad Zoo” opened, marking R…
These true stories of sexual assault within the U.S. military, highlighting the institution's inadequate response, serve as effective advocacy but less successful drama.
How four current productions are putting war on stage
War is a reality in at least three dozen places around the world today, and that reality is echoed on many New York stages this season, …
So subtle are the individual filigrees that make up this work of art, it is important to get every word, which is why it makes sense to get hold of the script " and why it was a disappointme…
How Spider-Man’s mishaps reflect the long history of stage safety
Even before Christopher Tierney plummeted some 30 feet off a platform to become the fourth cast member with serious in…
With wine and song, three performers push the genre envelope
It would be wrong to call Three Pianos a jukebox musical, even though it is a stage show created around a series of old songs. Af…