5,905 stories by "JONATHAN MANDELL"
"Lysistrata Jones," a new musical being staged in a church gymnasium, should be very annoying. It takes Aristophanes' bawdy anti-war comedy out of Greece and turns it into "Grease." The sold…
Mario Fratti's four short "gay-themed" plays all end with a twist, but the biggest twist is how little any of them say about contemporary gay life.
Quiz: What musical has won most theater awards so far this season? How is Daniel Radcliffe being a good sport? John Malkovich will appear on stage in a musical about a serial killer, true or…
The finale to This season’s finale of American Idol, which crowned 17-year-old Scotty McCreery after tallying an unprecedented 122 million votes, included a number of guest performers,…
It has 75 performers, 88 crew members, stunts with names like “Wheel of Death,” and even a plot of sorts — and it opens in June. The difference between “Spider-Ma…
Tony Nominee Derek McLane’s approach to set design
What you notice first in Derek McLane's studio are not the scale models of his theatrical sets—he has designed almost two dozen…
“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” “I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse.” “You don’t understand! I coulda had class. I …
Spider-Man's composer Bono tells Nightline that he and The Edge agree with the negative reviews of Spider-Man. “We really should have known that this is an incredibly difficult thing t…
Steven Spielberg is working on a Broadway musical — sort of. He is the executive producer of “Smash,” a TV series on NBC in the fall about the making of a musical about Mar…
Below are the winners of the 2011 Obie Awards, given for 56 years by the Village Voice for achievement Off-Broadway Performance F. Murray Abraham, sustained excellence of performance André …
Tony nominee Todd Rosenthal designs “The Mothef**ker With the Hat”
More complicated than telling people the name of The Motherf**ker With The Hat is describing the set, especiall…
This 70-minute drama, about a baseball player refusing to sing the national anthem after the death of his brother in Iraq, promises provocation but winds up largely an unsurprising sports …
The resumption of previews for “Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark,” with a new Playbill cover (the one at far right) managed not to upstage much else this week in New York theater, si…
By most accounts, the Broadway 2010-2011 had a high number of quality plays and musicals. But there were, by common agreement, some real clunkers too. There are SO many theater awards for qu…
A minister with a terminal illness presides over a Christmastime gathering of his estranged family in a play with appealing characters but marred by an overly slow pace.
As soon as the Tony Award nominations were announced at the top of this week in New York theater, theatergoers hurrahed and griped, sliced and diced. Some were delighted that The Scottsboro …
What does a woman want? What does a marriage mean? Is Socialism the answer? Was "My Fair Lady" a fluke? These are the questions raised by "A Minister's Wife," a musical adapted from one of G…
Arthur Laurents died Thursday at the age of 93. A playwright, director, librettist, screenwriter, gay role model, and inspiration for generations, he was involved in 23 productions on Broadw…
Below is the list of nominations for the Tony Awards for 2011. The Book of Mormon has the most nominations at 14. The Scottsboro Boys has the second-most at 12 — and may be the most ev…
Two members of the New York Neo-Futurists bought two storage lockers at auction in the Bronx and piece together the lives of the former owners in this intriguing but overstuffed play.
The Broadway theater season has ended, and the theater awards season begun. Of the 18 shows that opened on Broadway in the Fall, only two are still playing — Lombardi and Rain. But 21 …
The Broadway season that just ended featured 40 plays and musicals — 18 in the Fall and 22 in the Spring. Many of them with magical moments. Here is a selection of just 12, not all fro…
Below is a list of the nominations for the Drama League Awards for 2011. (Unlike other theater organizations that give out annual awards, membership in the Drama League is open to the genera…
Below is a list of the nominations for the 2011 Outer Critics Circle Awards, which honor the best in Broadway and Off-Broadway theater. Winners of the awards will be announced May 16. The an…
Below is the full list of nominees for the 56th Annual Drama Desk Awards, honoring excellence in Broadway, off-Broadway, and non-profit New York theater. The winners will be announced at a c…
