5,771 stories by "JONATHAN MANDELL"
Only four of the 45 presidents of the United States were born in February, but they include the two most revered, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, who are also the two most frequently …
"Twelve Minor Prophets" might sound like a Hebrew School pageant, since it's an educational and playful stage adaptation based on the last twelve books of the Old Testament. But the playfuln…
The characters of many of the currently running Broadway shows weigh in on this most nettlesome and sustaining of emotions. A sample below: From & Juliet: Francois: I just proposed…
Why are actors told to break a leg? Why is Macbeth called The Scottish Play inside a theater? Why can't you whistle in a theater? What is the ghost light all about? In honor of Friday the 13…
WTF? That is how Sean Hayes as Elliott reacts at a startling moment in this 75-minute solo play, and how Hayes as Larry, Elliot's best friend, reacts to Elliott's increasingly obsessive beha…
Theatergoers may identify with Anne (Emma D'Arcy) if they have had to deal with a family member during a crisis who showed no interest in collaboration or compromise, only wanting to be in c…
By the time that Big and Lil are lunging at one another with all the brutal skills they've developed as mixed martial arts fighters, we already realize they aren't monsters at all. They are …
When Timothée Chalamet made his Off-Broadway debut exactly a decade ago, as a troubled Bronx teenager in John Patrick Shanley's "Prodigal Son," I compared him to a young Marlon Brando, writ…
Two of the three shows I reviewed this past week felt like implicit acts of resistance to currently encroaching authoritarian rule. One was modeled on a play by Brecht that he wrote to…
It was not necessarily the most exciting football game for many people watching (it did pick up in the fourth quarter), but Super Bowl LX was more than football. Brandi Carlile sang the nati…
The artist known as La Daniella portrays Gooey, who is billed as "an orphaned sorta mermaid" and dressed in what looks like a fishnet with dredged up detritus from the sea. Her costume looks…
For every well-known showcase of Black Broadway " "Porgy and Bess," 1935; "A Raisin in the Sun" 1959; last year's "Purpose," winner of both the Tony and Pulitzer " there are little-remembere…
It took until the twenty-first century for the extraordinary story of Hans Litten to reach the public at large. In 1930, stormtroopers attacked the patrons of Eden Dance Palace in Berlin. Th…
Anna Fierling, the spokesperson for the National Rifle Association who tells her story in "And Her Children," is a fictional character clearly inspired by former NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch…
Tickets are now on sale for Off-Broadway Week, where you can buy two tickets for the price of one for 26 shows, for performances from February 16 through March 12. Sixteen of the shows are n…
In a year when one of the ten Oscar nominees for best picture ends with scenes from one of the greatest plays ever written, another is about a theater actress and her film director father, a…
"Buena Vista Social Club" won the Grammy for best musical theater album, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande won for Best Pop Duo/Group Performances. Nazareth Hassan's "Bowl EP," Carmelita…
Buena Vista Social Club has won the 2026 best musical theater album at the 68th annual Grammy Awards, beating out five other nominees, all current or recent Broadway shows (the fourth con…
Below is a calendar of selected theater opening* this month in New York. None are on Broadway, but there is enough happening Off and Off-Off Broadway to see a new show nearly every night in …
The 69th annual Obie Awards, honoring achievement Off and Off Off Broadway, were announced tonight. Below is the complete list, which includes lifetime achievement awards to Carmelita Tro…
How well were you paying attention to the New York theater news, views and reviews in the month of January. Take this ten-question quiz and find out. Loading…
The war on culture has played out in many ways over the past year, as chronicled by the bloggers/substackers,podcasters to whom I link below. There's famously the mess at the Kennedy Center,…
"Masquerade"Â Â has just been extended through July 5 " proof, if you needed it, that the immersive version of "The Phantom of the Opera" has caught on.This wasn't a given when it took o…
Anne Gridley's favorite neurologist has told her that people can only concentrate on walking for about eight seconds; human beings are designed to walk without thinking about it.  But …
A record-breaking 11.4 inches of snow reportedly fell on Central Park on Sunday, and the shows went on " mostly: Ten of the 31 shows currently running on Broadway did cancel. A storm warning…
