5,857 stories by "Jonathan Mandell"
Armie Hammer turns his fingers into an imaginary gun, puts it in his mouth, and pulls the trigger (his thumb.) He is portraying US Army Sergeant Joe Garnier, who is on leave with his wife…
What will the election of Joseph R. Biden Jr as President of the United States do for the theater, and the other arts? "The future of who we are lies in the arts," Biden told Lin-Manuel Mira…
What is the soul of America? It's a question that engaged the composer George Gershwin nearly a century before it became a part of the 2020 American election, as we learn in this fascinating…
"It's time to put away the harsh rhetoric. To lower the temperature. To see each other again.To listen to each other again. To make progress, we must stop treating our opponents as our enemy…
"And when our very democracy was on the ballot in this election, with the very soul of America at stake, and the world watching, you ushered in a new day for America." "…while I may be the…
"Joseph R. Biden Jr. has been elected president of the United States, defeating President Trump by promising to restore civility and stability to American politics and vowing more aggressive…
Aunt Dan is hardly the typical Trump supporter. The character portrayed by Kristen Johnston in the New Group's online reunion reading of Wallace Shawn's play was the youngest American ev…
Looking for a way to stop obsessing over the 2020 electoral count, I landed on watching this 1925 play about a fictional election. Â I previously had resisted this Mint Theater recording b…
As Election Day ended without an official declared winner for President, or word of which party will control the Senate, Broadway Tweeters urged patience and calm. "It's gonna take awhile to…
Phillipa Soo and Steven Pasquale sing a song of their own composition "The Vote Song," Leslie Odom Jr. raps "Wait for It" " wait for the results, which will not be available on Election nigh…
The nine days of early voting ended Sunday, with more than 1.1 million New Yorkers casting ballots. That is 41 percent of New York City's total voter turnout in the 2016 Presidential electio…
 Below is the day-by-day calendar of "theater openings"* in November 2020. Despite the return of some familiar plays with the original casts, there is little that's comforting about this…
Wallace Shawn wouldn't get into the elevator with me a while back. The elevator was large and empty (except for me) " the one at Lincoln Center Theater that brings theatergoers up to the Cla…
How well were you following theater news and reviews in the month of October? Answer these ten questions to find out. Loading…
Con Melody is a drunk saddled with a run-down tavern outside Boston, who fancies himself a European war hero born in an Irish castle. He's a vain, moody character living an illusion in "A To…
Eighty-four years after theaters in 17 states across America simultaneously opened "It Can't Happen Here," a dramatization of Sinclair Lewis' cautionary tale imagining the rise of fascism in…
Reading these monologues from the early days of COVID-19, many of which I had watched online, made me think of the way Trump impersonator Adam Baldwin on Saturday Night Live recently spoofed…
Below is the video and transcript of the speech by former President Barack Obama in Orlando, Florida on October 27, 2020, in which he lets loose on President Donald Trump. "…you've got a p…
In the week until Election Day, there are overtly political plays, musicals, and operas opening every day, listed below. Also check out political shows that have already opened and are avail…
 The owners of six Off-Broadway theaters and two comedy clubs filed suit against New York on Friday demanding to be allowed to reopen. "Casinos, malls, movie theaters, restaurants, gyms,…
Week in Theater Videos: Trailers for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and The Prom. To Be Human from Hercules. I'm Losing You from Ain't Too Proud. There will be no Village Halloween Parade next Sat…
"Dear Evan Hansen," Â "Fiddler on the Roof" and "Death of a Salesman" were among the plays and musical familiar to American audiences whose recent British productions won 2020 Olivier Awar…
The staged reading of an 18-year-old episode of the TV series "The West Wing" might seem like a peculiar exercise in nostalgia, and maybe vanity, by its creator Aaron Sorkin, who's gone on t…
These five highly recommended plays opened earlier this week, most of them ending this weekend, all of them worth seeing. There are other, terrifically-sounding shows that are actually openi…
On a day when non-theater people are revving up talk about "political theater," theater bloggers Janice Simpson and Samuel Leiter offer a different take on the term " theater about politics.…
