8,501 stories from Backstage
Cheyenne Jackson has plenty to keep him busy after the swift closing of Broadway comedy “The Performers.” With solo album “Drive” being released early next year, Jack…
Tracy Letts wrote his first play because he was an out-of-work actor.
"['Killer Joe'] was the first play I'd every written," says Letts, who wrote the play in 1990. "I was a Chicago stage ac…
Jonathan Draxton conceived of “Soldier” while he was an undergraduate at Williams College, after his professor assigned the students to write a theater piece on a subject that bo…
How many times can one sit through a retelling of Charles Dickens’ holiday favorite “A Christmas Carol” before succumbing to a bad case of humbug fever? The timeless classi…
There’s a point during “Mummenschanz,” the show by the world-renowned Swiss theater troupe that came to town this week to celebrate its 40th anniversary, when you just have…
There is nothing like a dame—or two. “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” hit theaters in May and managed to become one of the sleeper hits of the year, thanks in part to a cas…
Two years ago the Vesturport Theatre of Iceland brought a stunningly athletic stage version of Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” to the BAM Next Wave Festival. Now this innovative co…
Broadway might get stuck with a lump of coal in its stocking this holiday season.The union that represents hundreds of theater cleaners, porters, elevator operators, bathroom attendants, mat…
The quirk quotient is dangerously high in Melissa James Gibson’s “What Rhymes With America,” a rather sketchy collection of scenes in search of a play. As this is my introd…
“Working” has always been a heartbreaker. Based on Studs Terkel’s celebrated 1974 nonfiction book, the musical was the brainchild of composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz, who…
Actorfest LA, the It Gets Better “A Better Holiday” concert, Peridance’s contemporary “Nutcracker,” Lincoln Center’s Tom Cruise retrospective, and Alison …
“I always hum when I’m nervous,” says Virginia, the lone woman in the easy chair at the start of the 60-minute one-act “13 Things About Ed Carpolotti.” That set…
Every December New York swims—some would say drowns—in holiday entertainments that range from extravaganzas at Radio City Music Hall to full productions of “The Nutcracker&…
For a pile of excrement, the picture painted by “P.S. Jones and the Frozen City” is darn pretty. I speak literally, of course. Robert Askins’ new play opens in a “pos…
Be warned. Not about the extreme profanity or bare-bottom nudity that abound in Amy Freed’s “Restoration Comedy,” at the Flea Theater, but about the evening’s length.…
The Actors’ Equity Association won’t join a growing union boycott of West Palm Beach’s Kravis Center—at least not yet.
IATSE Local 500 in south Florida and the t…
If good intentions, sincerity, and important subject matter were enough to guarantee artistic success, then “Bare” would be a triumph. Unfortunately, Jon Hartmere’s generic…
Classical theater often gets a bad rap, whether due to the required reading of Shakespeare in high school, writing 20-page analytical papers in college, or watching countless sub-par communi…
Finely tuned kvetch Jackie Hoffman is back with her sendup of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” She performed a version of it last year, which I did not see. This incar…
David Mamet’s “Glengarry Glen Ross,” winner of the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for drama, was on Broadway a mere seven years ago, in a terrific production directed by Joe Mantello …
New York City’s theater world is home to many awards honoring stage veterans, but the Clive Barnes Award seeks to recognize the accomplishments of theater’s newest stars. With th…
Although the Grammy Awards are mostly for the music aficionados, they still have one category for musical theater lovers to get excited about. The Grammy Award for the Best Musical Theater A…
Phil Coulter is both an artist and an industry. Not only is he an entertainer with an international reputation; he’s also a songwriter, a remarkable pianist, a music producer, a histor…
For decades, Brooklyn’s Poly Prep Country Day School has been known for turning out such talented alumni as Grace Gummer (“Arcadia”) and Dan Fogler (“25th Annual Putn…
After using their time off from filming TV to appear Off-Off-Broadway in SoHo Rep's production of Annie Baker's adaptation of "Uncle Vanya," Meritt Wever and Micheal Shannon are reaping the …
