Broadway Archives

  • Beetlejuice

    Rob McClure (Adam), Kerry Butler (Barbara), Sophia Anne Caruso (Lydia), Alex Brightman (Beetlejuice) Photo by Matthew Murphy 2019   Beetlejuice                   By David Schultz Wildly inventive, overly caffeinated reboot is strictly for the fanbase. This whirling dervish musical starts at 90 miles an hour as it ratchets up the intensity and never rests for…

  • Ink

    Bertie Carvel, Jonny Lee Miller. Photo:  Joan Marcus Ink                                       By Fern Siegel Newspapers and TV have been forever changed by one man: Rupert Murdoch. It all began in 1969, the year Murdoch, a brash, reptilian Australian publisher, transformed the U.K.’s Sun, a respectable, low-circulation paper into an in-your-face tabloid that upended Fleet Street norms….

  • All My Sons

    Tracy Letts, Annette Bening. Photo: Joan Marcus                            By Fern Siegel  “What kind of a person are you? Don’t you live in the world?” an outraged Chris asks his cornered father. Welcome to the complicated arena of ethical anger and public responsibility that is Arthur Miller’s forte. The current revival of All My Sons…

  • Hillary and Clinton

    Laurie Metcalf, John Lithgow     Photos: Julieta Cervantes     Hillary and Clinton                                By Fern Siegel Hindsight is always 20-20.  That’s especially true as history unfolds — and we see the consequences of presidential elections. But before the insidious manipulation of social media or the Mueller Report, the presidential election of 2008 proved a…

  • Ain’t Too Proud The Life and Times of the Temptations

    Captions: (left to right) Ephraim Sykes, Jeremy Pope, Jawan M. Jackson, James Harkness, and Derrick Baskin in Ain’t Too Proud (photo by Matthew Murphy)   Ain’t Too Proud:  The Life and Times of the Temptations                                       by Deirdre Donovan The good news from Broadway is that Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of…

  • Oklahoma!

    Rebecca Naomi Jones and Damon Daunno    photos by Teddy Wolff                                                  by Julia Polinsky Director Daniel Fish’s integrated, intimate, immersive staging of one of the landmark pieces of American musical theater transforms Rodgers and Hammerstein’s sunbeams-and-cornpone vision of America into art as dark as the oil-soaked soil of the state itself. Though not…

  • Kiss Me, Kate

    Kiss Me, Kate                     by Deirdre Donovan If you think that Cole Porter’s 1948 musical comedy Kiss Me, Kate is an entertainment for yesteryear, then hie you to Studio 54 where Scott Ellis’ crackling revival of the classic will make you change your mind in a New York minute.  Starring Kelli O’Hara, Will Chase,…

  • True West

    Ethan Hawke, Paul Dano   Photo: Joan Marcus                                        by Fern Siegel Before we knew the term “toxic masculinity,” Sam Shepard’s 1980 play True West, now in revival at the American Airlines Theatre, reveled in it. The story of two mismatched brothers is a study in menace, sibling rivalry and family despair. It’s like…

  • To Kill a Mockingbird

    Jeff Daniels                                                                photos by Julieta Cervantes To Kill a Mockingbird                       By Ron Cohen Aaron Sorkin has done a monumental job in transplanting Harper Lee’s revered novel To Kill a Mockingbird into dramatic form. And it’s being performed in an emotion-grabbing production that helps elevate an extraordinary Broadway season for straight plays to even…