Jean Smart (Photo: Marc J. Franklin and Emilio Madrid) Call Me Izzy By Lydia Sue Keidel on June 30, 2025 Call Me Izzy is about Izzy, a woman from rural Louisiana imprisoned in an abusive marriage. Only a couple weeks out of high school, she married Ferd who was 5 years her senior; her uncaring…
The Company(Photo: Marc J. Franklin) Purpose By Deirdre Donovan Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Purpose explores the struggles of a prominent African-American family navigating the intersection of personal ambition and their historical responsibilities. Directed by Phylicia Rashad, Jacobs-Jenkins masterfully interweaves family, politics, and contemporary national issues into a compelling narrative. Set in Illinois, Purpose revolves…
Maggie Kuntz, Morgan Scott, Fina Strazza, Amalia Yoo (Photo: Julieta Cervantes) John Proctor Is The Villain By Julia Polinsky Kimberly Belflower’s John Proctor Is The Villain draws an exhilarating, troubling portrait of teenage girls as they once were, are now, and may forever be. Set in 2018, and dealing with the mass of new, increasing,…
Louis McCartney (Photo: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman) Stranger Things: The First Shadow By Julia Polinsky First things first: you do not need to be at all familiar with the Netflix series to enjoy Stranger Things: The First Shadow, now on Broadway at the Marquis Theatre. You know zip, zero, nothing? That’s fine, because the…
George Clooney in Good Night, and Good Luck. (Photo: Emilio Madrid) Good Night, and Good Luck By Deirdre Donovan George Clooney and Grant Heslov’s new play, Good Night, and Good Luck, an adaptation of their 2005 film, arrives on Broadway with plenty of buzz. Directed by David Cromer, this production doesn’t disappoint, largely due to…
Sarah Snook (Photo: Marc Brenner) The Picture of Dorian Gray By Carol Rocamora Ever heard of “cinetheatre”? You’d better get used to the term describing this groundbreaking new theatrical form. It’s making a dramatic impact on the Broadway stage this season, and it’s a harbinger of a whole new technological trend to come. You have…
Are there two Kieran Culkins? The one who shows up in the first act of the uneven revival of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross is, let’s say it, something of a disaster. He’s slower and softer than everyone who has preceded him, throwing Mamet’s galloping but precise rhythms totally off. Intermission passes, and the Culkin…
The company of English. (Photo: Joan Marcus) English By Julia Polinsky What and how you speak: this is who you are. That is the idea behind Sanaz Toossi’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, English, now at the Roundabout. A co-production with the Atlantic Theater Company, English is set a classroom in Iran, where students are preparing for…
Bill Irwin, Thomas Middleditch, Amber Gray, Jessica Hecht, Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz (Photo: Jeremy Daniel) Eureka Day By Julia Polinsky Funny/not funny, and timely as hell, Eureka Day pokes hard at the vaccination debate. Manhattan Theatre Club, known for producing plays that deal with difficult subjects, somehow makes even the thorniest controversies deeply entertaining. They have done…
Cult of Love ensemble (Photo: Joan Marcus) Cult of Love By Fern Siegel Cult of Love is appropriately named. The cult is religion — and “love” translates as control. The searing holiday family dramedy, now on Broadway at the Hayes Theater, begins with a loud, overly long Christmas carol. But the gaiety feels forced; the…