One of the most interesting musicals to appear on Broadway this season brings a new look to an almost century-old story. Ninety-five years ago, Shuffle Along was an unprecedented sight on the Great White Way: a show written, produced, directed

'Hamilton' Receives Record 16 Tony Nominations

May 4th, 2016 3m 18s

The 2016 Tony nominees were announced on Tuesday, and Charles Isherwood, theater critic of The New York Times, joins WQXR morning host, Jeff Spurgeon, to gab about the big news. Most notably, the juggernaut known as Hamilton met lofty expectati

'Waitress' Serves Up a New Recipe for Movie-to-Musical Adaptations

Apr 27th, 2016 2m 17s

Broadway is home to another a new musical based on a movie. Waitress springs from the 2007 film of the same name and tells the story of a small-town girl, who dreams of an escape from her small-town existence. It stars Jessie Mueller, who makes

In 'Mary Page Marlowe' a Role so Big It Requires 6 Actresses

Apr 20th, 2016 2m 54s

Tracy Letts, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (August: Osage County) and Tony Award-winning actor (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf), has a new play running at his home company, Chicago-based Steppenwolf Theatre. The play, Mary Page Marlowe,

'Exit Strategy': The Final Days of a Failing School

Apr 13th, 2016 1m 59s

Set at an urban public school on the brink of closure for the usual reasons — poor test scores and low graduation rates — playwright Ike Holter's Exit Strategy is an indictment of the state of public education but not a polemic. Much of the pla

3 Kings, 4 Plays, 12 Hours, a Shakespeare Cycle at BAM

Apr 6th, 2016 4m 8s

This spring, England’s Royal Shakespeare Company has taken up residence at the Harvey Theater at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. It's presenting four of Shakespeare’s plays — Richard II; Henry IV, Parts I and II; and Henry V — in a package calle

'Bright Star' by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell Shines on Broadway

Mar 30th, 2016 3m 7s

With a book by comedian/actor/author Steve Martin, lyrics by singer/songwriter Edie Brickell and a bluegrass-inflected score by both, Bright Star comes to Broadway music with its creators as the most recognizable names on the marquee.Set in No

'Dry Powder': a Comedy to Ignite Economic Debate

Mar 23rd, 2016 3m

Dry Powder, a new play that just debuted at The Public Theater, is bringing the same discussions about the world of finance to the stage as the film The Big Short brought to the movies. The title refers to cash reserves or highly liquid assets,

Seth Rudetsky and Jack Plotnick Bring 'Disaster!' to Broadway

Mar 16th, 2016 2m 59s

With its suggestive exclamation point, the title of the new Broadway musical Disaster! hints at the campy, over-the-top qualities it brings to the Nederlander Theatre. Set on a cruise ship precariously moored along the Hudson River, the show sp

Danai Gurira Delivers On and Off Broadway

Mar 9th, 2016 3m 49s

Zimbabwean-American playwright Dania Gurira is having a moment. Her play Eclipsed has just transferred to Broadway in a production starting Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o at the Golden Theatre, and her work, Familiar, is now running at Playwrights

'Smart People' Presents Thesis on Race at Second Stage Theatre

Feb 17th, 2016 2m 22s

As the Obama era is about to begin, four brilliant, accomplished people — Harvard types, all of them — consider racism in America in “Smart People” by playwright Lydia R. Diamond. While the hot-button issue is difficult for these intellectuals

Len Cariou Mixes Showstoppers with Shakespeare

Feb 10th, 2016 2m 31s

Actor Len Cariou has enjoyed a long and distinguished career. Among his many appearances, he created the role Sweeney Todd in the eponymous Stephen Sondheim musical. Perhaps less well-known is Cariou’s long résumé of Shakespearean roles. Early

Linda Lavin Stars in 'Our Mother's Brief Affair'

Feb 3rd, 2016 2m 26s

While on the latest of her many supposed deathbeds, a "tart-tongued" mother, played by Tony-winner Linda Lavin, reveals to her children the details of a tryst from decades past that may resonate in the present in Richard Greenberg's "Our Mother

An Unusal Birthday Party for Thomas Merton

Jan 27th, 2016 2m 32s

To mark last year's centennial of the birth of the writer and theologian Thomas Merton, the Actors Theater of Louisville has produced a play about him called "The Glory of the World." Merton spent much of his life in a Trappist monastery near L

'Noises Off' Is Back On Broadway With Starry, Funny Cast

Jan 20th, 2016 3m 21s

Michael Frayn's frantic 1982 sex farce-within-a-farce "Noises Off" returns to Broadway for a third run this season under the auspices of the Roundabout Theatre Company. This time around the director is Jeremy Herrin, who staged the two-part Tud

Red Bull Theater Brings Jacobean Drama to Off-Broadway

Jan 13th, 2016 4m 6s

Jacobean era dramas are rarely seen on major New York stages, but the enterprising Red Bull Theater company, under the artistic directorship of Jesse Berger, has made a specialty of them. Its latest foray into the period — the time during the r

'Fiddler on the Roof' Back on Broadway

Jan 6th, 2016 2m 29s

The beloved 1964 musical "Fiddler on the Roof," with its book by Joseph Stein and score by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, is back on Broadway this season. Based on writer Sholem Aleichem's Yiddish tales of Tevye the milkman, this new productio

A New 'View From the Bridge' on Broadway

Dec 23rd, 2015 3m 1s

Arthur Miller’s "A View from the Bridge" hasn’t exactly been a stranger to Broadway. It has already been revived three times, most recently in 2010 in a production starring Liev Schreiber. But it’s back once more this season in an innovative pr

Shakespeare Takes a Jolly Romp Through 1960s London

Dec 16th, 2015 3m 4s

The new musical "These Paper Bullets!" at the Atlantic Theater Company bills itself as a "modish ripoff" of Shakespeare’s comedy "Much Ado About Nothing." The new adaptation is by Rolin Jones, who has updated the setting to London during the sw

The Rock and Roll Return of Andrew Lloyd Webber

Dec 9th, 2015 2m 36s

One of the world’s most successful musicians returns to his musical roots in his latest Broadway show. Andrew Lloyd Webber, best-known for "Phantom of the Opera," "Evita" and other shows that feature pop music in an operatic vein, has made a mu

Taylor Mac's Bold Comedy 'Hir' Brings Many Issues To Broadway

Dec 2nd, 2015 3m 4s

A downtown theater playwright, a sensational Broadway actress and a most unusual family are all part of the show called "Hir" (pronounced "here").Playwright Taylor Mac is probably best known — to those who follow downtown theater, at least — a

George Takai Takes to Broadway in 'Allegiance'

Nov 25th, 2015 3m 28s

Actor George Takai is best known as Sulu from "Star Trek," as well as for his LGBT activism and funny posts on Facebook. He and Lea Salonga, the original Kim in “Miss Saigon,” are the headliners in the new Broadway musical "Allegiance," which t

Rhythm Is Gonna Get You To Broadway

Nov 18th, 2015 3m 9s

A Broadway season just wouldn’t be complete without a jukebox musical it sometimes seems. This year’s model comes courtesy of the 1980s pop star Gloria Estefan.“On Your Feet!” charts the story of her rise, alongside her husband and collaborato

A.R. Gurney's 'Sylvia' Comes to Broadway

Nov 11th, 2015 2m 31s

In his 1995 play “Sylvia,” A.R. Gurney threw a couple of curve balls at the theme of a man dealing with a mid-life crisis. Instead of the man threatening his marriage by falling in love with a younger woman, he falls in love with (curve ball No

'Dames at Sea' Sails On To Broadway

Nov 4th, 2015 2m 55s

A show most famous for putting Bernadette Peters in the spotlight is getting a bigger spotlight of its own. The musical "Dames at Sea" started in a tiny café Off-Off-Broadway in 1966 and helped launch the career of a show business legend. Now t