5,912 stories by "JONATHAN MANDELL"
"Key Change," we're told, is a theater piece "devised" by women inmates in a prison in the north of England called Her Majesty's Prison Low Newton, although a playwright, Catrina McHugh, is …
Elmore James, who will be singing with two Jewish blondes and another African-American man in the "Soul to Soul" concert this Sunday, grew up in Harlem and made his Broadway debut in the bla…
“This is history!” Steven Spielberg scribbled. “No words — just exaltation,” wrote Oprah. "The best show ever! (Outside The Producers)" – Mel Brooks. &…
David Bowie, the most theatrical of rock stars, died two days after his 69th birthday, while his first musical, Lazarus, is still being performed at the New York Theatre Workshop. Of the 18 …
"The Changeling," a gory and convoluted play that takes place in a Spanish castle and in an insane asylum, should intrigue students of Shakespeare, if for no other reason than that it was wr…
There are several things worth knowing upfront about MDLSX, the visually spectacular solo show starring Silvia Caderoni, a member of the Italian experimental troupe Motus that is playing at …
Amid the infomercials, dating videos, and YouTube love diaries presented as part of "The Art of Luv (Part One): Elliot" at the Under the Radar Festival, is one by a college student who expre…
The offending gesture in Mac Wellman's dizzying new play "The Offending Gesture" was the Nazi "Heil Hitler" salute, but it was the Nazis who were offended. In the incredible true story, whic…
The first shows of both the Under the Radar and COIL festivals " two of the dozen or so winter festivals that bring experimental theater from around the world to New York in January " began …
There are some 50 wars or armed conflicts happening somewhere in the world right now, at least a dozen of which each caused thousands or tens of thousands of deaths in 2015 alone. Wat…
If at first glance January seems a relatively fallow time for theater in New York " just two shows opening on Broadway this month, some half dozen Off-Broadway " the truth is that it is one …
Plan your new year of theatergoing, and theater reading with guides to the Broadway season, the Off-Broadway season, the winter New York theater festivals, a good theater book list for 2016,…
As Hamilton director Thomas Kail makes clear this season, Broadway may beckon, but Off-Broadway is the room where it happens. Kail is directing two plays Off-Broadway – “Dry Powd…
A liberal has a respectful conversation with a white supremacist in "Confirmation,” while a feminist artist interviews ‘the Internet’s most infamous misogynist’ in &#…
Choose the show that you are most looking forward to. The list below is for shows that have opening dates on Broadway in the Spring 2016 as of this writing, and they are listed chronological…
Staceyann Chin worked on New Year's Eve, performing "Motherstruck," her intense, sad and very funny solo show directed by Cynthia Nixon about trying to give birth and then trying to be a mot…
There were many worthwhile moments in the shows I saw in 2015. The most memorable ones were not always exciting or transcendent or beautiful, although some were — such as the ship w…
Tonya Pinkins announced she would be leaving the Classic Stage Company’s production of Brecht’s “Mother Courage and Her Children,” directed by CSC artistic director B…
These theater books were mostly published in 2015 (or reissued in paperback)  — and are good reads for 2016. I reviewed some of them or interviewed the authors.  But a few are…
Most of the quiz questions below come from the previous monthly New York theater quizzes in 2015. Test how much you were paying attention to the theater news this year — and how much y…
Continuing a tradition I started when I began this blog " here are the best read stories of 2014,  2013, and 2012 " here are my most-read posts from 2015: (This is a bit of a …
This is the week to look back, and look forward. Â First, the immediate future: Last Minute Planning for New Year’s Eve in NYC Then a look at next year: Broadway Spring 2016 Preview …
Thornton Wilder, best-known as the author of "Our Town" and the inspiration for "Hello, Dolly" (which is based on his play "The Matchmaker"), used to be considered in the same breath as Mill…
My annual New Year’s Eve guide features the Broadway show schedule for New Year's week, and other shows, parties, concerts, intimate dinners, cruises, outdoor events and quiet alternat…
My list of ten favorite shows on New York stages in 2015 tilt towards Broadway musicals " five out of "ten"  " which is in great contrast to my top ten lists last year and the year bef…
