5,782 stories by "Jonathan Mandell"
Watching Emily Weitzman talk to a couch as if it were her ex-lover brought two names to mind: JD Vance and Andy Kaufman. "You were special…Not just any couch: a pull out couch," she said, …
Michael DeBartolo's path to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival began in a childhood of "profound shame" and a series of unhealthy infatuations with straight boys.  Years later, now a New Yo…
Has a show ever shocked you? Did that make you like it, or dislike it, or was its shock value not the determining factor in your overall reaction? What if a show is deliberately trying to sh…
It is a glorious gospel concert beneath the darkening skies along the Hudson River, and that's all one needs to know to thrill at "Gospel at Colonus." But the experience is deepened by its h…
Cole Escola, Orville Peck, Kecia Lewis, Jak Malone and Sadie Sink were among the performers pushing their puppies at the 27th annual Broadway Barks, the odd and adorable animal adoption even…
They met by Magic. Actually,  the section at the Strand bookstore where they first met is labeled Occult, but that's where the store keeps its books on magic.  Kristen and Jenny'…
The free lunchtime concert series Broadway in Bryant Park launched its twenty-fifth season on Thursday with performances by the casts from six Broadway shows " one of which, "Boop the Musica…
So much ugliness takes place at Westerberg High " homicide and homophobia, attempted suicide and sexual assault " that there's an extensive "content advisory" in front of Stage 1 at New Worl…
Summer is normally a time for R&R " which for theater lovers can mean reading theater books and attending regional theater festivals. But the mood is more complicated these days, more te…
I wasn't sure I wanted to see this play, which imagines a grownup Prince George of England (currently 11 years old) as an out gay man. I was put off by the offensive title, and by what it se…
The season for free, outdoor theater is well underway, both throughout the country and here in New York: A new epic "Memnon" began over the weekend (see below.) This coming week, …
Centuries before Othello, and millennia before Black Panther, there was Memnon, the king of the Ethiopians, who came to the defense of Troy during the Trojan War.  Homer mentions Memno…
John Krasinski's character Roger seems as affable and appealing as Krasinski himself at the start of  Penelope Skinner's superficially entertaining play, but Roger quickly descends int…
Dissent is as American as the Fourth of July, and in honor of both, and as a way to offer solace in the face of a relentless assault on our democratic and Constitutional rights, below are ex…
The songs below recall the original spirit of the Fourth of July, when 249 years ago Americans engaged in an act of protest against tyranny. Some of the songs have become such popular anthem…
Only "Purpose" is performing on the Fourth of July itself, But eighteen of the 30 Broadway shows currently running have added performances either within the two days before or the two days a…
Below is a calendar of New York theater opening* in July, all of it beyond Broadway, featuring some familiar crowdpleasers, such as a unique "Waitress," and a starry "Heathers," with Back to…
Sure, five more Broadway shows closed over the weekend, but not everything has come and gone (30 still running), and there are several exciting new announcements: Taraji P. Henson will make …
Jeff Hiller has written a celebrity memoir to end all celebrity memoirs. Each of his twenty-four chapters is given the title of an actual celebrity memoir, and the age at which the author of…
How well were you paying attention to the theater over the past month? Answer these ten questions, plus a bonus question, and find out. Â Loading…
This sweet, lively and original musical deserves a wider audience, or maybe just a much longer run where it is, since the production works so wonderfully well in the intimate Off-Off Broadwa…
Today, the tenth anniversary of the Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationally, seems an apt day for my annual census of gay characters on Broadway. At a time when LGBTQ …
As "Lowcountry" begins, David, who just recently was permitted to remove his ankle bracelet, is about to go on a first date with Tally, whom he met on a dating app. Eventually, we learn what…
"Do you realize that the U.S. has only spent under 20 years when we are NOT involvednin war?" the rap star Duke (Jay Ellis) tells an unseen interviewer. "When will that end?" Duke is being a…
New Yorkers have a busy week ahead: the Jimmy Awards tonight; tomorrow Primary Election Day; all week, Pride events " including the last of three plays of the Criminal Queerness theate…
