It's been a week since the death, at 88, of Jerry Herman, whose scores to "Hello, Dolly!" and "Mame" defined the brassy, sassy sound of a musical comedy at the tail end of Broadway's Golden …
If you tried too hard to be funny, Don Imus wouldn't help you with fake laughter. If you tried to poke fun at him and he wasn't in the mood, he'd flatten you.
The theater lost three giants in 2019: Hal Prince, Franco Zeffirelli and Carol Channing. Here, in their own words, are several other greats worth remembering. Diahann Carroll Diahann Carroll…
Its weekly grosses were so low, the Shuberts exercised the stop clause.
When Andrew Lloyd Webber read the screenplay for "Cats," he knew something was missing: a song for Victoria, an abandoned cat who wasn't in his stage musical. "She had no voice at all," Lloy…
"Tootsie" flopped on Broadway. It's a terrific show, but its early closing is scaring the hell out of "Mrs. Doubtfire," another musical whose leading man is also a leading lady. Based on the…
It may not recoup its $9.5 million investment.
"Tootsie" had everything going for it: great title, terrific reviews, star-making turn by Santino Fontana, snappy score by David Yazbek and a hilarious book by Robert Horn. And yet one of th…
The delightful Ian McKellen, who turned 80 this year, has a message for anybody who wants to see him on stage: "Run!" New Yorkers have that chance Tuesday at the Hudson Theatre, where McKell…
The buzziest show in London right now is "Lungs," starring Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. Or, as they're known in real life, Claire Foy and Matt Smith, the royal couple of Netflix's "…
Eileen Atkins is the only Dame of the English theater who hasn't been invited to lunch with the Queen at Sandringham House. All the other Dames " Judi (Dench), Maggie (Smith), Diana (Rigg) a…
Brian Cox had no intention of tackling a meaty character like Lyndon Baines Johnson in Robert Schenkkan's "The Great Society." He'd moved away from big theater roles to focus on parts in mov…
Cameron Crowe ran into Elton John last year at a party thrown by David Geffen. "I hear you're doing a musical version of 'Almost Famous,'" John said. "I love Tom Kitt" " Crowe's collaborator…
"Little Shop of Horrors" may be the most adorably creepy " and enduring " musicals of all time. It opened in 1982 at the small WPA Theater in Chelsea, then moved to the Orpheum on Second Ave…
Who knew Loki and Daredevil are the biggest theater geeks in town? Tom Hiddleston (Loki) and Charlie Cox (Daredevil) are starring in the spare " but scorching " revival of Harold Pinter's "B…
The New York Times has a new darling: Jeremy O. Harris, whose "Slave Play" began previews Tuesday at the Golden Theatre after last year's sold-out run at New York Theatre Workshop. The paper…
The theater world's buzzing about two off-the-grid musicals that could make the leap to Broadway in the spring. The other week I reported on "The Wrong Man," by singer-songwriter Ross Golan,…
Word on the street it's terrific.
Brace yourself, theater people: Gerard Alessandrini, the merry skewer-er of all that you do, is coming back with "Forbidden Broadway: The Next Generation." A New York institution since 1982,…
Let's hear it for the great Lois Smith, who rode to the rescue this week when "The Inheritance," coming in from London, was missing a key cast member: Vanessa Redgrave. She won raves for her…
"Moulin Rouge," "Jagged Little Pill" and "Tina: the Tina Turner Musical" are the new Broadway season's major musical contenders. But keep your eye on a small, original show that could slip i…
Barry Manilow, back on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne for a few weeks, came onstage at Tuesday's opening night and cracked: "You weren't expecting Faye Dunaway, were you?" Big laughs from a c…
Faye Dunaway has been fired from the Broadway-bound play "Tea at Five." Dunaway, 78, was playing Katharine Hepburn in the one-woman play, set to open on Broadway next year. It had been playi…
After 20 years, Jack Viertel is giving up the job that everyone who loves musical theater covets: producing Encores! at City Center. As I shouldn't have to remind my readers, Encores! presen…
The first person I called after hearing Rip Torn died on Tuesday was Elizabeth Ashley, who knew him well. "I'm seeing so many R.I.P.'s for Rip," the actress told me. "Are you f- " " ing kidd…