Theater

theater review

Floyd Collins Is Beautiful But Can’t Break Free

 A few crucial staging choices kneecap this production from the start, undermining its epic tragedy. By Sara Holdren
theater review

Caryl Churchill, Acrobatically, at the Public

 Four short plays by the master of knotty stage language. By Sara Holdren
theater

What to See on (and Off)(and Off–Off) Broadway

 Let Vulture’s theater desk be your guide. By Vulture Editors
  1. cheat sheet
    How to Tell This Year’s Doppelgängers, Evil Twins, and Alter Egos ApartFrom Sinners to Severance to Vanya, here’s a cheat sheet to the many multiples.
    By Fran Hoepfner
  2. theater review
    Floyd Collins Is Beautiful But Can’t Break FreeA few crucial staging choices kneecap this production from the start, undermining its epic tragedy.
    By Sara Holdren
  3. brown fox
    Yes, George Clooney’s Hair Looks Like That on PurposeThat doesn’t make it any less startling, though.
    By Fran Hoepfner
  4. a long talk
    People Don’t Always Get Tina Landau’s Vision. She’s Made Her Peace With That.With Redwood and Floyd Collins, the director-writer remains uncompromising.
    By Jackson McHenry
  5. theater review
    Caryl Churchill, Acrobatically, at the PublicFour short plays by the master of knotty stage language.
    By Sara Holdren
  7. chat room
    Jak Malone’s Guide to Singing the Best New Song on Broadway“It makes me wonder if somebody somewhere has gone, ‘Yeah, we’ll give him a good go of it before he dies,’” the Operation Mincemeat star said.
    By Jason P. Frank
  8. theater review
    A Crucible of Teen Drama: John Proctor Is the VillainWhen the stressors in Arthur Miller’s play and the ones in a classroom full of high-schoolers collide.
    By Sara Holdren
  9. theater
    The Best Hate-Watch of All TimeA guide to Smash, from screen to stage.
    By Jason P. Frank
  10. chapters
    “It Feels Like We’re Lost in the East Village and Can’t Find a Way Out”Jeffrey Seller, co-producer of ‘Rent,’ on Jonathan Larson and his show’s bumpy road to success.
    By Jeffrey Seller
  11. theater review
    Smash Is the Wrong Kind of DudInstead of embracing its legendary love-to-hate-watch roots, the Broadway adaptation of the NBC show about a musical is surprisingly timid.
    By Jackson McHenry
  12. the upside down
    Stranger Things Brings the Upside Down to BroadwayDemogorgon of the opera, if you will.
    By Alejandra Gularte
  13. the-a-ter
    Broadway Legends on the Show That Got AwayIdina Menzel’s Moonstruck opera and Betty Buckley’s stadium-size Annie Get Your Gun.
    By Zach Schiffman
  14. the yesteryear issue
    The List KeepersThe AIDS crisis shattered Broadway, and the scope of the loss has never been fully accounted for. Some kept their own records.
    By Mark Harris
  15. theater review
    What’s to Discuss? Old Friends Is a Familiar Trip Through the Sondheim Canon.Led by a committed Bernadette Peters.
    By Jackson McHenry
  16. rip
    William Finn, Falsettos Composer, Dead at 73He also wrote A New Brain and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
    By Jason P. Frank
  17. the yesteryear issue
    How Broadway Became BroadwayWhen I started as a drama critic in 1980, I learned how little I knew about how the theater business actually works.
    By Frank Rich
  18. theater review
    Does Betty Boop Exist in Three Dimensions?Boop! The Musical tries to get her out of her cel.
    By Jackson McHenry
  19. the yesteryear issue
    ‘Good God, It Was Fun!’Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli, Dick Van Dyke, and more legends of Broadway reprise their most memorable characters.
    Photographs by Mark Seliger
  20. the yesteryear issue
    Backstage at New York’s Broadway Legends ShootScenes from an unusually epic and emotional photo portfolio.
    By Paula Aceves
  21. theater review
    A Messy Breakup: Nick Jonas and Adrienne Warren in The Last Five YearsNick Jonas’s pop-star casting runs up against Adrienne Warren’s sheer luminosity, and the two leads’ onstage power dynamic never feels quite right.
    By Sara Holdren
  22. theater review
    At St. Ann’s Warehouse, a Cherry Orchard for the In-the-KnowBenedict Andrews’s finely wrought, deliberately underdressed production that may leave Chekhov newbies jogging to keep up.
    By Sara Holdren
  23. who can say?
    Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth Reunite for GoodSpecifically, to raise money for Broadway Cares with a performance of “For Good.”
    By Jason P. Frank
  24. theater review
    This I Believe: George Clooney in Good Night, and Good LuckHe brings Edward R. Murrow to Broadway with righteousness intact.
    By Sara Holdren
  25. hot take
    The Best Part of Denzel Washington’s Othello Is the Kanye West SongRIP, William Shakespeare — you would have loved “Ultralight Beam.”
    By Jason P. Frank
  26. theater review
    ‘You’re Wasting Leads’: Glengarry Glen Ross ReturnsIn this production starring Kieran Culkin, Bob Odenkirk, and Bill Burr, the heavy questions around David Mamet’s repugnant men go under-examined.
    By Sara Holdren
  27. works in progress
    Closers OnlyBob Odenkirk, Kieran Culkin, and Bill Burr battle for the top of the Glengarry Glen Ross leaderboard.
    By Rebecca Alter
  28. rudin rubric
    Scott Rudin Hopes Laurie Metcalf’s Talent Distracts You From His PastThe infamous bully producer makes plans to return to Broadway.
    By Fran Hoepfner
  29. theater review
    This Picture of Dorian Gray Leaps Off the WallBrimming with color and directorial innovation, fabulously embodied by Sarah Snook.
    By Sara Holdren
  30. theater review
    Money in Its Purse, No Heart on Its Sleeve: Denzel Washington in OthelloKenny Leon’s production, co-starring Jake Gyllenhaal, is low on ideas and lower on energy.
    By Sara Holdren
  31. theater review
    Dead Men Do Tell (Funny) Tales: Operation MincemeatA genuinely funny musical about one of World War II’s oddest espionage gambits.
    By Sara Holdren
  32. theater review
    The Buena Vista Social Club Gets Bigger and Smaller on BroadwayRevising Cuba’s past with a trimmed book, but more thrilling dance.
    By Jackson McHenry
  33. theater review
    We See You, Andrew ScottThe actor creates a full, heartbreaking world inside his solo performance of Vanya.
    By Sara Holdren
  34. theater review
    A Storied Black Family Faces Itself in PurposeA household very much like Jesse Jackson’s has a brutal, if overdetermined, birthday celebration.
    By Jackson McHenry
  35. sure
    Donald Trump Claims He ‘Never Liked Hamilton Very Much’ AnywayAfter Lin-Manuel Miranda chose not to stage it at the Kennedy Center under Trump’s new board.
    By Jason P. Frank
  36. coming soon
    How Sweet It Is (to Get a James Taylor Jukebox Musical)Written by Pulitzer winner Tracy Letts and directed by Tony winner David Cromer.
    By Jason P. Frank
  37. mask 4 unmasked
    Orville Peck to Go Mask Off for Cabaret at the Kit Kat ClubThe masked cowboy will be an unmasked emcee.
    By Jason P. Frank
  38. another suitcase another show
    Don’t Cry for Rachel Zegler, ArgentinaZegler will play Eva Perón in the West End production of Jamie Lloyd’s Evita.
    By Jason P. Frank
  39. theater review
    Mescal and Ferran in Streetcar: Yes, Yes, Magic!Rebecca Frecknall’s production at BAM has it all.
    By Sara Holdren
  40. theater review
    How Do You Measure a Career? The Jonathan Larson Project.A revue of the Rent creator’s trunk songs and offcuts isn’t profound, but it’s moving all the same.
    By Jackson McHenry
  41. theater review
    A Ghosts That Doesn’t Go MadJack O’Brien’s new Ibsen adaptation could use a couple more brainworms.
    By Sara Holdren
  42. theater review
    Launching Into Adulthood, With Frenemies and Hummus: All NighterSenior year is almost over, guys.
    By Jackson McHenry
  43. theater review
    Where’s Willy? Abe Koogler’s Deep Blue SoundThe orcas have vanished, and a Pacific Northwest community is puzzled.
    By Sara Holdren
  44. theater review
    Sumo Is a Subculture Story That Goes BigThe backstage dynamics of an ancient, extremely ritualized sport.
    By Sara Holdren
  45. works in progress
    Not Your High School CrucibleSadie Sink stars in John Proctor is the Villain, a Broadway comedy that upends the classic drama.
    By Devon Ivie
  46. backstories
    Toni Morrison’s Lost PlayWhy did the novelist’s only staged drama disappear for so long?
    By Elon Green
  47. here we (literally) go again
    Mamma Mia! Is Coming Back to Broadway This SummerMy, my, how can you resist this?
    By Jennifer Zhan
  48. chat room
    Wicked’s Jenna Bainbridge on Reframing Nessarose’s “Tragic” DisabilityTwenty-one years in, she’s the first disabled actor to play Elphaba’s sister, who uses a wheelchair, on Broadway.
    By Esme Mazzeo
  49. theater review
    Dakar 2000 Is a Tense and Unstable ThrillerIt falls short of wild combustible invention but also stops shy of absolute historical fidelity.
    By Jackson McHenry
  50. theater review
    Overexposition: On the Evolutionary Function of ShameA script that tries to do a lot of explaining.
    By Sara Holdren
  51. theater review
    This Curse of the Starving Class Doesn’t Have Much in Its FridgeAnd a sheep is the star of the show.
    By Jackson McHenry
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