Broadway

Step right up and see [*Water for Elephants*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/34684-water-for-elephants-on-broadway) on Broadway! Circus and theatre meet in the stage adaptation of Sara Gruen's bestselling historical romance novel, which captivated audiences on the page and screen and now does so live.

*The Flash*'s [Grant Gustin](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/grant-gustin) stars as Jacob Jankowski, who runs away with the Benzini Bros. Circus and falls in love with...

Everything you need to know about 'Water for Elephants' on Broadway

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Grant Gustin and Isabelle McCalla currently star in the critically acclaimed musical adaptation of Sara Gruen's bestselling circus-themed novel from 2006.

April 23 is World Book Day, and Broadway is a feast for book lovers this season. There are numerous [new play and musical adaptations of novels](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatre-news/news/from-page-to-stage-how-bestselling-books-became-broadway-blockbusters) on stage this season: [*The Wiz*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/27115-the-wiz-tickets), [*The Great Gatsby*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/38749-the-great-gatsby-on-broadway), [*Water for...

Broadway shows to see based on your favorite book

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We're celebrating World Book Day by providing play and musical recommendations for fans of hot new bestsellers, classic novels, and popular authors.

Nominees for the 2024 Outer Critics Circle Awards have been announced. The annual awards ceremony honors the best of both Broadway and Off-Broadway theatre, with both types of shows competing against each other in many categories.

The Off-Broadway musical *Dead Outlaw* received the most nominations with nine. Tied for second, with seven awards each, are the Off-Broadway musical *The Connector* and the currently running Broadway play...

2024 Outer Critics Circle nominations announced

Outer Critics Circle

The annual awards honor the best of both Broadway and Off-Broadway theatre from the previous years, and numerous currently running shows were recognized.

The circus is staying in town! *Water for Elephants* on Broadway has released a new block of tickets for performances through February 2, 2025 at the [Imperial Theatre](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatres/imperial-theatre). Get [*Water for Elephants* tickets](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/34684-water-for-elephants-on-broadway) now.

Adapted from the [bestselling 2006 book by Sara...

'Water for Elephants' tickets now on sale through February 2025

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The critically acclaimed, circus-themed Broadway musical, which stars *The Flash*'s Grant Gustin, is based on the bestselling 2006 novel by Sara Gruen.

Take a first look at [Rachel McAdams](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/rachel-mcadams) on Broadway! The Oscar-nominated actress known for films like [*The Notebook*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/33744-the-notebook-the-musical), *Mean Girls*, and *Spotlight* is making her Broadway debut in the title role of [*Mary Jane*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/6955-mary-jane-tickets), playing at the [Samuel J. Friedman...

See photos of Rachel McAdams and the cast of 'Mary Jane' on Broadway

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The Academy Award nominee makes her Broadway debut in the title role in Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award nominee Amy Herzog's drama about a single mother.

Discover where [Alicia Keys](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatre-news/news/all-the-times-alicia-keys-did-theatre)'s own dreams were made. The 16-time Grammy Award-winning musician has been working on the new Broadway musical [*Hell's Kitchen*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/37579-hells-kitchen-broadway) for over a decade, but its origins reach back to the '90s.

[Loosely inspired by her formative...

How 'Hell's Kitchen' reflects and differs from Alicia Keys' life

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Keys's song catalog makes up this new musical about a young girl coming of age in Manhattan — a story inspired by, but not identical to, Keys's own upbringing.

Come to the cabaret, old chum! Take a first look inside the Kit Kat Club at [*Cabaret*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/32847-cabaret-tickets) on Broadway, starring Academy Award winner [Eddie Redmayne](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/eddie-redmayne) as the Emcee and *Glow*'s [Gayle Rankin](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/gayle-rankin) as Sally Bowles.

Director Rebecca Frecknall's semi-immersive production comes to New York after winning numerous...

See photos of Eddie Redmayne, Gayle Rankin in 'Cabaret' on Broadway

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Director Rebecca Frecknall's semi-immersive, multi-award-winning production from London completely transforms the August Wilson Theatre into the Kit Kat Club.

Rock on! And on! And on! Broadway currently sports three very different shows featuring rock music, a diverse and exciting genre that never gets old. Not to mention, the shows feature rock legends like Pete Townshend, Huey Lewis, and (sort of) Fleetwood Mac.

These shows include the new musical [*The Heart of Rock and Roll*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/36584-the-heart-of-rock-and-roll) at the [James Earl Jones...

Rock music takes the stage in three Broadway shows this spring

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Songs by rock bands The Who and Huey Lewis and The News appear in high-energy musicals alongside a new play with music inspired by the 1970s rock scene.

You're gonna hear her roar! Maya Boyd will be the next Juliet in [*& Juliet*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/25598-and-juliet-tickets) on Broadway, beginning performances on May 14 at the [Stephen Sondheim Theatre](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatres/stephen-sondheim-theatre).

Boyd made her Broadway debut earlier this year in the cast of *Merrily We Roll Along*. In *& Juliet*, she will now replace [Lorna...

Maya Boyd to join '& Juliet' Broadway cast

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After making her Broadway debut earlier this year, the actor will now replace Tony Award nominee Lorna Courtney in the title role of the acclaimed musical.

Welcome to the Russian countryside! Here's your first look at [*Uncle Vanya*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/33211-uncle-vanya) on Broadway, with [Steve Carell](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/steve-carell) making his Broadway debut in the title role. The starry cast, directed by Lila Neugebauer, also includes [Anika Noni Rose](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/stars-on-stage/anika-noni-rose) (*Caroline, or Change*), [Alfred...

See photos of Steve Carell and the cast of 'Uncle Vanya' on Broadway

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The star of *The Office* makes his Broadway debut in the latest revival of the classic play, which also stars Anika Noni Rose, Alfred Molina, and more.

Lincoln Center Theater's LCT3 program for new works will present Julia May Jonas's new play&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/27063-your-own-personal-exegesis" target="_blank">Your Own Personal Exegesis</a>&nbsp;this fall for a six-week limited engagement. Performances run from November 19 to December 31 at the <a href="https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatres/lincoln-center-claire-tow-theater" target="_blank">Claire Tow Theater</a>, with opening night on December 5.Your Own Personal Exegesis, a comedic play,&nbsp;takes place at a liberal church, where spirituality and eroticism collide. Various parishioners deal with power, transformation, obscurity, and coming-of-age. The youth pastor, too, crushes on a parishioner.&nbsp;The cast includes Savidu Geevaratne as Brian, Mia Pak as Addie, Annie Fang as Beatrice, Hannah Cabell as Kat, and Cole Doman as Chris. The creative team includes director Annie Tippe, set designer Brett J. Banakis, costume designer Wendy Yang, lighting designer Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew, sound designer Stowe Nelson, and composer Brian Cavanagh-Strong.Check back for information on&nbsp;Your Own Personal Exegesis&nbsp;tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

Lincoln Center Theater to premiere 'Your Own Personal Exegesis' off Broadway

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Off-Broadway

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Your Own Personal Exegesis - NYC

Genre: Play

Your Own Personal Exegesis

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Julia May Jonas's *Your Own Personal Exegesis* is at Lincoln Center Theater in fall 2022. Check back for information on Your Own Personal Exegesis tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

*Your Own Personal Exegesis* is a play set in a liberal church, following a group of congregants and staff who experience religious and erotic awakenings in the building's rooms. Brian seeks power, Addie seeks transformation, Beatrice seeks attention, and the youth pastor Kat seeks a connection with Chris, a parishioner. This comedic play shows where eroticism and ecstasy, of the religious and bodily varieties, cross.

LCT3, Lincoln Center Theater's program for emerging writers and new plays, presents the world premiere of *Your Own Personal Exegesis* off Broadway. The show is by Julia May Jonas, an author of books and plays whose other works include the novel *Vladimir* and the play *Time and Motivation for Fitness*. She also leads and creates work for her own theatre company, Nellie Tinder, including a five-play cycle titled *All Long True American Stories* that reframe classic plays about men.

Directing *Your Own Personal Exegesis* in New York is Annie Tippe, the Lucille Lortel Award-winning director of *Octet* at Signature Theatre. Brian Cavanagh-Strong wrote original music for the show; he also composed music for Jonas's *All Long True American Stories* plays.

Check back for information on *Your Own Personal Exegesis* tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

Your Own Personal Exegesis - NYC - NYTG

Coming of age collides with Christianity in Julia May Jonas's dark comedy. Everyone in the church's teen youth group wants something, but one of their desires is more dangerous than the rest, risking a scandal of biblical proportions. Learn more about tickets to *Your Own Personal Exegesis*.

*Your Own Personal Exegesis*, a new coming-of-age play by Julia May Jonas, invites you to the congregation at Lincoln Center Theater. Get *Your Own Personal Exegesis* tickets on TodayTix now.

*Your Own Personal Exegesis* is a play set at the meetings of a liberal parish's youth group, consisting of the youth pastor Kat and her congregants: Brian, Addie, Beatrice, and Chris. Everyone is going on their own journey, personal and spiritual, as they prepare for their annual passion play as a group. Separately, Kat finds herself enthralled by Chris, and a scandal of biblical proportions begins to brew.

Jonas is a multi-hyphenate. In addition to writing plays including *Time and Motivation for Fitness* and *All Long True American Stories*, a cycle of five plays inspired by classic works by and about men, she's also a book author (of the novel *Vladimir*) and the leader of her own theatre company, Nellie Tinder.

Director Annie Tippe is best known for directing Signature Theatre's production of *Octet*, for which she won a Lucille Lortel Award for Best Direction. Her other works includes *Ink*, which she co-led with *Hadestown* director Rachel Chavkin, and plays at Goodman Theatre, Bushwick Starr, Ars Nova, and more.

Get *Your Own Personal Exegesis* tickets on TodayTix.

## What to Watch For

- An exegesis is a critical analysis of a text; the word is most often applied to interpretations of the Bible and other religious scriptures.
- Jonas and Trippe both make their Lincoln Center Theater debuts with *Your Own Personal Exegesis* off Broadway.
- *Your Own Personal Exegesis* isn't a musical, but Brian Cavanagh-Strong provides original music. 
- This play is Cavanagh-Strong and Jonas's second collaboration; he previously composed music for *All Long True American Stories*.
- LCT3 presents *Your Own Personal Exegesis* in New York; this Lincoln Center Theater program supports new work by up-and-coming and/or underproduced playwrights.

Your Own Personal Exegesis - NYC - TT

A Christian church, however progressive, is perhaps one of the most antithetical places to have a sexual awakening. That, or to have a fall from grace.

But in Julia May Jonas's [*Your Own Personal Exegesis*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/27063-your-own-personal-exegesis-tickets), both happen on a collision course at [Redacted] Church in [Redacted], New Jersey. A lot of things are redacted in *Exegesis* besides the church's name — the last names of every character, for one, in the church bulletin we're provided alongside the show's regular program. It's the first indication that there's a sinister thread lurking beneath this comedy at the [Claire Tow Theater](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatres/lincoln-center-claire-tow-theater).

There are actually multiple dark threads, though most aren't redaction-worthy. All four members of the church's youth group, plus its leader, are grappling with something, and they perhaps hope religion will provide them respite, if not quite salvation. For the popular Addie, it's anorexia; the shy Beatrice, bulimia and friction with her mom. Swaggering Brian's sense of self-assurance is more fragile than it looks, and Chris can't cope with his alcoholic dad's absence.

The youth group is their safe haven, however imperfect, with the 30something youth pastor Kat as a de facto parental figure they can seek support from. In theory.

It quickly becomes evident that Kat silently wants Chris, who, being an impressionable 18-year-old that deeply trusts her, resists little. Kat takes her ever-growing sexual frustration out on the rest of the youth group. Addie, Chris's girlfriend, and Beatrice, who isn't necessarily crushing on Chris but is enamored by the fact that he pays any attention to her at all, especially become collateral damage in Kat's abuse of power.

Now the redactions make more sense. This isn't just a play about teenagers turning to faith to find their way — Jonas is subtly making us look at sexual abuse in the church. The issue likely brings to mind older male priests and young children, with multiple such cases making headlines in recent years (and long before that — this show, for one, begins in 1995). But *Your Own Personal Exegesis* is a reminder that the face of abuse can be young, warm, and of any denomination. It's no less abuse. 

It's terrifyingly clever, especially because centering *Your Own Personal Exegesis* primarily on older teens also allows the play to still function effectively as a comedy. Unlike young children, they're old enough to be aware and wary of the world, so we can chuckle at the perfectly innocent romantic endeavors and interactions that transpire separately from the central conflict. These are awkward, hormonal teenagers nursing crushes in a church basement — it's a situation ripe for comedy, so much that the dark stuff still manages to creep up on us even though we know it's coming.

Plus, the action unfolds as the youth group prepares for events like a dance-a-thon and a passion play (in which the story of the married Bathsheba and lustful David — note the parallel — is set in the Vietnam War era), and we get to see the increasingly sophisticated fruits of all their efforts. A spirited dance sequence to The Cardigans' "Lovefool" is particularly joy-inducing. It's also the first moment Kat and Chris openly exhibit a whiff of tension. This mingling of the sacred and profane defines the show up to its ambiguous and unsettling end.

Annie Tippe gracefully directs the show's many moving parts, and the cast plays teenage insecurity well, if borderline caricatureish at times. Cole Doman, as Chris, strikes a particularly compelling balance between lax-bro thickheadedness and sincere desire to be something more. As Kat, Hannah Cabell is excellent at being disarming until she isn't. Mia Pak (Addie), Annie Fang (Beatrice), and Savidu Geevaratne (Brian) complement each other well, though I'd have loved to see consistently more of them — their plot lines, especially Brian's, fade in and out, even as a turning point in the play hinges on their presence.

A church may not be the best place to experience a sexual awakening or a fall from grace. But the theatre, at *Your Own Personal Exegesis*, is the best place to witness one.

[*Your Own Personal Exegesis* is at the Claire Tow Theater through December 31. Get *Your Own Personal Exegesis* tickets on New York Theatre Guide.](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/27063-your-own-personal-exegesis-tickets)

*Photo credit: Annie Fang, Cole Doman, Savidu Geevaratne, Hanna Cabell, and Mia Pak in Your Own Personal Exegesis. (Photo by Jeremy Daniel)*

'Your Own Personal Exegesis' review — facing the sacred and the profane in this coming-of-age play

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The Claire Tow Theater is named in honor of the wife of longtime Lincoln Center Theater board member Leonard Tow. The theatre is located on the roof of the building housing Broadway's [Vivian Beaumont Theater](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatres/vivian-beaumont-theater) and the Off-Broadway [Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatres/lincoln-center-mitzi-e-newhouse-theater), all of which are owned and operated by Lincoln Center Theater. The Tow is LCT's newest space, having opened to the public in 2012.

The 112-seat venue is the current home of LCT3, a programming initiative designed to nurture the work of emerging playwrights and directors.

## How to get to the Claire Tow Theater off Broadway

The Claire Tow Theater is closest to the 66th St. - Lincoln Center subway stop on the 1 line. The nearest bus stop is W 66th St./Columbus Avenue on the M66 line.

Lincoln Center Theater - Claire Tow Theater - NY

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Lincoln Center Theater - Claire Tow Theater

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Lincoln Center Theater's LCT3 program for new works will present Julia May Jonas's new play Your Own Personal Exegesis this fall for a six-week limited engagement. Performances run from November 19 to December 31 at the Claire Tow Theater, with opening...

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