Broadway Reviews

'The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window' review — Lorraine Hansberry's play holds a mirror to the world

The Broadway production of The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, now running at the James Earl Jones Theatre, feels almost antithetical to the play’s debates about the morality and function of art: Two TV and movie stars (Oscar Isaac in the title role and Rachel Brosnahan as his wife, Iris) make it a hot ticket, while producers transferred the production from the Brooklyn Academy of Music at the last minute to earn Tony Award nominations. (It earned two, including Best Revival of a Play.)...

'New York, New York' review — Kander and Ebb musical is still searching for the very heart of it

There are neon marquee lights from days of old. There are bustling dancers showing off their prowess as they rush to work and back home. There are even a few classics from John Kander and Fred Ebb’s heyday. Unfortunately for New York, New York, now running on Broadway at the St. James Theatre, there isn’t much else. Loosely based on Martin Scorsese’s 1977 film, New York, New York follows a group of toxically optimistic performers trying to beat the odds and make it big in 1946. Francine Evans...

'Summer, 1976' review — Laura Linney and Jessica Hecht share a breezy summer friendship

Opposites attract – and not only when it comes to romance, but friendships as well. That’s the thesis of Summer, 1976, a pleasant wisp of a play with an A-list pedigree that has all the dramatic heft of catching a few rays. Written by David Auburn and directed by Daniel Sullivan, who collaborated on the Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning Proof, this new work provides a not-so-surprising reminder about a simple fact of life. People come into our lives and then they go, but they leave a mark –...

'Good Night, Oscar' review — Sean Hayes delivers a virtuosic character study

The star of Douglas Wright’s play Good Night, Oscar, now running on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre, is Sean Hayes, who receives above-the-title billing and will no doubt receive numerous accolades. But the second star is Jacqueline E. Lawton, the production’s dramaturg on Broadway and at the Goodman Theatre, where it premiered last year. Lawton ensures that the show balances its dips into the fantastical with historical truths, a difficult tone deftly achieved in Lisa Peterson’s adroit...

'Prima Facie' review — Jodie Comer makes a riveting Broadway debut in this legal drama

On the face of it and, frankly, on stage at the Golden Theatre, the one-woman drama Prima Facie starring Jodie Comer is too slick and tidily constructed for its own good. In it, Tessa, a British barrister known for defending men accused of sexual assault, gets date raped herself. The parallels are plain. Suzie Miller’s play offers a reckoning with the before and after. Only in the wake of her assault does Tessa fully wrap her brain around a terrible inequity. The symbol for justice is a woman,...

'The Thanksgiving Play' review — white guilt gives way to wild comedy

“On the third day of Thanksgiving, the Natives gave to me four bows and arrows, three Native headdresses …] and a pumpkin in a pumpkin patch.” This parody song begins [The Thanksgiving Play, playwright Larissa FastHorse’s Broadway debut — the first ever for a Native American woman — at Second Stage's Hayes Theater. The song, which FastHorse culled from teacher-oriented Pinterest boards, drags on long enough to make you squirm in fear of hearing the whole thing. Sitting in the mostly white...

'Peter Pan Goes Wrong' review — never-ending laughs abound in this Neverland

J.M. Barrie’s beloved children’s story Peter Pan offers straight-shooting directions to the fictional island of Neverland: Fly toward the “second star to the right and straight on ‘til morning. ” In Peter Pan Goes Wrong, the latest Broadway production from Mischief Theatre, the journey to Neverland is anything but smooth. The comedy follows the Cornley University Drama Society’s botched attempt to stage the classic adventure tale, and there are flying accidents, forgotten lines, falling set...

'Camelot' review — this shining kingdom's revival has bright and dull spots

The optimistic notion that greatness is within reach if only for “one brief, shining moment” is indelibly ingrained in Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s 1960 musical Camelot. Director Bartlett Sher’s gray and forbidding revival of the classic show could definitely use a bit more shine. It’s dark a lot in this Camelot. Running 3 hours at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater, the production is stately and beautifully sung, yet it’s seldom exciting or joyful. That's a long sit for,...

'Fat Ham' review — a smart, savory sendup of Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'

If Hamlet were to partake in karaoke, the troubled prince might perform Radiohead’s “Creep.” In James Ijames’s Pulitzer Prize-winning tragicomedy Fat Ham, the character Juicy, loosely based on Shakespeare’s forlorn prince, does just that. The rock song’s moody lyrics about searching for masculinity and self-worth are fitting for Hamlet — and his Black, gay derivative. This riff on the Bard’s tragedy takes place at a backyard barbecue in the South. Juicy (Marcel Spears) and his family are...

'Shucked' review — the countrified, comedic cream of the crop

Storytellers have long looked to cornfields for ideas. Field of Dreams turned them into heaven. Evil lurked amid the rows in Children of the Corn. Now, in the deliriously dopey countrified musical comedy Shucked, corn is cause for nonstop funny business — and some terrifically catchy tunes. Credit the creative team for recognizing there’s more than a kernel of truth in the adage about knowing oneself. They are fully aware their show is wall-to-wall silliness, and they embrace that concept...