Broadway Reviews

'The Old Man and the Pool' review — Mike Birbiglia dives into his mortality and earns waves of laughter

Watching comedian Mike Birbiglia on stage is always a blast. It’s like reconnecting with an old friend, albeit one with infinite issues and a habit of taking the roundabout route to get to the point. Birbiglia is totally on brand in his largely delightful solo show, The Old Man and the Pool. The 44-year-old author and actor dives into the choppy waters of his own mortality and comes up not only with waves of laughs, but also deep reflections about love and appreciation for how lucky he is (and...

'Kimberly Akimbo' review — Victoria Clark and a talented ensemble shine in letter-perfect musical

She’s back! Following an Off-Broadway run that wrapped in January, Kimberly Akimbo is now in residence at the Booth Theatre with the original cast and every bit of its wondrous quirkiness intact. In fact, the show is more polished and endearing than before. Anyone (including myself) who fears this charmer might get swallowed up in a Broadway house can rest easy. The show, created by David Lindsay-Abaire (book and lyrics) and Jeanine Tesori (music), has found the ideal home. The luxury of a...

'Almost Famous' review — musical adaptation of hit film doesn't rock as hard

Cameron Crowe’s musical adaptation of his much-loved 22-year-old Oscar-winner, Almost Famous, gets off to a very promising start. So much so you silently hope Crowe (book and lyrics), Tom Kitt (music and lyrics), and director Jeremy Herrin can sustain the high level for the whole 2.5 hours. Long story short, no such luck. Fortunately, the show is filled with fine performances and getup that takes us back a half-century without looking like a costume party. The energizing early vignettes come...

'Walking with Ghosts' review — Gabriel Byrne conjures spirits and stories in his earnest solo show

The stage is set for memory lane at Gabriel Byrne’s low-simmering solo show Walking with Ghosts. A series of prosceniums that successively shrink as they recede from the audience simply and efficiently suggest traveling backward. That’s where the Irish author and actor heads in his adaptation of his 2021 memoir of the same title. Beyond some lighting cues and bits of music, the 2-hour production directed by Lonny Price (Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill) is essentially a no-frills affair. Its...

'Topdog/Underdog' review — with Corey Hawkins and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, this play shows its lasting power

Back on Broadway in a top-notch new production, Suzan-Lori Parks’s 2002 Pulitzer Prize winner, Topdog/Underdog, bubbles over with timeless talking points. The always intriguing playwright reckons with race, identity, fractured families, and the elusive chase for grace. At its core – and right there in the title – the play also concerns power. Someone’s always got more of it, and that disparity breeds trouble. For this harrowing and humorous two-hander to reach its full firepower, it takes actors...

'The Piano Lesson' review — Samuel L. Jackson, Danielle Brooks, and John David Washington strike all the right chords

The Piano Lesson at the Barrymore Theatre has been tuned to perfection. Under the deft guidance of LaTanya Richardson Jackson, who makes her Broadway directing debut, August Wilson’s stirring story filled with richly drawn characters, family drama, humor, and beyond-this-world mystery (cue the ghost!) comes vividly to life. Bluesy poetry and musicality are hallmarks of Wilson’s scripts. It’s easy to see – and hear – that here. Over the course of 2 3/4 hours, bits of boogie-woogie, spirituals,...

'Death of a Salesman' review — Wendell Pierce and Sharon D Clarke revitalize a time-honored tragedy

Few American plays are revisited on Broadway as often as Death of a Salesman. The play has received six productions in under 75 years, and this latest revival at the Hudson Theatre, brought over from an acclaimed London run, reminds us why. There is always new depth to be mined from Arthur Miller's story of Willy Loman, a man who all but worshipped the American Dream of prosperity through hard work, only to realize he worked his life away for naught. Casting Willy and his family as Black deepens...

'1776' review — gender-marginalized cast claims power historically denied them

There’s another award-winning history musical that contains the line, “When I meet Thomas Jefferson, I'mma compel him to include women in the sequel” - that is, to the Declaration of Independence. In 1969, the Best Musical winner 1776 dramatized the signing of that very document. The Founding Fathers still don’t include women, but this “sequel” - that is, revival, the first since 1997 - does the next best thing: employing a non-male cast as the men who once excluded them. It is, indeed, the...

'Cost of Living' review — a beautifully acted drama about connection and class

Martyna Majok’s Cost of Living follows shifting relationships between two disabled adults and their caregivers. The play arrives on Broadway four years after being awarded a Pulitzer Prize, an honor that is both a badge (bragging rights to an exclusive club) and baggage (escalated expectations). That’s the cost of winning. Over 110 unbroken minutes this lean, perceptive, and beautifully acted drama explores several provocative themes including connection and isolation as well as privilege and...

'Leopoldstadt' review — Tom Stoppard paints a masterful, memorable family portrait

In the opening tableau of Tom Stoppard's Leopoldstadt, a Jewish family, nearly 30 strong, assembles in a lavish sitting room and looks forward as if posing for a family portrait. A camera flashes. Haunting piano music plays. This moment dares us to remember — to sear these people, their multitude, their grandeur into our minds — before it's too late to salvage them from history. It is, indeed, a deeply personal dare from Stoppard himself, who never knew of his own Jewishness until his 50s, when...