Broadway Reviews

'How I Learned to Drive' review — a triggering ride down memory lane

How does one stage a traumatizing play that focuses on grooming, pedophilia, misogyny, and incest? In the case of Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize-winning play How I Learned to Drive, which just premiered on Broadway at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, Mark Brokaw has opted to direct the most painful moments with a "folks say the wackiest things" shrug. That incongruously lighthearted approach magnifies How I Learned to Drive's horror without investing the words with greater meaning. And what words...

'American Buffalo' review — Sam Rockwell, Laurence Fishburne, and Darren Criss perform meaningless chaos

Staging American Buffalo in the woke era of 2022 is a brazen choice. The third Broadway revival of David Mamet's 1975 play is now open after being put on hiatus in 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, nearly two years later, the production playing at the Circle in the Square puts the controversial playwright and his chaotic play about three crooks back in front of audiences during a time when patrons are calling for new and diverse works. What comes of this is a cluttered repurposing...

'The Minutes' review — an electric portrait of democracy at work

In The Minutes, a backloaded button-pusher about power, history, and self-preservation, playwright Tracy Letts lifts the curtain on an ordinary closed town council meeting for a group portrait of American democracy at work. No shocker: It's not a pretty picture.This 90-minute work was first seen in 2017 with Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago and briefly on Broadway in 2020 before the pandemic pause. Set in the vividly named and vaguely situated Big Cherry, the setting could be anywhere in...

'Birthday Candles' review — a sweet play with little substance

Sugar. Butter. Flour. Those are the building blocks of a good cake but also, according to Birthday Candles, the treacle new play on Broadway by Noah Haidle, a good cake is also "atoms left over from creation. Look deeper and you'll find the story of the universe." That's a lot to put on a cake, and like an overbeaten cake, the play inflates with potential before ultimately collapsing in on itself, being filled with nothing but air.Birthday Candles stars Debra Messing in an impressive acting...

'The Little Prince' review — a whimsical spectacle for the inner child in us all

If you think you're too old or jaded to watch in wonder as someone flies above your head while rose petals shower down, think again.It's unfortunate that this dazzling moment doesn't come until after the curtain call, when some hurried audience members might miss it. Until then, most of the choreography, gymnastics tricks, and even aerial stunts of The Little Prince — director/choreographer Anne Tournié and librettist Chris Mouron's adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's beloved book — feel...

'Take Me Out' review — uneven play falls short of a home run

Richard Greenberg's Tony-winning play Take Me Out returns to Broadway, urging the audience this time to be fully present. From the moment one walks into the Hayes Theatre, ushers command patrons to turn off cellphones and lock them away in a Yondr pouch — a secure device that remains sealed until everyone leaves the theatre. This precaution occurs for many reasons, but the most important is to protect the actors who occasionally appear fully nude. Unfortunately for this disjointed slow burn, the...

‘Paradise Square’ review: An ambitious yet overdrawn historic epic

Paradise Square, the new Broadway musical, is blessed with a cast of powerhouse singers, Jason Howland's lovely score, and enough action for three separate shows. Unfortunately, that's part of the show's problem. Written by Larry Kirwan, Christina Anderson, and Craig Lucas, the show's book is saddled with so many characters with so many ambitions that three hours is not enough time to resolve their issues.From racism to immigrant rights, murder, capitalism, and worker's rights, the plethora of...

'Plaza Suite' review — Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick shine in this well-aged comedy

Two years after its original planned run, the new Broadway production of Neil Simon's Plaza Suite, led by Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker, is finally in residence at the Hudson Theatre. Happily, it was worth the wait. The show packs moments that are gleefully LOL, is deeper than you might expect, and the real-life married stars co-piloting this vintage vehicle are in fine form.A 1968 Best Play Tony Award nominee, the show consists of three one-acts about marriage. Each playlet, set in...

'The Music Man' review — Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster lead a mollifying nostalgia trip

When Hugh Jackman's Harold Hill whispers into the impressionable ears of River City whippersnappers, their minds and feet alight. The Music Man, which arrives on Broadway following a two-year delay, likewise hopes to entice an especially receptive crowd, still sating pent-up appetite for seduction, spectacle, and bodies in motion.The big-ticket production from director Jerry Zaks heaps its wagon with comely and persuasive wares: Marquee stars Jackman and Sutton Foster, whose individual magnetism...

'MJ The Musical' review — a flawless tribute to a flawed icon

Michael Jackson, one of the most beloved and influential musicians of all time, chased perfection his entire existence. It's unfortunate he is not alive to witness the flawless production of MJ the Musical, a model biographical musical now open at the Neil Simon Theatre on Broadway. Under the exemplary direction and choreography of Christopher Wheeldon, the production gives context to Jackson's inherited demons and zooms in on his daunting creative process and peerless genius. MJ is the platinum...