Two of the decade’s best musicals now have exquisite film captures that preserve these brilliant works while giving them a new intimacy. First up is Hadestown, Anais Mitchell’s Tony-winning tribute to Greek myths. The show’s original Broadway cast reunited in London to film this classic tale.
Christopher Nolan could’ve rested on his laurels after winning an Oscar for Oppenheimer, but instead he decided to adapt one of the most famous stories ever told. The fact that he (mostly) succeeds is a triumph in itself. Nolan’s version of The Odyssey features all the trials familiar
Even the darkest works offer moments of beauty when you give them time to percolate. That was my experience with Girl, Interrupted. The new play with music deftly handles depressing subject matter. Martyna Majok’s play is an adaptation of Susanna Kaysen’s memoir (which also inspired the Oscar-winning
The ads for Death of a Salesman call it “the greatest American play.” It's also one of my favorites. The 2012 revival starring Philip Seymour Hoffman remains a high-water mark for Broadway in general and for this play in particular. A 2022 revival featuring a Black Loman
August Wilson’s Century Cycle is one of the great experiments in American drama: 10 plays about the Black experience, each set in a different decade of the 20th century. A revival of any of the works is worth celebrating, even if not every element succeeds. The 1910s entry Joe
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the musical theatre world must be very flattered by Schmigadoon. This loving parody of Golden Age Broadway (which recently got 12 Tony nominations) will entertain both fans of the Apple TV series and new audiences. As in many shows of this type,
In families, the math sometimes doesn’t add up. Exhibit A is the Broadway revival of Proof, David Auburn’s Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning play. The emotional dynamic in this piece (directed by Thomas Kail) will resonate with anyone who’s had a personal or professional disagreement with a
Plays about meetings might sound boring, but they often make for compelling drama, whether the venue is a city council (The Minutes) or a school board (Eureka Day). Building on this trend, David Lindsay-Abaire’s The Balusters zeroes in on a homeowner’s association. The play touches on common
Audiences get a new perspective on a literary titan in Giant, which puts beloved children’s author Roald Dahl under the microscope. The play takes place on an afternoon in 1983, soon after Dahl wrote an anti-Semitic book review. His new novel, The Witches, is about to be published,
Daniel Radcliffe is more than Harry Potter; he’s also one of the best stage actors working today. From How to Succeed and The Cripple of Inishmaan to The Lifespan of a Fact and Merrily We Roll Along, you can’t take your eyes off him. That streak continues in
It’s a gutsy move to include “Puttin’ on the Ritz” in a new Frankenstein movie since it’s so closely associated with Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein. But like many of the bets in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride, it pays off. The film transposes the story of the Bride
Blizzards and bitter cold kept me away from Broadway for several weeks, but I came back to an absolute gem. While I’m all for theatrical glitz, there’s nothing like a well-told story. Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) is exactly that. The deceptively simple premise