The first four new Broadway shows of the Fall season begin performances this week, although they won’t officially open until next month. Two more shows were added to the Broadway 2022-2023 season lineup this past week:
Two years after Jefferson Mays wowed audiences online, his solo adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, in which he portrays some 50 characters, will open at the Nederlander November 21
Seven years after its Pulitzer, Stephen Adly Guirgis’ “Between Riverside & Crazy” will open at Second Stage’s Hayes Theater December 19 with its Off-Broadway cast largely intact. Two years after Jefferson Mays wowed audiences online, his solo adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, in which he portrays some 50 characters, will open at the Nederlander November 21
Details of these shows and the rest of the season on my update Broadway 2022-2023 Season Preview Guide
The New York Times Arts & Leisure section yesterday was all about “The New Season,” the first forty pages of which were devoted to theater. True, most of these pages were ads for the shows – but they were luscious full-page ads (the photos above don’t do them justice), a reason to pick up the paper, rather than just viewing it online.
The section includes a Fall calendar, and has features about
Tom Stoppard and his new play Leopoldstadt
Four artists to watch this Fall (Greg Mozgala of “Cost of Living”, Bonnie Milligan of “Kimberly Akimbo,” “You Will Get Sick” playwright Noah Diaz, Solea Pfeiffer of “Almost Famous”)
The New York Times Arts & Leisure section yesterday was all about “The New Season,” the first forty pages of which were devoted to theater. True, most of these pages were ads for the shows – but they were colorful, full-page ads, a reason to pick up the paper, rather than just viewing it online.
Some Like It Not: Are Men in Dresses Still Funny? (As “Some Like It Hot” and “Ain’t No Mo” head to Broadway, following runs of “Tootsie” and “Mrs. Doubtfire,” 10 artists reflect on an enduring trope and how it works, or doesn’t, today
7 Musicals Head to Broadway This Fall, but 100 More Lie in Wait
The Week in New York Theater Reviews
My Onliness A Mad King, ASL, and Sensory Assault
“My Onliness” is billed as “a fable/cabaret/circus entertainment about a mad king’s desperate attempt to impress a mysterious petitioner” – a description that doesn’t completely capture the sensory assault and somersaults by the ceaselessly energetic cast, or the aggressive (albeit voluntary) audience participation, or the sheer busy-ness of this boisterous anarchic diversion. If (to put it constructively) you need to be in the right mood to find the fun in all of the show’s loud, chaotic 80 minutes, “My Onliness” does display some real inventiveness, and even hints at a seriousness of purpose.
Strings Attached Physics 101 plus a love triangle, stereotypes, lightbulb jokes
In 1999, three physicists took a train from Cambridge to London, and in their discussion on that hour-long trip came up with a new theory about the origin of the universe, an alternate view of the Big Bang. The playwright and poet Carole Buggé was inspired by that consequential train ride to write “Strings Attached,”…The play uses the narrative frame of the train trip to introduce various concepts in physics in a largely unintimidating way, with varying degrees of clarity. It also attempts to connect physics with everyday life, through metaphor, sometimes effectively. But in an apparent effort to make a play about science more palatable for the layman, “Strings Attached” weighs that train trip down with all manner of contrivance, ranging from clever to corny to cringeworthy.
Burbank Walt Disney vs. Goofy’s Dad
“Burbank,” a play by Cameron Darwin Bossert at The Wild Project through September 18th, tells the story of the 1941 strike and unionization effort by Disney’s animation artists, using just three characters: Walt himself (portrayed by Bossert), his chief animator turned chief antagonist Art Babbitt (Ryan Blackwell) and a long-time, low-paid Disney studio inker & painter named Betty Ann Dunbar (Kelley Lord.)
Exhibition and Book: Queer Maximalism X Machine Dazzle
Machine Dazzle walks with me through some 80 of his fabulously intricate costumes on display at the opening day of his solo exhibition at the Museum of Art and Design, to one of some two dozen he created for Taylor Mac in “A 24-Decade History of Popular Music,” one for each decade of American history. Anybody who has attended a play or performance by the acclaimed theater artist over the last 15 years is likely to have seen Machine Dazzle’s costumes, from Mac’s “The Lily’s Revenge” to “The Fre” to “The Hang,” but none were more spectacular than for the, award-winning, once-in-a-lifetime 24-hour theatrical event, in which Machine Dazzle appeared hourly on stage to help Mac undress from one era and dress for the next.
The Week in New York Theater News
Four days after making her debut as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl, ), Lea Michele announced on Saturday she tested positive for COVID-19, with some symptoms, and will be out of the show for ten days. Julie Benko will be back playing the role through September 18.
From Vulture’s account of Michele’s first performance:
“…there were four standing ovations in the first act: for her entrance, “The Greatest Star,” “People,” and “Don’t Rain on My Parade.” …In the second act, there were two more, her entrance and the closing reprise, which were sustained through the curtain call…Shout out to the smattering of audience members who tried to get people up for Ramin Karimloo’s “Temporary Arrangement” and for Jared Grimes and newcomer Tovah Feldshuh’s “Who Taught Her Everything She Knows?” And, if you want a case study in Michele doing comedy, there she was tap dancing and fiddling with a prop mustache that simply would not stick during “Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat.”
Into The Woods has been extended “one final time” to January 8, 2023.
Queen Elizabeth II on Stage
Queen Elizabeth’s constant presence in the public eye, coupled with her intense privacy — plus her constitutional duty to keep her opinions to herself — encouraged playwrights to give their imagination free reIn during her reign. Yet the depictions of her were generally positive.
