Theater (Broadway)

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      Best Theater of 2024

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      Broadway roared back, but the kitties were downtown and the prayer service was in Brooklyn.Broadway always looks its healthiest around the holidays, and indeed, right now, most of its 41 theaters are lit, with the rest soon set to load in new tenants. Box office grosses, if not quite back to prepandemic levels, seem likely to meet or exceed last year’s $1.6 billion. But the real health of the commercial theater, for me, is demonstrated by how much it offers its audiences, not its investors. That’s why, most years, my list of best shows is top-heavy with the provocative work being brewed Off Broadway. If my latest list tilts the other way, perhaps that reflects Broadway’s liberal borrowings from the noncommercial sector — borrowings and often improvements. My Top 10, listed chronologically and covering the period from December 2023 through the end of November, are therefore mostly shows that, wherever they started and wherever they wind up, put a premium on provocation, sure, but also entertainment. That’s what I call healthy.‘Appropriate’ by Branden Jacobs-JenkinsSarah Paulson, center, in her Tony Award-winning performance in “Appropriate.”Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesMost plays about racism dramatize the damage done to its victims. But “Appropriate,” which opened last December in a Second Stage Theater production, looks instead at the sickening effects that hatred can have on its perpetrators — and their heirs. On the surface a “dividing the estate” play, with the children of a good ol’ boy squabbling over their inherited real and unreal estate, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s uproarious tale of family guilt (directed by Lila Neugebauer and with a blistering, Tony-winning performance by Sarah Paulson) was in effect a corroded mirror reflecting America’s worst (and worst-kept) secrets. (Read our review of “Appropriate” and our profile of Paulson.)‘Terce: A Practical Breviary’ by Heather ChristianThe new year brought with it a new prayer, if you were willing to go to a former Sunday school in Brooklyn to find it. At the Irondale Center in Fort Greene, a large cast of “caregivers and makers” offered an unusual liturgy, performing Heather Christian’s ritual of praise for “the divine feminine.” The visionary composer’s typically catholic musical references — plainsong, gospel, electronica, soul and New Orleans funk — short-circuited rational analysis, inviting transcendence in much the way the rituals of the established church do. But this time, in Keenan Tyler Oliphant’s richly welcoming staging, the transcendence was for everyone, of any faith or none. (Read our review of “Terce.”)‘Dead Outlaw’ by David Yazbek, Erik Della Penna and Itamar MosesAndrew Durand, in the coffin, as the title character in the Off Broadway musical “Dead Outlaw.”Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesThe afterlife of a mummy sounds more like an “I dare you” literary project than a hook for a good-time musical. But the mostly true story of Elmer McCurdy — wastrel, roustabout, schnook and sideshow attraction — got a brilliant coda in this Off Broadway show at the Minetta Lane Theater. The lovingly serious direction by David Cromer tempered the absurdity of the tale with sweetness and humor, and the cast, let by Andrew Durand as McCurdy, responded to the tumbleweed of a score with gorgeous singing. It’s the kind of musical you’d never find on Broadway — except that you might, next year. (Read our review of “Dead Outlaw” and the story behind the show.)We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Marvin Laird, Musical Presence on and Off Broadway, Dies at 85

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      He conducted Broadway shows and worked with Bernadette Peters. But he was probably best known for writing the music for the darkly comic “Ruthless!”Marvin Laird, a conductor for Broadway musicals and for performers like Bernadette Peters who also composed the music for “Ruthless!,” the campy, award-winning Off Broadway show about a girl who will do anything — including kill — to star in a school play, died in a hospital on Dec. 2 in Bridgeport, Conn. He was 85.His partner in marriage, Joel Paley, said his death, in a hospital, was caused by complications of an infection.Mr. Laird was the assistant musical director for a summer stock production of “Gypsy” in Lambertville, N.J., in 1961 when he met Ms. Peters, who was 13 and was playing two small roles.“He was just the most energetic, charismatic fellow you’d ever want to meet,” Ms. Peters said in a phone interview.He later conducted the orchestras for her concerts and for two Broadway revivals in which she starred: “Annie Get Your Gun” in 1999 and “Gypsy” in 2003. When Ms. Peters appeared in a revival of “Follies” in 2011, he was the associate conductor.“The orchestras loved him,” Ms. Peters said. “He had a great sense of humor and they respected his musicianship.” She added: “He knew what I was going to do before I did it. I don’t sing a song the same way twice; it’s whatever happens to the song. And Marvin could get the whole orchestra to breathe with him.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Wicked’ Alumnae Class Notes: What They Learned at Shiz University

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      The graduates of Shiz University are making their alma mater proud.In the 21 years since “Wicked” opened in New York, 43 women have starred full-time as Elphaba or Glinda — frenemies who meet as Shiz undergrads — and many more have taken on the vocally taxing roles in productions across the United States and around the world.Shiz has taught them well. After leaving the show, many have gone on to glittering careers, on Broadway and beyond. Three former Elphabas were nominated for Tony Awards this year, while four former Glindas have appeared in principal roles.As a smash-hit Hollywood adaptation introduces millions more to this revisionist history of Oz, we checked in with alumnae of the stage show to ask what they learned there. These are edited excerpts from our conversations.GlindaKristin ChenowethSara KrulwichChenoweth, who won a Tony Award in 1999 for “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” originated Glinda on Broadway in 2003. She is now one of Broadway’s most-loved stars and is planning to return next season in a musical adaptation of “The Queen of Versailles.”How did you first get involved with “Wicked”?I was called by [the composer] Stephen Schwartz himself, and he said, “Look, I’ve got this part I want you to do.” I didn’t know if I could work out the dates, but I went over to his apartment, and listened to “Popular.” I thought it was really cute and I could have some fun with it, so I was involved in a workshop in L.A., and that’s how it started. I remember the producer Marc Platt going, “Kristin, every once in a while a part comes along — maybe once in a lifetime — that is like a hand to a glove, and this is your part.” Glinda was very much the side character, but they started seeing how Idina and I were working together, and it evolved into a much bigger role. That first night we opened in San Francisco, for our out-of-town tryout, I told Idina, “It’s not going to matter what the critics say. There’s something very special here.” I just knew it.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Avett Brothers Musical ‘Swept Away’ to Close on Broadway After Short Run

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      The new musical, about a shipwreck and its aftermath, opened Nov. 19 at the Longacre Theater.“Swept Away,” a darkly elegiac musical featuring the songs of the Avett Brothers, will end its Broadway run Dec. 15, less than a month after opening.The musical, about a 19th-century shipwreck and its aftermath, explores the lengths to which human beings will go in order to survive. Although set in fictional circumstances, it is based on a real 19th-century tragedy that led to an important legal case in Britain.“Swept Away” began previews Oct. 29 and opened Nov. 19 at the Longacre Theater. At the time of its closing it will have played 20 previews and 32 regular performances.The show cost up to $14.5 million to capitalize, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and that money has not been recouped. The weekly grosses were consistently well below what it cost to run, which is unsustainable.“Swept Away” is the second new musical of this season to close shortly after opening, following “Tammy Faye,” at a time when new musicals face an ever-more-challenging path on Broadway.The Avett Brothers have a devoted fan base, and “Swept Away” was praised by the New York Times’s chief theater critic, Jesse Green, who described it as “really about the gravest decisions humans can make, the depths of souls that are darker than the sea’s.”But other reviews were mixed, and the musical, like the actual history that inspired it, includes cannibalism, which, although not featured prominently in marketing materials or press coverage, may have been a turnoff for some potential ticket buyers. Broadway is also packed with shows, many of which feature more familiar titles or performers, and “Swept Away” was unable to break through in that crowded marketplace.Many of the show’s songs were featured on the Avett Brothers album “Mignonette,” and a cast recording is scheduled to be released in February. John Logan, the Tony-winning author of “Red,” wrote the musical’s book, and it was directed by Michael Mayer, a Tony winner for “Spring Awakening.”The 90-minute show centers on four men stranded on a lifeboat — the only survivors of the shipwreck. They are played by John Gallagher Jr., a Tony winner for “Spring Awakening,” as well as Stark Sands (“Kinky Boots”), Adrian Blake Enscoe and Wayne Duvall.The lead producers of “Swept Away” are Matthew Masten, Sean Hudock and Madison Wells Live (founded by Gigi Pritzker). Before arriving on Broadway, the musical had runs at Berkeley Repertory Theater in California in 2022 and at Arena Stage in Washington in late 2023 and early 2024. More

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      Jason Laks Named President of Broadway League

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      The Broadway League, an industry trade organization, named Jason Laks as its new president. “I think our mission has to be more than to make it 2019 again,” Laks said.The Broadway League, the trade organization that represents commercial theater producers and the industry’s powerful theater owners, has chosen Jason Laks, a longtime official at the organization, to be its next president at a time when the sector is still struggling to recover its prepandemic financial strength.Laks, 52, is a lawyer who has been with the League off and on since 2012, primarily as the director of labor relations in charge of negotiating contracts with 14 unions representing the Broadway work force. Laks has been serving as the League’s interim president since February, when its longtime leader, Charlotte St. Martin, stepped down.The League’s most well-known role is as a co-presenter, alongside the American Theater Wing, of the annual Tony Awards, which honor plays and musicals staged on Broadway. The organization represents commercial producers in labor negotiations, handles government relations for the industry, works with organizations seeking to diversify the American theater and oversees the Jimmy Awards, a national high school musical theater competition.The League’s board of governors voted on Monday to approve Laks’s appointment.The organization, with a $12 million annual budget and a 33-person staff, has 830 members who include not only the owners and operators of the 41 Broadway houses, but also presenters of touring Broadway shows around the country, as well as general managers, vendors and suppliers.Broadway, which had been booming in the years preceding the coronavirus pandemic, has not fully recovered from a roughly 18-month shutdown; pre-Thanksgiving audiences this season were about 5 percent below prepandemic levels. Even as domestic and international tourism is rebounding, there has been a decline in theater attendance by New York-area suburbanites that is associated with the rise of hybrid work, a shift toward home-based entertainment consumption and concerns about costs, crime and congestion.“I think we are doing a remarkable job of coming back postpandemic, but it’s an important moment for the industry — we’re not back to where we were in 2019, but I think our mission has to be more than to make it 2019 again,” Laks said. “We need to continue to work to grow and diversify our audiences and get people into the city to see our shows.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      With ‘Sunset Boulevard,’ One Look Wasn’t Enough

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      A bare-bones revival of the Broadway musical grew on me with subsequent viewings, and the additional details I noticed bolstered my reporting.Times Insider explains who we are and what we do, and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.Something I wish I had the chance to do more often as a reporter is to see shows multiple times, deeper into their runs — the “Notre Dame de Paris” musical, which I’ve seen seven times, and “The Phantom of the Opera,” which I’ve seen six times, come to mind.The first time I saw “Sunset Boulevard” in London last year, I was, to say the least, underwhelmed. Directed by Jamie Lloyd, the British minimalist, the revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical had no sets, all-black costumes and almost no props.I had seen neither the original 1993 musical, nor the 1950 black-and-white Billy Wilder film on which it is based. This is not an approach I would recommend for a Jamie Lloyd show; the experience was akin to watching a gender-swapped Shakespeare production with no concept of the original.But one thing did grab me: The outrageously ambitious title number, which is filmed live every night. In a six-minute sequence that begins backstage before spilling out onto the street, the screenwriter Joe Gillis (played by Tom Francis) contemplates the circumstances that led to him becoming the plaything of Norma Desmond (Nicole Scherzinger).“There’s no way that’s live,” someone sitting next to me said, as the audience watched the street sequence unfold on a towering screen at the front of the stage.But the actor had grabbed an umbrella as he headed outside — it was raining that night in London, as it often does — which seemed to give it all away.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Momma Rose’s Many Faces, From Ethel Merman to Audra McDonald

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      To those who worship at the church of the American musical, it was a holy night. For on a Thursday in late November in the city of New York, the faithful had assembled to witness what might be described as the Sixth Coming.Momma Rose was being reborn once again.The occasion was the first preview of the fifth Broadway revival of “Gypsy,” directed by George C. Wolfe at the newly restored Majestic Theater, which had last been the home of the longest-running musical on Broadway, “The Phantom of the Opera.” Rose was being played — deep breath, please — by the record-breaking, six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald. The house was packed, the crowd aflutter, and expectations stratospheric.For the uninitiated, let me explain that Momma Rose — as she is somehow commonly known, though she is never called that in the show — is widely perceived by theater cognoscenti as the greatest character ever to inhabit a musical comedy. First portrayed by Ethel Merman, she is to that genre’s actresses what Hamlet and Lear are to Shakespearean actors, a sky-scraping, Himalayan peak. As Arthur Laurents, who wrote the show’s book, described her, she is “a larger-than-life mother, a mythic mesmerizing mother, a monster of a mother sweetly named Rose.”The title character of this 1959 musical is in fact the stripper deluxe Gypsy Rose Lee. But it’s her mother, Rose, who is the show’s very (very) dominating central figure, a human bulldozer who drags her two young daughters through the shabby vaudeville circuit of the Great Depression in the hope of making one of them a star. Written by the sacred trinity of Laurents, Jule Styne (music) and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics), “Gypsy” is regarded by many (including me) as the great book musical and the most probing musical about performing itself. For all its surface brightness and buoyancy, “Gypsy” thrums darkly with the ravenous hunger for attention that lies in the deepest heart of showbiz.McDonald with Joy Woods and Danny Burstein in the new production, directed by George C. Wolfe.Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Auli’i Cravalho on ‘Moana 2’ and Making Her Broadway Debut

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      On a chilly November evening, wearing a light leather jacket and a scarf, Auli’i Cravalho was freezing as she plunged through a pair of gleaming doors into a candlelit bar in Midtown Manhattan.“I do not know how people layer here — I’m in total awe,” said Cravalho, who had just come from a photo shoot at a park on the Lower East Side. Like the plucky young heroine she voices in Disney’s “Moana” films — the sequel, “Moana 2,” hits theaters on Wednesday — Cravalho grew up in a tropical climate, in Kohala, Hawaii.But recently she had been living in an apartment in Hell’s Kitchen, with her partner and her best friend, while starring in the Broadway revival of “Cabaret.” Cravalho plays the singer Sally Bowles in the John Kander and Fred Ebb musical about a Berlin nightclub during the rise of fascism.That night would be her first back in the show after sitting out a few performances after she “had come this close to vocal hemorrhaging.”“I have a newfound respect for the leads of these musicals, because my gosh, it is tough,” said Cravalho, 24, whose name is pronounced owl-LEE-ee cruh-VAL-yo. It had been a whirlwind few weeks, but she was gregarious as she sipped tea poured from a miniature teapot.In addition to performing an emotionally demanding role seven times a week, there were promotional appearances for “Moana 2,” the follow-up to the 2016 Polynesian animated adventure — a global phenomenon that was the most-streamed movie on any U.S. platform last year, according to Nielsen.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More