Kenrex

This almost-solo British import came preceded with considerable hype. Meh — didn't work for me. And it wasn't the true-crime angle, but the gratuitously showy aspect of the performance. And if I can't tell your characters apart, maybe it defeats the purpose?

Jet Li's 10 favorite things

Talking to Jet Li about 10 items he can't live without immediately brought me back to going to watch his movies at the theaters in Chinatown, smuggling in takeout noodles. Good times. Classic actor in classic films.

Schmigadoon!

Schmigadoon! is the rare musical that earns the exclamation mark in its title. What a blast I had. Critic's pick! Oh dear, now I'm doing it too with the exclamation mark.

Robert Aramayo

When I heard I was going to interview Robert Aramayo at his apartment, I wondered where I'd have to go. At it turned out, I only had to walk 10 minutes to get there. And we like the same coffee place! (No, I won't say which one.) Anyway, I'm just a big fan of this guy, who's a terrific actor and seems to be a mensch in real life. My profile is here.

Titaníque is back!

 Four years ago I reviewed a small show called Titanique in a Chelsea basement venue. In April I reviewed that same show — well, almost the same, and with a new accent aigu in the title — when it reopened on Broadway. Living the dream!

5 sci-fi movies for April

 Once a month, I find five sci-fi streaming movies and tell you all about them. This was the April batch.

The knife scene from Tristan und Isolde

Love love love stories analyzing how a scene was conceived and executed. In this case it was a scene from Yuval Sharon's production of Tristan und Isolde at the Met that made me gasp out loud when I saw it at the dress rehearsal. Follow me on a backstage tour.

Harry Hole finally gets the adaptation he deserved

I've read more Harry Hole novels than I can count (literally: I don't know how many I've read) so I can vouch that the new Netflix series gets him right. I talked to writer Jo Nesbø and star Tobias Santelmann when their show came out.

Monte Cristo

The Count of Monte Cristo is one of my favorite novels but I'm game for loose adaptations as along as they remain faithful to Dumas's spirit, if not his letter. This new musical erred on both counts, though I would love to see Stephanie Jae Park again, in a better production.

Ulster American

I love that Matthew Broderick remains committed to theater. He's done great work at Irish Rep, but Ulster American didn't rise to his earlier heights there.

Theater to Stream in March

 This might be the longest interval in between updates to this blog. What can I say — I've been busy. Here comes a whole dump of links to my New York Times articles. From mid-March, there was a selection of streaming theater, and some of it is still up!

Science-fiction movies for March

Is it this time of the month again? Yes, time for five more sci-fi movies new to platforms! Click here for the list.

Bughouse

The outside artist Henry Darger continues to fascinate — in this case a team comprised of Martha Clarke, Beth Henley and John Kelly. I'm a big fan of their work but in this case the sum of the parts doesn't quite add up. My review is here.

Off and Off Off Broadway shows for March

Things had been a little quiet on the Off and Off Off front — not anymore! Just have a look at everything on view this month in New York, and try not to be overwhelmed. Click here for my roundup.

Starstruck

I previewed what may well be the most lesbionic musical to date! And not just because Emily Saliers of Indigo Girls wrote the score. Read my feature and you'll see what I mean.

Mother Russia

 Lauren Yee's Cambodian Rock Band has been quite successful, with several productions around the country, but her new one is much, much better. I'm sure it's going to have a long life in our regional theaters. My enthusiastic review is here.

Marcel on the Train

Of course I was going to review the show about Marcel Marceau! In this case a play cowritten by and starring Ethan Slater. You know you want to click on that link.

The Dinosaurs

As I pointed out in my review, this production's cast — Elizabeth Marvel! Kathleen Chalfant! April Matthis! — is ridiculously overqualified for the material. Writing up this little note now, several weeks after seeing the show, the feeling that comes to mind is pure frustration.

February, and sci-fi comes around again

 Here's the link to the February installment of my sci-fic column.

André De Shields and Junior LaBeija go to the Jellicle Ball

Get these two in a room, turn on the recorder, then sit back and listen. I talked to the two great elders of Cats: The Jellicle Ball as it prepared its move to Broadway. Click here for the conversation.

High Spirits

Encores! was true to its mission by presenting this relatively obscure musical adaptation of Blithe Spirits. I would see Andrea Martin in anything! Click here for my review.

Complications in Sue

It took one librettist, two directors and 10 composers to come up with Complications in Sue at Opera Philadelphia. I trekked down for a rehearsal and chats with members of the team, including Michael R. Jackson, Justin Vivian Bond and Anthony Roth Costanzo. Click here for my preview.

Peyton List in Heathers: The Musical

I've seen plenty of Heather Chandlers but Peyton List may well have been the scariest — and I was at just List's first performance in Heathers: The Musical! I talked to her right after the show ended, as she was catching her breath. Thataway for the goods.

Science fiction to start off the year

Another column, this time of streaming sci-fi movies. I can't believe I've been doing this column for severa years now, which means hundreds of recommendations!

January streaming-theater guide

So glad the streaming-theater column — which I created! — is back in rotation at the Times. A few items from the January installment are still on view, including, of course, Hedda. Two thumbs up for that one, and I've seen a lot of variations on that play.

What to Wear

I previewed the Richard Foreman and Michael Gordon opera What to Wear in January. And when I saw the piece afterwards, I realized I'd undersold it! Click here for my piece. Warning: ducks.

Preview of Under the Radar 2026

The Under the Radar festival yuuuuuge this year, so my preview only covered the tip of the iceberg. Check it out (with hindsight insights).

RIP Brigitte Bardot

Big download of links because I have fallen ridiculously behind!

Let's pick up with two pieces I did when Brigitte Bardot died, in December. One is an appreciation (which earned me my first A1 spot!) and the other is a guide to five of her movies (which was sadly limited by what's streaming in the US). 

Sci-fi in December

'Tis the time to do like the characters do in Troll 2: put on fleece and sweaters! Norwegians know what to do when it's cold, or when mythological giants lay waste to their cities. This movie and four others are in my last sci-fi column of the year.

Tartuffe

Thus ends the Molière year in NYC — not an official commemoration, mind you, it's just that there were lots of shows by the French playwright for some reason. Despite cringing every time I heard it pronounced "Tartoof," I kinda liked this production. 

Best genre movies of 2025

As one of the four genre columnists at the Times, I was happy to contribute to this piece about our favorites of the year. I picked three sci-fi movies and they're thematically linked. 

Theater moments of 2025

Happy to be part of this group effort about some of our favorite moments of the theatrical year.

Marjorie Prime

I wasn't a huge fan of Marjorie Prime when I saw it at Playwrights Horizons a decade ago, but this revival on Broadway really worked for me. Here's my review for the Times.

Christine Baranski's Christmas Carol

Few women have performed A Christmas Carol, and frankly it's stunning it took so long for Christine Baranski to do it. So good! We met up at the Morgan Library and gawked at the manuscript. Read all about it here. 

2025 holiday movies

It was a dark and stormy night in 2019 and I thought, Gosh, Netflix has a lot of Christmas movies this year — what if I reviewed them all? This proved so popular that it's become my own December tradition, though we've expanded it to the major streamers, not just Netflix. Ready for a new batch? Here it is.

Some Tom Stoppard movies

Another Times assignment I enjoy, even though it's always preceded by bad news, ie we lost someone. In this case it was Tom Stoppard, so I put together a list of movies he wrote or cowrote. Start here and prepare to stream.

My Ten with Jason Schwartzman

Jason Schwartzman's Top 10 list had to be brought down from 23 items — and one of them was Top 10 lists! I've interviewed a lot of people over the course of my career but it's rare that we end up shooting the breeze the way I did with Schwartzman. Pure delight. Click here for what we ended up with.

The secret life of a ski resort

OMG this one was so much fun to report! I got to watch the sun rise over Mineral Basin and I got to work with the awesome Ruth Fremson: pure heaven. Click here to discover what happens behind the scenes at Snowbird, in Utah.

James Bundy's culture diary

I love doing those Culture Diaries for the Times and I suspect it's because I want those people's lives! My latest is with James Bundy from Yale: thataway for the lowdown on one of his recent weeks.

Initiative

You'd think a five-hour play with extended Dungeons & Dragons scenes would be right up my alley, and you'd be right — in the abstract. As you can tell by my review, Initiative doesn't actually make a good use of its length.

Science fiction for November

Every time I wonder where I'm going to find five new streaming science-fiction movies for the new installment of my monthly column, it turns out I worried for nothing because they keep coming! Click here for the November 2025 selection.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

This gem of a musical is getting a fab revival at New World Stages. And by revival I mean that the staging hasn't changed much at all, which is OK because the show is all about the casting and this production more than delivers on that front. If you have family visiting for the holidays, make this one a group outing. Click here for my review.

Chess

Seeing Chess on Broadway: at long last! I didn't catch the American premiere way back when and my only live exposure to this show was a concert version eons ago — I mention it in my review of the new revival. Obviously my Abba fandom was satiated, but what about everything else? Read on.

Theater from home in November

Of course I'm really happy the Times has brought back its coverage of theater that people can enjoy from home, either from streaming productions or movies, or listening to audio versions: After all, I started covering this stuff in the Covid era. My selection for November had some great stuff, and I think most are still available.

The Baker's Wife

Or La Femme du boulanger, as the movie that inspired this musical is known in France (the show, naturally, is completely unknown over there). Classic Stage gave it a revival that didn't send me to the nearest bakery, but it had its moments. Here's my review.

Jump into the Predator universe

Here's another dump of links to the 647 articles I wrote for the New York Times these past couple of months. OK, maybe not that many but it felt that way. To celebrate the release of Predator: Badlands, I wrote an explainer to that franchise — not the hippest, but one of my favorites.  

Purple Rain

I went to Minneapolis to check out the stage version of Purple Rain. There were many issues but the one that sticks in my craw a month after seeing the show is that Wendy and Lisa quit the Revolution and join Apollonia 6, which becomes just the Six. Here's my review.

Three plays about Jewish identity

Some shows have themes that interestingly dovetailed last month, and I covered them in a critic's notebook: Hannah Senesh, Playing Shylock and Jewish Plot.

Messy White Gays

 I'm a Drew Droege fan but his new one didn't quite work for me. Thataway for my review.

Romy and Michele The Musical

The curse of Stage 42,  formerly known as Little Shubert, forever known as That Barn on the Corner of W. 42nd St and Dyer Ave, has struck again: This show is already gone — but my review is still up, of course.

Off and Off Off Broadway roundup

So. Much. To. See!  Here was my list for November, with many still playing.

Bat Boy The Musical

What a treat this Encores! revival was! Could Kerry Butler be any more of a national treasure? Click here for my review.

Liberation

I loved Bess Wohl's Liberation when it opened Off Broadway earlier this year, and I loved it just as much when it transferred. Its grosses aren't great right now but the upside is that you can probably score affordable tickets to this terrific production. Here's my review.

Five sci-fi movies to stream in October

The October installment of my sci-fi column came out right on cue…in October. Here it is.

Interview with Tom Morello

November was so crazy busy that I fell way behind on posting links to my articles here. Here's a big dowload, starting with my interview with Tom Morello, whose catalog (outside of Rage Against the Machine) made up the score for the new musical Revolution(s) — which I saw at the Goodman on my Chicago trip.

Blue Cowboy

David Cale's new show is soooooo good! Please go see it. My rave is here.

Paranormal Activity

I love scares at the theater, so it was really exciting to talk with Felix Barrett and Levi Holloway of their new show, Paranormal Activity. Click here for the deets and the cool videos.

Cut for space: Barrett is staging an immersive Arcane in China — yes, based on the Netflix series!

Theater to stream, fall edition

 Tons of great stuff to check out on the streaming-theater front this month! I picked some new (and vintage) releases for your enjoyment, starting with George Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luck.

A link to a podcast for a change

Jesse Green and I were on the Times' Sunday Special podcast to talk about experiencing theater, just not on stage. Yeah, audio counts, too! Here's a link to the link. 

Jen Tullock

I talked to the actress and writer Jen Tullock about her new solo play Nothing Can Take You From the Hand of God. Religion and homosexuality and video: there was a lot to parse. Thataway for the feature.

Kiss of the Spider Woman

The movie based on the musical based on the book that also inspired a play and another movie is finally out! Jennifer Lopez: meh. Yeah, I was surprised, too. My review for the Times is here.

And Then We Were No More

 Like many people, I very much enjoy Tim Blake Nelson as an actor (we don't see him enough in The Lowdown!). But his play And Then We Were No More, at La MaMa, is the kind of hot mess we don't actually see often. My review is here.

James Graham's Punch

I had serious issues with James Graham's play Punch, which is on Broadway. It's tough to do a show about reparative justice without presenting both sides evenly. Click here for my review in the NY Times.

Natalie Palamides

Belatedly posting my profile of Natalie Palamides, whose show Weer, at the Cherry Lane Theater, is one of the hits of the fall here in NYC. I couldn't be a bigger fan.

Fall for science-fiction movies

Er, I'm getting around to posting a link to my sci-fi column for September, just as the one for October is about to drop. It's a time warp! 

Art

The Art section is the only one in the New York Times' culture pages that I haven't written for — is my review of the Yasmina Reza show as close as I'm going to get? "Art" is back on Broadway with Bobby Cannavale, James Corden and Neil Patrick Harris, and I have to admit I was a little surprised by how well the play has aged. My review is here.

Saturday Church

Back in August I talked to several of the people involved in the new musical Saturday Church, which sourced most of its score from Sia's catalogue and processed it through a house filter (joke intended, even if the show doesn't draw from the French Touch but from soulful gospel house). Click here for my preview.

A roundup of Off and Off Off Broadway shows for September

The fall season is a bountiful one for theater in New York, and it's easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of shows on offer. I took a whack at a first selection, and I couldn't even fit in everything. Have a look and get your tickets!

Fall is coming so it's time for science fiction

Fine, it's always time for science fiction, not just when the weather starts turning. You can find my latest batch of recommendations for (mostly indie) streaming sci-fi here.

A few thoughts on Mamma Mia! and Abba

Mamma Mia! is back on Broadway so of course I had to write about it, along with the concomitant phenomenon of Abba's eternal returns — and Chess is right around the corner! Here's my critic's notebook about the Abba ouroboros.

Elizabeth McGovern

Elizabeth McGovern takes on not just Ava Gardner but the very idea of biography in her play, Ava: The Secret Conversations. It was an absolute treat to chat with her. Thataway for the story.

Northern Sky

After American Players Theater last year, I returned to Wisconsin for a very different experience at Northern Sky Theater, in Door County. Check out the story here. And yes, dairy and fish boils come up.

Dennis Lim's culture diary

The latest installment in the Culture Diary series for the NY Times is Dennis Lim, the New York Film Festival's head honcho. I don't often say this but I'll have what he's having! Click here for a FOMO-inducing week.

Sci-fi movies for August

I'm starting to cook up what's going to be in my sci-fi column for September and realized I haven't yet linked to the August installment. Here it is.