Brittani Samuel

“We gossip, stitch and sweat alongside them, fully immersed in director Sergio Trujillo’s heart-expanding, joy-swollen production — yet another landmark expansion of the ‘Real Women’ canon.”

“This ‘Pirates!’ isn't particularly modern, but it is a major Broadway staging — and oh so general.”

“Three hours in the ‘Stranger Things: The First Shadow’ universe passes in a blink.”

“The new Broadway musical 'Smash' wants to turn that premise into farcical gold, but in co-writers Rick Elice and Bob Martin's hands 'Smash' is all slush.”

“Jonas, simply, cannot. Or does not.”

“Director David Cromer successfully activates the stage, orchestrating that kinetic hum we associate with a network newsroom.”

“Juvenile silliness is the blood pumping through this show. It’s packed with visual gags, mocking quirks and vocal modulations.”

“Playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' latest is a feast of the good stuff — crackling dialogue, powerhouse ensemble acting and weighty themes delivered with biting naturalism.”

“It makes for an intimate and vulnerable performance, even as an expensive curtain of LED screens (video design by Hana S. Kim, scenic design by Jason Ardizzone-West) bathes the stage action, transforming the Nederlander Theatre into starscapes and forests like a theatricalized Artechouse.”

“Toossi, an Iranian American playwright, understands this intimately and delves into the complexities of forging identity across languages in her warm, perceptive new play.”

“Comedy is risky business, but Simon Rich's starry 'All In: Comedy About Love' is a safer bet.”

“With Audra McDonald as Rose, it feels like a different show, an even deeper one.”

“Leslye Headland's go at living-room drama is Broadway's latest conventional bowl of familial mush.”

“And yet, it feels like a show resting on the laurels of well-packaged profundity without ever fully evoking it.”

“The production is a winner in its most vital pursuit: getting children to laugh.”

“All of this fast-paced fun dresses the show up like a hammy romp, but ‘Tammy Faye’ isn’t actually that tonally focused. Instead, it’s caught in the current of two opposing tides: a straightly-played biopic or satire full of evangelical camp, neither of which are authentically realized.”

“Will Aronson and Hue Park’s adorable show, imported from South Korea, is a golden example of impactful, engaging, original musical theater.”

“Iglehart is aptly charming in this role — the modulations and mimicry of that iconic gravel is everything you want it to be — but charisma alone can only do so much to invigorate a plain script that too often skims over the complexities of Louis’ life as a Black artist in the early 20th century.”

“‘Romeo + Juliet’ is still telling the Bard’s old story with its old bones, but this production really is the fresh voice it markets itself to be. Gold’s specific convictions are vague, but the story he’s retelling remains captivating, fun and, eventually, even gutting.”

“What begins as a talky, predictable and wonder-free romantic drama remains stuck that way.”

“Director Jamie Lloyd’s revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical traps us in a relentless state of frisson for its two and a half hours.”

“Director Kenny Leon's conceptually laudable but scrambled production of the revered theatrical staple 'Our Town' opens with a hurricane of whispered prayers and a heavenly hymn descending from above.”

“But neither the theories nor the plot of 'McNeal' hold attention beyond the Vivian Beaumont's doors.”

“In the British playwright’s expert hands, the nearly three-hour tragicomedy never feels indulgent; the rich texture of the world Butterworth builds is our payoff.”

“‘The Roommate’ is less a bold, blockbuster-worthy event and more a slow-burn play.”

“Her performance as Winnifred is the highlight, marked by memorable antics ranging from stuffing an exorbitant number of grapes in her mouth to a delightfully disturbing series of hip thrusts.”

“Lemmon's portrayal is not a musical performance, but it is full of the push and pull that makes a great one.”

“Escola's zany, imagined account of a major moment in American history is a relief for anyone looking to have an intellect-less evening in the theater, though less satisfying for those who demand their comedy sit higher up the brow.”

“Yet in all honesty, for all the obvious delight sprinkled over 'Illionise,' it did not move me.”

“Vogel's nuanced exploration of her own family sets the stage for a profound and humorous new American play.”

“One can see why top-caliber actors would flock to revel in this flurry of familial relationships, hormonal hangering and endless suffering, but I'm still not convinced audiences need to.”

“Amy Herzog's humanistic marvel of a play, 'Mary Jane,' drops us into a sentiment we can all relate to — loving an ill person.”

“That’s the only explanation for a show as rote and paint-by-numbers predictable as ‘The Heart of Rock and Roll.’”

“‘Patriots’ shines when it releases its need to peacock as a Shakespearean-level epic and gets into some Shakespearean-like complexity.”

“Eddie Redmayne’s eerie performance as the Emcee.”

“Lively choreography and powerhouse vocal performances...overcome a so-so story.”

“David Adjmi’s ‘Stereophonic’ is the play that sparks this very desire.”

“It’s genuinely tuneful and effective at organizing strong characters around a complex series of events.”

“In this second major Broadway revival, the show’s extravagant display of Black magical realism and its persistent humor blaze over the technical challenges.”

“Ultimately, they scrape together a delicious, delirious portrait of this largely unknown juggernaut.”

“But, scenic designers AMP and Tatiana Kahvegian’s tactile set of crunching dirt, exposed scaffolding and tire towers captures more authentic grit than any of the pugnacious characters do.”

“‘The Who's Tommy’ dares you to need more than 10 seconds.”

“At first, Rosie simply appears as a pair of legs.”

“There’s an overall atmosphere of tepidness in what Ibsen demanded be a ferocious work of theater.”

“A show this steeped in grief and heartbreak has never felt so damn good.”

“But until then, this play about faith will continue to commit the ultimate theatrical sin — boredom.”

“But this musical — a passion-lacking passion project from collaborators Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas — doesn’t go down easy.”

“‘Prayer for the French Republic’ is a formidable feat — it lives up to its gargantuan, time-leaping ambitions and is a sturdy theatrical vehicle for a large cast of actors to delve deep into character work.”

“The play runs 165 minutes and you’ll hold your breath for every one, gobsmacked by the deluge of insults, biases and revelations these family members hurl at one another.”

“Ultimately, this cast makes ‘Ohio’ an easy-to-love watershed moment for American theater, and for those of us plodding through the world with only an elementary understanding of autism, it’s also an education.”

“There is something liberating for both artists and audiences about a Broadway show that refuses, even for a moment, to take itself seriously.”

“Bruce Sussman and Barry Manilow’s conventional new musical does a rudimentary but essential job of reviving a dead historical act.”

“It remains humorous and heartwarming at the right times, but with all the thrill of TV dinner meatloaf: low effort, over quickly and indistinguishable on the inside.”

“With all of this pseudo-historical absurdity, Brown and King’s dotty comedy ultimately grounds itself in the likeability of its frontmen: Gad and Rannells.”

“The show shines in its jovial moments, limps in its solemn ones, and ultimately flails in its hurried, harrowed conclusion — but still deserves to be crowned the theatrical event of the season for Black women.”

“It's a feat to be seen, felt, and enthralled by.”

“Nostalgic '80s charm mingled with 2023 theatrical capability is a winning combination”

“Audience members seemed eager to yield to Rustin’s shticks and howl along, but in reality there’s more delight in looking at ‘The Cottage’ than laughing along to it.”

“It’s an irrefutably great time — one that rivals the Hell’s Kitchen clubs mere blocks away — even as the weight of autocratic abuse hovers just above the lustered air.”

“That teasing quality, though sometimes charming — and often, if you are a scaredy-cat, a relief from the hard-core jolts — is the giveaway that 'Grey House'”

“Though few people have made more of such a short life, one can’t help but walk away from this production feeling like Hansberry is somewhere watching from the wings, begging us to put down the platitudes every once in a while and treasure however long is left.”

“The result is a run-of-the-mill big Broadway extravaganza that knows where, but not when, it is.”

“Hayes unleashes a career-defining performance worthy of its own reverence.”

“‘Prima Facie’ is the kind of theater every artist should have an opportunity to make and every audience an opportunity to experience.”

“FastHorse’s attempt to have her characters bounce between extreme political correctness and overt ignorance results in a muddled theatrical experience that is not quite hilarious, not quite provocative and not quite informative, but has the aftertaste of all three.”

“The precision of all the demolition remains the most impressive aspect of ‘Peter Pan Goes Wrong.’ So much so that at curtain call, crew members take a bow alongside Meggido’s cast of comedy acrobats.”

“Perhaps this ‘Camelot’ is a manifestation practice for Sorkin, one that bolsters egalitarian rulers who value love and mercy just as highly as power and might...Genial heroes are needed to move us forward.”

“Upon exiting the theater, I left with overwhelming admiration for Ijames' ambition, rather than laughing and grooving out of my seat.”

“Embrace each grain of fun and you’ll have an amazing night on Broadway.”

“Pi knows that the best stories prioritize possibility over probability.”

“Thomas Kail is the latest director to take a stab at Sondheim’s epic — pumping thrilling life into a macabre Broadway revival.”

“Ultimately, ‘Bad Cinderella’ proves there is something worse than a new musical being bad: being unoriginal.”

“And the energy radiating off of this ensemble is so contagious, you just might leave dancin’ out of your seat.”

“Hatred is always timely, and violence has long been America’s beloved spectacle.”

“But in an ending consistent with the full mounting itself, Lloyd’s tight hold to his own minimalism leaves the text naked which —in the cold light of 2023 — dilutes the play’s central conflict and, consequently, its intrigue.”

“Unfortunately, the precise elements that saturate Sultan’s seminal work wash out Broadway’s ‘Pictures from Home.’”

“Like most contemporary art, 'The Collaboration' is attractive and fun to look at, but only as profound as you interpret it to be.”

“Henderson portrays the military veteran and former cop as a man whose hardness is humbled by age and injury.”

“And even though Kenny Leon’s plain direction threatens to flatten the rocky beauty of ‘Ohio,’ this production ultimately reaffirms Kennedy’s singular mastery of common language, dissolution of traditional form and rightful place on Broadway.”

“Words fail to describe a show so spiritual that it takes flight.”

“Unexplored holes like these riddle the script, which is desperate for more of Diamond’s insides, but ‘A Beautiful Noise’ is a bio-musical that has forgotten the first half of its form.”

“Fortunately, the music revives this dying party.”

“As luxurious and theatrically adventurous as ‘A Christmas Carol’ is, there is no substitute for purpose.”

“What '& Juliet' lacks in foundation, it more than makes up for in sheer fun. The placements of certain songs are jokes in themselves.”

“In generously detailing the less-than-ideal fragments of his life, he reveals the many reasons we should keep relishing ours.”

“Each piece of the 'Kimberly Akimbo' puzzle is right where it belongs.”

“It’s a feeble attempt to set up conflict for a musical that, inherently, has none.”

“Unfortunately, in this lusterless staging of ‘Walking with Ghosts,’ there is little refuge.”

“Gambling, cheating, stealing — you almost forget they are sins in a play this holy.”

“Unfortunately, this choice, which genuinely makes the sedative of a show more interesting to look at and listen to, further locks its subjects into binary stereotypes.”

“The result is as theatrically evocative as it is soberingly human.”

“Not a lick of Miller’s script has been altered, and yet, we’re given reams of new subtext about the anxiety, trauma, stress and stakes at hand.”

“In an attempt to reconnect audiences with a story cherished by millions, the play’s creative team has torched any beauty there was to admire in the first place.”

“Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's mythical musical remains a delight.”

“When a cast is having this much fun, it’s impossible not to be in on it. And director Susan Stroman, a veteran of musical comedies, guides the company in making the most of each joke.”

“Michael R. Jackson's Pulitzer Prize-winning musical is a raw, uncompromising work of art that challenges audiences while delivering moments of profound beauty and devastating honesty.”

“We’ve already spent the past two years in a deeply intimate relationship with endurance. Surely, we will have to again. My advice? Surrender to the creativity of 'Skin' which, in 2022, is best viewed as a theatrical vessel for the many great talents currently working in American theater.”

“This revival, by director and choreographer Camille A. Brown, is the most essential production of Shange’s masterwork to date.”

“Unfortunately, that Herculean effort falls flat.”

“More Black people will show up for Chicken and Biscuits.”