David Cote

“The Lost Boys is Broadway’s splashiest opening in years, with nostalgia-feeding IP, gravity-defying F/X, and a hard-working cast of pros and fresh faces.”

“Evans has a big, confident pop baritone and macho-mincing rendition of Frank is a work of cheeky genius.”

“A master craftsman who writes witty and neat boulevard comedies that amuse for a couple of hours.”

“Fallen Angels runs but 90 minutes and while you wish for bigger laughs and more assured style, it'll be over before you feel like sneaking out.”

“Watching director Joe Mantello’s monumental yet intimate revival of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman , it’s also hard to suppress thoughts of the not-yet-dead huckster running our country.”

“Becky Shaw is a breath of fresh satirical air for our oversensitive, overcautious times.”

“Bug lives or dies on the sexual and neurotic chemistry of its two leads, and if half the equation is muted, terror lapses into bathos.”

“The 90-minute chamber drama sparkles and unsettles in its Broadway debut, positing that holographic avatars will remember us after we’re gone, airbrushing life’s sorrow and complexity from every snapshot.”

“As something charging Broadway prices, it’s relatively disgusting.”

“Belflower has written the most energizing and emotionally wrecking drama this season, an unsentimental education for teens screaming to stay sane in a fucked society.”

“Smash is 100 percent escapist fluff and, wow, do we need it.”

“This isn’t a star turn so much as a supernova explosion, virtuosity employed not for self-love but love of storytelling.”

“Operation Mincemeat is totally lovable and expertly zany, with Big Let’s Put on a Show Energy.”

“As always, Menzel is pure magic.”

“Knud Adams translates his impeccable production to a Broadway venue without losing any of the original intimacy or fine-grained naturalism.”

“The number, operatic in intensity and cathartic on a level few other musicals have ever achieved, simply flattens you.”

“It’s the least boring or cringe Shakespeare I’ve seen in a long time.”

“The cathartic showdown between the angry, grieving siblings leaves you more or less glad to have ridden the whole roller coaster.”

“Although two fine actors get a workout in this extremely online thriller, playwright Max Wolf Friedlich sacrifices credibility and character over a paranoid vibe that finally fizzles out.”

“Escola’s splendidly nasty queer romp has hiked up its petticoats and staggered uptown from a sold-out run at the Theatre, goosing a sleepy Broadway summer.”

“The Great Gatsby gets as much mileage as the yellow Rolls-Royce.”

“Second only to Appropriate as Broadway’s best new play (so far this season), Prayer’s three hours pass fleetly due to a strong cast under David Cromer’s keen, incisive direction and tastefully spare visuals.”

“Clearly relishing their juicy roles, the dream cast has been impeccably directed by Lila Neugebauer, who burnishes the comedy and cruelty to a bright sheen.”

“Efficiently if not too sturdily assembled from punch lines, family trauma, and credibility-straining twists, I Need That goes down easy and leaves scant trace.”

“You might leave humming the title tune, but also unsatisfied.”

“It takes craft to be this crappy.”

“Purlie is victorious indeed; but anyone who gets to see Young in her comic glory is a winner.”

“So, in summary: a gifted cast with thankless roles, a hokey book that takes no chances, and an abysmal score that drags everything down.”

“Need I add that Jaws will probably be admired for another 50 years, whereas The Shark Is Broken sinks from memory not long after you exit the Golden Theatre?”

“Get your ass—whatever its race and ethnicity—to Edelman’s smart, funny, and surprisingly poignant solo about white resentment and balancing an Orthodox Jewish and goyim-adjacent childhood.”

“Princesses the least active or interesting figures on stage?”

“Yes, Holloway sure won the lottery; audiences who pay for his pretentious pulp? Not so much.”

“Comer’s astoundingly fluid, musical and passionate performance wins the day.”

“You will not find craftier theatrical silliness this season.”

“Amid the bland casting and cold, murky design, there is a warm, beating center: Soo.”

“There’s no law that states musical comedy can’t have deep feels, but the proportions are a little off.”

“The lively cast infuses a fair amount of humor and warmth into the chilly, restrained minimalism.”

“There’s a meaty idea at the center of Pictures about how social and economic forces squeeze us into performative frames, and how that performance can pervert intimate relations, but it’s hard to find under the broad strokes and bathos.”

“Neither the overanxious staging by Michael Mayer nor Steven Hoggett’s punchy, strutting choreography graft much fluidity onto the jerky, vacant pageant.”

“I was entertained, and heard some great language spoken by legends of my time.”

“But on the stage of the Theatre, one feels a hollowness—a well-rehearsed and dutiful hollowness—where there should be restless combustion.”

“Once you realize that McDonagh’s M.O. is crudely to undermine expectations, you expect the undermining, and boredom sets in.”

“Yes, the shiny, stylish model handles great on today’s theatrical highways and bumpy back roads of the Discourse.”

“In mapping the existential gap between player and team, between person and tribe, Take Me Out was ahead of its time — and still is.”

“When you leave Neil Simon feeling protective of his literary reputation, you know something’s gone terribly wrong.”

“But this is one rambling, pointless head-scratcher of a show, not redeemed by the charm of its cast or the random bit of camp eccentricity, such as Yazbeck’s Grant whooshing around the stage declaring, ‘I am a giant penis rocket ship!’”

“In director Marianne Elliott’s exuberant, re-gendered staging, material and moment have been reconciled to smashing effect.”

“You absolutely must see it if you care about Black work on Broadway, American theater, and the evolving state of our 'canon.'”

“Beyond its crap accents and insipid portrayal of a doomed royal marriage, Diana is insulting to, well, humanity in general.”

“There's so much to cherish in this miracle of a musical, its puzzle-box structure, thematic patterning, and — you're not ready —its shocking release with the eleventh-hour number, 'Lot's Wife.'”

“At present, the most exhilarating theater in New York is at the Lyceum.”

“I was awed by this immaculate machine two years ago at the Vineyard, and it has increased in impact and relevance.”

“It was a similar phenomenon to Be More Chill, another show made famous by fan sharing — except that Six has actual wit and substance.”

“By contrast, the Roundabout Theatre Company's lean, suspenseful and entertaining revival of Charles Fuller's A Soldier's Play, while it unfolds during World War II, feels quite relevant.”

“The hermetic, privileged circle tightens to a dot, and after nearly seven hours in the theater, we’re left with a play pointing eagerly and smugly at itself, waiting for a gold star.”

“As it is, this pill is too whole and smooth, coated ever so slightly with sugar.”

“Criminally, the the grace and boldness of Warren’s performance exists in inverse proportion to the wayward and witless material around her.”

“A brutally beautiful fable about how writers live to write-and then forget to live.”

“Letts’ sharp dialogue and shipshape dramaturgy make for a smooth ride.”

“A tasteful and dull play, rarely funny or wise, a ghost story with no real thrills or chills.”

“He has a magnetic presence that makes you lean forward.”

“And Moulin Rouge! proves that if you go all in on the concept of a jukebox musical—give the people what they want, with maximum gusto and style, and never apologize—it can be addictive as hell.”

“Together, they forge a bond that’s deeply moving, a prickly, organic tapestry of comic fluster, flashes of raw hurt, and pulsing erotic heat.”

“Adam Cork’s walloping sound and Neil Austin’s noirish light design grab your senses.”

“Such a swaggering pastiche of gallows slapstick, lyricism, and political outrage doesn’t wash up on Broadway every season.”

“This ingenious play keeps peeling away its layers, to reveal a blood-chilling core truth.”

“In other words, this is the most well-behaved True West I’ve ever seen.”

“The Cher Show is not the worst of the species, but it’s shallow and jokey to a fault.”

“But some of us linger in the doorway, unable to join.”

“Brimming with ideas and saucy banter, it's lively but exhausting, manic and overstuffed, too much—possibly like the Divine Sarah was in life.”

“Vapid, musically dead, and dramatically flat, Pretty Woman exists for no other reason than to dig cash out of tourist pockets.”

“Gettin’ the Band Back Together is Broadway Nickelback.”

“Shrewd, funny, sexy, and with a glorious beat, Head Over Heels will have you flipping for joy.”

“For a hard, clinical look at mediocrity, Straight White Men is thrillingly great.”

“Here’s a morality tale where no one in the audience, or onstage, has enough information to act with moral certitude.”

“But in truth, Key and his fellow cast members can only light up the darkness, briefly, before the void returns.”

“Rejoice, then: The Band's Visit has made the leap with dignity and pure, intense beauty intact.”

“His final descent into Jean Genet levels of sexual panic and identity loss is arresting and raw.”

“'Prince of Broadway' feels like a missed opportunity to explore a major career and share lessons from show business.”

“In terms of musical bombast, visual spectacle and hyperbolic vulgarity, it closed out a sad decade for the serious American musical.”

“'The Terms of My Surrender' is not high on drama or surprises, but it's a genial, valedictory piece of civic service.”

“Zany, morbid, and brimful of compassion, Marvin’s Room is the defining work of a playwright who died of complications from AIDS at the age of 33.”

“The cumulative effect, once you get over the retro vibe, is renewed respect for a disquieting, still-rewarding work.”

“Add to it a wonderfully versatile seven-actor ensemble effortlessly juggling roles and live klezmer music, and you have 100 minutes of potent theatrical magic.”

“Joyless, shapeless and grating, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a stale Necco wafer of a musical.”

“This is such a richly satisfying revival, I'm going back for seconds.”

“Unfortunately, the tone throughout is gratingly cartoonish, replacing the dry whimsy of the movie with overwrought clownishness.”

“Just not much of a stunner under the makeup.”

“Kline enlivens each moment with palpable zest and impeccable style, arrogant brio shading into middle-aged insecurity with a twitch of his perfectly trimmed mustache.”

“Nottage’s passionate and necessary drama, which transferred to Broadway after a run last year at the Public Theater, is a masterful depiction of the forces that divide and conquer us.”

“The atmosphere is so perfectly wistful and dreamy, and it supports so outstanding an ensemble, you accept the surface tricks.”

“A soul-sustaining, symphonic piece by a late, great master, about fathers and sons, workers and their dreams—deliverance for audiences hungry for soaring language and tough truths. Director Ruben Santiago-Hudson steers a powerhouse cast through the dense alleyways and along the majestic avenues of Wilson’s language...”

“The rest of us will grow tired of numbers that sound like ’70s sitcom theme songs or advertising jingles.”

“One of the most thrilling Broadway musicals this decade, The Great Comet is intimate yet epic, ironic yet deeply felt, cosmic yet down to earth.”

“Schreiber's impassive libertine pairs nicely with McTeer's vengeful, wicked widow.”

“A 5,000-volt revival...Whipped into a hellacious comic frenzy by one of the best acting ensembles you and I may ever see. Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur’s 1928 evisceration of the newspaper racket is a summit of American screwball comedy...”

“In the end, by stylizing Chekhov's world and rendering cultural details abstractly, the human stakes and basic relationships are drained of power.”

“Bleu has a winning muscularity and grace in various tap and ballroom sequences. Pinkham generates some chemistry with Gayer. They duet sweetly on 'White Christmas,' one of the two dozen-odd Irving Berlin ditties jukeboxed into a jazzy-elegant score. And let’s hear it for the chorus—an adorable, charmingly diverse bunch.”

“Part mystic thriller, part tricksy aural illusion, The Encounter offers a meeting of ear, mind and soul you will never forget.”

“Cats is an attenuated high-concept revue that grows tedious by its second act.”