Zachary Stewart

“Solidly produced, this revival still feels like a missed opportunity to be the wild must-attend event of the season.”

“Beaches is that rare new musical based on well-known intellectual property that manages to exceed our hopes, gently sailing us into an ocean of emotional storytelling until we lose sight of the shore.”

“I kept wondering if his irresistible charm was leading me to incredulously believe a story that seems too good to be true (a note at the top of the film assures us that everything has been independently verified).”

“This irresistible revival isn’t your grandma’s Cats; but in many ways, it is the truest version of the musical yet.”

“The masterfully written and thrillingly performed drama depicts Dahl obstinately refusing to extinguish a fire of his own making.”

“A quietly persuasive tale of well-intentioned hubris, Marjorie Prime is the tragedy of right now.”

“The Queen of Versailles is too much a creature of excess to ever comment seriously on it.”

“Rather than a slave of duty, Pirates! is the servant of too many masters: Gilbert & Sullivan, Dixieland jazz, milquetoast liberalism, and the tourism lobby New Orleans & Company, which ‘kindly sponsored’ this production. The recipe is for a jambalaya of disparate flavors that come together in delicious harmony.”

“There’s just never a wrong time for Art.”

“And as this perfectly adequate revival proves, that success is entirely about presenting delightful songs in an attractive, form-fitting package.”

“Dead Outlaw seems destined to join the ranks of Oklahoma! and Gypsy as a show that strikingly reflects the restless spirit of this country and the breathtaking cruelty it often engenders.”

“The finished product is operetta as political compromise, in which everyone gets a little taste of what they want, but never enough to be truly satisfied.”

“While there’s plenty of screaming, the wound appears oddly bloodless in this overcooked production from director Whitney White (Jaja’s African Hair Braiding), leaving audiences with a top-notch recital of favorite audition songs—but a mostly unmoving theatrical experience.”

“It's a theatrical tour-de-force, as well as an impressive feat of video engineering. But, unlike the title character, its imperfections are all too apparent.”

“That thoroughly banal explanation still doesn't justify the mediocre book musical before us—a gorgeous night of sound and color that really could have just been a concert.”

“That question pervades the 1992 film Death Becomes Her (written by Martin Donovan and David Koepp, and directed by Robert Zemeckis), which has just been turned into the funniest new musical comedy on Broadway.”

“You won’t have a bad time at Tammy Faye, but you probably won’t walk away with a new favorite musical, either.”

“The Roommate is not exactly the feel-good comedy of the year, but it will make you laugh and think a little harder about whom you discount in life — at your own peril.”

“It is, without a doubt, the funniest comedy on Broadway right now.”

“Onstage, it’s a recipe for information overload — a treatment that is both crowded and shallow.”

“The result is a superficial fairytale of a Berlin overrun with hooker clowns and cartoon Nazis, something that bears little resemblance to the insidious creep of authoritarianism in our own world.”

“It all comes together to create a fairytale version of New York in the 90s, in which music videos spontaneously materialize on the street.”

“By no means the worst musical of the season, The Outsiders still left me disappointed by its lack of a coherent vision.”

“This could be anyone’s story, and the poetic end that comes for Noah and Allie represents the very happiest resolution.”

“Doubt is still one of the essential dramas of our time, with a story that is more relevant than ever.”

“Prayer for the French Republic is a powerful reminder that a better future is only possible if you live to have a future.”

“It is easily the most electrifying Broadway play of 2023.”

“Not so with Spamalot, a show that works both as a vessel for Monty Python nostalgia and a platform for the comic talents of this generation of Broadway performers.”

“It’s the most innovative aspect of a musical that mostly wallows in the past.”

“Once Upon a One More Time emerges as a worthwhile concept thwarted by poor execution.”

“There’s no show on Broadway quite like Grey House, a play that manages (at least until the end) to exhale hilarity and horror in the same icy breath.”

“Levant’s existence in the borderland (between high and popular culture, beauty and ugliness, love and cruelty, comedy and despair) is precisely what makes him such a fascinating subject, and what makes Good Night, Oscar such a satisfying play.”

“But beneath the surface it’s just fashionable nihilism and emotional blackmail, undergirded by one of the best performances of the season.”

“You’re guaranteed to laugh at Peter Pan Goes Wrong, a show that soars precariously into the fly system, but is rooted in a universal truth: While thwarted ambition can be the source of great tragedy, it can also result in tears-in-your-eyes comedy.”

“This spine-tingling revival delivers that, and so much more.”

“'Pictures From Home' gets awfully close [to capturing all the messy and beautiful contradictions of a human family].”

“I am typically of the opinion that no show has any business occupying a Broadway house for more than a decade: Theater is ephemeral, and the magic tends to wear off as the years pass and performances become stale. ’Chicago’ makes this a difficult position to maintain. Ten thousand performances later, it's still dazzling.”

“The tale of a proud man who grabs what life has to offer while he still can, Between Riverside and Crazy is the ideal anti-tragedy for the holiday season.”

“It's a guaranteed good night on Broadway, a glorious throwback that also manages to retrofit a well-known story for today.”

“All of this spells doom for KPOP, a delightful musical entertainment that is best appreciated as just that, and nothing more.”

“Unlike most other productions, this Linda sings; and in the final moment we are left with just Linda and her song in a downstage spotlight — an image more wrenching than anything you're likely to witness on Broadway this season.”

“With Leopoldstadt, Stoppard forcefully asks if such calls for assimilation in our own time are sincere, or are they just the polite window dressing on an ancient kind of tribalism?”

“This Macbeth hovers in a fog of confusion from beginning to end, which features the actors chowing down on soup as they stare out at the hungry and irritated crowd.”

“It is a stunning crash landing for an otherwise very good play.”

“Unfortunately, she cannot singlehandedly save a Broadway musical suffering from an identity crisis.”

“They won't be disappointed by MJ.”

“It is still the most magical show on Broadway.”

“Until then, I wouldn't recommend Mrs. Doubtfire unless you are able to snag a deeply discounted ticket.”

“That's a story we all ought to take seriously right now.”

“That makes Dana H. inspirational in the best way: If she can laugh at her captor, you can laugh at the boss or neighbor or petty tyrant on the PTA who is making your life miserable.”

“Posing as harsh medicine, ''Jagged Little Pill' is a theatrical placebo.”

“It is easily one of the best plays of the decade.”

“Linda Vista makes a strong argument that we cannot see the beautiful view when we're too preoccupied with trying to take the best selfie in front of it.”

“Gorgeously acted, this sophisticated two-hander from 1987 offers some surprisingly prescient insights about love in the age of Tinder.”

“That makes Ink a timely, if not particularly original, new play.”

“Its presence in this season thrillingly asserts that Broadway can still be a home for challenging new American plays.”

“Schreck makes a compelling argument that no governing document will ever be a panacea for society's ills, and that we will always have to depend on the good faith (or contend with the lack thereof) of the people charged with interpreting that document.”

“Its combination of humor, social commentary, catchy music, and spectacular staging is everything a Broadway musical should be.”

“Unfortunately, Boone is noticeably affected as Hackett, while Maslany (playing a role originated by a frenzied Faye Dunaway) is practically catatonic as Diana.”

“Where Diamond and Wicks are giving fine tribute concert impersonations, Block makes the role her own and delivers the closest thing this show has to real emotional connection.”

“In a time when adult musical comedy feels like an endangered species on Broadway, the happy warriors of The Prom couldn't be more welcome.”

“In their effort to write a strong female protagonist, the team behind King Kong has created a monster significantly more terrifying than the title character.”

“But that's really the problem with Gettin' the Band Back Together: It consistently makes you wish you were watching something else.”

“By the end of Straight White Men, we're left with a nagging feeling that we're all complicit in the story we have just witnessed.”

“Joan of Arc's name will reverberate through history long after all of us are dead, but this Saint Joan is destined to be instantly forgotten.”

“Even the ethically ironclad will find their moral clarity muddied by Lonergan's thoughtful human drama.”

“This is a play that reveals new secrets with each viewing, so you should never pass up a chance to see it — especially in a production this tremendous.”

“So I am disappointed to report that mine remained firmly in place for Disney's latest: Frozen at the St. James Theatre.”

“Beautifully rendered, none of it adds up to the sustained tension that this play demands.”

“Unfortunately, these high production values belong to an undercooked play, much of which feels like a live staging of Martin's ‘funny ideas’ notebook.”

“He can rumba across the stage, make ridiculous faces, and concoct the most Martian-sounding French accent and it never feels like too much.”

“It's an unexpected and rewarding theatrical endeavor that makes The Band's Visit the most beautiful musical on Broadway, and the bravest.”

“In showing us how someone like Merkin operates, Ahktar reveals a painful truth: Our American love affair with ambitious mavericks exposes us to the machinations of those who would rob us blind — and we're often happy to help them do it.”

“Minor quibbles about the play's occasionally sluggish pace shouldn't obscure the point that no other Broadway director comes close to Taymor's magpie talent for incorporating diverse theatrical forms into a singular vision.”

“Sadly, this show makes his work seem mostly ornamental.”

“It is a leap that pays off in delightful and often hilarious ways.”

“From the audience of the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, you can see a musical that doesn't know what it wants to be.”

“Those questions remain with us, no matter who is playing what role in this must-see revival.”

“Even if you don't much care about Israel and Palestine, you cannot help but be moved by this story about the discovery of shared humanity.”

“This is two hours of unapologetic, stupid fun, buoyed along by a cast of ultra-committed performers.”

“Even though some of the performances have gone astray, Sweat is still the must-see play of the season.”

“When you look beyond the hulking scenery and American Idol-style glory notes, you can see Miss Saigon for what it really is: a bruising indictment of American self-pity in an age in which we still control the lion's share of wealth and power.”

“At turns acidly satirical and starkly astute, The Present illuminates the gravity-free existence that built Russia today.”

“The Great Comet is a night of unabashed entertainment that also manages to push the limits of what Broadway can be.”

“Soporific turns aside, this revival production makes an airtight case that Les Liaisons Dangereuses is a play for our depraved age.”

“This near-perfect revival of a decidedly imperfect musical tells that story quite well.”

“The Front Page takes a long time to warm up, but once it does, it proves worth the wait.”

“If you can ignore the cringe-inducing book scenes, you will probably have a good time at Motown, especially if you're the kind of person who can't listen to a whole song on your iPod without hitting skip.”

“Cusack leads the cast with one of the most exciting performances of the season.”

“Too many playwrights seem content to linger on misery and Western complicity when considering the developing world, practically fetishizing the victimhood of their characters...Thankfully, Gurira refuses to traffic in such simplistic clichés. Instead, she shows the ways these women laugh, learn, fight, and persevere.”

“Through brutal realism, Karam presents a family careering toward disaster with little in the way of an evasive action plan.”

“If you're looking for a night of gut-busting hilarity, you can't do any better than this one.”

“In the hands of a sensitive and shrewd director like Sher (The King and I), it is positively transcendent — a luminous new view on a timeless tale.”

“As far as nights at the theater go, one could do a lot worse.”

“It's a bold experiment with form and content that pays off in delightful and unexpected ways.”

“This beautifully rendered adaptation of classic French literature turns out to be the surprise thriller of the season.”

“It's the most potent concentration of theatrical mind games we're likely to see on Broadway for a long time.”

“This beautiful and bewildering production holds us enthralled from beginning to end.”

“This revival of Spring Awakening is that rare reimagining that furthers the themes of the original work, rather than plastering over them with an auteur's vision.”

“It’s a feel-good delusion that many people undoubtedly seek, but a show like this has the power to offer something much meatier.”