Broadway Review

‘Motown: The Musical’ Bathes Us in Nostalgia

“Motown: The Musical” is Berry Gordy’s show—he lived it, wrote it, and produced it—and the impresario has gambled that it’s all about the music, not the story; he’s probably right.

‘Matilda the Musical’ Offers Coup After Coup de Théâtre

The Royal Shakespeare Company’s musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s “Matilda” rushes at you from the stage of the Shubert Theatre with the relentlessness of a high-speed rail train.

‘Kinky Boots’ Is the Feel-Good Musical of the Season

Based on the 2005 film, “Kinky Boots”—songs by Cyndi Lauper, book by Harvey Fierstein, direction and choreography by Jerry Mitchell, and starring a powerhouse Billy Porter—works.

Flimsy ‘Lucky Guy’ Relies on Hanks for Heft

Tom Hanks makes his Broadway debut in Nora Ephron’s “Lucky Guy,” a breezy but thin account of the life and career of columnist Mike McAlary, displaying potent theatrical technique.

‘Hands on a Hardbody’ Rarely Comes to Life

In Doug Wright, Amanda Green, and Trey Anastasio’s “Hands on a Hardbody,” based on a 1997 documentary, the likes of Keith Carradine and Hunter Foster do what they can with little.

‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ Hasn’t Been Rethought in Theatrical Terms

Under director Sean Mathias’ eye playwright Richard Greenberg has adapted Truman Capote’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” for Broadway with remarkable fidelity—and that’s the problem.

‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike’ Is Pure Joy From Start to Finish

Sigourney Weaver, David Hyde Pierce, and Kristine Nielsen hit Broadway with Christopher Durang’s “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” easily the season’s best new play to date.

Entertaining ‘Ann’ Brings Holland Taylor Back to Broadway After 30 Years

Author-actor Holland Taylor has found the role of her career in “Ann,” a solo show about former Texas governor Ann Richards, on Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theater.

‘Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella’ Gets Beaned

Douglas Carter Beane’s ambitious but ungainly rewrite of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s 1957 TV musical “Cinderella” creates a show at war with itself.

‘Manilow on Broadway’ Brings Vegas to the Great White Way

“Manilow on Broadway,” Barry Manilow’s return to the Main Stem after nearly 25 years, is a Las Vegas–style concert in which the pop star gives his audience exactly what it wants.