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theater review

Overexposition: On the Evolutionary Function of Shame

 A script that tries to do a lot of explaining. By Sara Holdren
works in progress

Closers Only

 Bob Odenkirk, Kieran Culkin, and Bill Burr battle for the top of the Glengarry Glen Ross leaderboard. By Rebecca Alter
theater

What to See on (and Off)(and Off–Off) Broadway

 Let Vulture’s theater desk be your guide. By Vulture Editors
  1. theater review
    Overexposition: On the Evolutionary Function of ShameA script that tries to do a lot of explaining.
    By Sara Holdren
  2. theater
    The Best Hate-Watch of All TimeA guide to Smash, from screen to stage.
    By Jason P. Frank
  3. works in progress
    Closers OnlyBob Odenkirk, Kieran Culkin, and Bill Burr battle for the top of the Glengarry Glen Ross leaderboard.
    By Rebecca Alter
  4. theater review
    This Curse of the Starving Class Doesn’t Have Much in Its FridgeAnd a sheep is the star of the show.
    By Jackson McHenry
  5. works in progress
    LaTanya Richardson Jackson Brings a New Grande Dame to Broadway in Purpose“I have not tried to infuse her historically with my life, but it is so me.”
    By Soraya Nadia McDonald
  7. theater review
    Idaho, and What Came After: Samuel D. Hunter’s GrangevilleThe playwright best known for The Whale turns a critical eye on the art he’s made about his hometown.
    By Sara Holdren
  8. works in progress
    George Clooney Is a Little Nervous About His Broadway Debut“There’s all this panic.”
    By Jackson McHenry
  9. theater review
    Dispatches From the Apocalypse: Safe House and The BarbariansTwo plays that, fitfully and incompletely, get at this moment’s dread.
    By Sara Holdren
  10. theater review
    Liberation Is the Best Play I’ve Seen This SeasonBess Wohl’s latest is drawn from the true stories of her mother’s 1970s encounter group.
    By Sara Holdren
  11. tony awards
    Cynthia Erivo Is Holding Space for the Tony AwardsHosting this year’s ceremony at Radio City Music Hall.
    By Jason P. Frank
  12. theater review
    All Bark, No Bite: RedwoodIdina Menzel grieves in a tree and leaves.
    By Sara Holdren
  13. i can finally breathe again
    Idina Menzel Dangles From the Heavens While SingingShe’s in a redwood, singing a song from Redwood about being in a redwood.
    By Jason P. Frank
  14. theater review
    A Henry IV That Doesn’t Know Its Own StrengthThis play has underappreciated muscles that its director intermittently flexes.
    By Sara Holdren
  15. theater review
    Urinetown Is Still PotableWhoa, there! Plenty of prescience reveals itself in Encores!’s revival of the 2001 musical.
    By Jackson McHenry
  16. theater review
    The Antiquities Puts Humanity in a Museum Display CaseThe robots memorialize us in Jordan Harrison’s time-hopping speculative drama.
    By Jackson McHenry
  17. broadway baby!
    Tituss Burgess to Take Over Oh, Mary!“I understand the role of Mary Todd Lincoln maybe a little too well.”
    By Jason P. Frank
  18. theater review
    At the Kennedy Center, Schmigadoon! Briefly Reappears Through the MistStill sweetly spoofing classic Broadway, albeit with a little less bite than on TV.
    By Rhoda Feng
  19. i’m just a broadway baby
    Quentin Tarantino Prefers the The-a-ter Right Now“When it comes to being a filmmaker, I’ve pretty much done everything I’ve wanted to do.”
    By Jason P. Frank
  20. theater review
    Freedom in Speech: Sanaz Toossi’s EnglishFor these characters, learning a global language is both broadening and restraining.
    By Sara Holdren
  21. theater review
    Gary Gulman Clings to GrandiloquenceIn his Off Broadway show, the comedian too often confuses attention for acceptance.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  22. willkom-mask
    Does the Mask Stay On?Orville Peck will star in Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club on Broadway, leading to one inevitable question.
    By Jason P. Frank
  23. mythic proportions
    Maya Hawke to Make Off Broadway Debut in Eurydice“Eurydice is a warning to not spend your life fixated on your memories,” Hawke says.
    By Jason P. Frank
  24. 2025 preview
    18 Plays and Musicals We Can’t Wait to See in 2025Idina Menzel in the forest, Paul Mescal in Brooklyn, and more.
    By Sara Holdren and Jackson McHenry
  25. playbook
    Where Will Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster Pop Up Next?We’ve got some ideas about where their showmance might go from here.
    By Fran Hoepfner
  26. from the wings
    Life As a Millennial Stage MomA journey into the cutthroat and adorable world of professional child actors.
    By Lauren Hilgers
  27. look book
    The Look Book Goes to Cult of Love’s Opening-Night PartyThe play’s cast, creative team, and supporters celebrated at Yard House in Times Square.
    By Emily Leibert and Jeremy Rellosa
  28. rip
    Linda Lavin, Tony Winner and Alice Star, Dead at 87She won theater’s highest honor for 1987’s Broadway Bound.
    By Devon E. Ivie
  29. year in culture
    The Bests of 2024All the books, podcasts, and anime (plus TV, movies, music, and more) that captivated our critics (and John Waters) this year.
    By Vulture Editors
  30. theater review
    The Sit-Down Comedy of All InJohn Mulaney and friends deliver bright readings of slight tales.
    By Sara Holdren
  31. theater review
    Is It Swell? Is It Great? Audra McDonald Takes Over GypsyDespite some iffy production choices, she delivers the world on a plate.
    By Sara Holdren
  32. radical optimism
    Hey, Wait … Is This Broadway Season Actually Great?Dead Outlaw rounds out the biggest slate of actually original musicals in years.
    By Jason P. Frank
  33. different times
    Clay Aiken Lost ‘50 Percent the Fan Base’ After Coming OutHe also claims “ticket sales dropped” for Spamalot afterwards.
    By Alejandra Gularte
  34. theater review
    In Eureka Day, the Jabs Are Verbal, TooA send-up of the leftist battles over vaccination and the weaponization of kindness.
    By Sara Holdren
  35. theater
    Everything’s Coming Up Joy WoodsThe Broadway breakout’s big belting in The Notebook went viral this year. Now, she’s taking on one of the greatest musicals of all time: Gypsy.
    By Jason P. Frank
  36. theater review
    Praise God and Pass the Banjo: Cult of LoveStrains (musical and otherwise) within an American Christian family.
    By Jackson McHenry
  37. peace in new york
    Patti LuPone Was ‘Energized’ by Sunset Blvd.Not in a hazardous way …
    By Jason P. Frank
  38. theater review
    Crimes and Chases: the beautiful land i seek and RACECAR RACECAR RACECARTwo travel tales leading into the American nightmare.
    By Sara Holdren
  39. a mescal named desire
    Dear Paul Mescal, Please Just Admit You Want to Be in a Broadway MusicalA detailed rundown of his passion for singing.
    By Jason P. Frank
  40. a-b-c
    Business Boys Are Back on BroadwayKieran Culkin, Bob Odenkirk, and Bill Burr co-star in Glengarry Glen Ross.
    By Jason P. Frank
  41. finish him!
    Laura Benanti to Zachary Levi: ‘Fuck You Forever’She Loves Me? More like she hates him.
    By Jason P. Frank
  42. best of 2024
    The Best Theater of 2024Waterfront history staged afloat, a variety of robots, and Mary Todd Lincoln going wild.
    By Sara Holdren and Jackson McHenry
  43. oh betty!
    Betty Gilpin to Replace Cole Escola in Oh, Mary!“I am beyond honored to step in so that Cole can get back to tending their neglected passions: fracking and skincare.”
    By Jason P. Frank
  44. theater review
    We Are Your Robots: Do Androids Dream of Electric Guitars?Siri, show me a good play with music.
    By Sara Holdren
  45. theater review
    Old Patterns and Bold Stitches: The Blood QuiltKatori Hall’s family-inheritance drama stays within a familiar grid.
    By Sara Holdren
  46. theater review
    Divas at Dusk: Death Becomes Her as Broadway CampThe musical adaptation of the Streep-and-Hawn movie is relentlessly eager for you to laugh with and at its dueling lead actresses.
    By Jackson McHenry
  47. theater review
    Out to Sea and Back With Swept AwayThe story of a whaling expedition that turned horrifying, musicalized by the Avett Brothers.
    By Sara Holdren
  48. theater review
    Shit. Meet. Fan. Tells Us Lots That We Already KnowNeil Patrick Harris and Jane Krakowski star in Robert O’Hara’s self-described “blistering vulgar satire.” It delivers one of those three things.
    By Sara Holdren
  49. theater review
    Elf: The Musical, Where They Sing Really Loud for All to HearEveryone’s trying, but the show itself is a cotton-headed ninny-muggins.
    By Jackson McHenry
  50. theater review
    The Lighter Side of Christian Nationalism: Tammy FayeSpinning an evangelist grifter into a camp icon and sorta-feminist heroine is a little hard to take right now.
    By Sara Holdren
  51. theater review
    King Lear at the Fountain of YouthKenneth Branagh’s production is fleet and facile.
    By Sara Holdren
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