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Is It Swell? Is It Great? Audra McDonald Takes Over Gypsy

 Despite some iffy production choices, she delivers the world on a plate. By Sara Holdren
the work of art

How Gypsy Director George C. Wolfe Reimagined Theater’s Legendary Stage Mother

 With Audra McDonald, he found a more wounded, more modern Rose. By Adam Moss
theater

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

 Let Vulture’s theater desk be your guide. By Vulture Editors
  1. 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
  2. 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
  3. 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
  4. different times
    Clay Aiken Lost ‘50 Percent the Fan Base’ After Coming OutHe also claims “ticket sales dropped†for Spamalot afterwards.
    By Alejandra Gularte
  5. 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
  7. 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
  8. theater review
    Praise God and Pass the Banjo: Cult of LoveStrains (musical and otherwise) within an American Christian family.
    By Jackson McHenry
  9. peace in new york
    Patti LuPone Was ‘Energized’ by Sunset Blvd.Not in a hazardous way …
    By Jason P. Frank
  10. theater review
    Crimes and Chases: the beautiful land i seek and RACECAR RACECAR RACECARTwo travel tales leading into the American nightmare.
    By Sara Holdren
  11. 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
  12. 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
  13. finish him!
    Laura Benanti to Zachary Levi: ‘Fuck You Forever’She Loves Me? More like she hates him.
    By Jason P. Frank
  14. 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
  15. 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.â€
    By Jason P. Frank
  16. theater review
    We Are Your Robots: Do Androids Dream of Electric Guitars?Siri, show me a good play with music.
    By Sara Holdren
  17. theater review
    Old Patterns and Bold Stitches: The Blood QuiltKatori Hall’s family-inheritance drama stays within a familiar grid.
    By Sara Holdren
  18. 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
  19. 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
  20. 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
  21. 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
  22. 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
  23. theater review
    King Lear at the Fountain of YouthKenneth Branagh’s production is fleet and facile.
    By Sara Holdren
  24. theater review
    When Robots Meet Cute: Maybe Happy Ending“It might feel like 2064 on the surface, but in its nostalgic, rechargeable heart, the show parties like it’s 1999.â€
    By Sara Holdren
  25. theater review
    A Wonderful World Is Also a Familiar OneJames Monroe Iglehart does a fine job embodying Louis Armstrong in a show that’s anything but improvisational.
    By Jackson McHenry
  26. stella!!!!!
    Yes, Paul Mescal Will Star in A Streetcar Named Desire in New YorkBut, no, despite previous reports, it will not be on Broadway.
    By Jason P. Frank
  27. theater review
    Soho Rep Closes Out the House With Give Me Carmelita Tropicana!It’s the final show at Walkerspace, and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and Alina Troyano’s play is a wild goodbye whoop.
    By Sara Holdren
  28. movie review
    The Piano Lesson Can’t Quite Live Up to August Wilson’s PlayMalcolm Washington’s The Piano Lesson is a worthwhile and occasionally quite moving adaptation. But it lives uncomfortably between two forms.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  29. theater review
    Worlds on the Brink: Walden and A Woman Among WomenAmy Berryman and Julia May Jonas invoke and gut renovate Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller (not to mention Thoreau).
    By Sara Holdren
  30. bts
    A Star-Crossed Romeo + Juliet Photo DumpTommy Dorfman shares an exclusive backstage photo diary from her Broadway debut.
    By Jacob Moscovitch and Bailey Kircher
  31. theater review
    Teeth Is Back and Biting HarderAnna K. Jacobs and Michael R. Jackson’s horror musical now has a gory splash zone, and it benefits from the extra layer of kitsch (and plastic).
    By Jackson McHenry
  32. theater review
    A Big, Agnostic RagtimeCity Center’s revival blows the speakers out but says comparatively little.
    By Jackson McHenry
  33. theater review
    Theater of the ApocalypseIn the Amazon Warehouse Parking Lot and HOTHOUSE put their characters in surreal settings as the world burns.
    By Sara Holdren
  34. theater review
    International Arrivals: We Live in Cairo and Bad KreyòlTwo shows take audiences into the Arab Spring and the Haitian American experience.
    By Jackson McHenry
  35. theater review
    Kissing by the Book: Connor and Zegler in Romeo & JulietA production that’s all shimmer with little grasp of Shakespeare’s words. (Plus: The silly joys of Drag: The Musical.)
    By Sara Holdren
  36. respect the classics
    Stevie Nicks Has No Idea What Stereophonic Is“What is that?â€
    By Devon Ivie
  37. theater review
    Left on Tenth Goes Right Down the MiddleJulianna Margulies and Peter Gallagher reenact Delia Ephron’s memoir, long on charm and short on dramatic tension.
    By Jackson McHenry
  38. defenders
    Rachel Zegler Says West End Romeo & Juliet ‘Failed’ Francesca Amewudah-RiversAfter the actress faced racial abuse while starring opposite Tom Holland.
    By Jason P. Frank
  39. bombshell
    Wait, What Is the Broadway Smash Adaptation Even About?The character names in the new cast list are not the names from the show.
    By Jason P. Frank
  40. profile
    Nicole Scherzinger Never Stopped DreamingThe former Pussycat Doll stages a comeback with Sunset Blvd. on Broadway.
    By Jackson McHenry
  41. theater review
    A Madly Showy Sunset Blvd.As Norma Desmond, Nicole Scherzinger is gargantuan and almost feral.
    By Sara Holdren
  42. theater review
    Adam Driver Going Huge: Hold on to Me DarlingHe takes a role in hand as if it were an old carpet, shamelessly beating the dust out of it.
    By Sara Holdren
  43. theater review
    Truth, Meet Power: Erika Sheffer’s VladimirOn 20 years of Putinism.
    By Sara Holdren
  44. theater review
    Drama Afloat in Red Hook: The Wind and the RainA play about Sunny’s Bar and the world it embodies.
    By Sara Holdren
  45. theater review
    Stage, Managed: A TV-Star-Driven Our TownKenny Leon’s production is gentle where it could bite.
    By Sara Holdren
  46. theater review
    Climate Hopefulness Faces the Fire in Deep HistoryDavid Finnigan’s play starts as lecture, then takes a turn.
    By Jackson McHenry
  47. culture
    Rachel Bloom Is Reliving the Pandemic Onstage Every NightShe swears it’s good for you.
    By Emily Gould
  48. theater review
    What’s In a Name? Surface and Substance In The Counter and Dirty LaundryMeghan Kennedy goes deep in a diner, and Mathilde Dratwa gets personal with grief.
    By Sara Holdren
  49. musical the-a-ter
    Broadway Continues Evolution Into a Series of Immersive NightclubsNext up: a Jonathan Groff–starring Bobby Darin bio-musical, Just in Time, with a big band.
    By Jason P. Frank
  50. theater review
    Marla Mindelle Is Back, Ridiculously, in The Big Gay JamboreeQueen of the world!
    By Jackson McHenry
  51. theater review
    In a Pair of Musicals, Gabriel Kahane Seeks America and HimselfHe performs ‘Magnificent Bird’ and ‘Book of Travelers’ on alternating nights.
    By Jackson McHenry
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