With “Suffs” and “Paradise Square,” Broadway offers two new musicals that address the great animating subject of the American musical: America itself.
Theater
Posted inArts & Culture, Theater
Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’ has been set to ballet. It won’t meet your expectations (in a good way).
In making the poem into a ballet with original music, much has been gained, both for the significance of the new ballet and for a fresh appreciation and engagement with its source.
Posted inArts & Culture, Theater
‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ ‘Assassins’ & ‘The Lehman Trilogy’ — the three ghosts of the 2021 Christmas season
Seeing these shows, I was reminded of Dickens’s famous ghosts, warning us about where we have been, where we are and where, if we’re not careful, we may be headed.
Posted inArts & Culture, Theater
Broadway is (finally) embracing Black writers. But the work of diversifying theater is just getting started.
Can Black writers flourish in a marketplace dictated by white tastes?
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Why do so many Jesuits love Stephen Sondheim? His art was a costly vocation.
Sondheim’s stories and lyrics always seemed to be addressing you personally. You couldn’t simply watch his musicals. Eventually you had to contend with them.
Posted inArts & Culture, Theater
Jesus found me on Broadway. I can’t wait to go back.
Musicals are not merely a passion of mine—they were often my most profound experiences of prayer.
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After a hellish year, Jesuit playwright Bill Cain’s ‘9 Circles’ reminds us of the healing power of storytelling
In “9 Circles,” Bill Cain, S.J., challenges us to do the hard work of balancing empathy with accountability, recognizing that in war we are all responsible for what is done in our name.
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Shakespeare in the Park’s “Merry Wives” brings back the joy of live theater
Transcendent, communal moments like these, so long denied us by this still raging pandemic, have been worth the wait, and they are more than worth the trouble.
Posted inArts & Culture, Theater
‘Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical’ was cheesy and sensational (and what exactly is a TikTok musical?)
It is a story made possible by young people’s collective efforts to find some creative solace during Covid-19.
Posted inArts & Culture, Theater
‘Dana H.’: She was abducted, but she did not lose her faith.
Dana Higginbotham is the subject of an extraordinary new play by her son, Lucas Hnath.