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Jonathan Mandell

Jonathan Mandell (he/him) has written about the theatre as a critic and journalist for a range of publications, including Playbill, American Theatre magazine, the New York Times, Newsday, Backstage, npr.com and cnn.com. He currently blogs at NewYorkTheater.me and posts on Blue Sky, ‪@newyorktheater.bsky.social 

Essay

Tom Kirdahy on Love, Law, Marriage, Producing Theatre, and Making a Difference

1 July 2015

Jonathan Mandell talks with Producer Tom Kirdahy about celebrating a marriage three times and how theatre can make a difference.

Essay

Violence on Stage

Healing or Titillating?

25 June 2015

Jonathan Mandell explores the use of violence on stage, and how theatremakers use the stage to respond to violence.

Essay

In Defense of Broadway. Plus 2015 Must-See (And Can-Afford) Shows

4 June 2015

Jonathan Mandell on  the intersection of not-for-profit and commercial  theatre, and how to  affordably see  Broadway's best  of 2015. 

Essay

Can Theatre Change the World?

10 May 2015

Jonathan Mandell asks artists at the Drama Desk Awards if theatre can change the world, and compiles their answers into a video.

Essay

Should Torture Taste So Good? Belarus Free Theatre’s Trash Cuisine

7 May 2015

Jonathan Mandell on Belarus Free Theatre's Trash Cuisine, playing through May 17 at La Mama ETC in New York City.

Essay

Technicolor Broadway

On The Town, Gigi, and An American in Paris

23 April 2015

The author on three musicals that have opened on Broadway this season, all descended from movie musicals that the MGM movie studio made in the Technicolor era. 

Essay

Are Theatre Critics Critical? An Update

1 April 2015

Frequent contributor Jonathan Mandell considers the current condition of theatre criticism and theatre critics.

Essay

TEDxBroadway 2015

Ten Lessons Theatre Can Learn from Golf, Knishes, Teens, Tevye, and Twitter, But Not Termites

8 March 2015

The question from TEDxBroadway 2015: What ideas about theatre can we learn from people who may never have been inside one?

Essay

Hamilton

Five Ways Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hip-Hopped History Musical Breaks New Ground

5 March 2015

There is a sense that this piece somehow transcends theatre even as it embodies it—or, as Hamilton puts it: “This is not a moment, it’s a movement.”

Essay

Audience Participation

Do Taylor Mac et al Tickle or Terrify?

5 February 2015

"Audience participation" is a vague term, like much of theatrical terminology; it has come to mean different things to different people... What happens when the audience participates by becoming performers—without volunteering to do so?

Essay

Can A Play Explain The Muslim Diaspora? Nadia Parvez Manzoor’s Burq Off

13 January 2015

Some could argue that a play like Burq Off is not the right place to begin to understand the world of the Muslim Diaspora in Europe... But Manzoor herself provides some of that context, throwing statistics into her monologues almost as if her drama were a form of journalism.

Essay

10 Questions Provoked by Peter Pan Live! and Into The Woods

Is Hate-Tweeting Healthy? What’s the Lesson for Theatre?

7 January 2015

Jonathan Mandell looks at the questions raised by stage-to-screen adaptations, and wonders what theatre can learn from these successes.

Essay

Does God Exist On Stage? Theater and Religion

23 December 2014

Could the theater offer to both theater artists and theatergoers a kind of substitute for the awe they felt as children towards a religion that they no longer can as readily accept intellectually or morally?

Essay

The New Freak Shows

11 December 2014

Are we free to gawk again? That’s what Broadway audiences are doing during the revival of The Elephant Man, one of several stage shows and television series that are bringing attention back to the freak show.

Photo from You Can't Take It With You.
Essay

Theater about Theater

11 November 2014

Jonathan Mandell takes a look at Broadway revivals about the theatre, contrasting them with a production of Six Characters in Search of an Author.

Portrait of Leslie Odom Jr.
Essay

Leslie Odom Jr. And His Three Rules for “Getting Into The Room” as a Professional Performer

16 October 2014

1.) Never wait for permission to practice your art. You cannot wait to get a job to be an artist. 2.) Study your art. Never stop studying. 3.) Find a spiritual practice that works for you.

Photo from Scenes from A Marriage.
Essay

Intimacy and the Theater

2 October 2014

Jonathan Mandell writes about the intimacy of Scenes From A Marriage, Love Letters, This is Our Youth, and I Am Me

Photo from I Like To Be Here.
Essay

All the World on Stage In One Neighborhood? 2014 Theater

Village Festival

18 September 2014

Jonathan Mandell writes about the second Theater: Village Festival in NYC.

Scene from The Wayside Motor Inn.
Essay

A.R. Gurney

Saved by Off-Off Broadway, Back on Broadway with Love Letters

4 September 2014

Jonathan Mandell covers the beginnings and career of playwright A.R. Gurney, as serveral of his plays are presented in New York's 2014-15 season. Mandell includes quotes from Gurney about Broadway, making old scripts work in new ways, and advice for young playwrights.

The cast of Urban Momfare.
Essay

The Seven Secret Ingredients of The New York International Fringe Festival

7 August 2014

Jonathan Mandell writes about seven tropes of the NY Fringe Festival, highlighting productions which fit into the reoccuring genres.

A scene from Orange is the New Black.
Essay

Is Orange The New Black? The Truth Behind Prison Shows

3 July 2014

Jonathan Mandell writes about Joseph Assadourian, his solo performance The Bullpen  based on his 12 years in jail — and how his narrative counters sensationalized prison dramas.

Essay

Is Diversity A Codeword for Exclusion?

11 June 2014

Jonathan Mandell offers his opinions on dviersity in theatre. 

Essay

The Broadway Season Seen Through Its Cross-Dressing

5 June 2014

Jonathan Mandell looks at the 2013-2014 Broadway season and the six productions which featured men cross-dressing

Portrait of Carrie Robbins.
Essay

Carrie Robbins, from celebrated Broadway Costume Designer to Determined Off-Off Broadway Playwright

20 May 2014

Jonathan Mandell writes about the life of prolific costume designer Carrie Robbins, and her new ambitions as adaptor and playwright.

A Tony Award.
Essay

Tony Snubs, Pulitzer Flubs, Theater Award Excitement

1 May 2014

Jonathan Mandell looks at the phenomenon of "snubs" in theatre awards today and throughout history, touching on the complexities of nominating committees.

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