Musical Theatre and Theatre With Music

Matthew Clinton Sekellick unpacks the crediting dispute over the Broadway production of Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, and the implications for the relationship between non-profits and commercial producers.

A new play takes cues from funk music to explore bisexuality, biphobia, and polyamory in 1990s Brooklyn.

Alison Durkee considers the preservation of the theatrical past in a number of ‘reconstructed’ performances or resurrections of ‘lost’ works, such the 2016 production of Shuffle Along, or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed.

Joel Fishbane examines the politics and patriotism of two hit musicals that deal with early American history.

Donald Sanborn talks with director John Doyle about the differences between musical theatre and opera, and the power of seeing actors play instruments on stage.

Educator and director Luanne Davis Haggerty directs a musical with a Deaf and hearing cast and considers how the rehearsal room creates and reveals forms of Deaf leadership.

Renée Camus reports on this summer’s Song, Stage, and Screen Conference in New York City.

Amanda Prahl analyzes the different forms and purposes of the conditional love song in historical and contemporary musicals.

Gregory Ramos interviews On Your Feet actor Andréa Burns about her career playing Latina women in Broadway musicals.

Carey Purcell talks to Diane Paulus and Liesl Tommy about all women creative teams.

Megan Patterson on the New York Theatre Workshop production of the musical Hadestown by Anaïs Mitchell, developed with and directed by Rachel Chavkin.

Danielle Feder responds to the critical reception of the Broadway show Waitress.

In this installment, Donald Sanborn III interviews composer Brad Ross about his creative work and process.

Ricky Young-Howze talks with actor Ali Stroker about changing people’s perceptions about performers with disabilities.

Catherine M. Young reflects on the closing of the musical Shuffle Along. 

David Levy discusses Noah Diamond’s adaptation and revival of I’ll Say She Is, the musical debut of the Marx Brothers. 

Jonathan Mandell looks at the new production of Runaways, thirty-eight years after the first, and asks: Should a work of theatre allow us to escape from, or force us to engage in, the world?

Carlos Morton questions whether Hamilton should be considered a piece of Latina/o theatre.

Sara Zweig on The Robber Bridegroom with book and lyrics by Alfred Uhry, and music by Robert Waldman at The Roundabout Theatre Company in New York City.

Jonathan Mandell on the recent spate of sung through musicals, including Hadestown, The Total Bent, Evening 1910, and Hamilton.