Part of the profundity of LITTLE BEAR RIDGE ROAD—aside from Laurie Metcalf and Micah Stock’s deeply-felt performances—is its sense of scope, the imagining of the microcosmic alongside the cosmos, the quotidian and the celestial. Just magisterial work from Samuel D. Hunter.

Farewell to GYPSY and to Audra McDonald's incomparable performance, one of the best – if not the absolute greatest – I have ever seen on stage. Hers was a Rose of singular vulnerability, whose determination was offset by genuine introspection. One for the ages.

📷: Sara Krulwich

Playwright BRANDEN JACOBS-JENKINS on how bees and beekeeping became the motif of PURPOSE and their role in the climax of the play:

LATANYA RICHARDSON JACKSON on her most difficult scene, in which she defends her son, Nazareth:

HARRY LENNIX on the inspiration of his character, Solomon Jasper:

One of my favorite pieces I've ever written on theatre for
@goldderby.com. Six interviews – 100 minutes and 13 seconds – boiled down to 3,643 words on the origins and Chicago and Broadway productions of PURPOSE.

Bonus quotes that couldn't fit in the feature below.

t.co/queWb9YlGq

DEAD OUTLAW is a remarkable, hilarious critique of our foundational myths of exceptionalism and entrepreneurialism told through a rip-roaring David Yazbek score and David Cromer's beautifully evocative staging. An important, astounding, and intellectual new original musical.

2025 reads, part 1

Despite all the technological innovation on display in PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, and there is much novel in its approach to cameras on stage, it is Sarah Snook's unvarnished performance that is most stunning. Utterly chameleonic, with a particularly effecting take on painter Basil.

I'm not sure there exist the right descriptors for what Audra McDonald accomplishes in GYPSY. In a million subtle ways, she reinterprets the role, and her Rose's Turn has a gravitation force all its own. Unforgettable.

Linda Lavin was as kind and magnetic as she seemed on stage and screen. After I interviewed her about her guest appearance on Elsbeth, she recorded a personal message for my uncle, who had such fond memories of seeing her on Broadway in Superman in 1966. Her generosity was infectious.

31 today. What a thing to say.

Interviewed Carol Kane about her NYFCC winning performance in BETWEEN THE TEMPLES and had to ask her about WICKED, given how long she played Morrible on Broadway. Full interview dropping next week.

"I can't wait to see it because it looks amazing to me."

TAMMY FAYE is the latest in a recent string of religious-themed musicals to flop in the past decade or so, following SCANDALOUS, LEAP OF FAITH, and AMAZING GRACE. Katie Brayben certainly made a huge impression with her Broadway debut, though.

Kit Connor is astoundingly good in ROMEO + JULIET. He has that coveted ability to make Shakespeare’s language sound as brilliantly as it reads on the page. The balcony scene with Rachel Zegler will be remembered as one of the more thrilling moments of this fall on Broadway.