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Theater

BERJAYA
theater review

Sean Hayes’s Theme and Variations: The Unknown

 He inhabits more than a dozen characters in David Cale’s slick, unsettling play. By Jackson McHenry
BERJAYA
theater review

The Other Place Is a Low-Stakes Antigone

 Stripping the ancient Greekness out of Sophocles saps the tension and conflict. By Jackson McHenry
BERJAYA
theater

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

 Let Vulture’s theater desk be your guide. By Vulture Editors
  1. theater review
    On Being Hooked: The Dinosaurs and The MonstersTwo plays look at addiction and what replaces it.
    By Jackson McHenry
  2. theater review
    Sean Hayes’s Theme and Variations: The UnknownHe inhabits more than a dozen characters in David Cale’s slick, unsettling play.
    By Jackson McHenry
  3. theater review
    The Other Place Is a Low-Stakes AntigoneStripping the ancient Greekness out of Sophocles saps the tension and conflict.
    By Jackson McHenry
  4. theater review
    High Spirits Has Just Enough FizzIt probably wouldn’t sustain a full-scale revival. But it’s perfect for the two-week Encores! series — especially with Andrea Martin.
    By Jackson McHenry
  5. egot watch
    Steven Spielberg EGOTs at the 2026 Grammy AwardsTechnically, he’s an EEEEGOOOT.
    By Bethy Squires
  7. theater review
    When Bad Forces Happen to Good People: Blackout Songs and DataTwo new plays about addictive substances: one about booze, another about money and ambition.
    By Jackson McHenry
  8. it’s just a jump to the left
    Are There Any Celebrities Not Starring in the Rocky Horror Show Revival?Stephanie Hsu, Juliette Lewis, Rachel Dratch, Josh Rivera … shall I go on?
    By Jason P. Frank
  9. theater review
    The Disappear Vanishes Up Its Own NavelIn Erica Schmidt’s drama, the characters are meant to be self-absorbed but also visionary artists. They’re good at the first part.
    By Sara Holdren
  10. theater review
    ‘An Ark’ at the Shed Is All Headsets, No HeartbeatMixed reality yields full banality. Plus: Better ideas at the January theater festivals.
    By Sara Holdren
  11. move on
    Look, Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey Are Making a HatThe Wicked co-stars will play George and Dot in the West End revival of Sunday in the Park With George.
    By Jason P. Frank
  12. hello 12 hello 13
    Just How Long Could an Adrien Brody Tonys Speech Be?He’s making his Broadway debut in The Fear of 13 alongside Tessa Thompson.
    Jason P. Frank
  13. another one
    Washington National Opera Is Leaving the Kennedy CenterJust the latest group fleeing the (sigh) Trump-Kennedy Center.
    By Bethy Squires
  14. theater review
    30 Years Later, Is Bug Still Catching?The new production of Tracy Letts’s 1996 play, with Carrie Coon and Namir Smallwood, is muted where it needs to make us squirm.
    By Sara Holdren
  15. leaving for good
    Stephen Schwartz Won’t ‘Set Foot’ in the Trump-Kennedy CenterThe Wicked composer is leaving, for good.
    By Bethy Squires
  16. politics
    Kennedy Center President Asked for $1 Million in Damages After Musician CanceledChuck Redd canceled his Christmas Eve performance at the last minute due to the Trump name change.
    By Alejandra Gularte
  17. merry christmas!
    Does The Nutcracker Usually Have Tony Hawk?Hey, it makes as much sense as Mother Ginger.
    By Bethy Squires
  18. the law
    Playwrights Horizons Sued Over BIPOC Night DiscountEd Blum, the lawyer who led a Supreme Court case against affirmative action, is taking on New York theater discounts.
    By Jason P. Frank
  19. one night in boston
    Heated Rivalry Is ChessWhat’s hockey if not literally a cold war?
    By Rebecca Alter
  20. kencen
    Oh Good, It’s Called the Trump-Kennedy Center NowDemocratic representative Joyce Beatty attempted to object to the Center’s new name at the board meeting but was muted.
    By Jason P. Frank
  21. stage whisperer
    Let’s Talk About the Marvel to Oh, Mary! PipelineFirst came Kumail Nanjiani. Now it’s Simu Liu. Who’s next?
    By Rebecca Alter
  22. theater review
    A Fresh, Sharp Tartuffe That Shakes the Powder off the WigsMatthew Broderick and David Cross star in Lucas Hnath’s new translation of Molière.
    By Sara Holdren
  23. theater review
    Michelle Williams Hits Every High Note in Anna ChristieO’Neill wrote a rich and chewy set of parts to play, and Thomas Kail’s production finds their tactile vitality.
    By Sara Holdren
  24. the struggle dance
    It’s a Privilege to Watch Ruthie Ann Miles Portray Grief On Stage“I am giving a gift to the audience to watch me in my pain.”
    By Jason P. Frank
  25. travel plans
    Jeremy O. Harris Is Now in Japan By ChoiceA rep said he was released from custody without charges but is staying in the country.
    By Jennifer Zhan
  26. theater review
    Return of the Replicants: Marjorie PrimeA thoughtful, well-wrought play that’s cool to the touch.
    By Sara Holdren
  27. mdma in the back garden
    Jeremy O. Harris Has Been in Japanese Custody for Almost a MonthThe playwright and producer was arrested for bringing ecstasy into Okinawa.
    By Jason P. Frank
  28. theater review
    This Christmas Carol Tries to Put Scrooge on the CouchPlus a very different UK social critique in The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions.
    By Sara Holdren
  29. in conclusion
    The Best Plays and Musicals of 2025High-school agonies, Wilde and Chekhov and Caryl Churchill, and an encounter group that left our critics enthralled.
    By Sara Holdren and Jackson McHenry
  30. remember 2020?
    Nathan Lane’s Death of a Salesman Survived the PandemicJoined by Laurie Metcalf, as previously planned; Christopher Abbott; and “Clock Twink.”
    By Jason P. Frank
  31. secret lives of broadway wives
    Whitney Leavitt Had Her Chicago Casting ComingDancing With the Stars gives Broadway another Roxie Hart.
    By Alejandra Gularte
  32. remembrance
    Tom Stoppard Was the Real ThingEspecially for me.
    By Sara Holdren
  33. the year in culture
    What the Culturati 50 Loved in 2025While we were watching these culture-makers, they were watching each other.
    By The Editors
  34. rip
    Tom Stoppard, Tony- and Oscar-Winning Playwright, Dead at 88Mick Jagger remembered his “favourite playwright” in a touching tribute.
    By Alejandra Gularte
  35. theater review
    Kara Young Is Bloody Excellent in Gruesome Playground InjuriesNicholas Braun gets good work in, too, but this series of scenelets is less than the sum of its parts.
    By Jackson McHenry
  36. theater review
    Initiative Has 18 Charisma, 19 Dexterity, 20 StrengthElse Went’s play, set among a group of millennials playing D&D; around the turn of the century, catches the forever feeling of being a teenager.
    By Sara Holdren
  37. theater review
    Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) Is a Little Sweet, a Little SpongyA charming musical that might have been more effective at smaller scale.
    By Jackson McHenry
  38. let me be frank
    Kevin Spacey Is Living in the PastHe says he doesn’t “live anywhere” as he attempts a one-man music show and waits for the phone to ring.
    By Fran Hoepfner
  39. reunions
    Jason Isaacs Went to See Tom Felton As Broadway’s Draco MalfoyHe praised his Harry Potter son for having “balls like ostrich eggs” and being “so brave.”
    By Jennifer Zhan
  40. theater review
    Dawn of a Dull Day: Tom Hanks in This World of TomorrowHis story about time travel to the 1939 New York World’s Fair really needed another pass through the typewriter.
    By Jackson McHenry
  41. theater review
    Nazareth Hassan’s Practice Horrified Me, Exactly As IntendedA play about psychological manipulation in a theater troupe doesn’t need buckets of fake blood to leave everyone unsettled.
    By Sara Holdren
  42. theater review
    Conversion on the Road to Calabasas: Meet the CartoziansIn Talene Monahon’s play, assimilation is both goal and enemy.
    By Jackson McHenry
  43. theater review
    The Winner Takes It All: Chess Returns to BroadwayIt’s dripping in 1980s absurdity, and I had a blast.
    By Sara Holdren
  44. theater review
    Thornton Wilder Retailored: The Seat of Our PantsNew songs and dances and contemporary language give this adaptation of The Skin of Our Teeth freshness but also slow it down.
    By Sara Holdren
  45. theater review
    I’m Not a Regular Mom, I’m a Cool Mom: Robert Icke Does OedipusSophocles’s play gets slashingly remade — by a guy, yet again — in a production that, while not flawless, is vivid and potent.
    By Sara Holdren
  46. theater review
    The Proto-Incels Who Blew Up Europe: ArchdukeRajiv Joseph’s vivid play finds echoes of today’s lost boys in the sad-sack assassins of 1914.
    By Sara Holdren
  47. an englishman and jamaican in ny
    Sting and Shaggy on Broadway, for 9 Nights OnlyThe BFFs will share the stage in a new The Last Ship adaptation.
    By Devon Ivie
  48. theater review
    Is The Baker’s Wife Fixable?Ariana DeBose and the rest of the cast chow down on an undercooked premise.
    By Jackson McHenry
  49. theater review
    Gilt or Guilt? The Queen of Versailles Can’t DecidePlus: A weirdly similar paradox in Anne Washburn’s The Burning Cauldron of Fiery Fire.
    By Sara Holdren
  50. theater review
    Stories You Think You Know: Blue Cowboy and Did You Eat? (밥 먹었니?)Two solo shows that seem like familiar narratives about identity then take unexpected turns.
    By Jackson McHenry
  51. bear with us
    I Would Die for the West End PaddingtonPerformed by two puppeteers, he deserves all the marmalade sandwiches in the world.
    By Jennifer Zhan
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