Friday, August 28th 2026   |

Theatre

Dody Piper astounds in SLT’s ‘She Loves Me’

By ALAN SMASON, Theatre Critic, WYES-TV (“Steppin’ Out“)

For its second full production of their season, Summer Lyric Theatre  at Tulane (SLT) chose “She Loves Me,” a show that could arguably be considered among the most stealthily Jewish shows in...

Neil Diamond’s life story is coming to Broadway

(JTA) — The life story of iconic singer-songwriter Neil Diamond will be told on Broadway in a musical.

The untitled project is still in its development stages, Deadline Hollywood reported.

“I’ve always loved Broadway,” Diamond said in a statement. “The...

Jewish directors dominate at Tony Awards

(JTA) — “Hadestown,” a musical about the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and the underworld, won best new musical at the Tony Awards, and a coveted prize for its Jewish director.

Rachel Chavkin won the Tony Award for best...

Golabek’s ‘Pianist of Willesden Lane’ is deeply personal journey, concert

By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“)

Just before every performance of “The Pianist of Willesden Lane,” the one-woman play based on the book she wrote with Lee Cohen (“The Children of Willesden Lane”),  Mona Golabek holds onto a...

Get to know the new 16-year-old star of ‘Dear Evan Hansen,’ who founded a theater company for his bar mitzvah project

NEW YORK (JTA) — Andrew Barth Feldman isn’t your average 16-year-old Jewish teenager from Long Island: He’s starring on Broadway in the smash hit “Dear Evan Hansen.” He landed the titular role after winning the Jimmy Awards, the National High...

Carol Channing, the original star of ‘Hello Dolly!,’ dies at 97

(JTA) — Actress Carol Channing, who originated the starring role in “Hello Dolly!” on Broadway and won a Tony Award for her portrayal of the boisterous widow, has died. She was 97. Channing was the daughter of a Jewish mother and...

How Moises Kaufman went from a yeshiva in Venezuela to directing a Harvey Fierstein classic

By CURT SCHLEIER

(JTA) — It has been more than 35 years since Harvey Fierstein’s “Torch Song Trilogy” opened on Broadway. At the time it was a theatrical revelation: Who could have imagined that the story of a young gay...

Shelbie Mac soars into the stratos with ‘Peter Pan’

By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“)

If anyone questioned if Shelbie Mac is the greatest young talent to come down the pike since the late Cynthia Owen, all doubts have been erased with her starring role in Peter...

Award-winning playwright Neil Simon dies at 91

(JTA) — Playwright Neil Simon, known for such Broadway hits as “The Odd Couple,” “Barefoot in the Park,” and “Lost in Yonkers” has died.

Simon, who earned a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award, died overnight Saturday at New York-Presbyterian...

Rodgers and Hamerstein’s ‘Carousel’ filled with joy, pathos

By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out”)

Few Broadway composers had a bigger impact than Richard Rodgers, who began his career with Jewish lyricist Lorenz Hart, but whose greatest success was with librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. Hammerstein, whose grandfather...