The “Merrily We Roll Along” movie is different from the Wicked films; it’s not a film adaptation, it’s a recording of the live 2024 Tony-winning Broadway production that turned the Stephen Sondheim and George Furth musical from a notorious 40-year-old flop to an acclaimed hit, the stuff of Broadway legend. There is something worthwhile in offering a chance at experiencing such a show to theater lovers who didn’t make it to New York or couldn’t afford Broadway prices. Still, the film offers a different experience from the stage musical, in part because of the inherent qualities and expectations of the medium, but also because of directorial choices – some for the better, some for the worse -- by Maria Friedman, director of both the Broadway production and the film.

Is “Dirty Books” itself obscene? Not at all,  if we go by the Supreme Court’s three-pronged test. The theater company Bated Breath does enlist the audience to write erotica, but 1. The show begins with a history exhibition about book banning in the U.S. that certainly doesn’t lack serious political and educational value, 2. The exhibition is followed by a plot that is so bland  one might wish for a little patent offensiveness, or even 3. prurience, but none exists.  Besides, the enlistment is half-hearted and the effect not all that erotic.

Scrooge is back on stage this holiday season, as always, but as we head towards the end of a trying year, the question off-stage is which Scrooge will win out – the one at the beginning or the at the end of the Dickens story? Today is #GivingTuesday: Before you donate, check out the charity. (as I point out here.) December 2025 NYC Theater Openings Holiday Shows in NYC 2025: A Spirited Guide Theater Quiz for November 2025

On this fourteenth annual #GivingTuesday (created in 2012 by the 92nd Street Y), consider donating to a theater company or theater organization in New York City. This is what Scrooge would do (by the end of the story), if he were a theater lover But, given his business acumen, he would first check Charity Navigator to make sure the theater gets high ratings for accountability, transparency, financial health, impact and results. Below, I've selected ten New York theaters and theater companies, listed alphabetically, with links to their home page or donate page.

Below is a calendar of New York theater opening* in December. There are two new shows on Broadway, both with starry casts, one a revival of a futuristic play that feels almost present-day now (see Dec 8); the other has no official opening date (it begins Dec. 12) and it's arguable whether it's even theater. Beyond Broadway, there is another starry cast, led by Michelle Williams (Dec 14), and some serious plays about queer life, protest, war, epidemics, human rights. But much of the month of December is taken up with holiday fare (which…

Tom Stoppard, 88, an acclaimed author of some three dozen plays, had an extraordinary body of work, and lived an unusual life: Although he was viewed as one of the greatest English-language playwri…

Any guide to holiday theatergoing in New York City must begin with the three annual staples: “The Radio City Christmas Spectacular” starring the Radio City Rockettes, “George Balanchine’s the Nutcracker” (and about a dozen sweet or sassy alternatives), and the many variations of “A Christmas Carol.” But there's more -- plays, ballets, operas, concerts, musicals, burlesques, and hybrid entertainments that have reappeared each December, some for decades. Some are bracingly expensive, most not; a few are surprisingly raunchy, most are family fare. There are always new holiday show; I include a few examples below that might be hoping to become future annual traditions.

Tom Stoppard, 88, an acclaimed author of some three dozen plays, had an extraordinary body of work, and lived an unusual life: Although he was viewed as one of the greatest English-language playwrights of his generation, his first language was not English. Although he was an erudite intellectual and the most cerebral of playwrights, he dropped out of school as a teenager, never attending college. Although he was deeply involved with human rights issues and incorporated them into his plays,he said in 1979 that he considered himself a conservative in politics, literature, education and theater.

How well were you paying attention to theater news and reviews in the month of November? Take this quiz to find out.

My fourteenth annual theater gift guide below features links and information on shopping for theater tickets,theater subscriptions/memberships,cast recordings,play scripts and books about the theater,and theater on screen I also suggest some souvenirs and knick-knacks intended as tangible reminders of an evanescent experience.Also: practical gifts for theater artists.And, just because it's Black Friday: Black Friday Deals on Amazon

Below are videos from the Broadway casts who performed at the 2025 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade: Buena Vista Social Club, Ragtime and Just in Time, as well as Broadway veteran and Wicked star Cynthia Erivo leading the parade.

As a band and a brand, “Buena Vista Social Club” has been gold from the get-go: It was a hit Grammy-winning album that in 1996 had brought together an impromptu group of old-time Cuban musicians in…

The revival of “Ragtime” has taken on more of the epic feel to which it aspires, thanks to its move from an Encores series concert to a full Broadway production on the Vivian Beaumont’s grander sta…

There is a Sinatra vibe that Jonathan Groff nails from the start, when, in shiny tux and tie, he works his way around the café tables of Broadway’s Circle in the Square Theater,  redesign…

“The Baker’s Wife” offers dual stories of redemption that make it feel designed for the holidays: There is the fable of all the villagers in a small French town setting aside their petty squabbles to repair their baker’s marriage, thus giving them back their daily bread. Then there is the equally unlikely story of a 1976 musical with great promise – composed by Stephen Schwartz, the 28-year-old wunderkind at the time who had three hit shows running on Broadway simultaneously (Pippin, The Magic Show, and Godspell), with a book by legendary, Tony-winning librettist Joseph Stein (“Fiddler on the Roof”) – that was such an unfixable flop during a grueling cross-country pre-Broadway tryout tour that the members of the creative team themselves insisted to producer David Merrick that he shut down “The Baker’s Wife” before its intended Broadway run.

Once again, theater seems of little interest to the book review staff at the New York Times. Their Notable Books of 2025 features no published plays (although books of poetry are included), and few theater books of any kind.  I sorted through the list his year and found five that might reasonably be considered of particular interest to theater lovers, presented below ranked by most relevant, plus a sixth. I hope this encourages the Times to expand its concept of what’s notable.

Below are works of theater that I saw this year in New York for which I’m most grateful.  I have been posting such a list around Thanksgiving Day every year since 2013, which is my annual “Top 10” list, although this year’s shows, listed more or less alphabetically, add up to more than ten (I group some together), and I wouldn’t necessarily rank all of these productions highest on aesthetic grounds. I’m thanking them for making a difference in some way, not least for offering fond, pointed or sustaining memories.