The 2023-24 Broadway season is back in full swing, with new offerings opening weekly. After a somewhat disappointing summer of short run shows, some real gems are finally open. With Covid cancellations at minimum and mask requirements completely dropped, New York’s theater industry can finally focus on the business of recouping the last several years’ drop off in business and attendance. Hopefully, audiences will return, encouraged by quite a few delightful new productions. The new shows reviewed here fall into the “can’t miss,” “worth seeing,” and “don’t bother” category, but this is only the beginning—the season promises many exciting new shows. Here’s a brief look at a handful of Broadway shows currently on the boards.
Purlie Victorious (On Broadway at The Music Box Theatre through February 2024)
*****/***** (five stars out of five)
Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp through the Cotton Patch is the surprise of the season. Written by film and stage legend Ossie Davis in 1961, it’s a sharp satire about the Jim Crow south that’s both hilarious and pointed, without being ham-fisted. The story of a preacher (Leslie Odom, Jr., of Hamilton fame) who comes back to the town where he grew up in order to con the racist plantation owner out of much needed cash to build a church. Brilliantly directed by Kenny Leon, the cast is utterly stellar, highlighted by Tony-worthy performances from Odom, Jr. and up-and-comer Kara Young, who’s already received two Tony nominations and should finally land the award this season.
Melissa Etheridge: My Window (On Broadway at Circle in the Square Theatre through November 19)
***/***** (3 stars out of 5)
Melissa Etheridge is a bona fide rock star, and she proves it on stage in her one-woman show which feels more like an intimate club date with a lot of talking rather than a theatrical piece. If you’re a fan, it’s a terrific show, and even those unfamiliar will thrill at her performance. Her life story is not terribly out of the ordinary, and it gets far too much attention. The show could be vastly improved by cutting 30 minutes—we didn’t really need the psychedelic bits and her preachy ventures into natural medicines and ayahuasca trips.
The Shark is Broken (On Broadway at the John Golden Theatre through November 19)
***/***** (3 stars out of 5)
There’s nothing really “wrong” with The Shark is Broken, but there’s not much to it; one walks out of the theater wondering why and how it made it to Broadway. (The answer, quite simply, is “summer vacancies”’—there were a lot of empty theaters this summer.) But this story of three actors, one major (Robert Shaw, father of the man who plays him), one quite famous (Roy Scheider) and one just emerging into super-stardom (Richard Dreyfuss, in just his second film), sitting on a boat on the set of Jaws, arguing and drinking during the long, long pauses between takes. Mostly the long waits are due to technical problems with the eponymous shark, or Bruce as the puppet was known on set. It’s a major clash of egos and alcoholism. Dreyfuss and Shaw go head-to-head and the affable Scheider attempts to keep the peace. It’s an interesting play, just not Broadway interesting. All three performances—Alex Brightman (Beetlejuice) as Dreyfuss, Colin Donnell as Scheider, and Ian Shaw playing his father. Ian also wrote the play, which provides an interesting touch of authenticity, but little else.
Here Lies Love (On Broadway at the Broadway Theatre, open run)
*****/***** 5 out of 5 stars
Finally emerging on Broadway after debuting at the Public Theater in 2014, Here Lies Love is the unlikely story of love, rejection and revolution in the Philippines. A sung-through musical with fantastic songs by David Byre of The Talking Heads fame and Fatboy Slim. Performed in the Broadway Theatre, massively reconfigured to resemble Studio 54 in the 1970s, the scene is a nightclub and audience members who choose the more expensive floor tickets are part of the scene, dancing and moving with the stages shifted around by stagehands in neon jumpsuits. It’s a party and a story and a lesson. Most of all it’s a thoroughly entertaining evening of theater and emotion. Not to be missed.
Back to the Future (On Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre, open run)
***/***** (3 stars out of 5)
There’s very little reason to turn the 1985 blockbuster film into a Broadway musical, apart from feeding a certain tourist-centric appetite for musical versions of popular films (see: Beetlejuice, Mrs. Doubtfire, etc). If successful it’s a big money draw, and this production might just be that. It’s lighthearted enough and well-performed with catchy songs while staying true to the original. Doc and Marty will always be Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox to fans of the movie, but Roger Bart and Casey Likes are pretty good pretenders to those thrones, even while engaging in Abbott and Costello-inspired vaudevillian interplay, which they do quite well, with humorous and satisfying results. Still, it’s a musical version of a movie which you might prefer to just sit at home and watch instead.
Gutenberg! The Musical! (On Broadway at the James Earl Jones Theatre through January 28, 2024)
**/***** (2 stars out of 5)
Seeing Broadway darlings and Book of Mormon alumni Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad hamming it up on stage in this juvenile “let’s put on a show” musical can only be described as cringe-inducing. Attempting to tell a historical account of the life of Johannes Gutenberg in a pseudo-pitch to Broadway producers, the two come off as nine-year-olds goofing around in their basement, singing half-baked songs and telling jokes that belong on Dixie cups. It’s a show that would be moderately funny in a low-rent cabaret—where it would be more at home—or back at Upright Citizens Brigade, where it originated. If Gutenberg had used his press to print a review, it would only have required two words: caveat emptor.
