Charles Isherwood

1 week ago | wsj.com | Charles Isherwood

What’s a nice guy like John Krasinski doing in a play called “Angry Alan”?

2 weeks ago | wsj.com | Charles Isherwood

Emmy-winning ‘Hacks’ star Jean Smart performs in Jamie Wax’s solo play about a small-town Louisiana woman struggling with an abusive husband who disapproves of her literary ambitions. New YorkJean Smart makes a welcome, and warmly welcomed, return to Broadway after an absence of a quarter-century in “Call Me Izzy,” a solo show by Jamie Wax about a woman trying to break free from an abusive marriage.

3 weeks ago | wsj.com | Charles Isherwood

Coming at the end of a celebrity-stuffed Broadway season that broke box-office records, this year’s awards highlight a healthy variety of richly creative musicals and plays that didn’t rely on big names alone.

4 weeks ago | wsj.com | Charles Isherwood

Written by Colman Domingo and Patricia McGregor, this New York Theatre Workshop production stars Dulé Hill as the singer-pianist, focusing on the final taping of Cole’s 1950s NBC show. When you consider that “Lights Out: Nat ‘King’ Cole” focuses on two singularly talented and vibrant performers—the title character as well as Sammy Davis Jr.—the disappointments of this busy bio-musical at New York Theatre Workshop are almost dumbfounding. Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

1 month ago | wsj.com | Charles Isherwood

Amber Iman delivers a performance of supple vocal power as a nightclub singer in Kenya in this mythological musical with book and direction by Saheem Ali. How fine, and how fitting, that the preternaturally gifted Amber Iman should play the title character in the musical “Goddess” at the Public Theater. For when this entrancing performer sings, the sound has a sensual, almost celestial beauty.