54 stories from The Contending
I managed to avoid reading anything about Call Me Izzy except for the obvious fact that it stars Jean Smart and it's a one-character play. Full disclosure, I am NOT a fan of one-person shows…
The acclaimed revival of Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Blvd received three Tony Awards on Sunday's ceremony. The Contending's Frank J. Avella returned to the production (his fourth ti…
Joey and Clarence are joined by Frank J. Avella to recap last night's Tony Awards presentation, the winners, the surprises, and more. The 2025 Tony Awards aired last night on CBS to a dramat…
The last three Oscar ceremonies have had very intense and competitive Best Actress races. Truth to be told, it's the category that always excites and scares me, because of how much I invest …
Best Musical Buena Vista Social Club Dead Outlaw Death Becomes Her Maybe Happy Ending Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical Best Play English The Hills of California John Proctor Is the Villain…
Well, that was great…that was really fucking great! This Sunday, the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League will name the best of Broadway at the 78th Annual Tony Awards. With Maybe…
New York, N.Y. (June 3, 2025): GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics' kicked off Pride Month by giving John Proctor is the Villain and Cats: The Jellicle Ball top…
Outstanding Play Blood of the Lamb, by Arlene Hutton Deep Blue Sound, by Abe Koogler Grangeville, by Samuel D. Hunter John Proctor is the Villain, by Kimberly Belflower Liberation, by Bess W…
Now that Patti LuPone has apologized: forgive her, support her or sharpen your pitchforks, but WAIT until after Broadway's biggest night. This year's Tony Awards will be one for the books si…
Who is Jack Stokes? He's an astonishingly impressive young British actor you may be hearing a lot more about in the coming years. Stokes is currently electrifying audiences in the play Shell…
Tony nominee Julia Knitel seamlessly slips into a slew of characters at each performance of the new Broadway musical sensation Dead Outlaw. The brilliant, non-linear show, which began life o…
New York, N.Y. (May 13, 2025): GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics' theater wing members named their favorites in New York theater for the third annual Dorian Theater Awards. …
Tony nominee Conrad Ricamora is currently wowing audiences portraying a closeted, hypermasculine Abraham Lincoln in the wacky Broadway comedy Oh, Mary!, playwright and star Cole Escola's 'fe…
Every once in a rare while on Broadway, especially in the last two decades, a bold, stirring, wholly original musical opens that dares to combine the darkly comedic with social commentary an…
Buena Vista Social Club, Death Becomes Her, and Maybe Happy Ending all lead the 2025 Tony Award nominations with 10 nominations each. We'll have commentary coming very soon, but here's…
(Wednesday April 30, 2025) " Nominations for the 69th Annual Drama Desk Awards were announced today on Spectrum News NY1 by stage and screen star Norm Lewis, Spectrum News …
In doing some geeky Tony Award rabbit hole research. It became clear that we are, happily, in a new golden age on Broadway where there are an abundance of fabulous shows, performances and te…
(NEW YORK, NY " FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 2025) The Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of writers on New York theatre for out-of-town, national, and digital news publications, has…
Australian-born musical theater actor extraordinaire Ainsley Melham is quite the sensation this season as Dwayne, the baby-blue-eyed, Jazz-loving beau of Jasmine Amy Roger's titular characte…
2025 has become one of the most fabulously fierce and competitive years for lead female awards contenders. First we had an Oscar race where no less than four truly worthy performances (Nicol…
It is not going where I think it's going! It is not going where I think it's going! Oh God, I think it's going where I think it's going! This was my near-breathless reaction to experiencing …
Broadway Diva Jennifer Simard has been killing it on Broadway for almost two decades. Note: I use the word "diva" in the best, most fabulous definition of that word. She's currently wowing a…
Certain misguided critics (and that one in particular) are gushing over a monumental mess of a musical, loosely based on a TV series, that just hit Broadway " with a thud. Yet some of those …
Your feelings about the new Sondheim revue, Old Friends, will probably depend on your familiarity with the composer-lyricist's work as well as whether you enjoy songs sung out of context. I …
I haven't been emotionally slayed at the theater in quite a while. And I can shamefully state that Ghosts is a Henrik Ibsen play I was not completely familiar with. In terms of the Norwegian…
