Ain't No Mo', which made a fabulous debut at the Public in 2019, is a collection of satirical vignettes by the Black, queer 27-year-old writer-performer Jordan E. The fall season also includes Broadway debuts of two playwrights divided in age by more than six decades. Photograph: Courtesy Joan Marcus Ain't No Mo' Jackson and Danielle Brooks in August Wilson's haunted, haunting The Piano Lesson, and I'm eager to see what Yahya Abdul-Mateen II ( Watchmen) and Corey Hawkins ( In the Heights) will do with Suzan-Lori Parks's two-hander Topdog/Underdog, which blew me away 20 years ago. (In this version of Arthur Miller's much-revived Death of a Salesman, the central Loman family is Black.) I'm especially looking forward to seeing Samuel L.
Two of the past Pulitzer winners are by African-American playwrights, and the other three have significant Black content. That's a solid safety net for quality-and it doesn't mean that Broadway is abandoning its commitment to promoting Black artists, either. The slate of plays, in particular, leans heavily toward the tried and true: Five of the 12 non-musicals this fall are past winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. RECOMMENDED: A complete list of upcoming Broadway shows this fall Some of those productions turned out to be great, others did not, but none of them caught much fire with audiences.
And Broadway's 2021 comeback fall season featured a significant number of question-mark shows: relatively unknown and untested works. Last year, for example, it was hard not to smell a turkey cooking in Diana's kitchen, even before the Netflix version of it dropped with a thud. That said, critics are-despite what anyone might tell you-human beings, and it's hard to completely avoid a sneaking suspicion one way or another.
Low expectations can make a bad show seem better, and too-high ones can make even a good show feel like a disappointment, which isn't fair to anyone involved. When people find out I'm a theater critic, there is one question they ask more than any other: "What should I see?" As Broadway revs up for its fall season, that question is hard to answer this year-not because there's not enough to recommend, but because the next few months are so firmly packed with shows I'm truly excited to see.įor various reasons, I try not to form any judgments in advance about shows I'll be reviewing. They publish each Wednesday so you’re hearing from us each week.
“Let Me Tell You” is a series of columns from our expert editors about NYC living, including the best things to do, where to eat and drink, and what to see at the theater.
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