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Jesse Oxfeld

About Jesse Oxfeld

Jesse Oxfeld was the theater critic of The New York Observer from 2009 to 2014. He has also written about theater for Entertainment Weekly, New York magazine, The New York Times Book Review, The Forward, The Times of London, and other publications. Twitter: @joxfeld. Email: jesse@nystagereview.com.

April 12, 2022 9:27 pm

To My Girls: ‘Boys in the Band,’ Unsuccessfully Updated in Palm Springs

Jay Armstrong Johnson, Maulik Pancholy, and Britton Smith in To My Girls. (Photo: Joan Marcus)

★★☆☆☆ Playwright JC Lee tries and fails to create a compelling portrait of 30-something gay male friendship today

April 4, 2022 9:56 pm

Take Me Out: Two Decades Later, and Still Swinging

The cast of Take Me Out, with Jesse Wiliams third from left. (Photo: Joan Marcus)

★★★★☆ Richard Greenberg’s gay-ballplayer comic tragedy fares well in revival, despite mixed performances

March 28, 2022 8:55 pm

Plaza Suite: Feels Like (Very) Old Times

Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick in Plaza Suite. (Photo: Joan Marcus)

★★★☆☆ Sarah Jessica Parker shines, at least, in this dated, disappointing Neil Simon revival

March 8, 2022 9:58 pm

The Chinese Lady: Exoticized, Mistreated, and Still a Cipher

Shannon Tyo in The Chinese Lady. (Photo: Joan Marcus)

★★★☆☆ The story of the first Chinese woman in America is horrifying, and all these years later we’re still telling it

February 11, 2022 12:54 pm

The Music Man: The Wells Fargo Wagon Delivers the Con Artist We Need

Hugh Jackman, spellbinder, in The Music Man. (Photo: Julieta Cervantes)

★★★★★ Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster headline a blockbuster Music Man revival that puts the grin in grift

February 1, 2022 9:50 pm

MJ: Michael Jackson Jukebox Musical Is Very Smooth, Somewhat Criminal

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/01/31/biden-administration-releases-bipartisan-infrastructure-law-guidebook-for-state-local-tribal-and-territorial-governments/

★★★☆☆ The Lynn Nottage-Christopher Wheeldon bioplay is a song-and-dance delight that asks you to forget the biography

December 5, 2021 9:51 pm

Mrs. Doubtfire: Dad-Turns-Nanny Comes to Broadway, Manic Charm Intact

★★★★☆ The Robin Williams vehicle makes a successful transfer, scripted and scored by the ‘Something Rotten!’ team

November 17, 2021 7:21 pm

Diana: The People’s Princess, Surrounded by the Wrong People

Erin Davie, Roe Hartrampf, Judy Kaye, Jeanna de Waal and company in Diana. Photo Credit Matthew Murphy

★★☆☆☆ Like Charles and Elizabeth before them, a creative team of (minor) Broadway royalty does Lady Spencer no favors

November 14, 2021 6:35 pm

Assassins: Not Throwing Away Their Shots

Ethan Slater as The Balladeer, flanked by (from left) Tavi Gevinson as Squeaky Fromme, Judy Kuhn as Sara Jane Moore, Will Swenson as Charles Guiteau, Brandon Uranowitz as Leon Czolgosz, Andy Grotelueschen as Samuel Byck, Adam Chanler-Berat as John Hinckley Jr., Wesley Taylor Giuseppe Zangara, and Steven Pasquale as John Wilkes Booth. Photo: Julieta Cervantes

★★★★☆ The Sondheim-Weidman musical feels newly fresh in the Classic Stage Company revival

August 22, 2021 5:51 pm

Pass Over: Waiting for the Po-Po, Hoping for the Promised Land

Jon Michael Hill, Gabriel Ebert, and Namir Smallwood in Pass Over.

★★★★☆ The first new Broadway production in 17 months is an extraordinary Black-lives-matter take on Godot and the Exodus

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Primary Sidebar

Kramer/Fauci: Friendly Adversaries Tangle Over AIDS Progress

By David Finkle

★★★★☆ Highly resourceful conceiver-director Daniel Fish gets theatrical again

Slam Frank: An Equal Opportunity Offender

By Melissa Rose Bernardo

★★★☆☆ The Jewish teen author/Holocaust victim gets an audacious 21st-century musical glow-up

The Hairy Ape: The First Zoo Story

By Michael Sommers

★★★☆☆ Jon Beavers depicts a primitive man lost in the civilized world in Irish Rep’s revival of an early O’Neill classic

The Hairy Ape: Hairier Would Be Scarier

By David Finkle

★★★☆☆ Ciarán O'Reilly directs the revival, Jon Beavers is the supposedly gorilla-like protagonist

CRITICS' PICKS

Just in Time: Jeremy Jordan Will Be Your Bobby Darin From Now On

★★★★☆ Replacing Jonathan Groff, the Broadway veteran delivers a stellar turn in the musical that merits a repeat viewing.

The Saviors: What Would Jesus Do?

★★★★☆ Writer Bubba Weiler and director Jack Serio offer a tender drama of faith and friendship

Giulia The Poison Queen of Palermo: Pure Theatrical Alchemy

★★★★★ Death really does become her, as the writer, composer and star - Jennifer Nettles - serves up a killer new musical.

women of Birthright

Birthright: Six Characters in Search of a Common Ground

★★★★☆ Politics underscore but don’t overpower the character-driven epic from Jonathan Spector

Melanie Moore in Black Swan. Photo by Hawver and Hall

From Cambridge, MA: Black Swan, Tu-Tu Thrilling

★★★★☆ Classy musicalization of a psychosexual cinethriller uses human and technical legerdemain to spellbind

Death of a Salesman: More Relevant Than Ever

★★★★★ Nathan Lane, Laurie Metcalf and Christopher Abbott star in Joe Mantello's emotionally searing revival.

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