Theater Update: Daniel Radcliffe will return to Broadway
‘Slam Frank’; Steppenwolf at 50; Tom Morello
Theater Update
October 29, 2025

Dear Theater Fans,

Theatergoers got an early holiday gift last week when a Broadway strike was averted. And then as Michael Paulson dug deeper into the tentative contract agreed to this month between the Broadway League and the actors’ union, he noticed something: a provision that would make it optional for productions to print out those cast-change inserts that are stuffed into Playbills. Of course, a debate has ensued — at least in the article’s comments section.

Elisabeth Vincentelli talked to Tom Morello, the Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave guitarist, about pulling songs from his lesser-known catalog for the new musical “Revolution(s)” in Chicago. She also reviewed the Broadway transfer of Bess Wohl’s powerful “Liberation.” She made it a Critic’s Pick, and wrote: “If there is a show that can make the case for a Tony Award for best ensemble, it’s this one.”

A spate of movies from the 1940s failed to realistically depict Broadway’s genius composers and their creation of musicals. Jesse Green reflected on what went wrong then, and why Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater’s latest film, “Blue Moon,” a Lorenz Hart biopic, works so well.

“Slam Frank” is one of the most talked about shows of the fall. Laura Collins-Hughes wrote how that gleefully provocative new musical and “Crooked Cross,” a quiet 1930s domestic drama, speak to each other across time and resound “quite loudly in our present.”

Also this week: Juan A. Ramírez gave a glimpse of two shows perfectly timed to this spookiest of seasons: “Bat Boy” at New York City Center, and Theater in Quarantine’s “The Phantom of the Opera,” which is livestreaming through Nov. 3. Speaking of streaming theater: Did you listen to this episode of “Sunday Special,” featuring Jesse and Elisabeth in a lively conversation about how to experience theater in your living room? And if you prefer to stay in the spooky zone, here is the latest Amplifier playlist, courtesy of Olivia Horn.

Please reach out to me at theaterfeedback@nytimes.com with suggestions for stories or to offer your thoughts about our coverage. And urge your friends to subscribe to this newsletter.

Have a wonderful week,
Nicole Herrington
Theater Editor

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FEATURES

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Theater in Quarantine

A Spooky Season of Phantoms, a Bat Boy and More

From Broadway to the small screen, these unnerving theater productions are not just about horror and frights.

By Juan A. Ramírez

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Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

A Broadway Tradition Is Fluttering Into History

Broadway plans to replace the cast-change slips that are stuffed into Playbills with QR codes. Some understudies and theater buffs will mourn their loss.

By Michael Paulson and Sara Krulwich

In a movie scene, a man in a black hat and overcoat stands next to a door. A small sign reads “Sardi’s Restaurant and Grill.”

Sabrina Lantos/Sony Pictures Classics

When Hollywood Depicts Broadway Genius, the Results Rarely Sing

The new Lorenz Hart biopic “Blue Moon” gets a lot right about the creation of musicals that a spate of 1940s films got wildly wrong.

By Jesse Green

A man in a blue baseball cap and black shirt stands on the rafters of a stage.

Lyndon French for The New York Times

Tom Morello Brings Rage to an Unexpected Genre: the Musical

This firebrand guitarist pulled songs from his lesser-known catalog for “Revolution(s),” about a family of activists, now playing in Chicago.

By Elisabeth Vincentelli

A woman in a dark V-neck sweater has her hand over her head.

Maggie Shannon for The New York Times

Making Dances for Taylor Swift? Check. And the Met Opera? No Sweat.

The choreographer Mandy Moore feels at home everywhere. She even sees herself as a kind of dance therapist. “Teach them the love first and the steps later.”

By Margaret Fuhrer

FROM THE CRITICS

Two women in 1970s dress are onstage. The younger one, in brown, is kneeling beside the older one, in a jean skirt, who sits on a folding chair.

Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Critic’s Pick

‘Liberation’ Review: A Tony-Worthy Ensemble Plotting Revolution

Bess Wohl’s play, about a consciousness-raising group in 1970s Ohio, transfers to Broadway where it remains powerfully moving — and funny.

By Elisabeth Vincentelli

A disheveled man in a grungy robe and dark sunglasses sits in a purple recliner as he talks to a man, standing in a threadbare suit.

HanJie Chow

Critic’s Pick

Review: In Samuel Beckett’s ‘Endgame,’ Repetition Is the Thing

All four characters in this bleak tragicomedy, staged by the Druid theater company, share the human desire to hear the same tales again and again.

By Laura Collins-Hughes

A man dressed in black kneels on one knee against a red-lit stage.

@ogata_photo

Critic’s Notebook

Actors Search for Belonging and Parental Love in Two New Works

Ari’el Stachel’s “Other” and Zoë Kim’s “Did You Eat?” are self-interrogations that deal with family, race and identity.

By Laura Collins-Hughes

Three women wearing yellow stars on their chests sing into pink microphones while raising their left arms in a choreographed motion.

Jasper Lewis

Critic’s Notebook

‘Slam Frank,’ a Daring Satire, and ‘Crooked Cross’ Demand Our Attention

A gleefully provocative new musical and a quiet 1930s domestic drama speak to each other across time, resounding quite loudly in our present.

By Laura Collins-Hughes

NEWS

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