Over the Labor Day weekend, “Purpose” ended its run, and so did Tshidi Manye, who is retiring as Rashiki. But the Fall season has already begun; today is the last day to see “Pericles” and the first annual Down to Earth Festival launched over the weekend with a play about, and by, the Lenape people.
There are many theatrical memories to savor from the summer, and much to look forward to in the Fall.
End of Summer Theater Quiz 2025
September 2025 New York Theater Openings
Broadway 2025 2026 Season Preview Guide
Broadway Rush and Lottery Policies
Fall 2025 New York Theater Preview: 10 Shows to See*
The Week in Reviews
Pericles
Pericles’ daughter has been kidnapped by pirates and sold into a brothel, where she convinces the customers to honor her virginity. This may not normally be one of Shakespeare’s most memorable scenes, but it becomes an exhilarating gospel number, “Find Your Light,” that brings both the hundred performers and thousand spectators to their feet, their hands waving or fans flickering ecstatically in the air, in a rousing demonstration of the redemptive power of the music of the Black Church. It is one of the several breathtaking moments that justify this gospel musical adaptation of “Pericles” as this year’s free Public Theater Public Works production over Labor Day weekend….“Pericles” is being presented at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine….a problematic venue for any Shakespearean play (even a musicalized one), which may be why they’re calling the production a “concert experience.”
A Lenape Creation Story launches the Down to Earth Festival
Instead of just beginning by acknowledging Manhattan as the homeland of the Lenape, the way most theater companies do these days, the Eagle Project made their whole show about it. A member of the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape tribal nation named Opalanietet began first with a Lenape ritual in front of Shorakkopoch Rock in Inwood Park. “According to legend” (according to the 40-year-old plaque on the rock), this is where Peter Minuit “purchased” Manhattan island in 1626.
Destination Undefined
In the year 2051, a bilingual robot named Bob…works as a researcher with the Human Research Institute; his mission is to learn why humans are guarding this hoard of useless, outdated metal, [gold] while everybody now just uses cryptocurrency. The world created…in “Destination Undefined” features some intriguing elements and some clever touches… But “Destination Undefined” is so overstuffed with notions and themes and concerns that the story that is supposed to drive the play feels like an afterthought.
What at first seems to be a novel about a 1960s experimental theater troupe turns out to be genre fiction that uses theater as a backdrop for a plot involving murder and menace. This is not what I was hoping for from author Alexis Soloski, whose day job is writing about theater for the New York Times. It shouldn’t have surprised me; her first novel featured a theater critic as the protagonist but turned out to be a crime thriller. But “Here in the Dark” two years ago was at least playful and knowing about the current theater scene in New York. “Flashout” (Flatiron Books, 288 pages) is a darker book and a less enjoyable read for a theater lover.
The Week in New York Theater News
Broadway Flea Market and Grand Auction will take place on Sept 21, from 10-7. The flea market will be set up with tables on both sides of West 44th Street and West 45 between 7th & 8th; the silent auction in Shubert Alley, the live auction in Times Square.
Beau the Musical, a sweet, lively and original coming of age and coming out story that I said deserves a wider audience, is getting one. It’s moving to St. Luke’s Theatre starting October 13, opening October 27.
Broadway producer Suzanne Gilad pled guilty fraudulently obtaining more than $69,000 in COVID-19 small business recovery grants by filing falsified records. GIlad has produced 17 Broadway shows- most recently, Smash, Buena Vista Social Club, The Outsiders, and The Who’s Tommy. She had to return the money and was sentenced to 210 hours of community service.
The State of the Labor Play on Labor Day 2025
Q and A with Colm Summers, artistic director of Working Theater, “a professional theater for, about and with working people” – the only such theater in New York: “…our inbox is full with more plays than ever before, with new writing focused on the labor movement and its history, and plays that tackle issues facing contemporary labor. But I know this is just a small part of the larger landscape, which remains focused on spectacle, star vehicles and revivals of known titles. “
Theater Blog Roundup: 10 Best Theater of the New Century. 31 Most Promising Theater Artists.
A New York theater haiku:
Fall theater to see
Cost free or cause bankruptcy
September is here
The Week’s Theater Video
Tshidi Manye is retiring as Rashiki in “The Lion King,” hvine played the role more than 9,000 times, mostly on Broadway
Here she is singing in Bryant Park seven years ago – two decades into the role
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