Theater Update: What’s a homophobic slur doing in so much theater?
Tom Stoppard; ‘Merrily We Roll Along’ returns
Theater Update
December 3, 2025

Dear Theater Fans,

Let’s talk about the power of words. Erik Piepenburg noticed that at least six theater productions this year have used a particular slur in their titles — the latest being “The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions,” now at the Park Avenue Armory. And it doesn’t feel like a coincidence, either. It has left him unsettled. “Why is a slur that a stranger hurled at me now waving hello from my playbill?,” he asked. In talking to some of the men behind these shows, Erik learned of their own personal, complicated relationships with the word.

For Tom Stoppard, Ben Brantley wrote in a beautiful appraisal following the playwright’s death, words “were confounding, exhilarating, form-shifting phenomena that we are all forever trying to wrestle into coherent shape.” And actors in his plays, Ben continued, “allowed us to feel the tragicomic heat that emanated from such wrestling matches.”

Bruce Weber wrote the eloquent obituary. Elisabeth Vincentelli delivered a streaming guide to his movies, and Eric Grode revealed his run as a prolific script doctor of “Indiana Jones” and other popular fare. Marc Tracy wrote of how Stoppard confronted his background in his final play, the Tony-winning “Leopoldstadt.” And Michael Paulson, Jesse Green and Laura Collins-Hughes gave us reactions from the likes of Glenn Close, Ethan Hawke and Tim Curry. “It’s so extraordinary that English was his second language. Because nobody advanced it more or cherished it more,” Curry said.

I’ll conclude with Stoppard in his own words, in perhaps an unexpected forum, “The David Letterman Show,” where he discussed worries about not being funny enough and lessons learned from the director Mike Nichols. And there’s also this lovely conversation with Patrick Marber, who directed “Leopoldstadt.”

Please reach out to me at theaterfeedback@nytimes.com with suggestions for articles 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

Like this email?

Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up here.

NEWS AND FEATURES

A man in a black tuxedo, his shirt open, is surrounded by other actors and cameras onstage during a filming.

George Etheredge for The New York Times

Sondheim’s ‘Merrily We Roll Along’ Was a Flop, Then a Hit. Now It’s a Film.

The Broadway revival, starring Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez, was transformative. Here’s what to know about the show, and the movie.

By Michael Paulson

Two drag queens sing onstage, one in a giant feathered red dress, the other in a giant feathered green dress.

Santiago Felipe

Holiday Theater: 15 Shows to Spice Up Your Festive Season

Enticements abound in New York City, including Jinkx Monsoon crooning, Dickens reciting Dickens and, for the whole family, the Big Apple Circus.

By Laura Collins-Hughes

A diptych shows portraits of Nathan Lane, left, and Laurie Metcalf.

CJ Rivera/Invision, via Associated Press, Rob Grabowski/Invision, via Associated Press

Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf to Star in Broadway ‘Salesman’

Joe Mantello will direct the next revival of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman,” opening in April at the Winter Garden Theater.

By Michael Paulson

Michelle Williams in a white one-shoulder gown in front of a blue background.

Richard Shotwell/Invision, via Associated Press

13 Plays (and 2 Festivals) to Invigorate Your December

Michelle Williams leads an O’Neill drama, Matthew Broderick stars in Molière, and plenty of stages brim with non-holiday fare, Off Broadway and beyond.

By Laura Collins-Hughes

In the first of several illustrations, a bespectacled man is sitting front row in a theater, looking wide-eyed. The caption at the top reads: “Ten years ago, in December 2015, I unexpectedly found myself sitting front row at a new Broadway musical I’d never heard of.”

sketch pad

‘Hamilton’ Has Had Quite a Run

Our cartoonist had no idea the Broadway musical he scored tickets to in 2015 would become a cultural phenomenon — and an enduring reminder of battles to be fought.

By Mike Dawson

TOM STOPPARD: 1937-2025

A black and white portrait of Tom Stoppard leaning forward, his left elbow resting on his leg.

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Tom Stoppard, Award-Winning Playwright of Witty Drama, Dies at 88

Drawing comparisons to the greatest of dramatists, he entwined erudition with imagination in stage works that won accolades on both sides of the Atlantic.

By Bruce Weber

A man holding a cigarette sits in his library.

Charlie Gates for The New York Times

Appraisal

The Language of Tom Stoppard, Ablaze With Energy and Urgency

In works like “Travesties” and “Arcadia,” the playwright embraced the really big questions and wrestled words into coherent, exhilarating shape.

By Ben Brantley

A group of people accept an award onstage.

Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

When Tom Stoppard Confronted His Background in His Final Play

The playwright, who learned about his Jewish heritage late in life, addressed it in the Tony Award-winning drama “Leopoldstadt.”

By Marc Tracy

Jeremy Irons and Glenn Close are sitting next to each other while facing and talking to Tom Stoppard, who is standing near them and holding a script.

Don Hogan Charles/The New York Times

Glenn Close, Ethan Hawke and Others Mourn Tom Stoppard

Nobody advanced or cherished the English language more than Stoppard, Tim Curry noted. Colleagues and fans agreed.

By Jesse Green, Michael Paulson and Laura Collins-Hughes