Theater Update: Carrie Coon and Tracy Letts want to get under your skin
A turbocharged ‘Wicked,’ the Rockettes and ‘The Queen of Versailles’
Theater Update
December 24, 2025

Dear Theater Fans,

The Christmas and New Year’s stretch is always a good period for Broadway shows, and this year it should be an especially good one for “Wicked.” But that show’s fortunes go beyond the holidays. It’s been running strong for over 20 years, and now the two-part film adaptation starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande has turbocharged what was already a Broadway juggernaut. In a wicked cool “Wicked” timeline, Michael Paulson explores one of theater’s biggest success stories.

Sometimes, however, success is harder to grasp. Such was the case with two fall shows that closed last weekend: the play “Little Bear Ridge Road” and the musical “The Queen of Versailles.” Though “The Queen of Versailles” reunited Kristin Chenoweth and Stephen Schwartz for the first time since their work on “Wicked,” it wasn’t enough to counter poor word of mouth and other challenges. Michael explored how a show that “aspired to be a cautionary tale about consumption and greed” instead “wound up as a cautionary tale about Broadway.”

You’ll also want to read our dance critic Gia Kourlas’s essay reflecting on the legacy of the Rockettes as they celebrate their 100th anniversary. After watching a recent performance of the “Christmas Spectacular,” Gia was disappointed that the mostly satisfying production “didn’t showcase the Rockettes with conviction.” Another great read is Ben Brantley’s interview with the actress Carrie Coon and the playwright Tracy Letts, who are married and working together on a Broadway production of Letts’s “Bug.” Though their work explores “a landscape of deep, all-American dread,” as Ben put it, Letts admitted to being “the more hopeful one.” With two young kids, “you just can’t have two doomsayers in the house,” Letts said.

On that note, I’ll leave you with the uplifting “We Need a Little Christmas” — the Angela Lansbury version — from “Mame.” I hope you are all getting a holiday break. Mine takes me to Minnesota for a week in the cold (and, surprise, snow); while I’m away my colleague Rachel Sherman has agreed to fill in for me. She’s cooking up something fun!

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.

Happy holidays and happy new year,
Nicole Herrington
Theater Editor

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NEWS

Kristin Chenoweth in a fuchsia-colored dress stands on stairs while posing for a camera positioned on a tripod.

Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

‘The Queen of Versailles’ Bombed on Broadway. What Went Wrong?

The show reunited Kristin Chenoweth and Stephen Schwartz for the first time since “Wicked.” It wasn’t enough to counter poor word of mouth and other challenges.

By Michael Paulson

Nine people stand in a circle onstage.

Alexander Mejía/Bergamot

Playwrights Horizons Is Sued Over Discounts to People of Color

The lawsuit, against the prominent Off Broadway theater, is backed by Edward Blum, who has long challenged race-based policies. Playwrights called it “meritless.”

By Michael Paulson

FEATURES

Tracy Letts, wearing a black leather jacket over a jean shirt, and Carrie Coon, wearing a orange-red sweater and chunky gold necklace, pose for a portrait outside on a city street.

Caroline Tompkins for The New York Times

Carrie Coon and Tracy Letts Want to Get Under Your Skin

The couple are gearing up for the Broadway opening of “Bug,” about a descent into paranoia and psychosis in a squalid motel room.

By Ben Brantley

Article Image

Alice Zoo for The New York Times

Reading ‘A Christmas Carol’ Aloud, and Leaning Into Its Dark Side

An actor at the Dickens Museum in London is delivering dramatic performances of the classic holiday tale, just like the writer himself once did for sold-out crowds.

By Jillian Rayfield and Alice Zoo

A man in black 17th-century garb sitting on a table while speaking with a woman in a large dress. Another man, wearing gold, is crouching below the table the other man is sitting on.

Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

‘Tartuffe’ Gets a Colorfully Modern Makeover

With its profanity-laced script, Lucas Hnath’s Molière adaptation, starring Matthew Broderick, is a mischievous clash of the old and the new.

By Tim Teeman

FROM THE CRITICS

A large group of dancers perform on a stage made of wooden planks. Two cast members stand in the center on a wooden platform.

Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Critic’s Notebook

Miracle on 64th Street: Options for Holiday Opera

Usually, holiday opera is scarce on major stages in New York. But this year, there are two at Lincoln Center alone.

By Joshua Barone

Three men, two wearing suits, stand in a doorway. Behind them are two women and a man.

Warner Bros.

Critic’s Notebook

In 2025, They Asked What Racial Solidarity Really Looks Like

Across film (“Sinners,” “One Battle After Another”), theater (“Ragtime”) and TV (“The Lowdown”), four works suggested what achieving racial equality in America would take.

By Salamishah Tillet

A line of Rockettes in soldier costumes with some falling like dominoes.

Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

Critic’s Notebook

The Rockettes, at 100, Need a Kick in the Right Direction

This year, “Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes” pays homage to the legacy of the group, but its future seems to be more about sisterhood than dancing.

By Gia Kourlas

Four women stand onstage, singing, in old-fashioned dresses.

Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Review: A ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’ Musical Is a Psychedelic Parable

At Greenwich House Theater, Greta Gertler Gold and Hilary Bell’s stage adaptation of Joan Lindsay’s novel hovers between reverie and reality.

By Brittani Samuel

THEATER GUIDES

A family in 19th-century clothing sit at a wooden table, with a man in a robe and nightcap standing behind them, looking on.

Melissa Taylor

‘A Christmas Carol’, ‘Dead Outlaw’ and More Theater to Stream

Other picks include a family production of “The Snow Queen,” the Broadway-bound “Every Brilliant Thing” and the acclaimed comedy “Sorry for Your Loss.”

By Rachel Sherman