Beth Malone

Good Time Charlie

October 19, 2026

Ryan J. Haddad’s deliciously comic but ultimately poignant "Good Time Charlie" having its world premiere at The Public Theater is his first non-monologue play. This time he uses seven actors including himself to play nine relatives in this theatrical autobiography. Ostensibly, a tribute to his gay Uncle Charlie (in actuality his father’s first cousin), it is also Haddad’s own autobiography of his early years (which eventually brought him into theater) and his immediate family. Covering the years 1976 to the present, it is a hilarious catty review of musicals and musical films as well as the more serious social mores of two generations’ attitudes towards homosexuality, that of Charlie’s generation and that of Ryan’s. The theatrical in-jokes will tickle regular theatergoers and some will get the meta theater references to "Fun Home" (whose original cast included the play’s Beth Malone and TV’s "Smash" which also include the participation of Michael Cristofer. [more]

The Unsinkable Molly Brown

March 15, 2020

Although director/choreographer Kathleen Marshall has given the Transport Group production staged at The Abroms Arts Center a rousing production, the major problem still exists with the story: Molly goes from tomboy to wife to social activist but always seems to be the same. Basically Malone changes her outfits (costumes by Sky Switser) and becomes more mature and more sophisticated but never really changes from the girl at heart who wants riches and gaudy things. Costar David Aron Damane, with his powerful baritone, who plays J.J. Brown, the miner who strikes it rich and proceeds to give Molly almost everything she wants, helps a good deal but their love story is not made entirely believable, possibly because the stalwart Damane is still made to be a very retiring hero, a man of few words. [more]

Fun Home

May 3, 2015

Inside this less-than-"Fun Home" of deception and repression is an exceedingly endearing and relatable cast of characters. Sydney Lucas, Emily Skeggs, and Beth Malone star as Small, Middle, and Adult Alisons, respectively; while their individual mannerisms and inflections may not depict a consistent character, their passionate performances work well enough together to amount to a moving “portrait of the cartoonist as a young woman” (or what have you). Stage and screen veteran Judy Kuhn likewise shines—or, more appropriately, fades—as the Alisons’ defeated mother Helen. As her former Disney princess voice glides across a broken ballad, Kuhn shows the anguish of a wife with nothing left to sing about. Perhaps most notably, Michael Cerveris’ heartbreaking portrait of Bruce is both authoritative and impotent, loveable and despicable. [more]