{"id":201715,"date":"2026-04-18T13:06:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T13:06:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/201715\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T13:06:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T13:06:29","slug":"13-actors-you-should-never-miss-on-the-new-york-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/201715\/","title":{"rendered":"13 Actors You Should Never Miss on the New York Stage"},"content":{"rendered":"

How to
Be Cultured<\/a> Menu Theater <\/p>\n

Quincy Tyler Bernstine<\/p>\n

Sara Krulwich\/The New York Times<\/p>\n

A master of active stillness, the 52-year-old Bernstine<\/a> (imposing in the 2024 revival of John Patrick Shanley\u2019s \u201cDoubt<\/a>,\u201d above) has that great actorly gift of making thought visible. A natural leader onstage, she compels audiences to follow her.<\/p>\n

Victoria Clark<\/p>\n

Sara Krulwich\/The New York Times<\/p>\n

One of the theater\u2019s best singing actors, with Tonys for Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas\u2019s \u201cThe Light in the Piazza\u201d (2005) and David Lindsay-Abaire and Jeanine Tesori\u2019s \u201cKimberly Akimbo<\/a>\u201d (above, 2022), Clark, 66, performs not on top of the notes but through them, delivering complicated characterization and gorgeous sound in each breath.<\/p>\n

Susannah Flood<\/p>\n

Sara Krulwich\/The New York Times<\/p>\n

Flood, 43, is a true expert at confusion, a good thing because she often plays characters like the twisted-in-knots Lizzie in Bess Wohl\u2019s \u201cLiberation<\/a>\u201d (above, 2025). What makes that confusion thrilling is how she grounds it not in a lack of information or purpose but, just like real life, in an excess of both.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Groff<\/p>\n

Sara Krulwich\/The New York Times<\/p>\n

The rare musical theater man with the unstoppable drive of a diva, Groff, 41, sweats charisma, as audience members in ringside seats at Warren Leight and Isaac Oliver\u2019s Broadway musical \u201cJust in Time<\/a>\u201d (above, 2025) recently discovered. Giving you everything, he makes you want more.<\/p>\n

William Jackson Harper<\/p>\n

Sara Krulwich\/The New York Times<\/p>\n

Unmoored characters are often unsympathetic. But whether playing a confused doctor in the 2024 revival of Anton Chekhov\u2019s \u201cUncle Vanya\u201d or a delusional bookstore clerk in Eboni Booth\u2019s \u201cPrimary Trust<\/a>\u201d (above, 2023), Harper, 46, makes vulnerability look easy, and hurt hard.<\/p>\n

Joshua Henry<\/p>\n

Sara Krulwich\/The New York Times<\/p>\n

There are singers who blow the roof off theaters, but the 41-year-old Henry\u2019s voice is so huge and deeply connected to universal feelings that he seems to be singing inside you. Currently starring in the Broadway revival of \u201cRagtime<\/a>\u201d (above, by Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty and Terrence McNally), he blows the roof off your head.<\/p>\n

Mia Katigbak<\/p>\n

Superb and acidic in almost any role \u2014 in distress (Annie Baker\u2019s 2023 \u201cInfinite Life<\/a>,\u201d above) or in command (2024\u2019s \u201cUncle Vanya\u201d) \u2014 Katigbak, 71, finds the sweet spot in even the sourest truths of the human condition.<\/p>\n

Judy Kuhn<\/p>\n

Sara Krulwich\/The New York Times<\/p>\n

With detailed intelligence and specific intention informing everything she sings, Kuhn, 67, is (among other things) a Stephen Sondheim specialist \u2014 her take on Fosca in \u201cPassion\u201d (above, 2012) was almost literally wrenching. It requires intellectual stamina to keep up with the master word for word.<\/p>\n

Laurie Metcalf<\/p>\n

Sara Krulwich\/The New York Times<\/p>\n

The fierce, sharp persona you may know from her years on \u201cRoseanne\u201d (1988-97) is about a tenth of the blistering commitment Metcalf, 70, offers onstage in works like Samuel D. Hunter\u2019s \u201cLittle Bear Ridge Road<\/a>\u201d (above, 2025). She goes there, no matter the destination.<\/p>\n

Deirdre O\u2019Connell<\/p>\n

Sara Krulwich\/The New York Times<\/p>\n

For 40 years an Off Broadway treasure, O\u2019Connell, 72, handles the most daring, out-there material \u2014 including, recently, a 12-minute monologue of cataclysmic gibberish in Caryl Churchill\u2019s \u201cKill<\/a>\u201d (above, 2025) \u2014 as if it were as ordinary as barroom gossip.<\/p>\n

Conrad Ricamora<\/p>\n

Sara Krulwich\/The New York Times<\/p>\n

Revealing the Buddy Holly in Benigno Aquino Jr. (in the 2023 Broadway production of David Byrne and Fatboy Slim\u2019s \u201cHere Lies Love\u201d) or the queer wolf in Abraham Lincoln (in Cole Escola\u2019s \u201cOh, Mary!,\u201d above, last year), Ricamora, 47, is uniquely capable of great dignity and great silliness \u2014 and, wonderfully, both together.<\/p>\n

Andrew Scott<\/p>\n

Sara Krulwich\/The New York Times<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a tough competition, but Scott, 49, may have the thinnest skin of any actor. Whether he\u2019s onstage (playing all the characters in Simon Stephens\u2019s Off Broadway \u201cVanya<\/a>,\u201d above, in 2025) or on film, every emotion \u2014 especially rue \u2014 reads right through his translucence.<\/p>\n

Michael Patrick Thornton<\/p>\n

Sara Krulwich\/The New York Times<\/p>\n

Some actors are hedgehogs, projecting one idea blazingly. Thornton, 47, is a fox, carefully hoarding ideas and motivations. Keeping you guessing as Jessica Chastain\u2019s benefactor in the 2023 revival of Henrik Ibsen\u2019s \u201cA Doll\u2019s House<\/a>\u201d or as a pathetic lackey in last year\u2019s production of Samuel Beckett\u2019s \u201cWaiting for Godot<\/a>\u201d (above, center), he holds you in his thrall.<\/p>\n

More in Theater See the rest of the issue<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How to Be Cultured Menu Theater Quincy Tyler Bernstine Sara Krulwich\/The New York Times A master of active…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1591,79982,79969,17211,52586,79985,15322,79972,35388,43450,79973,79975,79979,79976,79978,11679,79980,79977,79984,9,24,11,10,35878,79970,79981,17085,79971,79790,905,79983,10895,79974],"class_list":{"0":"post-201715","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-actors-and-actresses","9":"tag-andrew-1976","10":"tag-bernstine","11":"tag-clark","12":"tag-conrad","13":"tag-deirdre-actor","14":"tag-flood","15":"tag-groff","16":"tag-harper","17":"tag-henry","18":"tag-jonathan","19":"tag-joshua","20":"tag-judy","21":"tag-katigbak","22":"tag-kuhn","23":"tag-laurie","24":"tag-metcalf","25":"tag-mia","26":"tag-michael-patrick","27":"tag-new-york","28":"tag-new-york-city","29":"tag-new-york-headlines","30":"tag-new-york-news","31":"tag-oconnell","32":"tag-quincy-tyler","33":"tag-ricamora","34":"tag-scott","35":"tag-susannah","36":"tag-tculture2026","37":"tag-theater","38":"tag-thornton","39":"tag-victoria","40":"tag-william-jackson-1980"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}