Helen Shaw is the new Times theater critic

[Fordham2015]

Posted: 12/3/25 at 10:34am

https://www.nytco.com/press/helen-shaw-joins-culture/

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 12/3/25 at 10:37am

Per the press release, Shaw begins in mid-January.

For what it's worth, this is a GREAT get for the New York Times, she really is one of our best active critics right now. 

Updated On: 12/3/25 at 10:37 AM

[Kad]

Posted: 12/3/25 at 10:48am

Shaw is excellent. It's the Times itself I have qualms about. I hope they give her the space to excel. 

[HBP]

Posted: 12/3/25 at 10:52am

Hallelujah. Say goodbye to Critics' Picks for the likes of Redwood and Queen of Versailles.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/3/25 at 10:56am

I think this is perfect and hopefully a real reset for what a  NY Times review means for a show. I think she adds a real legitimacy that’s been absent for quite a while now, so it’ll be nice to be excited for a Times review again. 

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 12/3/25 at 10:57am

Wow. I love her...but always remember that Green was great when he was at NY Mag too. Will hope she is able to maintain her greatness and whatever being at the Times did to Green doesn't happen to her.

[Kad]

Posted: 12/3/25 at 11:04am

Green was good at NYMag but there were certainly indicators of what he would become (I will never get over his bizarre offense over Great Comet in his review there). 

[CoffeeBreak]

Posted: 12/3/25 at 11:19am

Why did Green get the boot?

[Sauja]

Posted: 12/3/25 at 11:37am

Kad said: "Green was good at NYMag but there were certainly indicators of what he would become (I will never get over his bizarre offense over Great Comet in his review there)."

This! I adore Helen Shaw's criticism, but I was also a fan of Green when he was at NY/Vulture. I hope she maintains her critical excellence but fear whether she too could devolve when entering the NYT machine. We shall see!

[Owen22]

Posted: 12/3/25 at 12:00pm

She was one of my absolute favorite critics when she was working at New York magazine! So excited! Hopefully they fired that awful Hughes woman!

[raddersons]

Posted: 12/3/25 at 12:39pm

Shaw is one of the best critics in the game. Thrilled to finally have elevated taste at the times. 

[MadsonMelo]

Posted: 12/3/25 at 1:06pm

Is she the first female chief theater critic at the NYT?

[walnutoraroach]

Posted: 12/3/25 at 1:09pm

MadsonMelo said: "Is she the first female chief theater critic at the NYT?"

Sure is!!

[Kad]

Posted: 12/3/25 at 1:50pm

MadsonMelo said: "Is she the first female chief theater critic at the NYT?"

For my money, the best 2 theatre critics in the US are both women- Shaw and Sara Holdren. Even when I don't agree, I find their writing to be extremely worthwhile. 

Updated On: 12/3/25 at 01:50 PM

[halfhourcheckwithmerman]

Posted: 12/3/25 at 5:08pm

How right you are, Kad! 

SO THRILLED about this news. Shaw is so brilliant. Just thrilled. It feels like this position will have an air of credibility and authority again. Like it or not, I think it's very important to the industry to have a cultural bellwether like this --- with such a good writer with such good and thoughtful taste as Shaw, we are in very good hands. Wonderful!!

[bear882]

Posted: 12/3/25 at 5:21pm

Kad said: "Green was good at NYMag but there were certainly indicators of what he would become (I will never get over his bizarre offense over Great Comet in his review there)."

I happened upon that review recently, and Green’s outrage over the musical’s mere existence was so strange.