Elysa Gardner

Elysa Gardner, formerly the theater and music critic for USA Today, has at various points been a regular contributor to The New Yorker , Rolling Stone, The Los Angeles Times and VH1. She currently covers cabaret for The New York Times, and her writing has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Spin, Vibe, Billboard, Town & Country, Out, American Theatre and other publications. She is a critic for New York Stage Review and hosts the podcasts “Develop Your Character” for Camp Broadway and “Stage Door Sessions” for Broadway Direct.

Book credits include U2: The Rolling Stone Files, for which she wrote the introduction, and a chapter on Taylor Swift in Woman Walk The Line, as well as an upcoming book about the creation and legacy of the musical Pippin. Elysa has served on the Pulitzer Prize drama jury twice, most recently (in 2017) as chair, and is a board member of the Drama Desk.