Reviewing the Drama: Broadway, Off-Broadway, Ballet, Movies, and TV Reviews

The Newsroom We're half way through the inaugural season of The Newsroom - what do you think of the show thus far? "Amen" allowed Dev Patel's Neal to shine, and provided an interesting example of how traditional media and new media are working together. Below, catch a glimpse at next week's episode, "Bullies," which has shades of "Night Five" and "The Black Vera Wang" all over it! Bonuses: John Gallagher, Jr. , talks to Backstage about working on The Newsroom and doing karaoke. Chris Messina (Reese Lansing) is showing up everywhere these days - not just in the newsroom - and Vulture caught up with him to chat about it . (Tip: See him in Jennifer Westfeldt's Ira and Abby - you'll thank me!) Election Update: Debates The timing and format of the upcoming presidential debates have been announced. There will be a total of three debates, all in October and all lasting 90 minutes. First up will be the Oc

The Newsroom "I'll Try to Fix You" was so "Let Bartlet Be Barlet" - the episode starts slow, seems innocuous but steadily builds to this thrilling finish during which the collective finds its voice, becoming something truly inspirational. Absolutely brilliant. Broadway.com once again recaps what happened this week, offering some choice quotes. (Although, they left out my favorite of the night: Don (to Reese, in re: "calling" Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords): "She's a person. A doctor pronounces her dead, not the news.") And now, here's a look at what you can expect on the next episode, "Amen": Bonus Newsroom goodies:   John Gallagher, Jr. , talks to Canadian magazine Filler about working on the show and the differences between stage and screen. Jeff Daniels took part in an HBO Connect Q & A, answering fans' questions about the show and his career. Takeaways include: (1)When speaking about lear

The 64th Primetime Emmy Award nominations have been announced! Without any further ado, here are the nominees in select categories. (For the full list, visit the Emmy Award website .): COMEDY Outstanding Comedy Series The Big Bang Theory Curb Your Enthusiasm Girls Modern Family 30 Rock Veep Though I can't say I'm surprised, I am disappointed that Community and Wilfred are not nominated. We all expected Girls to be recognized in its debut season and it was, but maybe somewhat unexpected though certainly welcome is the nomination for Veep , which is one of the few shows that can make me laugh out loud. Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Lena Dunham, Girls Melissa McCarthy, Mike and Molly Zooey Deschanel, New Girl Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation Tina Fey, 30 Rock Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep Women are funny! Anyone who tries to argue otherwise need only watch these gals do their thing. (Of course, I am referring mainl

The best musical in New York isn’t on Broadway; it’s off-Broadway at the venerable Second Stage Theatre, the same company that helped develop Next to Normal . While Dogfight might not be as revelatory as that Pulitzer Prize and Tony winning masterpiece, it is very, very good.  As in the obscure early 90s movie of the same name, Dogfight tells the story of three Marines on the night before they ship out for Vietnam. The world is a different place; it’s November 21, 1963, the day before President Kennedy was shot, and these Jarheads are looking for a little fun. They decide to have a dogfight, but it’s not the kind that got Michael Vick into trouble. In Marine parlance, a dogfight is a battle to see which Marine can score the ugliest date. In his search for a dog to bring to the fight, the leader of the pack Eddie Birdlace (Derek Klena) meets Rose Fenny (Lindsay Mendez), and discovers  that true connection and love is more than just what meets the eyes.  With a book by Peter Duc

The Newsroom I loved "The 112th Congress." This is classic Aaron Sorkin storytelling - jumping around in time to help move the story forward. (Think "The Midterms" or "The Stackhouse Filibuster," both from season two of The West Wing .) We got some lovely moments between the characters, met Jane Fonda's Leona Lansing and were reminded that Aaron Sorkin is a musical theatre scholar. (References included Gypsy , Little Shop of Horrors and Brigadoon ) As is the new normal, Broadway.com has a rundown of favorite quotes from the episode, like this line uttered by John Gallagher, Jr.'s Jim: "I'm not going to 'get in there.' I'm not going to swoop in like she's a rent-controlled apartment." Another great thing about this episode: it was co-written by Gideon Yago , the cutie journalist you may remember from MTV's Idiot Savant and his IFC news program, The IFC Media Project . And now, here's a look at the next e

Spidey is back, dear readers. Though it’s only been about five years since the last Tobey Maguire-led Spider-Man movie, Marvel comics has opted for a reboot. We now have the aptly named Marc Webb behind the camera and the impressive ( and recent Tony-nominee ) Andrew Garfield in the suit.  The plot of this movie hews pretty closely to previous iterations: We meet the nerdy (and in this case, kind of angsty-emo) Peter Parker (Garfield), an outcast in school. He visits Oscorp and is bitten by a radioactive spider, imbuing him with his spidey senses. He’s in love with a pretty girl, in this case it’s Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone). One of his mentors (here it’s his absent father’s former colleague, Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans)) becomes a little overzealous with scientific experimentation. When Dr. Connors experiments on himself, it goes horribly wrong and Peter’s mentor becomes Spider-Man’s nemesis.  I can’t report that this is particularly revelatory, although we do get a little mor

The Newsroom First and foremost: The Newsroom has been picked up for a second season ! Yay!!!!!!! And now, back to this season. What did you think of the second episode? I loved all the shades of Sports Night and the comedy of this episode. It definitely fits into Aaron Sorkin's description of this having ancestry in romantic screwball comedies. Plus, this episode featured the debuts of funny lady (and sometimes The Daily Show correspondent) Olivia Munn and the talented and appealing Chris Messina ( Ira and Abbey ).  As promised, Broadway.com has a round up of their favorite moments of the episode, including this one: Reese (Messina) says to Will (Jeff Daniels), "Have you ever been at Sardi's on opening night of a Broadway show five minutes after word gets out that the Times panned it? They leave and they never come back."  Next week, you'll have a chance to chat with John Gallagher, Jr ! Head over to HBO Connect to learn more!  Finally, here