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

This morning, these two things happened. First, Thomas Sadoski (who plays Don on  The Newsroom ) let his Italian friends know that  The Newsroom  will premiere on Italian TV on October 17, and air every Thursday, at 11pm. Then he apologized for his Italian skills. Later,  Lin-Manuel Miranda (a Tony winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist for In the Heights ) reviewed the new doc, Broadway Idiot , which chronicles Billie Joe Armstrong's journey from punk rocker to a rocking Broadway star, with  American Idiot . (For the full effect, it's important to note that Miranda worked with the genius  Tom Kitt (who won the Pulitzer and a Tony for  Next to Normal ) on  Bring It On .) Miranda speaks the truth. (Also, learn about Broadway Idiot . ) It was a fun morning.

The nominations for the 67th Tony Awards are in! Without any further ado, here is the full list of nominees, first the plays, then the musicals: Best Play The Assembled Parties , Richard Greenberg Lucky Guy , Nora Ephron The Testament of Mary , Colm Toibin Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike , Christopher Durang All of these are spring shows, leaving new plays from the fall, like Grace and Dead Accounts , out of the running. My vote is for the hilarious Vanya... , though I hear good things about Lucky Guy , written by the late Nora Ephron. Best Revival of a Play Golden Boy Orphans The Trip to Bountiful Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Is this even a competition? Virginia Woolf?  was the best show on Broadway this year - play or musical, revival or new. It was an absolutely flawless production. Tony voters, do the right thing, otherwise George and Martha will come after you, and they know how to fight! Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Pl...

“If you want something, keep your hands on it,” say the dreamers in the new musical Hands on a Hardbody . Inspired by the eponymous documentary by S.R. Bindler, the musical looks at the contestants in a hands on a hardbody contest in Longview, Texas, and aims to find out just why they’re holding on. A hands on a hardbody contest is one in which you place your hands on a truck—a hardbody—and you cannot remove them. You always have to have at least one hand on the truck. Like a filibuster, you can’t lean, you can’t stretch; all you can do is stand there and hold on for dear life. (In this contest, there are 15-minute breaks every six hours.) The last man standing wins the truck. But as we learn in this musical, with a book by Doug Wright (a Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winner for I Am My Own Wife ), lyrics by Amanda Green ( Bring It On ) and music by Green and Phish’s Trey Anastasio, winning the truck is just the beginning. For each of the ten contestants, winning the truck means so...

Golden Globe Update Ricky Gervais had a nice run, but this year, funny ladies Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will host the Golden Globes! The SNL alumnae proved a potent pair when they co-anchored Weekend Update on the late night sketch show, and I'm confident they'll bring the funny to the award season staple. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (that is, the folks who organize, vote on and decide the awards) said in a statement , "The HFPA is thrilled to have the magnetic duo be a part of the show's 70th anniversary!" So are viewers! The Golden Globe Awards will be handed out on January 13, 2013. The broadcast will air on NBC. Reactions to the announcement: Vulture listed 17 things Fey and Poehler should also be in charge of The Hollywood Reporter pits Fey and Poehler against Oscar host Seth MacFarlane in an award show host showdown. (For the record, I wish reports about MacFarlane and his audience would stop saying women are not part of his audienc...

Emmy Extras Wrap up , including who won and what they wore! Photos: red carpet, part one ; red carpet, part two ; red carpet, part three winners ; winners in the press room ; inside the ceremony ; parties ; and more parties (including pre-Emmy parties) New York magazine's Vulture breaks down the Emmy ratings At right, Seth MacFarlane's snarky follow up to his microphone gaffe. (He also addressed it when he went on Leno earlier this week) Theatre Updates Bad news, dear readers: Peter and the Starcatcher will end its Broadway run on January 20, 2013. The magical show will live on, though, when the national tour kicks off in Denver in August 2013. Read my review of the Broadway production, then head over to peterandthestarcatcher.com to purchase tickets before the Broadway run concludes. Playbill has more details. Lucky Guy , the last play written by the late great Nora Ephron , will bow on Broadway this spring. Dates are not set, but according to the ...

The Newsroom What an incredible episode. ( Go Inside the Episode with Aaron Sorkin .) I can't wait for part two! What I found was so interesting about "Tragedy Porn" is that we're seeing this team we have come to admire do something so seemingly beneath them. We're seeing them do a big thing badly. And it elicits newly found sympathy for some real life news teams because it makes you think that some of the anchors really want to be doing News Night 2.0, i.e., good, informative stories that matter, not news as entertainment, but their hands are tied because they do, after all, have network bosses, ratings analysts and shareholders to answer to. Plus, the episode brought us some great lines, like "There's not enough bourbon in Kentucky."; "Have you been listening? Because we have."; and the show-closing punctuation, "I didn't know we had that kind of comic timing." Below, take a look at next week's episode, "The Bla...