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

I had never read Bret Easton Ellis 's novel, American Psycho , but I had seen the movie, liked the movie, and was excited for the musical stage adaptation. I walked out of American Psycho  the musical thinking that it was too sanitized. I was expecting something bloodier, more gory, more violent. The next day, I re-watched the movie (I had never returned the videotape). While there were a couple more violent sequences, and the violence felt more intimate (and therefore more brutal), it wasn't the Tarantino-esque blood fest I remembered. And so while I realize my expectations were unfounded, I find I'm ambivalent about this production. There are elements to praise, but it doesn't thrill like a thriller should. In much the same way John Hughes and his films captured the 80s teenager, novelist Ellis captured the late 80s yuppie. That flush urbanite who was too cool for school, snorted cocaine out of boredom, and went on a killing spree after hours. Well, maybe not e...

I heard about the Deaf West production of Spring Awakening , and I thought, "That sounds interesting." Then I heard it was coming to Broadway. I was going to see Spring Awakening  on Broadway. Again. I was shocked. I saw Spring Awakening  ten times during its original Broadway run. At my age, it's uncommon for there to be a revival of a show I saw in its original run, but in what's becoming a trend, revivals are popping up within a decade of their original productions. (To wit, this season, we'll see a revival of The Color Purple , which debuted on Broadway in late 2005, and played through February 2008.) If you know how I feel about revivals, you might think I would have been skeptical of this Spring Awakening  revival, even more so because I loved the original Broadway production so much. But from the start, there was something different about this. Deaf West is a Los Angeles-based theatre company that, for the last 25 years, has been producing productio...

American Psycho Coming to Off-Broadway The musical stage adaptation of the cult favorite American Psycho will debut in the US as part of Second Stage 's 2014-2015 season. The musical features a score by Duncan Sheik , who won acclaim and Tonys for Spring Awakening , and a book by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa , who served as show doctor for Spider-man: Turn Off the Dark . Rupert Goold directed the London premiere and will reprise his work for the off-Broadway bow, which will begin in February 2015. The American Psycho film (which starred Christian Bale ( American Hustle )) and musical are based on the Bret Easton Ellis novel. Broadway.com has more. Broadway Dates and Theatre Announced for An American in Paris Great news: Dates and a theatre for the stage adaptation of the beloved Gene Kelly movie have been confirmed. After a world premiere in Paris (November 11, 2014-January 4, 2015), the Gershwin musical will bow on Broadway at the Palace Theatre. Previews are scheduled to...