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

New York City Ballet 2017-2018 Season NYCB teased the 2017-2018 season, which will be headlined by a centennial tribute to Jerome Robbins , one of the company's founding choreographers. 19 Robbins ballets will be featured, including favorites Fancy Free and the West Side Story Suite . Resident choreographer Justin Peck ( Everywhere We Go , The Times Are Racing ) will create at least two new ballets for the company, including one set to a Leonard Bernstein score, an homage to Robbins, who famously collaborated with Bernstein on the aforementioned ballets/shows. (2018 marks the centennial for both Robbins and Bernstein; the NY Phil's 2017-2018 program includes lots of Bernstein.) The season will also include new works by company members Lauren Lovette ( For Clara ), Troy Schumacher ( Common Ground ), and Peter Walker ( ten in seven ), as well as a new piece by 18-year-old SAB student, Gianna Reisen . (She'll be the youngest person to choreograph for the company.) S...

"And another hundred people just got off of the train." That's from "Another Hundred People," the Stephen Sondheim tune from Company . It's my favorite song about my favorite city, and, clearly, the creators of In Transit  like it, too. This theme of the subway connecting all New Yorkers, and the sheer number of people who are in transit at any one time, and the lives they live, is the focus of this original a cappella musical. What, at first, seems like a series of sketches (for the first several minutes, I thought this was going to be a themed revue), turns into a full musical, with story arcs and characters for whom we root. There's the gay couple, Trent ( Justin Guarini , Women on the Verge... ) and Steven ( Telly Leung , Godspell ), who are engaged but fearful of telling Trent's southern, conservative mother that he and Steven are more than just roommates; there's Nate ( James Snyder , If/Then ), the ex-investment banker who's tryi...

Casting News Phylicia Rashad ( Head of Passes ) will appear on Empire in a recurring role. Variety has more about the third season of the Fox show. Annie Parisse is making an early departure from The Layover in order film the recently announced Netflix series, Friends from College . She'll play her final performance September 4. Tony nominee Maria Dizzia ( Uncle Vanya , Horace and Pete ) will take over the role of Shellie beginning September 6. The Leslye Headland play continues through September 18. Broadway.com has more. Alison Brie ( Community ) will lead the cast of G.L.O.W. , a Netflix series about the "Glorious Ladies of Wrestling." The series is created by Weeds and Orange is the New Black creator, Jenji Kohan. Variety has more. According to Deadline, Betty Gilpin  ( Nurse Jackie , I'm Gonna Pray for You So Hard ) and comedian and WTF podcast host Marc Maron will star alongside Brie. ( Gilpin announcement ; Maron announcement .) Full casting ...