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

Nominees for the 22nd Screen Actors Guild Awards were announced today. Winners will announced during the January 30, 2016, ceremony. Herein, the nominees. Film Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Beasts of No Nation The Big Short Spotlight Straight Outta Compton Trumbo  Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role Bryan Cranston , Trumbo Johnny Depp , Black Mass Leonardo DiCaprio , The Revenant Michael Fassbender , Steve Jobs Eddie Redmayne , The Danish Girl   Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role Cate Blanchett , Carol Brie Larson , Room Helen Mirren , Woman in Gold Saoirse Ronan , Brooklyn Sarah Silverman , I Smile Back    Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role Christian Bale , The Big Short Idris Elba , Beasts of No Nation Mark Rylance , Bridge of Spies Michael Shannon , 99 Homes Jacob Tremblay , Room    Outstanding Performance by a Female...

Be careful what you wish for because "wishes come true, not free." Sage advice from musical theatre's greatest living legend, Stephen Sondheim . In Into the Woods , Sondheim (music and lyrics) and frequent collaborator  James Lapine (book/screenplay) take several well known fairy tales and blend them together to create a morality tale. We begin with a prologue that introduces us to all the characters and their wishes. The Baker (James Corden) and the Baker's Wife (Emily Blunt) wish for a child (they don't know it at rise, but it's a curse cast on the Baker's father that has made them barren). Cinderella (Anna Kendrick) wishes to go to the festival (i.e., the Prince's ball), but her stepmother (Christine Baranski) says no. Jack (Daniel Huttlestone) wants to keep his cow, Milky White, but his mother (Tracey Ullman) insists he sell it. Little Red (Lilla Crawford) is en route to grandmother's house. And then there's the Witch (Meryl Streep), ...