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

(Scroll down for news about Oscar Isaac and his Hamlet co-star, Keegan-Michael Key.) Josh Groban on Your Coffee Table This week, Josh Groban teased a coffee table book, Stage to Stage: My Journey to Broadway . In his tweet, Groban said , "The last few years have been insane. So I made a coffee table book about it. It's full of great memories." Later, in an Instagram post , the crooner said, "We collected so many photos and memories from the last few years. Recording the Stages album, promoting it, doing a tour that took me around the world and back, and then signing on and completing my debut in Great Comet ...it's all been one serendipitous dream." Groban just completed his run in Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 , marking his much-anticipated and highly acclaimed Broadway debut. A Doll's House, Part 2 to Welcome New Cast The terrific Lucas Hnath play A Doll's House, Part 2 will welcome three new cast members this summ...

Mark Rylance Sets Broadway Return The three-time Tony Award winner and Academy Award winner will return to Broadway this winter. Rylance ( Twelfth Night , Bridge of Spies ) leads the cast of Farinelli and the King , a new play by Clair van Kampen that premiered at Shakespeare's Globe in 2015. As noted in the announcement on Playbill , Farinelli and the King is "inspired by the true story of the Italian castrato opera singer," and includes many Handel arias. Previews at Broadway's Belasco Theatre (where Rylance was last in the dual Twelfth Night/Richard III productions) begin December 5, with opening night set for December 17. The limited engagement is scheduled to conclude March 25, 2018. Casting News This is not a drill: Aaron Tveit will play Bobby in Company this summer! The stage and screen vet ( Next to Normal , Graceland ) will take on the lead role of Stephen Sondheim's musical at the Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, MA, August 10-Sept...

The nominees for the 71st annual Tony Awards have been announced. The full list of nominees is below, beginning with the big four categories. Thereafter are the nominees in the play categories followed by the nominees in the musical categories. Tune into the Tony Awards on CBS June 11 to find out who will walk away with a statue. Best Musical Come From Away Dear Evan Hansen Groundhog Day Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 There were 13 new musicals this season, necessarily leaving several off this list. That said, from what I've seen and heard, these are the right choices. (A fifth nominee was possible if a certain number of shows earned a certain percentage of the vote, but, clearly, that didn't happen.) What's notable is that two of the four musicals, Dear Evan Hansen and The Great Comet , opened in the fall. All too often, shows that open in the fall either quickly close, or, if they're still open, are forgotten by Tony nominators amid the glu...

Carousel   Revival to Hit Broadway in 2018 A revival of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel  will bow on Broadway in spring 2018, officially opening at a theatre to be announced on March 23. The production will be directed by Jack O'Brien  ( Catch Me If You Can ) and choreographed by NYCB resident choreographer  Justin Peck  ( Everywhere We Go , The Times Are Racing ). Peck's fellow NYCB dancers Amar Ramasar  and Brittany Pollack  will be among the company, figuring prominently in the act two dream ballet. The production will star Tony winner Jessie Mueller  ( Beautiful , Waitress ) as Julie Jordan and two-time Tony nominee Joshua Henry  ( The Scottsboro Boys , Violet ,  Shuffle Along... ) as Billy Bigelow. (Now this photo of Justin and Joshua has been demystified.) Opera diva Renee Fleming  will also appear in the production. In the  Playbill  announcement, Peck promises "an even more dance-and-movement-f...

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...