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

The winners for the 71st annual Tony Awards have been announced and feted! The full list of winners is below, beginning with the big four categories. Thereafter are the winners in the play categories followed by the nominees in the musical categories. Winners are notated with bold typeface and an asterisk. Best Musical Come From Away Dear Evan Hansen * Groundhog Day Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 Hooray!!! Dear Evan Hansen  had been the early frontrunner, but Come From Away  was the horse that broke late, and made the category competitive. (I certainly don't mean that as a knock on Great Comet , which I've seen and loved, or Groundhog Day , which I haven't seen; that's just what the race, according to chatter, was.) I love this musical. It's raw, honest, and important. It worked so well off-Broadway, it works amazingly on Broadway, and you better look for it in your town because I have no doubt it will be incredible on tour. Best Play ...

Fans of The West Wing  might recall a moment when President Bartlet is sarcastically called on his "Noel Coward-esque wit." President Bartlet would love this revival of Mr. Coward's Present Laughter . This fun and fluffy play, centering on the zany goings on at theatre impresario Garry Essendine's studio,  is filled to the brim with Noel Coward-esque wit, that kind of smart, snappy dialogue—especially among mixed company—that you rarely hear anymore. (No doubt it's the kind of repartee for which West Wing  scribe Aaron Sorkin aims.) The kind of dialogue that doesn't talk down to its audience or its characters; dialogue that proves women are smart and strong, equal to the men with whom they keep company. (Three cheers for director Moritz von Stuelpnagel  (a Tony nominee for Hand to God ) for the terrific pacing and for letting things go crazy without going off the tracks.) We're lucky to have such a pitch perfect production of such a play, and it...

Casting News Deadline  first reported that Brian d'Arcy James will return to Hamilton . The Tony-nominated actor originated the role of King George III in the off-Broadway production of the mega-hit musical, but left the production shortly after the off-Broadway opening to open Something Rotten on Broadway. In the interim, he was seen in the Oscar-winning film, Spotlight , and has a few projects coming up. A later report by Playbill stated that he will join the Broadway company on April 14. Tony and Academy Award nominee Patricia Clarkson will join Amy Adams in the HBO limited series, Sharp Objects , based on the eponymous Gillian Flynn novel. Deadline has more. Stage and screen veteran Paul Sparks ( House of Cards , The Night Of ) has joined the cast of Greatest Showman , the musical biopic about P.T. Barnum starring Hugh Jackman. (Pasek and Paul are writing the score.) Sparks will also be seen in the upcoming Spike TV miniseries, Waco . Deadline has more. Tony n...

There was no Week in Review last week. This week's post includes items from last week and this week. Coming to the Boards Broadway —The great stage and screen veteran and two-time Tony Award winner Kevin Kline will return to Broadway this spring in a revival of Noel Coward 's Present Laughter ! The play was last seen on Broadway in 2010. Deadline reports that the revival, which will be a limited engagement, will open on April 5, and will take up residency at the St. James Theatre, one of Broadway's largest venues. Tony nominee Moritz von Stuelpnagel ( Hand to God ) will direct. Off-Broadway —Additional productions have been added to Lincoln Center 's 2016-2017 season. How to Transcend a Happy Marriage , written by Sarah Ruhl ( Stage Kiss ) and directed by Rebecca Taichman ( Stage Kiss , Indecent ), will play the Newhouse Theater beginning February 23, 2017, with opening night set for March 20. Upstairs, at the Claire Tow Theatre, Bryna Turner 's Bull i...