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

Casting News NYCB principal dancer Sara Mearns will appear as a guest artist in the Matthew Bourne ballet adaptation of The Red Shoes , which will play at New York's City Center this fall. Mearns will alternate performances with Ashley Shaw , who originated the role of Victoria Page, the tortured dancer, in the London premiere. The Red Shoes runs October 26 through November 5. The New York Times has more , and the City Center website has the cast schedule. Lin-Manuel Miranda ( Hamilton ) has joined the cast of the upcoming reboot of the beloved animated series, Duck Tales . Miranda joins a cast that already includes Ben Schwartz and Danny Pudi . Theater Mania has more. It's an Honor Drama League Awards —Winners of the Drama League Awards were announced, with Ben Platt  making history as the youngest winner of the Distinguished Performance Award. Elsewhere, Oslo  took home the Outstanding Play honor, and Platt's show, Dear Evan Hansen , won Outstanding Music...

Helping to kick off New York City Ballet's Here and Now Festival, which celebrates modern choreographers' works, was an all-Wheeldon program. During the evening, fans got to watch four ballets by the Tony-winning choreographer , who was the company's first resident choreographer. The evening began with Mercurial Manoeuvres , which, notably, is the last ballet Wheeldon choreographed for the company while still one of its principal dancers. A ballet for 21 dancers (set to Shostakovich's "Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Minor, Opus 35"), this has a decidedly militaristic feel in the ensemble moments. (Watch, for example, the dancers' arms—they move with precision like the hands on a clock. It's exact and clipped.) That's beautifully juxtaposed with the grace and softness of the utterly impressive pas de deux (danced on Saturday by Tiler Peck and Tyler Angle ). Both types of dancing—ensemble and pas—are mercurial. The ensemble keeps changing forma...

History was made at New York City Ballet on Thursday (April 2 7 ) night as the venerable dance company presented its first–ever all–Peck program, an evening dedicated to ballet's golden boy, Justin Peck , a soloist with the company and its resident choreographer. It was a momentous occasion for the toast of the town, who, still under 30, is seen as a ballet wunderkind and, perhaps, the superhero who is going to bring ballet back to popular culture. Peck has been choreographing for NYCB (and others) for just five years, yet he's already created 13 ballets for the company (with a 14th set to premiere in May), including one that was the subject of the documentary Ballet 422 , his ode to his hometown, Paz de la Jolla . Peter Martins had his pick of Peck's many creations, but for the first all–Peck program, he chose four works: In Creases , the first ballet Peck made for NYCB; The Dreamers , a pas de deux; New Blood , one of Peck's collaborations with fashion designer...

Notes on the New Combinations evening, including the world premiere of two ballets: Fearful Symmetries : This Peter Martins ballet is reminiscent of Robbins's Glass Pieces , though it's just one movement (with a coda). Using the John Adams composition of the same name, Fearful Symmetries , which I first saw in 2011 , is athletic and buoyant. Taking its cue from the music, there is repetition—symmetry—to the steps. The ending coda is like a cool down, something suggesting that everything leading up to it was a fever dream. There are no principals, giving more corps de ballet members and soloists an opportunity to be showcased, and not just the two main couples ( Claire Kretzchmar + Russell Janzen and Ashly Isaacs + Zachary Catazaro ). In particular, I noticed featured soloist Harrison Ball , who made great leaps in some impressive sections. While Isaacs comes on like a seductress, Kretzchmar looks too green to make me believe she feels anything the ballet might be ...

Rock Hall 2017 The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2017 has been announced. Entering the Hall on their first year of eligibility are Pearl Jam and Tupac , with Journey , Yes , Electric Light Orchestra , and Joan Baez as their fellow classmates. Musician Nile Rodgers will be given the Award for Musical Excellence, though his band, Chic, remains left out of the Hall. The artists will be inducted and honored during an April 7, 2017, ceremony/performance in Brooklyn, and, as in years past, an edited version of the festivities will air on HBO in May. Rolling Stone has more. NYCB on Your TV This winter, you'll get to watch New York City Ballet on PBS as part of the Great Performances series. Over the summer, NYCB performed in Paris's Theatre du Chatelet, and on February 17 and 24, 2017, you can tune in to see the Company's final performance from that three-week run. As The New York Times reports, the performance includes Walpurgisnacht Ballet , featuring Sara M...

Sunday in the Park with Jake and Annaleigh on Broadway Following an acclaimed, four-performance run at City Center , the Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine musical, Sunday in the Park with George , will bow on Broadway this season for a limited run, with stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Annaleigh Ashford in tow. You might recall that Gyllenhaal had been slated to return to Broadway this spring in a revival of Burn This , and that the production would open the new Hudson Theatre. The production was cancelled, in all likelihood, to make room for this production, which will, in fact, play the Hudson Theatre. Previews begin February 11, 2017, with opening night set for February 23. The limited engagement is scheduled to conclude April 23. No official word yet regarding whether or not the rest of the starry cast will join Gyllenhaal and Tony winner Ashford for the Broadway run. Broadway.com has more, and you can see the key art below. (One more thought: This means we might cast a cast recordi...