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

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...

I tend not to like narrative ballets (especially full-length narratives) because I find there's not enough dancing. Sure, there's usually a nice pas de deux, but usually it's just a lot of graceful gesturing. So I was pleasantly surprised that Peter Martins 's take on The Sleeping Beauty includes quite a bit of dancing, much more than I expected. I guess that when the main plot points of a story revolve around parties and dreamy visions, there's plenty of opportunities for divertissements and fantasy dances. The libretto (by Marius Petipa and A. Vsevolozhsky )for this version hews pretty closely to what most people know (likely from the Disney animated film). We begin at the palace where the king ( Andrew Scordato ) and queen ( Gretchen Smith ) are celebrating the arrival of their daughter, Princess Aurora. The Catalabutte ( Sean Suozzi ) and his lackey ( Giovanni Villalobos ) provide a welcome amount of humor. Soon, various fairies are bestowing blessings up...

My first night at the ballet during the 2015-2016 New York City Ballet season was a celebration of American composers, and featured a mix of choreographers. First up was the 1991 Peter Martins ballet, Ash , with a commissioned score by Michael Torke . Ash  started off feeling a little chaotic (which it shouldn't; the ballet only uses ten dancers), and it wasn't a controlled chaos. I was feeling uncomfortable. After the first few minutes, though, the ensemble left, leaving Ashly Isaacs and Taylor Stanley to dance a pas de deux. Their dynamite dancing brought things back under control. When the ensemble returned, a bit of the chaos did, too. I suppose this is fitting, at there is a great deal of tension in the non-stop score. Still, I found Ash  to be a rather unimaginative ballet. Next was Sonatas and Interludes , a Richard Tanner  ballet set to a John Cage  composition that is played on a prepared piano. (Wednesday night's pianist was Cameron Grant .)...

American Psycho Broadway Run Confirmed Broadway.com reports confirmation of a spring 2016 Broadway bow for American Psycho , the musical adaptation of the eponymous Bret Easton Ellis novel and subsequent flick. Previews are expected to being in February 2016, with opening night some time in March. (No theatre has been announced.) The adaptation is written by book writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa ( Spider-Man ) and songwriter and Tony winner Duncan Sheik ( Spring Awakening ), and will be directed by Rupert Goold . Though no casting has been confirmed, Benjamin Walker ( Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson , Cat on a Hot Tin Roof ) and Jennifer Damiano ( Next to Normal , Venice ) have been involved in developmental workshops. She Loves Me Update Additional casting, dates and a creative team have been announced for Roundabout's spring 2016 revival of She Loves Me . Joining the previously announced Laura Benanti ( Women on the Verge ... ) and Josh Radnor ( Disgraced ) are Gavin Cree...

My final ballet outing of the 2014-2015 season was a mixed repertory program that included my favorite, NY Export: Opus Jazz . But before that Jerome Robbins classic were works by Mr. B and Peter Martins. First up was George Balanchine's Raymonda Variations . In the program notes, Balanchine is quoted as saying the Alexander Glazounov score for the three-act Raymonda  ballet is "some of the finest ballet music we have," and Mr. B's adoration of the music shows in his choreography. In Balanchine's plotless ballet (having nothing to do with the original ballet), we are treated to, as the title suggests, variations on a theme. The piece begins with the curtain down and the orchestra playing the musical theme, an overture for the ballet, if you will. Once the curtain rises, the ensemble (all women) enter for a pretty group dance, and then soloist Erica Pereira and principal Andrew Veyette perform a nice pas de deux. Then come the nine variations, all bri...

It's almost unheard of for New York City Ballet to import a ballet, yet sometimes exceptions are made. This spring brought the premiere of La Slyphide , a seminal work from Danish choreographer August Bournonville , to City Ballet, under the vision of Ballet Master in Chief, and fellow Dane, Peter Martins. The Bournonville program began with Bournonville Divertissements , set to music by Edvard Helsted and Holger Simon Paulli . This iteration was staged by Nilas Martins , Peter's son and former NYCB principal, after Stanley Williams's staging of Bournonville's choreography. It includes four movements, and is a fairly typical selection of divertissements. Diversissements are meant to entertain; there's no story and no through line. Such is the case with the Bournonville Divertissements . Throughout, the scenery and costumes are rather drab and muted, as is the choreography in the first and third movements. (The first movement, Ballabile, was led by soloists...