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

Upcoming Farewells We learned this week that a few shows will be concluding their Broadway runs. One of these devastates me. The Last Ship is concluding its Broadway run. I'm so saddened by this news. The Last Ship is a beautiful show, original in concept and score (penned by Sting ), with fantastic performances. ( Lin-Manuel Miranda is right : Everything Michael Esper does is magic.) The new musical had been struggling at the box office (because it didn't receive a rave from the Times ; because it's in a too-big house; because of the time of year; because it wasn't a recognizable commodity; because there wasn't a marquee name (to most ticket buyers) starring in it—not because it isn't good) when Sting stepped on stage, but producers just can't see a way to keep the ship afloat after his departure on January 24, which will be the final performance. I'm so sad. See it now if you can, and pick up the original Broadway cast recording. It's a tr...

Happy New Year! I hope you enjoyed last week's Year in Review. Below is a quick whip-around of this and last week's goings on. Though Side Show is concluding its Broadway run, the new cast recording is slated for release on February 17 . Rolling Stone 's Peter Travers has a message for Academy voters: don't forget these performances! Buzz Feed has a (fairly comprehensive) round up of the most anticipated movies and TV shows/movies of 2015, including Sisters , starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler , and The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore . Nominees for the American Cinema Editors' Eddie Awards were announced this week. Editors for Birdman , Into the Woods , Whiplash and Nightcrawler , among others, are nominated. The Hollywood Reporter has the full list. Tony Kushner ( The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures ) is working on several projects, Playbill reports , including a film with Steven Spielberg...

The New Year is almost here so in lieu of a Week in Review, please enjoy this Year in Review. The Bridges of Madison County Score —Music is better than words, which is what made this show work and why I feel I can't fully express, with mere words, how good the score is. Head to Sh-K-Boom to purchase a copy. You'll thank me. I feel like crying when Kelli O'Hara starts singing "To Build a Home," the opening number. I ache when Whitney Bashor goes full Joni Mitchell in "Another Life." I absolutely swoon anytime Steven Pasquale sings, especially a love song, like "Falling into You." And if you don't completely melt from the one-two punch of the final two numbers, "It All Fades Away" and "Always Better," then you have no feeling. It's a magnificent, unabashedly emotional score from Tony winner Jason Robert Brown ( The Last Five Years ), a treasure of modern musical theatre. Freestyle Love Supreme —The frees...

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2015 I love rock and roll, and so do these people. The 2015 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class has been announced. Lou Reed ; Green Day ; Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble ; Joan Jett and the Blackhearts ; Bill Withers ; and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band will be inducted in an April 18, 2015, ceremony. In addition, Ringo Starr will receive the Award for Musical Excellence, and "5" Royales will receive the Early Influence Award. As you may know, artists are eligible for nomination into the Hall 25 years after their first release. Green Day make it in on their first year of eligibility. Reed was previously inducted with the Velvet Underground but will be posthumously inducted as a solo artist. And, as Rolling Stone notes , Starr is the last of the Beatles (inducted as a band in 1988) to be inducted as a solo artist. An edited version of the induction ceremony and concert will likely air on HBO in May, as has been the case in the ...