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

Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients Announced 17 people will receive the 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor. The recipients will be presented with the honor by President Obama at a November 24 ceremony. Among those who will be honored are Barbra Streisand ; baseball greats Willie Mays and the late Yogi Berra ; Senator Barbara Mikulski ; Steven Spielberg ; Itzhak Perlman ; the late congresswoman Shirley Chisholm ; and James Taylor . Legendary songwriter Stephen Sondheim was selected for the honor last year, but was unable to attend the ceremony; he will celebrate the honor next week with Babs and the rest of the 2015 honorees. Broadway.com has more. Jesse Tyler Ferguson Returns to Broadway The Modern Family star and five-time Emmy nominee will return to Broadway in spring 2016. Though Ferguson has regularly appeared on stage in Shakespeare in the Park productions since hitting it big on Modern Family , this will mark the first time he's ...

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...

Just a quick note to let you all know how much I enjoyed the film adaptation of the Jonathan Tropper  novel, This is Where I Leave You . (Tropper adapted his novel for the screen; the film is directed by Shawn Levy ). Bravo to casting director Cindy Tolan for assembling such a winning ensemble. Jane Fonda  ( The Newsroom ) is the Altman family matriarch, Hilary, and when her husband dies, she tells her children it was their father's dying wish to have his family sit shiva together. And so, the children gather. There's the eldest son, Paul, played by the terrific Corey Stoll  ( House of Cards ). His wife is Alice ( Kathryn Hahn ), who also happened to date one of Paul's younger brothers, Judd ( Jason Bateman ). Judd is going through his own tsuris , having just found out his wife had been cheating on him with his boss. Paul and Judd's sister is Wendy, and the typically acerbic Tina Fey  turns in a touching, sincere performance as the grieving sister whose...