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

Casting News Okieriete Onaodowan , who originated the roles of Hercules Mulligan/James Madison in Hamilton , will take on the role of Pierre in Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812  beginning July 3. Josh Groban , who originated the role on Broadway, will, as previously reported , play his final performance on July 2. Onaodowan will remain with the production through September 4. Broadway.com has more. Tony- and Grammy-nominated song writer Sara Bareilles  will step into the lead role of Jenna in Waitress , for which she wrote the score. Jessie Mueller , who originated the role, will play her final performance March 26; Bareilles begins performances March 31, and will remain with the show through June 11. Playbill has more. Complete casting for MTC's revival of The Little Foxes  has been announced. Joining the previously announced headliners, Laura Linney and Cynthia Nixon, will be Darren Goldstein  ( Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson , The Affair ), ...

We begin by spending a day in the life of Ken ( Reed Birney ) and Nancy ( Annette O'Toole ), a man and woman from Nebraska. They drive, in silence, to church. They sit, in silence, in church. They have dinner, in silence. They visit Ken's ailing mother, Cammie ( Kathleen Peirce ), and they only speak to her, not to each other. At home, they watch TV in silence. The silences aren't awkward; they are just what (sometimes) happens after decades of marriage. But something is stirring in Ken's soul. Ken and Nancy break the silence in the middle of the night when Ken rushes to the bathroom, puts a towel over this face and begins to cry. Nancy enters the bathroom and tries to help, but Ken won't let her. (O'Toole is achingly effective in this scene; Nancy is Ken's wife, and it's her job to help. Why won't he let her help?) He finally relents, declaring he doesn't believe in God. Talking about the genesis of his 2003 play in a post-show discussion...