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

I kicked off my New York City Ballet spring season with an All Robbins program, and it was a great one. First up was The Goldberg Variations , a Jerome Robbins ballet set to an 18th century Bach composition . One of the things I have always loved about Robbins's choreography is the way you see the music in his movements. His choreography is what the music dictates. The music for this piece has the published title of "Aria mit verschieden Veraenderungen," with "veraenderungen" typically translated as "variations." Repertory notes state that "veraenderungen" could also be translated as "alterations" or "mutations." Robbins's ballet plays with all three translations. The piece begins with Faye Arthurs and Zachary Catazaro appearing in baroque-period costumes and dancing the theme. After the theme comes, of course, the variations, split into two parts. Part one, featuring soloists (including Lauren Lovette and...

West Side Story Back on the Big Screen Fans of the seminal musical will thrill to know that in honor of the movie's 50th anniversary, West Side Story will be screened in movie theaters nationwide on Wednesday, November 9, at 7pm. Though it began life on stage, many folks know West Side Story from its movie adaptation, starring Richard Beymer and Natalie Wood as the star cross'd Tony and Maria. (Rita Moreno played Anita, once again tackling on screen a role originated on stage by Chita Rivera.) This is one of those Fathom, one-night, one-time events, so read the press release for more details. The Muppets You know that The Muppets , the new Muppet movie from Jason Segel, is coming to theaters next month, right? Well, they just released the track listing for the movie's soundtrack and it looks awesome. Included on the album are old Muppet standards, like "Mahna Mahna," brand new sure-to-be Muppet standards and Muppet covers of pop songs, like "Smells Like T...

Saturday night marked City Ballet’s Tribute to Broadway, with a program featuring Slaughter on Tenth Avenue , For the Love of Duke and the West Side Story Suite . ( It also marked Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins’s momentary return to the stage .) It was a gloriously fun night of dance (and a perfect introduction to ballet for the pointe-shy) that celebrated the wonderful theatrical possibilities of dance and the choreographic wonders that can be found on Broadway stages. We begin with Slaughter on Tenth Avenue , a Balanchine ballet. I had seen this before and knew it would be entertaining. Indeed, it was. Slaughter is ever so slightly tap heavy and so made me long for Anything Goes . (In fact, throughout the night, I would be longing for either great dance shows currently on the boards or just your traditional Broadway musical, replete with big dance breaks and a full orchestra backing them up.) According to the repertory notes, “the original Slaughter on Tenth Avenue ...

My dear readers, I’m so sorry for the lack of Morsels last week. I was having technical difficulties. Please enjoy this week’s edition, with little bonuses left over from last week. American Idiot in the Media The cast of American Idiot has been working overtime! Last Monday (on Labor Day), the talented bunch flew out to LA to tape a performance for the competition series America’s Got Talent , which aired on Wednesday . The Idiots were incredible, obviously. Playbill.com has the video of this cast that most definitely has talent. This was promptly followed a terrific performance on Monday Night Football. The Idiots performed with Green Day at Giants Stadium during the Ravens-Jets game. While ESPN didn’t show the entire performance, because apparently whatever Chris Berman has to say is much more important than thrilling musical performances, the full performance did air later that night on Jimmy Kimmel . To close out this week, the ladies of American Idiots (the Idiettes, if you wil...

Bloody Bloody Great News! With 100% of the precincts reporting, I’m ready to call this election: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson is officially coming to Broadway – with its sexy charismatic star, Ben Walker, in tow! On Thursday, The Public announced that “ Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson just can’t be stopped.” That’s right, our seventh president is headed to the Jacobs Theatre (recent home to God of Carnage , which is possibly coming to a movie theatre near you ). Performances will begin September 21, though an opening night date has not been announced. Tickets are not yet on sale but you can be bloody sure that when they are, I’ll be first in line! And the [Recorded, Synthesized] Band Played On Several years ago, amid stalled negotiating sessions with producers, theatre musicians went on strike. Rather than play with canned music, the musicals went dark during the strike. (Or maybe this was just threatened. I wasn’t in New York then and my memory is fuzzy.) Now, it seems the thinking i...

Leo Shutter Island , the psychological thriller that marks the fourth collaboration between Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese, opened on Friday, February 19. In a rare move for me, I saw the movie in the theatre on opening day. When I arrived, I remembered why I don’t normally go to a new movie on opening day, and as I sat and waited for the movie to begin, I remembered why I don’t go to movies in the theatre, opening day or otherwise, very often. After washing up and buying my popcorn, I approached the entrance to the auditorium only to find there was already a line to get in – 35 minutes before the movie was set to start. Fortunately, I ended up getting the seat I would have normally chosen, but that’s not always a guarantee. Lesson learned: When Alice in Wonderland opens, wait at least until its second weekend to go see that fantastical world in 3-D. Then, while waiting in my choice seat for the movie, I had the pleasure of listening to a woman behind me complain about everythi...