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

Award Season Update Oscars —As part of his continuing coverage, The Hollywood Reporter 's awards guru, Scott Feinberg, published two more Oscar breakdowns, one covering the Best Original Screenplay race , and one focusing on the race for Best Supporting Actress . The nominees for Screenplay are: Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell , American Hustle ; Woody Allen , Blue Jasmine ; Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack , Dallas Buyers Club ; Spike Jonze , Her (which is my pick in this category); and Bob Nelson , Nebraska . For Supporting Actress, Sally Hawkins ( Blue Jasmine ); Jennifer Lawrence ( American Hustle ); Lupita Nyong'o ( 12 Years a Slave ; Nyong'o is my pick); Julia Roberts ( August: Osage County ); and June Squibb ( Nebraska ) are vying for the honor. In other Oscar news, Pharrell Williams will perform his Oscar-nominated song, "Happy," on the telecast. The song is featured in Despicable Me 2 . Read the official press release for de...

The 86th Academy Award nominations were announced today! Without any further ado, here are the nominees: Best Picture American Hustle Captain Phillips Dallas Buyers Club Gravity Her Nebraska Philomena 12 Years a Slave The Wolf of Wall Street Since there are only nine nominees and not ten, I can say I've seen more than half the nominees. But since there are nine instead of ten, Inside Llewyn Davis  is left off the list. Are the Academy nominators taking crazy pills? I'm glad to see the Her  made it on but to leave off Inside Llewyn Davis ? Anyway, this is the start of the showdown between American Hustle  and  12 Years a Slave . The former has 10 nominations and the latter has nine; the only reason 12 Years a Slave  has nine is because it did not have a contender in the lead actress category. If not for that, it'd be a dead heat between the two. I think 12 Years a Slave  should win, and if Academy voters can get over their squeamishness an...

The wolf of Wall Street is terrible. I’m talking about the person, Jordan Belfort. The movie about him, based on his memoir, is fantastic. But Belfort is a disgusting person. Yet I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen (it was definitely more difficult to read his memoir) and that’s kind of the point: we love train wrecks and we all want to be rich.  The Wolf of Wall Street tells Belfort’s story, from his first day at a brokerage firm (where he meets his mentor, Mark Hanna (Matthew McConaughey)) to the fateful day he starts his own firm all the way to when he got caught and “punished” (though not nearly enough, in my opinion). Along the way, Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) partners with all types of shady associates; picks up a raging drug habit (often enabled by his best friend and business partner Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill, going full-manic), who, as a character in the film, is an amalgam of people from the real Belfort’s life); enlists the services of hookers of all sorts; go...

American Songbook at Lincoln Center In this annual series, artists perform in intimate venues across the Lincoln Center campus, giving fans a chance to watch their favorite performers let loose and sing great songs. The lineup for the 2014 season has been announced, and it's a good one. Among those set to perform are Jonathan Groff ( Spring Awakening , The Submission ); recent Tony winner Patina Miller ( Pippin ); the incredible Rebecca Naomi Jones ( American Idiot , Murder Ballad ); and Norm Lewis ( Porgy and Bess ), plus there will be special themed nights, like " Michael John LaChiusa's Stories " and " James Naughton: The Songs of Randy Newman ." While Friends of Lincoln Center receive early access to tickets, tickets go on sale to the public on November 12. Check out the full schedule at americansongbook.org . Oscar Buzz There are 18 weeks until the Academy Awards and the jockeying is in full swing. In this week's Feinberg Forecast (in ...

Casting News Prisoner 24601 has been cast. Ramin Karimloo , a West End star, has landed the coveted role of Jean Valjean in the upcoming Broadway revival of Les Miserables . (He's currently playing the role in the Toronto production; check out this Show People episode to learn about Karimloo , whose first name is pronounced Ra-meen.) He'll be pursued by Will Swenson ( Hair , Murder Ballad ), who will star as Javert. Joining Karimloo and Swenson are Caissie Levy ( Hair , Ghost , Murder Ballad ) as Fantine and Tony winner Nikki M. James ( The Book of Mormon ) as Eponine. Les Miserables will begin previews at the Imperial Theatre on March 1, 2014, with opening night set for March 23. Broadway.com has more. (Bonuses: Will Swenson reacts to the news , and all four talk to Broadway World about taking on the iconic musical.) Laura Benanti ( Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown ) will guest star on the upcoming sixth season of Showtime's Nurse Jackie . She joins...