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

Coming Up The Barrow Street Theatre will be turned into a working pie shop this winter for an off-Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd , the Stephen Sondheim–Hugh Wheeler musical . Performances will begin February 14, 2017, with opening night set for March 1. The production comes via London, where the show was performed in Britain's oldest continuously operating pie shop. Broadway.com has more. A new comedy series is coming to Netflix. Created by Nick Stoller ( Forgetting Sarah Marshall ) and Francesca Delbanco , the series, Friends from College , focuses on (you guessed it) a group of people who've been friends since college (Harvard, to be specific). The cast includes Keegan-Michael Key ( Key and Peele ), Cobie Smulder ( How I Met Your Mother ), Annie Parisse ( The Layover , Vinyl ), Nat Faxon ( The Descendants ), Fred Savage , and Jae Suh Park . The series will shoot in New York this fall. Variety has more. Restless Creature , the Wendy Whelan documentary , will d...

NYCB Fall Gala Fashion Summer might have just started, but the designers for New York City Ballet's fall gala, which, for the last few years , has been a fashion extravaganza, have been announced. The program includes four premieres, as well as Peter Martins 's Rodgers and Hart love letter, Thou Swell . That ballet will see its costumes updated by Peter Copping (an Oscar de la Renta designer). Also collaborating: choreographer Robert Binet and designer Hanako Maeda (of Adeam); choreographer and San Francisco Ballet dancer Myles Thatcher and designer Zuhair Murad ; choreographer and NYCB corps member Troy Schumacher and design house Marques Almeida ; and NYCB choreographer-in-residence and Company soloist Justin Peck and designers Humberto Leon and Carol Lim (of Opening Ceremony). Women's Wear Daily has details about the fashion, and head to nycballet.com to purchase tickets for the gala and the rest of the 2015-2016 season. Graceland Returns Graceland is...

Theatre Award Season Drama League Awards —The 80th annual Drama League Awards were presented last Friday, and critical and fan favorite Neil Patrick Harris walked away with the Distinguished Performance Award. His show, Hedwig and the Angry Inch , also won for Distinguished Revival of a Musical. Meanwhile, The Glass Menagerie won for Distinguished Revival of a Play; A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder won for Distinguished Production of a Musical; and All the Way won for Distinguished Production of a Play. Broadway.com has photos of the event , as does Broadwayworld.com: the ladies and the men . Obie Awards —Celebrating off-Broadway excellence, the 59th annual Obie Awards (Obie as in O.B., off-Broadway) were presented this week. Among the winners were John Ellison Conlee , for his work in The (Curious Case of the) Watson Intelligence , and Sydney Lucas , for her work in Fun Home , making her the youngest Obie winner ever. Broadway.com has the full list of winners, and ...

Springtime is Play Time Spring is officially here, and with it comes a plethora of great plays. Here's some info about springtime play time on Broadway: Venus in Fur - I saw this in November when it was playing a limited run through the non-profit Manhattan Theatre Club. It's back for a spring, commercial run, and it's as intense and provocative and extraordinary as ever. Below, you can watch the "trailer" for this sexual power play, and then head over to Broadway.com to watch Hugh Dancy discuss the classicism and power of Venus in Fur . Peter and the Starcatcher - Star stuff is coming to Broadway. This was magical when it played at the New York Theatre Workshop early last year, and I have no doubt that co-directors Alex Timbers ( Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson ) and Roger Rees will bring the same magic to the Broadway iteration. NYTW stars Celia Keenan-Bolger, Adam Chanler-Berat and Christian Borle are reprising their roles. Previews begin March 28, and in ant...

Spring Openings Dear readers, it's that time of year: Lots and lots of shows are opening this month as we near the finish line (or, more specifically, the Tony eligibility deadline) for the 2010-2011 season. This past week, the wonderfully fun Catch Me if You Can (April 10) and the de-lovely revival of Anything Goes (April 7, which just extended its run through January 8, 2012 ) opened. Check out these photos, all from Broadwayworld.com, and the Catch Me opening night video from Playbill.com: Anything Goes arrivals Anything Goes curtain call Anything Goes after party , with Sutton Foster looking stunning Catch Me arrivals (including Aaron Sorkin!!! Ah, my two Aarons...) Catch Me curtain call Catch Me after party Bonus: Catch Me photos from Broadway.com Bonus: Aaron Tveit talks to People about his role Bonus: photo coverage of Catch Me 's Gypsy Robe ceremony The Muppets The Muppets are coming! The Muppets are coming! As you probably know, dear readers, our beloved M...

Just watched a sweet love-story movie called Adam . The story concerns a young man named Adam, who has Asperger’s syndrome and his new neighbor, Beth. (Adam is played by Hugh Dancy, a Brit, and Beth by Rose Byrne, an Aussie. Both are good in Adam and put on near perfect American accents.) As she gets to know Adam, Beth is taken with his sweetness and openness. Because of his Asperger’s, Adam really can’t help but be honest and forthcoming; he can’t lie and he doesn’t quite understand nuance or euphemisms. By spending time with Adam, Beth learns to be more direct and to choose her words carefully – she learns the power that different words have and rather than play games with a potential beau, she is forced to be straightforward and express exactly what she wants and is thinking. It’s a very sweet film with a slightly tidy but ultimately satisfying ending. What I liked most is that is made me think about how we interact with each other and the kinds of dances we’ve created to get a...