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

(Scroll down for news about Oscar Isaac and his Hamlet co-star, Keegan-Michael Key.) Josh Groban on Your Coffee Table This week, Josh Groban teased a coffee table book, Stage to Stage: My Journey to Broadway . In his tweet, Groban said , "The last few years have been insane. So I made a coffee table book about it. It's full of great memories." Later, in an Instagram post , the crooner said, "We collected so many photos and memories from the last few years. Recording the Stages album, promoting it, doing a tour that took me around the world and back, and then signing on and completing my debut in Great Comet ...it's all been one serendipitous dream." Groban just completed his run in Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 , marking his much-anticipated and highly acclaimed Broadway debut. A Doll's House, Part 2 to Welcome New Cast The terrific Lucas Hnath play A Doll's House, Part 2 will welcome three new cast members this summ...

The Wild West is an iconic American place and time, and the tall tale is a uniquely American storytelling device so, naturally, playwright Kirsten Childs uses both to tell an American story that is conspicuously absent from American lore. Bella: An American Tall Tale  was inspired by some street gawking Childs witnessed. As she describes in the program notes, she was walking down the street behind an African-American couple, and every man that passed took time to look (stare? leer?) at the woman's ample behind. (She notes that the men were "so spellbound they'd even forgotten to catcall.) Rather than seeing this as blatant street harassment or objectification of women, Childs saw an African beauty ideal being worshiped. A Euro-centric beauty ideal pervades society. Pretty much since Twiggy, magazines have been covered with white (often blonde) women who have waif-like bodies: skinny, straight, and with "normal" size features (noses, lips, etc.). In recent...

Casting News Following last week's announcement of the ART production of Jagged Little Pill , inspired by the Alanis Morissette album, this week we learned Tony winner Idina Menzel ( Rent , Wicked , If/Then ) will lead an upcoming industry reading of the musical. As noted in the Broadway.com report, though, Menzel is not likely to appear in the ART production since she is already slated to star in Joshua Harmon's Skintight , which runs at the same time as the ART Jagged Little Pill production. Joe Tippett ( Familiar ) will join the company of Waitress beginning with the June 13 performance. He'll take on the role of Earl, the titular waitress's abusive husband. (Will Swenson plays the role through June 11.) Tippett's first performance will also mark the first performance of Betsy Wolfe in the title role. Playbill has more. Additional casting has been announced for Steven Speilberg's The Papers , a telling of the Pentagon Papers. Sarah Paulson (...

No matter who you are, you're somebody's daughter and, for better or for worse, that means someone has expectations of you and you have either an example to follow or expectations to rebel against. (I suppose the same is true of sons, but right now we're talking about daughters and the unique mother–daughter dynamic.) In Chisa Hutchinson's play, directed by May Adrales, we look at three daughters, all Asian, each at a different stage of their lives. Alex Chan (Michelle Heera Kim), born in America, is a 15-year-old high school student. She excels academically, plays multiple instruments, and speaks even more languages. On paper, she's somebody's perfect Asian daughter. Her mother is Millie (Vanessa Kai). Millie and her husband, Richard (David Shih) immigrated to the United States shortly after they married. Their dynamic is such that Richard is responsible for working and providing for the family; Millie is responsible for raising the family. (The family, at...

Coming to the Boards Regional —There's a stage adaptation of Alanis Morissette 's Jagged Little Pill in the works, and it's premiering at American Repertory Theater (in Massachusetts) next year. Featuring Morissette's music and a book by Oscar winner Diablo Cody ( Juno , Young Adult ), Jagged Little Pill will be directed by Tony winner Diane Paulus ( Pippin , Waitress ) and feature orchestrations by Tony and Pulitzer winner Tom Kitt ( Next to Normal , If/Then ), who, you might remember, also provided the incredible orchestrations for American Idiot . Visit Playbill for more. Off-Broadway —A new play by Zoe Kazan (as a writer: We Live Here , as an actress: Love, Love, Love ) has been added to Lincoln Center Theater's 2017-2018 season. After the Blast , set in a Children of Men -style dystopia, will begin performances at the LCT 3 Claire Tow Theatre October 7. Opening night is set for October 23, and the limited engagement is scheduled to conclude November...

Casting News NYCB principal dancer Sara Mearns will appear as a guest artist in the Matthew Bourne ballet adaptation of The Red Shoes , which will play at New York's City Center this fall. Mearns will alternate performances with Ashley Shaw , who originated the role of Victoria Page, the tortured dancer, in the London premiere. The Red Shoes runs October 26 through November 5. The New York Times has more , and the City Center website has the cast schedule. Lin-Manuel Miranda ( Hamilton ) has joined the cast of the upcoming reboot of the beloved animated series, Duck Tales . Miranda joins a cast that already includes Ben Schwartz and Danny Pudi . Theater Mania has more. It's an Honor Drama League Awards —Winners of the Drama League Awards were announced, with Ben Platt  making history as the youngest winner of the Distinguished Performance Award. Elsewhere, Oslo  took home the Outstanding Play honor, and Platt's show, Dear Evan Hansen , won Outstanding Music...

It's an Honor Lilly Awards — Tony nominee Denee Benton ( Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 ) and others are among this year's Lilly Award honorees. These awards recognize women's contribution to American theatre, and the women will be feted at the May 22 ceremony. Playbill has more. Mark Twain Prize for Humor —Funny man and former late night weirdo David Letterman has been named the 2017 recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Letterman will be honored at the Kennedy Center in October, and an edited recording of the tribute will likely air on PBS later in the year. Rolling Stone  has more. Broadway.Com Awards —Winners of the Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards were announced, and the fans loved Dear Evan Hansen . The musical won eight awards, including Favorite New Musical and Favorite Lead Actor, Ben Platt. Visit Broadway.com for the full list of winners. Off-Broadway Alliance Awards —Honoring excellence in off-Broadway, the Off-Broadw...

Scroll down for some exciting news about these grand dames. Coming Up Atlantic Theater 2017-2018 Season —The Atlantic Theater Company has announced its 2017-2018 season. In addition to two Atlantic for Kids productions, the off-Broadway company will present: On the Shore of the Wide World , by Simon Stephens ( The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time ); this runs August 23-October 1, and is a New York premiere; Neil Pepe ( Marie and Rosetta ) directs Describe the Night , by Rajiv Joseph ( Guards at the Taj ); this runs November 1-December 17, and is a world premiere co-production with Alley Theatre; Giovanna Sardelli ( The North Pool ) directs The Homecoming Queen , by Ngozi Anyanwu ; this runs January 10, 2018-February 11, and is a world premiere Hangmen , by Martin McDonagh ( The Cripple of Inishmaan ); this runs January 18-March 4, and is a US premiere; Matthew Dunster directs This Ain't No Disco , a musical with a book by Rick Elice ( Peter and t...

A brief note about the world premiere of Martin Sherman 's play, Gently Down the Stream , directed by Sean Mathias , and starring Harvey Fierstein, Gabriel Ebert, and Christopher Sears: Gently Down the Stream brings us yet another history of the gays. I know that sounds dismissive and insensitive; I mean to be dismissive and insensitive toward the play, not the subject matter. As the play began, and Ebert's Rufus asked Fierstein's Beau questions about his past, I thought it was just DJ Exposition, but then Beau proceeded to directly addressed the audience (ostensibly in a testimonial), and the play turned into a prolonged history lesson. What was it all for? Apparently the purpose of slogging through the first 90 minutes of the 100–minute play was to get to the ending: row, row, row your boat gently down the stream / [sometimes not so] merrily you get to a point where you realize your life's dreams. Frankly, I found it trite, and like a poor adaptation of The He...

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Presenters Snoop Dogg will induct Tupac Shakur into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this spring, Rolling Stone reports. The April 7 ceremony (in Brooklyn) will be recorded, and an edited version will be broadcast on HBO on April 29. Shakur's music was the basis for the Broadway musical, Holler If Ya Hear Me , which took its title from one of the late West Coast rapper's songs. In addition, Lenny Kravitz will perform a special tribute to Prince (not one of this year's honorees), and Pharrell , Dhani Harrison , and Train's Pat Monahan will be on hand to induct Nile Rodgers , Electric Light Orchestra , and Journey , respectively. Rolling Stone has more. Casting News Frank Wood ( Clybourne Park , Born Yesterday ), Amber Tamblyn (making her off-Broadway debut), Darren Pettie ( Dinner with Friends ), and Ella Dershowitz make up the cast of Can You Forgive Her? , the new Gina Gionfriddo play bowing at the Vineyard Theatre. Previews...