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

The 2012 Tony Awards have been handed out! It was a great, permformance-filled broadcast, with host Neil Patrick Harris once again proving what an affable and versatile performer he is. I loved his effusive praise of the Broadway community, and the way he made Ted Chapin and Angela Lansbury's American Theater Wing speech watchable! (I also loved Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin's intro to the Best Revival category - now that's an intro!) There were definitely some surprises throughout the night, which makes any award more fun to watch. So, without any further ado, here is the full list of winners. (Winners are notated with an asterisk and bold type. Pictures to be added throughout the day.) Best Play  Clybourne Park , Bruce Norris* Other Desert Cities , John Robin Baitz Peter and the Starcatcher , Rick Elice Venus in Fur , David Ives Of course I wanted Starcatcher  to win, but this is extremely well-deserved. Clybourne Park  is a fantastic, classic, funny an...

The 2012 Tony Award nominations were announced this morning! Here is the full list of nominees, along with, of course, my commentary. (Note that the reviews to which I'm linking for The Lyons  and Clybourne Park  are for the off-Broadway runs.) Best Play  Clybourne Park , Bruce Norris Other Desert Cities , John Robin Baitz Peter and the Starcatcher , Rick Elice Venus in Fur , David Ives This was the toughest category. Just think about the fact that, for instance, amazing, critically acclaimed and audience favorite plays like The Lyons and Seminar are not nominated. It's a wonderful thing that this was such a difficult category in which to even choose the nominees. I didn't love Other Desert Cities , but I appreciate the craft. Clybourne Park is stellar; Venus in Fur is complex and provocative and breathtaking; and Peter and the Starcatcher is magical. It's really a toss up. Best Musical  Leap of Faith Newsies Nice Work if You Can Get It Once...

From the acclaimed director of the Tony-winning revival of Hair , Diane Paulus, comes a reworked classic: The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess . Paulus, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks and musician Diedre L. Murray have cut, edited, added and changed George Gershwin, DuBose and Dorothy Heyward and Ira Gershwin’s classic American opera about the folks living on Catfish Row, South Carolina, to make it more accessible as an American musical—something today’s Broadway audiences can easily digest. Much has been written about the changes , particularly before anyone had seen it! This production was developed at the American Repertory Theatre (A.R.T.) in Boston, Massachusetts, where Paulus is the Artistic Director. While at A.R.T., Paulus and company did a lot of the cutting, editing, adding and changing, much to the chagrin of some of our most venerable musical theatre titans . But the team also made many changes post-A.R.T. and pre-Broadway. And it seems, after all the hoo...