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

NYC Ballet Season Begins! City Ballet's 2011-2012 has begun! Here are a couple of treats: Dancers' Must Sees City Ballet's soloist and corps dancers, who are featured in this season's beautifully photographed (by Henry Leutwyler) marketing campaign, tell you which ballets included in the 2011-2012 season are must sees. For example, Ana Sophia Scheller (pictured in the promo shot, at right) says, "You can't help but see that Allegro Brillante is a joy to dance." And Rebecca Krohn, Likolani Brown and Sean Suozzi like one the few Balanchine ballets I like, Stravinsky Violin Concerto . Visit nycballet.com/mustsee to find out what other dancers want you to see this season, and then visit nycballet.com to purchase tickets. Robbie Fairchild Meets Sir Paul! If you've been following my Morsels about the 2011-2012 season, then you know that Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins is choreographing a new ballet set to a score composed by Sir Paul McCartney. The b...

I couldn’t stop singing Joe Iconis’s song, “Nerd Love,” during the intermission of the wonderful new play Completeness at Playwrights Horizons. That’s because Completeness , a new play from Itamar Moses ( The Four of Us ) and directed by Pam MacKinnon ( Clybourne Park ), is about nerd love. More specifically, it’s about two scientists, one, Elliot, a computer scientist, the other, Molly, a molecular biologist, and their relationship. A simple love story in and of itself can be pleasant and satisfying enough (sometimes) but what I really loved here was the layers of complexity within the language. When the scientists are talking about science experiments and processes, they are really talking about love. I thrilled over the double meaning of everything and the specificity of the language. Example: our two nerd lovers are talking about experiments. One of them says, “data, test, data, test, data, test—until you get it right.” Just like dating! And later the other describes the...

Do you remember that Chris Rock routine in which the comic explained what he thought could be the rationale for doing something outrageous or even illegal, like O.J. Simpson killing his wife? He would go through this long explanation, laying out the myriad factors that could have led Simpson to committing such an atrocity. At the end of the explanation, Rock would finish by saying, “Now I’m not saying I would have done it, but I understand.” I kind of feel that way about the revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Follies , now playing at Broadway’s Marquis Theatre: I’m not saying that I liked it, but I understand. Here’s the thing: I really liked the story. (The book is by James Goldman.) I liked its look at fading (or faded, as is often the case) show people and, more closely, at love and chances not taken. I think it makes for compelling drama but I just wasn’t engaged. I found the first act to move slowly and it was a little listless, a little 2-D. By the time the second act rolled arou...

Johnny Gallagher + Aaron Sorkin Get Picked Up You remember when Johnny Gallagher left Jerusalem in July so he could head out to LA to shoot a pilot with Aaron Sorkin? Well guess what. HBO picked up the pilot! While details about air dates and series casting is not confirmed, we do know this means more Sorkinese, and on HBO, where Sorkin can say exactly what he wants without fear of network censors. I am sooooooooo excited for this show, which was at one point titled More as this Story Develops . (In other Johnny Gallagher news: He has a slew of concert dates at New York's Rockwood Music Hall. Visit the cozy venue's website to find them all!) Now. Here. This. Gets Full Production The beautiful theatrical experience that is Now. Here. This. , which received a one-week lab production at the Vineyard earlier this year, will receive a full-scale off-Broadway production, also at the Vineyard! I'm so excited that more people will get to see this and that I get to experience it ...

“It’s a happy ending/to the greatest show on earth/Now the curtain’s descending/and I hope you got your money’s worth…” Those lyrics from “Goodbye” had special poignancy when Aaron Tveit sang them on Sunday, September 4, 2011, during the final performance of Catch Me if You Can . And it got me thinking about some fond farewells I’ve been a part of over the last several years, and what it means to say goodbye to a show you love. I often tell people that I like being in attendance for particularly momentous performances, like opening night. I say that there’s a different energy in the air; usually, most of the people who are in attendance are there because they wanted to share in the momentous occasion, and not just because they wandered in off the street. And so there's extra passion in the air and extra enthusiasm behind every clap. But after saying goodbye to Catch Me on Broadway, I started thinking about how a closing night is different. And I think I’ve figured it out:...

Colin Donnell is De-Lovely! The talented and handsome star of the Tony-winning Anything Goes revival (he plays Billy Crocker) recently answered five questions for blogger David Mixner. Donnell got into theatre when a broken ankle sidelined him from high school football. In this brief Q&A , Donnell talks about what he might be doing if he wasn't a working actor and about (possibly) recording an album of standards. Matt Taibbi on the GOP Field My favorite journalist, Rolling Stone 's Matt Taibbi, recently wrote about two factions within the Republican party, as typified by recent comments from Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul. He says , "This is what the Republican debate is going to boil down to: a question of authority. If you believe the Bible is the only book you ever need to read, you’ll vote for Bachmann or Santorum, or maybe Rick Perry. If you think the sacred text is The Road to Serfdom , you’ll vote for Ron Paul (or, Rick Perry hopes, maybe Rick Perry)." Ta...

Gavin Creel, On the Record In a new Broadwayworld.com feature , Gavin Creel ( Hair ) talks about making his own music. This multi-talented artist and activist (he co-founded Broadway Impact , which advocates for marriage equality) says his musical influences are simple: "good beats, great hooks, sex in sound." Amen to that, Gavin! Gavin has already released two solo albums and his third is almost ready to "drop." (And, according to the Gavin Creel Newsletter I received this week, Gavin's working on a musical (of sorts) that was presented over the summer in Williamstown! Stay tuned for details.) Playbill.com Cue & A You probably recall that Playbill.com regularly asks those treading the boards to fill out their questionnaire. This week, the lovely Jennifer Damiano (excellent in Next to Normal and currently impressive in Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark ) answered the questions. Head on over to Playbill.com to learn fun facts about the talented young...