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

My dear readers, I don't know if you know this about me, but I have a Master's degree in political management, and a Bachelor's in both theatre and political science. You would think that All the Way , Robert Schenkkan 's new play about our 36th president, Lyndon Baines Johnson, would be right up my alley (kind of like Gore Vidal's The Best Man ). And in theory, you would be right. But as I sat through All the Way , now playing at the Neil Simon Theatre, I felt like I was back in undergrad, sitting in my Southern Politics class and reading V.O. Key . Maybe it's just because I've studied politics, and this era and its effect on the south in particular, but there isn't any intrigue. Schenkkan has a wonderfully fascinating political figure in LBJ ( Bryan Cranston )—who never wanted to be president, by the way; he was after the speakership—and a pivotal moment in history (both our nation's and our political system's), and is wasting it on a simp...

Well, unfortunately, it’s time to say a brief farewell to the New York City Ballet. This weekend marked the end of the Company’s winter season but the spring season is just around the corner, with performances starting on April 29. This weekend also marked, however, the farewell performances of beloved principal dancers Janie Taylor and Sebastien Marcovici. The couple is moving out to LA, where Marcovici will be a ballet master for the LA Dance Project, which was founded by former NYCB dancer Benjamin Millepied. While I didn’t attend their final performance, I was there for their penultimate performance, and it was great to see them on stage one last time. (The photo above was taken as they took their farewell bows, and was shared on the Company's Facebook page .) But the afternoon began with a repeat performance of Liam Scarlett ’s Acheron . When I booked my season a year ago, this spot on the program was supposed to be filled with a new Peter Martins piece, the one that...

Herein, a brief review of the third in Quiara Alegria Hudes 's "Elliot Trilogy," the second of which, Water by the Spoonful , won the Pulitzer Prize. In The Happiest Song Plays Last , we once again check in with former Marine Elliot ( Armando Riesco ) and his cousin, Yaz ( Lauren Velez ). It's 2011 and Elliot is making a film in Jordan while Yaz is back home in North Philadelphia, entertaining tales told by her colorful neighbor, Agustin ( Tony Plana ). Though they're in seemingly disparate worlds, both Elliot and Yaz are still trying to fully understand community and their place in it. Dovetailing into that journey are Elliot and Agustin's quest to leave a legacy. As written by Hudes, directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson and performed by a good group of actors (aided by renown musicians Nelson Gonzalez , Nelson Jaime and John Rodriguez ), The Happiest Song...  is a good play. It's well-crafted, sharply written; it's meticulously directed; it'...

The 86th Academy Awards is in the books! I've included some notes about the ceremony at the bottom of this post (after the full list of winners), but first, as always, the fashion. Let's begin with some ladies who looked great. From left, we have nominee Meryl Streep ; her Into the Woods costar, Anna Kendrick in J. Mendel; and nominee Sandra Bullock in Alexander McQueen. What impressed me about Streep's look is that it shows some effort and an attempt at glamour. She's known for eschewing aesthetics and can sometimes look dowdy on the red carpet, but this year, she looks simply elegant. Kendrick bucks the trends (which we'll get to in a moment) and opts for a funky (for the red carpet) black frock, with an asymmetrical hemline, structural detail in the back and a cut out at mid-waist with red accents. It's a terrific young, sexy but still classy look for the young, sexy and classy actress. And Bullock looks stunning in the understated navy McQueen go...

Sarah Ruhl 's backstage dramedy is laugh out loud funny, poignant and through provoking, and winningly performed by a game cast directed by Rebecca Taichman . In a post-show discussion, Ruhl said she was fascinated by the idea of actors kissing—it's a strange part of their job. From that spark, Stage Kiss came to life, telling the story of two exes, She ( Jessica Hecht ) and He ( Dominic Fumusa ), who are cast as lovers in a play. Act one follows them (and the company of actors, the director, et al.) as they rehearse, tech and open the show, and act two sees them in yet another show, their personal lives in various states of disarray. All the while, life is imitating art and art is imitating life. Though Ruhl ( In the Next Room or the vibrator play , Dead Man's Cell Phone ) was originally inspired by the idea of actors kissing, what the two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist ended up with is a provocative play that asks: what is fantasy and what is reality? It's a qu...