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

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...

Crazy, Stupid, Love is neither crazy nor stupid, though it is rather lovely. In this new ensemble film, teens, young adults and “grown ups” traverse rocky relationship terrain, and thanks to an intelligent script and a terrific cast, you’ll be glad to join them for the journey. We meet Cal (Steve Carell) and Emily (Julianne Moore) on the night Emily asks Cal for a divorce. (Turns out, Emily had an affair with David Linghagen (Kevin Bacon).) Looking to numb the pain, Cal heads to a bar where he meets Jacob (Ryan Gosling). Jacob is a smooth operator (though when we first meet him we see him striking out with Hannah, played by Emma Stone). Jacob insists on taking Cal under his wing and reintroducing him to the dating world. All the while Cal and Emily’s son, Robbie (Jonah Bobo) is dealing with his first love, unrequited, naturally, and Hannah considers settling, not for Jacob but for a milquetoast guy just because he’s there. When they’re done well, I happen to thoroughly enjoy ense...

Last week, I was fortunate to see Catch Me if You Can for the fifth time! The first time I saw the show I found it to be fun and thoroughly entertaining, with an all-star cast. (…And by all-star I don’t mean celebrities; I mean a top-notch cast, the best of the best.) And let me tell you, dear readers, it is even more fun and entertaining each and every time I see it. Catch Me is vibrant and exciting. The songs are lush – this is now one of my favorite cast recordings. To wit: “Goodbye,” the show’s penultimate number, is now number three in my iTunes top played list. The two songs above it are at least five years old. “Goodbye” is a quick climber! And more than anything else, the incredible, passionate and masterful vocal performances in the show and on the recording are astonishing. (The first time I saw the show , I thought the score was just good; after listening to the recording nearly non-stop and seeing the show several times, I realize that the first time was a fluk...

Casting News Hugh Dancy will join the Broadway company of Venus in Fur . This Manhattan Theatre Club iteration of the off-Broadway hit will also star recent Tony nominee Nina Arianda, who created the role off-Broadway. When Theresa Rebeck's new play, Seminar , hits the boards this fall, star Alan Rickman will be joined by Lily Rabe and Hamish Linklater (very funny in The School for Lies ). This production will be directed by Sam Gold ( Circle Mirror Transformation , The Aliens , et al.). Current Peter Parker Reeve Carney will play the incomparable Jeff Buckley in an as-yet untitled film about the famed and gone-too-soon musician. (Listen to Buckley's "Hallelujah" and try not to weep. You won't be able to.) Michael Esper and Linda Lavin will be joined by Dick Latessa and Kate Jennings Grant in the Vineyard's upcoming premiere production of Nicky Silver's The Lyons . Nick Blaemire , featured on Joe Iconis's Things to Ruin original cas...

The Talls , centering on the Clarke family dynamic, could be a television series. There are a lot of relationships and growth to explore, so much so that some of it felt a little crammed into this 80-minute new play by Anna Kerrigan. Still, it was intriguing and engaging, and I would, indeed, be interested in spending half an hour or an hour each week with the Clarke family. (Or maybe it could work as a longer play or film. It reminded me a little bit of The Ice Storm . That movie, of course, was well beyond 80 minutes, and the extended running time contributed positively to my consummate enjoyment. Both The Ice Storm and The Talls are set in suburban America in the 1970s.) Making up the Clarke family are mom and dad Anne and John (Christa Scott-Reed and Peter Rini, respectively) and their children (in ascending age order), Nicholas (Timothee Chalamet), Catherine (Lauren Holmes), Christian (Michael Oberholtzer) and Isabelle (Shannon Esper). When we meet the Clarkes, we lear...

Catch Me While You Can It pains me to bring you this news, dear readers, but Catch Me if You Can will end its Broadway run on September 4. When the show closes on Broadway, it will have played 32 previews and 170 regular performances. Though its time on Broadway is ending, the show will live on via a national tour, which is launching in fall 2012 in Providence, Rhode Island. (Providence, by the way, is where the hilarious Safe Men takes place. Just saying. Good things happen in Providence.) Make sure you avail yourself of the opportunity to see this great, fun show - with a sensationally talented cast - either on Broadway, on tour or both! Visit catchmethemusical.com to stay up to date on this jet setting show. Sutton Foster Talks Anything Goes , Joel Grey NYC Ballets Moves in Vail Last week I mentioned that NYCB was in Vail, Colorado, for the Vail International Dance Festival. This week, thanks to NYCB's Facebook feed ( like them !), I found these great photos taken ...

Site-specific theatre rocks! HotelMotel is a double-feature presented by The Amoralists and the Gershwin Hotel, with both plays running in a small back room at the Gershwin Hotel. There’s only room for 20 audience members; we are never more than a yard or two from the cast and set (sometimes, we’re thisclose to both); and the experience envelops you the moment you walk in and doesn’t let you go until you exit the hotel and head back out on the streets of Manhattan. (Actually, the experience will likely stay with you longer than that...) (I won’t give away too many of the experiential details because I found it fun to be surprised by them. I will tell you this, though: Usually, I’m really adamant about having my personal space in my seat. I almost always try to sit in an aisle seat so that if the person next to me is unintentionally spilling over into my space (or the person is just rude and thinks he can spread his legs as far as he wants, inconsiderate of the presence of my leg),...

Patti LuPone and Inigo Montoya Well, really it's LuPone and Mandy Patinkin, but I LOVE The Princess Bride , so I couldn't resist! The acclaimed stage vets will bring their concert, An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin , to Broadway's Barrymore Theatre for a limited engagement beginning November 16. Visit Playbill.com for more details. NYC Ballet in Vail Members of New York City Ballet are in Vail, Colorado, for the Vail International Dance Festival. The New York Times has a terrific slide show of photos, taken by the dancers, of dancers in rehearsal and at play around beautiful Vail. (I particularly like this photo of Tyler Angle and Wendy Whelan performing Christopher Wheeldon's Polyphonia .) NYCB's fall season starts September 13 and the box office opens August 8. Visit nycballet.com to learn about the season (which includes a new Peter Martins ballet scored by Sir Paul McCartney!) and to purchase tickets. Jason Bateman Visits The Daily Show The Da...

Michael Mayer has done it again. I had the terrific pleasure of seeing the Vineyard Theatre’s development lab production of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever this weekend. Lab productions offer artists an opportunity to present their work to an audience, but without the concern of critics or box office receipts. As such, they are not meant to be reviewed so here I’ll give you just a little hint of what you can expect when the show comes to Broadway this fall. Visionary director Michael Mayer (most recently of American Idiot fame) has played around with time and gender in this revival of Burton Lane and Alan Jay Lerner’s musical. (You probably remember Barbra Streisand in the movie version.) The results are simply lovely. I can’t think of another word to describe it other than lovely. The score (which, according to the show’s website, “is enhanced by classics from [the] film scores for On a Clear Day and Royal Wedding ,” also written by Lane and Lerner) is sweet and lush, ...