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

The New York City Ballet winter season is in full swing, and I took in my first ballet of the season on Saturday night. First up in the mixed repertoire, Tschaikovsky Celebration evening was Divertimento from “Le Baiser de la Fee , ” a George Balanchine ballet set to an Igor Stravinsky composition. ( Divertimento was the only piece in the Tschaikovsky Celebration that was not set to Tschaikovsky’s music.) As the repertory notes explain, the music and dance can be traced back to the 1937 Balanchine work The Fairy’s Kiss (a.k.a., Le Baiser de la Fee ). Portions were excerpted for a Stravinsky festival in the 70s and later a final movement was added. That final movement is Divertimento . The ballet begins with several corps de ballet members and is rather unappealing, but soon enough we move into the pas de deux (between principal dancers (and real life married couple) Megan Fairchild and Andrew Veyette) and that’s where things become more interesting. Fairchild looks like ...

The 19th annual SAG awards, which honor both film and television, were handed out last night (in a, thankfully, efficient, two hour ceremony, I might add). It's always a fun night, with actors opening the ceremony by talking about how they got into the business (I particularly liked Hal Holbrook's and Sofia Vergara's stories) and then, in acceptance speeches, continuing to talk about the community of actors. Herein, red carpet coverage and the full list of winners. You can also view the list of winners and learn more about SAG-AFTRA on sagawards.org .  We'll begin with Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, fresh off their Golden Globe hosting gig . Both look great in black Oscar de la Renta dresses, with Fey looking soft and pretty and Poehler looking super sexy. Next up is our sparkle showdown. On the left we have Helen Hunt in Romona Keveza and on the right is Jennifer Garner in Oscar de la Renta. (de la Renta was well represented on the red carpet.) Hunt's look ...

The Last Five Years The seminal Jason Robert Brown musical is coming back to New York (to Second Stage Theatre, to be exact, and will be directed by the writer), and Broadway.com caught up with stars Betsy Wolfe and Adam Kantor to talk about bringing this beloved musical to life: Justin Peck World Premiere Ballet Next week, New York City Ballet will present its third Justin Peck ballet. In anticipation of the upcoming milestone, Peck spoke with Time Out New York . You can catch his latest work, Paz de La Jolla , on its world premiere night, January 31 and throughout the season. (You'll definitely want to see this. Year of the Rabbit , which premiered in the fall, was terrific, and there's great buzz around his first ballet for the company, In Creases .) Visit nycballet.com for details and to purchase tickets. Award Season Update Oscars : Check out the latest Oscar poster, featuring host Seth MacFarlane → Plus, this week we learned that in additi...

Caissie Levy, who was wonderful in Hair and Ghost , has released her debut solo album, With You , which consists of indie-rock arrangements of songs from her iconic shows. What’s so wonderful about With You is that it demonstrates the power of a good cover. A good cover allows you to hear a song you know for the first time again, and in that “first” listen you get to discover the song’s beauty anew. Levy succeeds in this objective, bringing new depth to songs I’ve listened to thousands of times (like Hair ’s “Walking in Space”) and beautiful vocal arrangements and nuances to others (like Rent ’s “Without You,” which has a bit of the devastating “With You,” from Ghost , mixed in). Brava, Caissie Levy!  With You is available from iTunes, CD Baby , Spotify and other music retailers.

Award Season Update Golden Globes Wrap Up The 70th annual Golden Globes are in the books! Argo took home the top honor, as did its skilled director, Ben Affleck. HBO's Girls also had a big night, nabbing statues for creator and star Lena Dunham and the show itself. Read my official wrap up for the full list of winners and dish on the dresses (and head to my Pinterest Golden Globes board for more). And below, a little wrap up from around the media-sphere: Via Twitter , Breaking Bad and Argo star Bryan Cranston said, "Besides Argo and Ben winning last night. My best Golden Globes moment: Hearing Mandy Patinkin singing Baby It's Cold Outside at the urinal." Rolling Stone 's Rob Sheffield breaks down the Globes Head to IMDB for lots of Golden Globes party pics The Hollywood Reporter has photos of the winners and revelers being silly backstage and at the parties Buzz Feed offers "17 Reasons Why Jennifer Lawrence Won the Golden Globes,...