Week in Review 4.14.17

New York City Ballet 2017-2018 Season
NYCB teased the 2017-2018 season, which will be headlined by a centennial tribute to Jerome Robbins, one of the company's founding choreographers. 19 Robbins ballets will be featured, including favorites Fancy Free and the West Side Story Suite. Resident choreographer Justin Peck (Everywhere We Go, The Times Are Racing) will create at least two new ballets for the company, including one set to a Leonard Bernstein score, an homage to Robbins, who famously collaborated with Bernstein on the aforementioned ballets/shows. (2018 marks the centennial for both Robbins and Bernstein; the NY Phil's 2017-2018 program includes lots of Bernstein.) The season will also include new works by company members Lauren Lovette (For Clara), Troy Schumacher (Common Ground), and Peter Walker (ten in seven), as well as a new piece by 18-year-old SAB student, Gianna Reisen. (She'll be the youngest person to choreograph for the company.) Several friends of the company will return to create new works. In the winter, expect to see ballets by Mauro Bignozetti (Vespro), Benjamin Millepied (Neverwhere), Angelin Preljocaj (Spectral Evidence), and Alexei Ratmansky (Pictures at an Exhibition). The season will also include Swan Lake, Coppelia, and Romeo and Juliet. Visit The New York Times for more. (Ballet bonus: preview Sufjan Stevens's commissioned score for Justin Peck's upcoming ballet, The Decalogue, which premieres May 12.)


It's an Honor
Pulitzer Prize—The 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama has been awarded to Lynn Nottage for her play, Sweat. Nottage previously won a Pulitzer for her play, Ruined, in 2009, making her the first female playwright to win the Pulitzer more than once. Playbill has more.

American Cinematheque—Five–time Oscar nominee Amy Adams will receive the 2017 American Cinematheque Award, presented November 10 in Beverly Hills. Adams was most recently seen in Nocturnal Animals and Arrival. This year, she'll be seen in Justice League Part One (as Lois Lane) and HBO's Sharp Objects, an adaptation of the eponymous Gillian Flynn novel. The Hollywood Reporter has more.

TV Academy Honors—The tenth annual Television Academy Honors will be bestowed upon Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Before the Flood (the Leonardo DiCaprio–Fisher Stevens climate crisis documentary), and This Is Us, among others. The award honors "programming that explores and confronts significant issues facing society." The Hollywood Reporter has more.

Broadway Farewells
Two Broadway shows will close this month. Significant Other will conclude its Broadway run earlier than previously announced, closing on Sunday, April 23. The Joshua Harmon play had a celebrated run off-Broadway in 2015, and recently transferred to the Great White Way. A week earlier, on Sunday, April 16, Broadway's first a cappella musical, In Transit, will conclude its Broadway run. The show, set in the NYC subway system, began last fall. Playbill has more about Significant Other, and Theater Mania has more about In Transit.

Casting News
  • Betsy Wolfe will take on the role of Jenna, the titular server in Waitress, beginning June 13. The role was originated by Jessie Mueller; she played her final performance in March. The show's songwriter, Sara Bareilles, has been playing the role since, and will continue through June 11. Wolfe was most recently seen in Falsettos, and also starred in The Last Five Years, among other shows. Broadway.com has more.


  • Tony nominee Brian d'Arcy James (Something Rotten, Hamilton) and Molly Ringwald will star in the independent film, All These Small Moments, written and directed by Melissa B. Miller-Costanzo. The flick is shooting in Brooklyn. Variety has more.

  • Alex Brightman will return to School of Rock, for which he received a Tony nomination, for two weeks. He begins performances today (April 14), and will continue through April 30. Eric Petersen will return to the role of Dewey Finn on May 1. Broadway.com has more.
More TV
  • The Hulu original series, The Path, has been renewed for a third season. The show stars Aaron Paul, Michelle Monaghan, and Hugh Dancy, and centers on followers of a (fictional) religion/cult/movement. The Hollywood Reporter has more.

  • The Netflix original series, Grace and Frankie, as been renewed for a fourth season. The third season of the show, which stars Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, premiered a few weeks ago. Variety has more, including the announcement that Lisa Kudrow will have a recurring role.
In Other News
  • The original Broadway cast recording for Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 is now available for pre-order. The album features the show's stars, Josh Groban and Denee Benton, and the two-disc CD will be released May 19. (The digital release is the same day.) In celebration of the news, the cast performed two songs, "Prologue" and "Pierre," on Good Morning America. Playbill has video of the performance, and you can visit Amazon or your favorite music retailer to pre-order.

  • The Play that Goes Wrong will stick around a little longer. The production just released a new block of tickets, extending the run through December 31. Playbill has more.

  • Oslo, the J.T. Roger play that just opened on Broadway after an acclaimed off-Broadway run, is being adapted for the big screen. Rogers is writing the screenplay, and Tony winner Bartlett Sher, who directed the off-Broadway and Broadway iterations, will make his feature film debut as the film's director. The Hollywood Reporter has more.

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