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

Casting News Jake Gyllenhaal ( Sunday in the Park with George ) is set to re-team with his Nightcrawler collaborators, actress Rene Russo and writer/director Dan Gilroy , for an untitled film set in the art world. Netflix has already won distribution rights. Deadline has more. Freida Pinto ( Slumdog Millionaire ) will join the cast of The Path for its upcoming third season, now filming in New York. She joins as a series regular. The Path stars Aaron Paul , Michelle Monaghan , and Hugh Dancy . Deadline has more. The terrific Victoria Clark  ( Cinderella ) will appear in the upcoming Encores! production of Assassins , starring alongside Steven Pasquale . The Tony winner (for The Light in the Piazza ) takes on the role of Sara Jane Moore, filling in for the previously announce Julie White. Assassins  runs July 12-15. Playbill has more. Tony and Academy Award winner Mercedes Ruehl is joining the company of Torch Song , the Second Stage production of Harvey Fier...

New Foo Fighters Album Foo Fighters are releasing a new album, Concrete and Gold , this fall!!! Set for release on September 15, the album, the band's ninth, will be supported by a national tour. You can gain pre-sale access when you pre-order the album (several combo packages are available) and/or you become a verified fan (an anti-ticket bot measure). All pre-orders come with an instant download of the single, "Run." See the announcement below, and head to foofighters.com to pre-order and rock out. Casting News Broadway —Initial casting for the Broadway bow of The Band's Visit has been announced. Many of the actors from the acclaimed off-Broadway production will be reprising their roles, including Tony Shalhoub ( The Price , Act One ), Katrina Lenk ( Indecent ), and Jonathan Raviv . Previews for the David Yazbek–Itamar Moses musical begin October 7 at the Barrymore Theatre, with opening night scheduled for November 9. Broadway News has more. Concer...

Bruce on Broadway This is not a drill. Bruce Springsteen  is coming to Broadway. I repeat: Bruce Springsteen is coming to Broadway!!! The Boss will bring a scaled down version of his (amazing) concert to Broadway's Walter Kerr Theatre for eight weeks this fall. Exact dates will be announced later. For now, fire up the record player, read through Springsteen's memoir, Born to Run , and save money for tickets because, obviously, you'll want to go every night. Broadway.com has more. Tony Awards Broadway's biggest night is now in the history books. Herein, all things Tonys: Red carpet looks Full list of winners Photos of all the winners Watch all the performances Anecdotes from the press room Photos of revelers at the official Tony Awards Gala Comings, Goings, and Extensions Extension —Hot off the heels of its win for Best Play, Oslo has extended its limited Broadway run. The play, written by J.T. Rogers and featuring (newly minted) Tony winner Mi...

The Wild West is an iconic American place and time, and the tall tale is a uniquely American storytelling device so, naturally, playwright Kirsten Childs uses both to tell an American story that is conspicuously absent from American lore. Bella: An American Tall Tale  was inspired by some street gawking Childs witnessed. As she describes in the program notes, she was walking down the street behind an African-American couple, and every man that passed took time to look (stare? leer?) at the woman's ample behind. (She notes that the men were "so spellbound they'd even forgotten to catcall.) Rather than seeing this as blatant street harassment or objectification of women, Childs saw an African beauty ideal being worshiped. A Euro-centric beauty ideal pervades society. Pretty much since Twiggy, magazines have been covered with white (often blonde) women who have waif-like bodies: skinny, straight, and with "normal" size features (noses, lips, etc.). In recent...

The winners for the 71st annual Tony Awards have been announced and feted! The full list of winners is below, beginning with the big four categories. Thereafter are the winners in the play categories followed by the nominees in the musical categories. Winners are notated with bold typeface and an asterisk. Best Musical Come From Away Dear Evan Hansen * Groundhog Day Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 Hooray!!! Dear Evan Hansen  had been the early frontrunner, but Come From Away  was the horse that broke late, and made the category competitive. (I certainly don't mean that as a knock on Great Comet , which I've seen and loved, or Groundhog Day , which I haven't seen; that's just what the race, according to chatter, was.) I love this musical. It's raw, honest, and important. It worked so well off-Broadway, it works amazingly on Broadway, and you better look for it in your town because I have no doubt it will be incredible on tour. Best Play ...

Casting News Following last week's announcement of the ART production of Jagged Little Pill , inspired by the Alanis Morissette album, this week we learned Tony winner Idina Menzel ( Rent , Wicked , If/Then ) will lead an upcoming industry reading of the musical. As noted in the Broadway.com report, though, Menzel is not likely to appear in the ART production since she is already slated to star in Joshua Harmon's Skintight , which runs at the same time as the ART Jagged Little Pill production. Joe Tippett ( Familiar ) will join the company of Waitress beginning with the June 13 performance. He'll take on the role of Earl, the titular waitress's abusive husband. (Will Swenson plays the role through June 11.) Tippett's first performance will also mark the first performance of Betsy Wolfe in the title role. Playbill has more. Additional casting has been announced for Steven Speilberg's The Papers , a telling of the Pentagon Papers. Sarah Paulson (...

No matter who you are, you're somebody's daughter and, for better or for worse, that means someone has expectations of you and you have either an example to follow or expectations to rebel against. (I suppose the same is true of sons, but right now we're talking about daughters and the unique mother–daughter dynamic.) In Chisa Hutchinson's play, directed by May Adrales, we look at three daughters, all Asian, each at a different stage of their lives. Alex Chan (Michelle Heera Kim), born in America, is a 15-year-old high school student. She excels academically, plays multiple instruments, and speaks even more languages. On paper, she's somebody's perfect Asian daughter. Her mother is Millie (Vanessa Kai). Millie and her husband, Richard (David Shih) immigrated to the United States shortly after they married. Their dynamic is such that Richard is responsible for working and providing for the family; Millie is responsible for raising the family. (The family, at...