> One of the most heartening developments of the past couple of years has been the spreading popularity in theaters of cultural events presented in HD video.  Operas and ballets have become monthly features in many cities, and stage shows are now joining in:  Britain’s National Theatre has been presenting several productions on screen for […]

>Steven Spielberg week on Broadway continues:  after War Horse, the director’s next film, we have CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, based on his 2002 comedy-drama (that film was written by Jeff Nathanson).   Spielberg’s movie may have been the sleekest entertainment of his career, a near-perfect piece of craft that boasted two great star performances from […]

> Buzz has it that Jon Robin Baitz’s play OTHER DESERT CITIES is one of the frontrunners for this year’s Best Play Tony Award, and it’s easy to see why. (Let’s leave aside the fact that so few new plays open on Broadway these days, whatever manages to stay open for more than a couple […]

> The Tony Awards aren’t quite like any other televised awards show.  They’re happily, unapologetically insular (and so are the ratings–thank god for CBS, where “young” audience is a relative term), and there’s hardly ever anything like an upset; this year the closest was probably Mark Rylance winning Best Actor In a Play for Jerusalem […]

> VENUS IN FUR exists, at this point in its Broadway life, as two overlapping but not identical entities:  it’s a deft new play by David Ives, but also, and more prominently, it’s become the Star-Is-Born vehicle for its lead actress, Nina Arianda, who’s currently giving about as dazzling a performance as you’re likely to […]

> Few things bring audiences as much joy as the sight of a well-known actor or actress revealing a side of their talent that’s never been seen before.  (It’s not just general audiences, either–those roles become instant favorites for Oscar nominations and wins.)  It can be as simple as Halle Berry, Julia Roberts or Nicole […]

> There’s an inescapable irony in Theresa Rebeck’s play SEMINAR when the bilious novelist (Alan Rickman) who’s reluctantly teaching a group of aspiring young writers launches an attack on one of them by predicting that his “whorishness” will make him more suited for a life in Hollywood than one in the finer precincts of the […]

> Haven’t all the jokes been made?  In the history of Broadway, there may never have been a show as relentlessly ridiculed as SPIDER-MAN:  TURN OFF THE DARK.  At this point, it may be that the only interesting thing that could be said about the show would be if it weren’t as bad as you’d […]