> 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 […]

> 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 […]

> 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 […]

> As you see elsewhere on this page, ShowbuzzDaily isn’t just about movies.  And since, as it happens, Your Faithful Correspondent is in New York for the week, we’ll have a few days of thoughts about some of the hot new shows on Broadway. For anyone who doesn’t already know, THE BOOK OF MORMON is […]

> 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 […]

> Once there was a time when Broadway musicals didn’t have to say anything about society, politics, art, literature, or really much of anything.  They were exercises in style, excuses for glamorous people to get up on stage in fancy costumes and sing tuneful, ingenious songs while dancing up a storm.  That’s the world of […]

> For a new play, WAR HORSE has strong movie connections.  The play is adapted for the stage by Nick Stafford from the 1982 novel by Michael Morpurgo, and that novel is also the basis of Steven Spielberg’s upcoming film, which will be in theatres for Christmas (the script for which is by Lee Hall […]

> CARRIE the musical is no longer a joke, and since it’s been a reliable punchline for almost a quarter of a century (a book about Broadway disasters was titled “Not Since Carrie“), that’s quite an accomplishment. Carrie carried a load of baggage before it even opened to a paying Broadway crowd. The original novel […]