EXCLUSIVE Woody Harrelson will star in a mini movie video U2 is making as they gear up for their big world tour. The group has chosen “Song for Someone” from their iTunes album “Songs of Innocence” which caused such a stir last year. Vincent Haycock will direct Woody as a character named Aaron Brown, presumably not the former CNN anchor. Aaron is being sent to prison in the video. There’s also an 18 year old going to jail named Jonathan. We will also see Aaron’s dad, described as a “shell of a man.” There will also be prison guards, and other prisoners. It’s sort of “Shawshank Redemption” with music! I don’t get it. I thought “Sleep Like a Baby Tonight” was the great song from that album. But hey, no one asked me. PS I hope they don’t keep using that artwork they used for the physical album. Please.
Broadway Review: Sensational, Hilarious “Something Rotten” Gets Standing Ovations During the Show!
I haven’t had such a good, silly time at the theater since “Spamalot” or maybe “The Producers” as I did last night at “Something Rotten.” The new musical is possibly the Best Musical Tony winner and definitely a strong nominee after its opening last night at the St. James Theater.
The show had a massive spontaneous standing ovation in the middle of the first act, and another almost as good one in the second. This is not usual at all. “Something Rotten” is an absolutely hilarious parody of Shakespeare, not to mention a send up of Broadway in the manner of “Forbidden Broadway” if performed by Monty Python and written by Mel Brooks. What more do you want?
The cast is absolutely a knockout. Brian d’Arcy James, John Cariani, the insanely talented Christian Borle, and Brad Oscar, Kate Reinders, Heidi Blickenstaff, Peter Bartlett– all of them so good that there aren’t enough Tony slots for them. Brooks Ashmanskas nearly steals the show as a puritanical minister with nothing pure on his mind.
The show is written by Broadway novices, grown men who must never stop laughing– brothers Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick, who are American and live in L.A. and Nashville, and British humorist and writer John O’Farrell. Wayne, based in Nashville, is a hit songwriter whose credits include one of my favorite songs, “Change the World,” by Eric Clapton.
In the audience last night, cheering: Monty Python’s Eric Idle, because director Casey Nicholaw also directed “Spamalot”; Tina Fey and her husband, David Hyde Pierce, as well as director/actor Tom McCarthy, Debra Messing, Brooke Shields, Ana Gasteyer, and Charles Shaughnessy of “Days of Our Lives” and “The Nanny” fame.
Think of this– Christian Borle, who’s a Broadway star, is third billed in this show. That’s how good it all is. John Cariani is a long over due overnight sensation here. But it’s Brian d’Arcy James who holds the whole madness together– and it is madness– leading this insane group. Bravo to him. And Best Actor in a Musical nods everywhere.
Set in 1595, this is more or less the story– d’Arcy James and Cariani are Shakespeare’s (Borle) rivals as playwrighting brothers Nick and Nigel Bottom. Shakespeare is far more successful, a rock star in South London. Nick Bottom consults a soothsayer named Nostradamus (Brad Oscar) to figure out what Shakespeare’s biggest hit will be, so he, Nick, can write it first. Nostradamus kind of gets it right and wrong, resulting in Nick writing “Omelette: The Musical” instead of “Hamlet.” Nostradamus, you see, gets the breakfast part right– something about Danish.
Midway through Act 1, Nick has to explain to Nigel that they’re also writing the first musical ever. The resulting number, sort of their “Springtime for Hitler,” takes the house at the St. James down.
“Something Rotten” leads the list of my choices for Best Musical nominees, followed by “An American in Paris,” “The Last Ship,” “Finding Neverland,” and “Fun Home.” Of all the shows, my favorite score was from “The Last Ship.” But all the shows, including “Doctor Zhivago,” had excellent songs. “Fun Home” was the most intricate instrumentally, if not so hummable. “Something Rotten” is just hilarious. “An American in Paris”? A sublime production of a never before staged musical, but the Gershwin songs are too familiar to be considered ‘new’– it’s a little unfair.
One last thing: I see that Ben Brantley of the Times thinks “Something Rotten” is sophomoric. He’s right. It’s not as leadenly serious as the incredibly sad “Fun Home,” which I guess is the critics’ choice this season. But he’s missed the point. “Something Rotten” is just a pure delight.
Fred Morton, 90, Literary Hero and Our Friend from Elaine’s
I’m very saddened to write this notice that Fred Morton has passed away. I knew him from Elaine’s going back almost thirty years. Even up til the end of Elaine’s, Fred, a literary giant who was quite humble and self effacing, would bounce in for dinner wearing tennis shoes. He never looked his age, ever. He was a little older than Elaine Kaufman, our bounteous godmother. She’d always say, “Can you believe it? You’d never guess how old he is!”
Fred’s high status at Elaine’s was because he’d written the book on “The Rothschilds” that became the basis for the Broadway musical with Hal Linden. He was a highly entertaining conversationalist, and knew things that were going on — just a little good gossip. I’d say he was one of the most welcome diners in the eatery’s history, and a dear dear man.
Here is his New York Times obit today by Bruce Weber. It’s ironic of course that Fred escaped Austria as a child, only to die there in a hotel room while on a visit. He’s one of those people that will be sorely missed, and always remembered fondly.
Lily Tomlin Is First Actress of 2015 with Oscar Buzz, Wants Return to Broadway
Lily Tomlin has the role of a lifetime in “Grandma,” the first stand out hit of the Tribeca Film Festival, which had had its New York premiere Monday night and is eligible for the Audience Award. At 75, Tomlin is the first actress of 2015 with Oscar buzz that should stick right through the season. Her only Oscar nomination was for Robert Altman’s “Nashville” in 1975, so maybe there’s a lucky number thing. (Tomlin should have been nominated for “The Late Show” with Art Carney, and for “All of Me” with Steve Martin.)
Written and directed by Paul Weitz, Tomlin’s performance as a feisty, foul-mouthed, brainy poet still mourning her partner, Violet, of 30 years, should easily garner her an Oscar nomination this year.
Still lanky, limber and hysterically funny, Tomlin spoke to everyone on the red carpet, including the 17-year-old reporter from her high school blog way too young to remember Tomlin’s triumph in her solo show, “The Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe” nearly a quarter of a century ago.
I was the only person old enough to see the show, which I did twice.
Are you coming back to Broadway I asked?
“Yeah, I’m hoping to. Oh, I hope to!” Tomlin told me. “I am trying to get Jane, my partner, to write me a new show.”
Jane Wagner, Tomlin’s partner of 30 years, who she married in 2013, wrote her Broadway hit and was working on a reboot she told me.
But back to “Grandma,” which features three-dimensional brainy, witty, warm, deeply flawed women coping with complicated issues. Tomlin plays Elle, an academic and middling poet, still grieving the death of Violet, her partner of 30 years. Elle has a rocky relationship with her daughter (Marcia Gay Harden), a driven lawyer, who works at a standing desk walking on a moving treadmill. Elle’s granddaughter Sage is in trouble. She’s pregnant and needs $660 dollars for an abortion schedule for the end of the day but she’s flat broke. She’s afraid to go to her mother, so she turns to her feisty grandmother, who is short on cash and has just gotten out of debt and made wind chimes out of her cut up credit cards, a sort of political statement.
To raise funds for the abortion, Grandmother and granddaughter go on a gynecological road trip in Elle’s vintage Dodge Royal – Tomlin’s real-life car – in search of people who can give the duo a loaner. Sage’s deadbeat boyfriend (Nat Wolff) has no money but he does have great pot, which Elle finds in his sock drawer. In the hilarious scene in which they try to get him to pay half of the cost of the abortion, he threatens to “f…k” Elle up with his hockey stick and she wrestles it out of his hands and hits him in his privates with it.
In one of the most moving scenes in the film Elle revisits an old friend (Sam Elliott) whose relationship is unraveled gradually over a shared joint. But the stroll through memory lane turns painful, particularly for Elliott’s character, who is still scared by past events they shared even as he’s gone on to five wives and 10 grandchildren. Elliott, known for his cowboy and tough guy roles, turns in his best performance on screen and could also be a supporting actor Oscar contender.
But back to the red carpet where I asked Tomlin how much of herself was in the acerbic, feisty character of Elle.
“Quite a bit because her attitude is probably in me. But then I have a much kinder disposition,” she laughed.
I told Tomlin she looks like she’s having so much fun playing Elle. “I was. It was so much fun. And all the kids that are in the movie are so great and I love my granddaughter. She’s such an adorable, beautiful actress. I just hope she has such a fantastic career.”
Tomlin is also doing the web series “Love Therapy” with Lisa Kudrow. “I loved that,” she said. “We’re going to do another season. She’s doing ‘Comeback’ now.”
Next up for the 75 year-old-legend is “Grace and Frankie,” the Netflick show co-starring Jane Fonda, which premieres next month.
“Jane Fonda and I play women of our own age,” she told me. “She’s married to Martin Sheen and I’m married to Sam Waterston. We have great casting. They’ve been law partners for 40 years. They take us to dinner and we think they’re going to retire and we’re going to get rid of each other cause we don’t like each other. Jane’s very up tight, Republican and well dressed.”
Republican? “Kind of.”
“We’ve even toyed around with her teaching Sunday school at one point,” Tomlin laughed. “I’m kind of funky, down dressed, big wild hair, and I paint, and so we don’t get on so well but we’ve been thrown together for 40 years. And so we’re hoping our husbands are going to retire and we’re going to get rid of each other. Then they tell us they’ve been partners for forty years and that they’ve been having an affair with each other for 20 years. We’re devastated.”
Wait! The wives don’t notice anything?
“No we haven’t noticed it. She wouldn’t notice it cause she’s so uptight. I don’t notice it because I’m so tolerant and so easy going. And Sam and I have a great relationship.”
“There’s so much and it’s very dramatic to. You have to treat it seriously, we’re women in our seventies who are abandoned by their husbands. They just pull the rug out from under us, you know,” she said. To get past it, she said of their characters, “We had to learn how to levitate. We didn’t know what else to do. We had to reinvent ourselves.”
In “Grandma” Weitz has given audiences the gift of creating three dimension women who are brainy, funny, complicated and flawed. How can we get more films like that made I asked her.
“It’s like anything, if you have a success or it’s well done than maybe someone else will try to add to it or do another one or get another shape and just like the young kids who have come up, who have feminist mothers. They’ve changed the landscape somewhat and kids who had gay parents or knew someone in their family who was gay, they’ve changed the way Americans look at culture types in certain parts of the country. My family’s Southern, they’re from Kentucky, and my relatives, my generation is much more embracing and inclusive. My mother’s generation, all her sisters and brothers – there were a lot of them – they’ve all died now, but they would be very shocked and horrified and that’s because of biblical stuff, their religious training.”
So what would Ernestine think I asked?
“Oh she likes it,” Tomlin said, channeling the nosey telephone operating, she pursed her lips and showed she can do the character better than ever.
During the Q&A following the screening, someone from the audience said they saw the film in Sundance. “ “This is a movie you can see twice and really enjoy,” the speaker noted, adding “Lily Tomlin you’ll win your Oscar finally!” the audience cheered and applauded.
“That would be nice,” Tomlin purred softly.
Another asked about the film’s rehearsal process.
“I had to rehearse breaking Nat’s balls,” Tomlin cracked.
“Lily, how does it feel to be a goddess?” another member from the audience asked.
“Goddesses don’t speak. They just smile,” she purred.
Review: “Doctor Zhivago” is “Les Miz” with Russian Dressing and Great Songs
The Broadway crowd sneers at “Les Miz” and “Phantom” type event musicals, so “Doctor Zhivago” was in their gun sights long ago. But last night’s opening was a rousing success as the show’s producer, Anita Waxman, and her many investors finally brought the good doctor onto Broadway after stints in far away places like Australia and South Korea.
Based on the movie and book of the same name, “Dr. Zhivago” is long at nearly three hours. A half hour could have been cut. But I never thought it was boring, and neither did the audience. Among them: legendary songstress Judy Collins, “Jersey Boys” writer Marshall Brickman, and Tony winning composers Alan Mencken, and Stephen Schwartz.
Lucy Simon, whose other Broadway show was “The Secret Garden,” wrote the music for the catchy songs with two lyricists– Michael Korie and Amy Powers. Let me say of the songs that this is a lovely score with some outstanding numbers. “Now,” “Love Finds You,” and “The Edge of Time” are worth being covered by contemporary pop stars like Josh Groban, Christina Aguilera and Michael Buble. “Love Finds You” is a knockout. There is nothing generic here.
All the performers are talented, starting with Tam Mutu and Kelli Barrett, who play Zhivago and Lara. Tom Hewitt and Paul Nolan, as the show’s antagonists are strong in supporting roles.
Michael Weller wrote the book, and keeps the story moving despite dozens of characters and subplots. Still, there is nothing that some smart editing wouldn’t have done to hide the show’s flaws. Often, songs are being sung by or for secondary characters, and it just slows the whole enterprise down. But the voices are very very good, the costumes are excellent (mouth watering Russian overcoats), and the sets are minimalist to good effect.
“Doctor Zhivago” is definitely “Les Miz” with Russian dressing. Subtle, it’s not. But if you want to hear gorgeous music, this is the show. You’ll come out humming, and feeling pretty good. And that’s saying a lot. “Doctor Zhivago” is an epic, with epic appeal.
Review: “Avengers: Age of Ultron” Is a Huge, Satisfying Sequel for Marvel-Disney Fans
“The Avengers: Age of Ultron” is almost too enjoyable if you’re a Marvel fan. Pretty much everyone’s in it, and we get some new Avengers as well. It’s the perfect middle movie in a trilogy, too, with lots of exposition, character development, and enough of a cliff hanger to make us wait for the inevitable triumphant ending.
In the meantime, Joss Whedon has written a very well constructed script. By that, I mean that I could understand it, and that’s something. Everything is delineated as simply as it could be, with the various superheroes filled in strongly. It’s hard to bring in the stars of the other movies– Iron Man, Thor, etc– without all their baggage. So we learn, for example, that Pepper, Iron Man’s Girl Friday, is busy running Stark Industries. She won’t be in this movie. There is reference to Loki, for Thor Fans. And so on.
But then it’s back to business for the group, including Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Chris Evans as Captain America, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner aka The Hulk, and of course Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man/Tony Stark. Then there are the back up Avengers, so to speak: Anthony Mackie, Colbie Smulders and Don Cheadle are back, and not seen enough. Samuel L. Jackson is running the show, thank God, as Nick Fury.
We have a potential new Avenger in Paul Bettany (who’s really good), and two new young people to lower the age average: Elizabeth Olson and Aaron Taylor-Johnson are perfect additions to the cast. James Spader is the witty voice of Ultron, and there are cameo appearances from Idris Elba, Andy Serkis, Stellan Skarsgard and Julie Delpy, of all people. Marvel creator Stan Lee has his usual Hitchcock moment, with lines!
This time, Hawkeye gets a surprise wife and kids with the very agreeable Linda Cardellini joining the cast. Friendships are strengthened, and a romance blossoms that will fuel the third movie. We do learn that Bruce Banner uses Beat headphones, in a big product plug. Silver ones. The other plugs aren’t so obvious, at least not to this eye. They can’t really plug desk monitors anymore since all the computing is done on “Minority Report” type screens in the air. There no glowing Apple logos, thank goodness.
“Age of Ultron” isn’t perfect, of course. It’s a little too long, and has a requisite section that drags. Kids won’t mind it, adults will feel it. The best part of the movie is a big party scene with all the Avengers trying to figure out how Thor’s hammer really works. I’d like to see more of Anthony Mackie’s Falcon next time, but he does get a good scene with Captain America. From a purely technical aspect, I do “marvel” at The Hulk, who’s never been more real.
“Age of Ultron” is a massive hit. I can’t wait to see it again. And it’s funny– I’d like to see it with a big audience, particularly when Tony Stark comments that this “will be a long day’s journey into night– and not the Eugene O’Neill kind.”
And PS it’s not in 3D. Whew! The colors and images are rich enough not to need it.
One last thing: there’s an Easter egg at the end, but no Spider Man. It’s a character from “Guardians of the Galaxy.”
Broadway: “Living on Love” Draws Phil and Marlo, Matthew Broderick, Rebecca Romijn to Premiere
Sunday night, “Fun Home” opened at the Circle in the Square after a heralded run downtown at the Public Theater. Jeanne Tesori’s gem of a drama with a music (not a musical comedy, to be sure) is sad, brilliant, and disturbing.
Juxtapose that experience with “Living on Love,” with opera star Renee Fleming making her Broadway debut in a comedy that’s not a musical but has some music in it– namely, Fleming singing some bits of opera as a fictional famed diva married to an Italian conductor/ladies man.
I’ll tell you what. After “Fun Home,” I needed a laugh. (I recommend seeing these shows back to back, too.)
And “Living on Love” has plenty of them. It’s not terribly sophisticated, but it’s an interesting idea. Joe DiPietro has taken an unfinished play from the legendary writer Garson Kanin and reimagined it. Kanin wrote his play in 1985 before he became ill. His play, called “Peccadillo” was performed in Florida with a cast that included Glynnis Johns as the Diva, Christopher Plummer as the Maestro, and a young Kelly McGillis as the editor who comes to push along the Maestro’s memoirs.
In the new production with a different title, Anna Chlumsky from “Veep” plays the editor, and Jerry O’Connell is the ghost writer who’s hired to help get the book done. Kathleen Marshall, who usually directs musicals so beautifully, guides this comedy with music expertly and gets a lot of fun out of the material. Chlumsky and O’Connell are very natural and winning, Fleming lights up the stage, but the real winner is Douglas Sills as the Maestro. Don’t know his name? He played The Scarlett Pimpernel on Broadway many seasons back. With crazy flying grey hair (his own, by the way) and almost intentionally bad Italian accent, Sills is a hoot as the Maestro. The whole group makes for a truly fun ensemble.
I did enjoy DiPietro’s changes to “Peccadillo,” placing the whole thing around 1955 with gossip about then current stars and wisecracks about Leonard Bernstein. That was a clever move. Great set by Derek McLane, excellent lighting by Peter Kaczorowski.
What I don’t get is why producers bring these shows in during Tony nominations. I hope “Living on Love” gets a good run, but it seems like a fall opening would have been smarter, when the competition isn’t so intense. This is a lovely sort of throwback theater.
PS Enjoying the premiere: Phil Donahue and Marlo Thomas, as well as “Mrs. C” from “Happy Days,” actress Marion Ross, who flew in from Los Angeles to support her pal, DiPietro. Also spotted: Tyne Daly and Montego Glover, on a night off from their new comedy, “It Shoulda Been You.” At the party at Sardi’s, I ran into designer Cynthia Rowley who was hanging with O’Connell’s gorgeous wife, Rebecca Romijn. Matthew Broderick also popped in from “It’s Only a Play,” after his show was done for the night. And Oscar winning director Rob Marshall (“Chicago,” “Into the Woods”) was there to support his director sister Kathleen.
Broadway: Outer Critics Circle Goes for “Rotten,” “Dog,” Helen Mirren, “Paris” More
Today’s nominations from the Outer Critics Circle cover Broadway and Off Broadway. Hence, a few snubs — like all of “Finding Neverland” and “Dr. Zhivago,” no Bill Nighy or Carey Mulligan from “Skylight.” The OCC did include “The Last Ship,” which I think will also be remembered by the Tonys. Not here is “Fun Home,” which opened last night on Broadway to raves. The OCC noted it last year as an off Broadway production. This morning, Tony winner Katie Finnernan and Broadway and TV star Raul Esparza announced the nominees at the Friars Club on East 55th St. (A mysterious construction job on that block has now gone on for years, disrupting everything around it. Are the Sopranos involved? Sure seems like it.)
Here are the nominations:
OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY PLAY
The Audience
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Wolf Hall
OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY MUSICAL
An American in Paris
It Shoulda Been You
The Last Ship
Something Rotten!
The Visit
OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY PLAY
Between Riverside and Crazy
The City of Conversation
The Nether
Rasheeda Speaking
The Village Bike
OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY MUSICAL
A Christmas Memory
Disenchanted
The Fortress of Solitude
Hamilton
Lonesome Traveler
OUTSTANDING BOOK OF A MUSICAL
(Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Hamilton
It Shoulda Been You
The Last Ship
Something Rotten!
The Visit
OUTSTANDING NEW SCORE
(Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Hamilton
It Shoulda Been You
The Last Ship
Something Rotten!
The Visit
OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A PLAY
(Broadway or Off-Broadway)
The Elephant Man
Fashions for Men
The Heidi Chronicles
Skylight
You Can’t Take It With You
OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
(Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Into the Woods
The King and I
On the Town
On the Twentieth Century
Side Show
OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR OF A PLAY
Stephen Daldry The Audience
Marianne Elliott The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Scott Ellis The Elephant Man
Scott Ellis You Can’t Take It With You
Jeremy Herrin Wolf Hall
OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR OF A MUSICAL
Scott Ellis On the Twentieth Century
Thomas Kail Hamilton
Casey Nicholaw Something Rotten!
David Hyde Pierce It Shoulda Been You
Christopher Wheeldon An American in Paris
OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHER
Joshua Bergasse On the Town
Andy Blankenbuehler Hamilton
Warren Carlyle On the Twentieth Century
Casey Nicholaw Something Rotten!
Christopher Wheeldon An American in Paris
OUTSTANDING SET DESIGN
(Play or Musical)
Bunny Christie The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Bob Crowley An American in Paris
Scott Pask Something Rotten!
David Rockwell On the Twentieth Century
Michael Yeargan The King and I
OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN
(Play or Musical)
Gregg Barnes Something Rotten!
Bob Crowley The Audience
William Ivey Long On the Twentieth Century
Christopher Oram Wolf Hall
Catherine Zuber The King and I
OUTSTANDING LIGHTING DESIGN
(Play or Musical)
Paule Constable The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Jeff Croiter Something Rotten!
Rick Fisher The Audience
Natasha Katz An American in Paris
Japhy Weideman The Visit
OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A PLAY
Reed Birney I’m Gonna Pray For You So Hard
Bradley Cooper The Elephant Man
Stephen McKinley Henderson Between Riverside and Crazy
Ben Miles Wolf Hall
Alex Sharp The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Greta Gerwig The Village Bike
Jan Maxwell The City of Conversation
Helen Mirren The Audience
Elisabeth Moss The Heidi Chronicles
Tonya Pinkins Rasheeda Speaking
OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Christian Borle Something Rotten!
Brian d’Arcy James Something Rotten!
Robert Fairchild An American in Paris
Peter Gallagher On the Twentieth Century
Tony Yazbeck On the Town
OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Kristin Chenoweth On the Twentieth Century
Leanne Cope An American in Paris
Tyne Daly It Shoulda Been You
Kelli O’Hara The King and I
Chita Rivera The Visit
OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY
Paul Jesson Wolf Hall
Richard McCabe The Audience
Alessandro Nivola The Elephant Man
Nathaniel Parker Wolf Hall
Bryce Pinkham The Heidi Chronicles
OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Annaleigh Ashford You Can’t Take It With You
Patricia Clarkson The Elephant Man
Francesca Faridany The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Julie Halston You Can’t Take It With You
Lydia Leonard Wolf Hall
OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
John Cariani Something Rotten!
Josh Grisetti It Shoulda Been You
Andy Karl On the Twentieth Century
Paul Alexander Nolan Doctor Zhivago
Max von Essen An American in Paris
OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Heidi Blickenstaff Something Rotten!
Victoria Clark Gigi
Megan Fairchild On the Town
Ruthie Ann Miles The King and I
Mary Louise Wilson On the Twentieth Century
OUTSTANDING SOLO PERFORMANCE
Joe Assadourian The Bullpen
Jim Dale Just Jim Dale
Tom Dugan Wiesenthal
Cush Jumbo Josephine and I
Benjamin Scheuer The Lion
JOHN GASSNER AWARD
(Presented for an American play, preferably by a new playwright)
Ayad Akhtar The Invisible Hand
Halley Feiffer I’m Gonna Pray For You So Hard
Elizabeth Irwin My Mañana Comes
Markus Potter Stalking the Bogeyman
Benjamin Scheuer The Lion
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Broadway: “Curious Incident” Casting for Replacements to Start September 15th
It could very well be the the winner of the Tony Award for Best Play. But “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time” will be getting a whole new cast come September 15th.
A casting call has gone out today for all the characters including Christopher, played in New York so brilliantly by newcomer Alex Sharp. Sharp will likely be nominated for a Tony and could easily win Best Actor.
The curious incident here is that if the play does win a lot of Tonys– or at least is nominated– you’d think the producers would want the original cast to stick around longer.
Anyway, the show is genius, and deserves all praises and plaques. I guess, see it now before Labor Day when a new group comes in. The good news is, the set remains the same.
“Mad Men” Makes A Small Mistake, But Otherwise: Don Faces the Future, Joan Finds Love?
“Mad Men”: this episode, “The Forecast,” took place in June 1970 as the Kent State shootings are referenced by Sally when her old pal Glen Bishop (played by show creator Matthew Weiner’s suddenly grown son Marten) enlists for Vietnam. One slight mistake: the song at the end of the show, Roberta Flack’s “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” was a hit in 1972 after being released at the end of 1971. Whoops! Maybe AMC doesn’t pay fact checkers any more.
Bruce Greenwood guest starred as the man who could be Joan’s future, Richard, a wealthy real estate developer. Is he Joan’s end game? We’ll see. He’s wearing leisure suits and ascots. That part was indeed 1970. PS Who is that girl babysitting Joan’s son? Did I miss something?
Don is assigned by Roger to write a 2500 word speech outlining the agency’s future. At the same time Don is giving good and bad advice, selling his penthouse apartment, and quizzing everyone about the nature of life. “The Forecast” moved only Joan’s story and maybe Sally’s forward, while leaving Betty in her Rye kitchen, and Peggy looking smart in a new suit.
Are we spinning wheels? What happened to Harry Hamlin’s character, and Bob Benson? “The Forecast” felt too general at this late date, with the show quickly winding toward the end. Let’s hope next week is a little more character and plot specific. PS Christina Hendricks looked like a million bucks.