The Book of Mormon–which The Observer reviews in this week’s issue–isn’t just one of the best-reviewed Broadway shows in memory. It’s also one of the weirdest-reviewed, as practically every critic tries to prove that they know a little bit about the Latter-Day Saints by stuffing in metaphor and churchy tone. To wit: Entertainment Weekly Read More
Enron is closing, despite its Tony nominations. It seems America is not yet ready for an elaborately-staged docudrama of economic woe.
Or: some alternate explanations, courtesy of the Guardian (UK).
1. The wrath of Ben Brantley: “No serious play on Broadway can survive a withering attack from the New York Times, Read More
This year’s Tony nominations were announced today and everyone paid attention, but only a little.
Gawker notes that Scarlett Johansson is now a Tony nominee (for A View from the Bridge), but manages not to get too offended. The Journal touts the Johansson nomination in its headline alongside Denzel Read More
Ellen Burstyn, the co-president of The Actors Studio and the first woman president of Actors’ Equity, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2007 Theatre Museum Awards tonight at the National Arts Club in Gramercy Park. New York Times theatre critic Ben Brantley will receive the Theatre History Preservation Award. Jim Dale, who narrates Read More
The New York Times’ Ben Brantley shares his thoughts on Claire Danes’ "game, conscientious" portrayal of Eliza Doolittle and Jefferson Mays’ version of Henry Higgins as a "squalling, solipsistic infant trapped inside a worldly man’s body" in the Roundabout Theater Company’s Pygmalion.
Perhaps the kindest way to think about David Grindley’s misfired revival Read More
And so, to the moment the nation has been waiting for: Before announcing the winners of our 2003 Theater Awards, it is our solemn duty, as always, to state the rules set out in subsection 2(b), paragraph 52(e), of the Awards Committee Constitution. This duly noted, and notwithstanding the exceptions contained within clause 382(h), paragraph Read More
And so, to the moment the nation has been waiting for. Before announcing the proud winners of our 2002 Theater Awards, however, it is our solemn duty to state the rules according to the provisions set out in subsection 2(b), paragraph 52(e) of the Awards Committee Constitution. Thus duly noted, and, notwithstanding the exceptions contained Read More
The sound we hear over breakfast is Ben Brantley barking up the wrong tree. Now, it’s true that no two critics will agree on anything much, including the time of day. Mr. Brantley believes, for example, that the earth is flat, whereas everyone knows it’s square. But I must say that his breathlessly ecstatic acclaim Read More
Two weeks after Ben Brantley savaged his show in The New York Times , Barry Weissler, co-producer of Annie Get Your Gun , called from the Peninsula Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills to say that in the grand scheme of things, it really didn’t matter too much. The New York Times ‘ chief drama Read More
