There was a lot of anticipation leading up to the release of Nate Ruess’s first full-length solo album Grand Romantic. The singer/songwriter has been critically received for his work in both Fun (stylized fun) and The Format since the early 2000s. However, it was the mainstream success of Fun’s 2011 track “We Are Young” that…
I'm not going to lie, I didn't have the highest expectations for Max Gowan'"Big People." He's an 18-year-old singer-songwriter who recorded and produced the record mostly by himself in his room. However, after my first listen through, one thing is clear. Max Gowan has something going for him. From his gorgeous use of lo-fi to…
Drama Series is pretty much done for me. A lot of people are going to say True Detective can win, Game of Thrones can win, House of Cards can win, but Breaking Bad will win. Although my confidence was a bit shaken when True Detective hauled in 4 awards at the Creative Arts Emmys, I…
What I love best about the titling scheme Bryan Fuller has chosen for Hannibal—this season, each episode is named after an Italian course; the previous seasons were French and Japanese, respectively—is how it at once constitutes gimmickry and structural importance. Not every episode is perfectly aligned with its title, but many come pretty close. “Antipasto”…
Hear Ye! Hear Ye! A joyous noise emanates from the St. James Theatre. It's the sound of uncontrollable laughter and applause. A guaranteed side effect of the funniest Broadway musical in years. It's obvious one has stumbled across something special from the opening moment of Something Rotten!. A minstrel (Michael James Scott, in glorious voice) sings…
Tony Nominations are still months away, but I will be extremely surprised if The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is not cited a number of times on nomination morning. If even a small part of you is a theatre fan, this new play at the Barrymore Theatre is essential viewing this…
Have you ever wondered about the paths in life you chose not to take? What would your life be like if you didn’t take that job, if you mustered the courage to flirt with the guy on the subway, if you moved to another state? In Nick Payne’s short but haunting “Constellations”, two actors bring…
When David Hare’s Skylight premiered at the end of the Thatcher era in Britain, it surely struck a nerve with audiences. A play that intertwines politics and passion via two ex-lovers, the political ideology is still as sharp as ever even though the play has dated itself. In this first ever revival, Bill Nighy and…
One of the most satisfying experiences in musical theatre is when a composer taps into powerful and recognizable emotional moments, and against all odds, finds a way to set these revelations to music. The audience is left wondering: "how did they do that?". Sometimes it's a youth overwhelmed with love, as in 'On the Street…
Plays as irreverent, profane, and wacky as Hand to God rarely make it to the big Broadway houses. So I raise a hallelujah to the theatre gods for giving us this outstanding play at the Booth Theatre. It's one of the best shows this season. Robert Askins has written an insanely funny dark comedy that you…
