Stage | Reviews | Uinterview

Crackling 'Ann' Wins In A Landslide

03/07/2013

Ann Richards, the larger-than-life governor of Texas from 1991–1995, is lovingly brought to life on stage in a rousing performance by Holland Taylor in Ann at Vivian Beaumont Theater at New York's Lincoln Center that opens today. A dead ringer for Richards, Taylor, sporting the governor's trademarked helmet of white hair, inhabits the role so thoroughly that your suspension of disbelief simply becomes belief. Richards, as Taylor points out in the show, was not Texas's first female governor.

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This Heiress Inherits A Natural Beauty

11/05/2012

Poor Jessica Chastain. After playing Brad Pitt’s dazzling wife in Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life and a blonde bombshell in The Help, a few nasty voices on the stage of the Walter Kerr Theatre are calling her plain, simple, and witless. The newly anointed face of Yves Saint Laurent’s “Manifesto” fragrance simply shouldn’t listen to them. Everyone knows that Jessica Chastain is stunning—and that’s precisely the problem with Moisés Kaufman’s revival of Ruth and Augustus Goetz’ The Heiress.

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Sleep No More

06/11/2012

Pioneering British thespian outfit, Punchdrunk, bring their singular brand of “immersive theater” to the States with this roaming, living, breathing real-time production of Macbeth. Played out within the dark confines of three converted warehouses on the west side of Manhattan’s Midtown, Sleep No More is a voyeuristic tumble down the rabbit hole into a nightmare of homicidal ambition and hedonistic fervor, in which you the nomadic viewer are in complete control over how, where, and when you experience the performance.

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The Agony And Ecstasy Of Steve Jobs

02/13/2012

When Steve Jobs, beloved tech-god and idolized business mogul, died last October following a protracted battle with pancreatic cancer, satirical news outlet The Onion ran with the head: “Last American Who Knew What The F--- He Was Doing Dies.” In these turbulent, trying economic times, when the very idea of the American Dream itself seemed under siege and on the verge of collapse, Steve Jobs stood tall as a testament to the notion that if you simply married innovation with hard work then the world would be your oyster.

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Cirque Du Soleil: Zarkana

09/07/2011

Over the last twenty-five years French Canadian outfit Cirque Du Soleil had steadily built itself up from an idiosyncratic acrobatic company to the premier circus troupe in the world, with a back catalogue of two-dozen unique shows, a permanent residency in Las Vegas, others planned in the UAE and Russia, and revenues somewhere in the region of half a billion dollars annually. Their latest endeavor is Zarkana, the first of a series of planned summer runs at New York City’s storied Radio City Music Hall, showing through the end of October before heading off to Moscow.

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Shakespeare in the Park: All's Well That Ends Well

06/20/2011

If New York winter is defined by the crisp falling snow and the slow-shuffle pilgrimage of shivering huddled masses to the Christmas tree outside Rockefeller Center, then summer is defined by images of Central Park as an endless green shore of beach towels and picnic blankets, and of course, Shakespeare in the Park. It’s a testament to the enduring appeal of this annual tradition that The Public Theater can stage second, or, in this case, third tier offerings from The Bard and still have people lining up for tickets each day for five or six hours at a time.

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CelebSelect

Danielle Panabaker's Top Pop Picks
- Favorite Band: The Avett Brothers
  
  "I'm really into the Avett Brothers as of late."
- Favorite Book: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
  
  "My girlfriends are I - we are very nerdy. We started a book club and the first book we read was Gone Girl."
- Favorite New Movie: Silver Linings Playbook
  
  "I thought it was a great film and I thought Jennifer Lawrence was incredible, you know those angry tears, I've certainly experienced that."
Paul Van Dyk: Current Favorites
- School of the Seven Bells
  
  The New York-based band unites Benjamin Curtis of "Secret Machines" and Alejandra Deheza. Formed in 2007, the duo is named after a mythical South American pickpocket training academy of the same name.
- Linkin Park
  
  The Californian rock veterans have come a long way since 'Hybrid Theory.' Back now with their fifth studio album in over a decade, 'Living Things' is one of Paul Van Dyck's favorite albums this year.
- Jupiter Jones
  
  The German punk rock band formed in 2002, but has already released several LPs, including an eponymously-named album in 2011.
- Depeche Mode
  
  The legendary Essex electronic band from the 80s remains a classic for Van Dyk. It was also recently among 'Q' magazine's "50 Bands That Changed The World!".
Cody Simpson
- Favorite Movie
  I'm still really into the Ocean's series. I got into them recently. I was always too young to watch them.
- Favorite Book
  This book called Contest by Matthew Reilly, he's an Australian author.
- Favorite Album
  Drake's Take Care — big fan of that
- Favorite TV Show
  The Mentalist
Styx's Lawrence Gowan
- Bossypants by Tina Fey
  
  "That’s got me laughing hysterically on airplanes."
- Making Mirrors by Goyte
  
  "I thought that was a tremendous record."
- The Artist
  
  "It really impressed me."
- Keane
  
  "They’re really strong."
90210's Michael Steger: My Favorite Stuff
- Favorite TV Show: Rome
  
  HBO's series starring Cirian Hinds
- Favorite Album: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
  
  "Either that or The Gypsy Kings."
- Favorite Book: The Fountainhead
  
  "Probably my favorite book of all time."
- Favorite New Movie: Attack The Block
  
  “It reminded me of The Goonies.”