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☆ In ‘The Refuge Plays,’ Nicole Ari Parker Comes Home
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Alexis Soloski | More About Alexis Soloski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Over coffee and omelets, she discussed, with passion and precision, her love for the theater and the secrets that age makeup can reveal. And I’m really upset with God that he did not give me a singing voice. But second semester, I remember calling my dad and telling him that I wanted to transfer to Tisch. I played the maid in “The Little Foxes.” I played all these small subservient roles in the classic plays. We all have those things that are in these beautiful classic plays.

Persons: Parker, ”, Boris Kodjoe, ageless, she’d, I’m, I’ve, Shirley MacLaine, “, Judy Garland, Shakespeare, Juliet, It’s Organizations: SAG, Tisch, N.Y.U Locations: “

☆ Flowers and Fake Marble: How TV Production Designers Create the Past
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-10 | by ( Alexis Soloski | More About Alexis Soloski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“I always say that if there were a marble Olympics, our team would definitely take the gold,” Bob Shaw bragged. The scenic artists of “The Gilded Age” can paint a half-dozen distinct marble varieties. To pause at nearly any frame of the show is to marvel at the meticulous mix of authentic materials and brilliant fakes. Look closely at the candelabras, for example: They are fitted with fire-safe LEDs hooked to wavering filaments that substitute for open flame. Though production design is often seen as a mere backdrop to the action, the scenery, furnishings, finishes and props have their own stories to tell.

Persons: “, Bob Shaw, Shaw, ”, Amy Maguire, Cat Smith, Drew Boughton, John Wick Organizations: HBO, New York Times, Buccaneers Locations: “

☆ Rachel Bloom Enjoys the Ride
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-08 | by ( Alexis Soloski | More About Alexis Soloski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“My grandfather went on this one time,” Rachel Bloom effused on a recent afternoon. “He thought he was going to die.”A writer-performer best known for the cult musical comedy “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” Bloom was standing at the base of Coney Island’s Cyclone, the 96-year-old wooden thrill ride designated as a landmark by American Coaster Enthusiasts. “I just had this thought of, we’re all going to die someday,” she said. Something like riding the world’s second-steepest wooden roller coaster, which boasts 60-mile-per-hour speeds and an 85-foot drop. Bloom — brisk, animated, with a mind that sometimes outraces her mouth — apparently finds a 3.75 G-force relaxing.

Persons: ” Rachel Bloom effused, ” Bloom, ”, Lucille Lortel, Bloom Organizations: Coney Island’s Cyclone, American Coaster, New Locations: Coney Island’s

☆ Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad Tackle Another Book (Not Mormon)
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Alexis Soloski | More About Alexis Soloski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Josh Gad still remembers the first time he and Andrew Rannells met, in June 2010 in a Los Angeles audition suite. Rannells was auditioning for “The Book of Mormon,” the new musical from the creators of “South Park.” Gad, then a correspondent on “The Daily Show,” had long been attached. Rannells, a replacement actor in “Hairspray” and “Jersey Boys,” was not remotely famous. And I still had a grudge because you beat me out for ‘Jersey Boys.’” (It was unclear if Gad was joking. “The Book of Mormon” opened in 2011, to rapturous reviews, with Rannells as the strait-laced Mormon missionary Elder Price and Gad as his co-evangelist Elder Cunningham, whose laces are a lot looser.

Persons: Josh Gad, Andrew Rannells, Gad, Rannells, ” Gad, ”, they’d, Chez, “, Tony, ’, Elder Price, Elder Cunningham, Norbert Leo Butz Organizations: Jersey Boys, ‘ Jersey Boys Locations: Los Angeles

☆ America Came on Down, and Bob Barker Was Thrilled Every Time
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-27 | by ( Alexis Soloski | More About Alexis Soloski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

(An unusually dark aspect of the Carey era: a new game called Pay the Rent.) Contestants lucky enough to come on down won prizes that some of them could not have afforded otherwise, prizes that they may not have wanted and. People populated that studio audience because they weren’t at work, because work couldn’t substitute for the excitement of being on television. If we watched the show in the Barker years, if we watch it now, that likely means that we weren’t at work either. If he wanted a new car, no yodeling would be required, no frenzy.

Persons: Drew Carey, Carey, Barker, Happy Gilmore, ”

☆ ‘And Just Like That …’ Samantha Came and Went
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( Alexis Soloski | More About Alexis Soloski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Samantha then asks to be put on speaker phone to pay her respects to the place. The call ends with Samantha still 3,500 miles away. Throughout the seasons, men and bistros came and went, most often within a single 22-minute episode. Each of the characters had an archetype to inhabit: flighty Carrie, career-minded Miranda, marriage-minded Charlotte, libertine Samantha. Samantha was a caricature of licentiousness, but Cattrall’s enthusiasm for the role — the husky voice, the double-dare-you smile, the symphony of sex noises — made her irreplaceable.

Persons: Carrie, Carrie’s, Samantha, Aidan —, John Corbett, —, bistros, Miranda, Charlotte, Cattrall, Patricia Field Organizations: City Locations: London, New York

☆ Feminist Stories Are Being Set to a Pop Beat. But Are They Empowering?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( Alexis Soloski | More About Alexis Soloski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

All of these musicals use a pop vernacular, “Bad Cinderella” somewhat less so. Is pop, particularly pop written and produced by men, a useful form for feminist discourse? Martin and the generation of pop architects who followed him treat lyrics almost as an afterthought. COLLINS-HUGHES Inattention to lyrics is a limitation of jukebox musicals, but it doesn’t hold for original pop songs, which can be whatever the writer makes them. It would help, though, if more of the songwriters getting musicals produced were women.

Persons: Max Martin, Martin, “, Juliet ”, Shakespeare, TILLET, I’m, COLLINS, HUGHES, ZOLADZ, Ariana Grande Organizations: Backstreet Boys

☆ ‘El Mago Pop’ Review: A Boy Next Door With the Magic Touch
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( Alexis Soloski | More About Alexis Soloski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Not so long ago, landing a helicopter on a Broadway stage was kind of a big deal. In “El Mago Pop,” the charming, thrilling, silly Broadway show by the Spanish illusionist Antonio Díaz, it is one of the more minor stunts. Like most professional magicians, he discovered magic early and worked at it obsessively, a process he details in a long video sequence that begins the brief show. He is short and slight, with long, nimble fingers — watch those fingers when you can, the precision and economy are gorgeous — and a high, fast voice. But maybe that’s what happens when the boy next door comes to Broadway.

Persons: El Mago, Antonio Díaz, Díaz, Doug Henning, Ethel Barrymore, Mag Locations: Spanish, Barcelona, Spain

☆ In ‘Operation Mincemeat,’ the Theater of War Is a Comedy
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Alexis Soloski | More About Alexis Soloski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At one time, those tanks were a feature of “Operation Mincemeat,” a punchy, plucky, highly unlikely West End musical, which tells the even more unlikely story of an MI-5 escapade. “Part of the joy was that the crazy stuff was all true,” said Natasha Hodgson, a member of the theater collective SpitLip, which created the show. But there was so very much crazy stuff. They especially doubted the dummy Sherman tanks, which the Allies created to misdirect the Germans. “We had to take the truth out because it was too silly,” the composer Felix Hagan, another member of SpitLip said.

Persons: ”, Natasha Hodgson, “, Felix Hagan, SpitLip Organizations: British Intelligence, Royal Marines Locations: Spain

☆ Taylor Kitsch Is No Longer the Next Big Thing. He’s OK With That.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Alexis Soloski | More About Alexis Soloski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“Whatever it is that motivates other people — fame, money, celebrity, more followers, I don’t [expletive] know — it was never like that,” Kitsch said. He took time off, coaxing her into detox and sober living facilities, taking her to the hospital when she relapsed. “He literally put his life on hold to help me,” Kitsch-Best, now seven years sober, said in a recent interview. He lost weight, learned guitar, took voice lessons, practiced one of Koresh’s sermons “a thousand-plus” times, he said. Though he gave himself his first panic attack, a month ahead of filming, the preparation worked: Kitsch is unrecognizable in the role.

Persons: “, buzzed, Shelby, coaxing, David Koresh, psychically, ” Organizations: Paramount Locations: “ Waco, ”

☆ Dirty Pictures From a Revolution
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Alexis Soloski | More About Alexis Soloski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“It’s so hard being a woman in 1973,” she pouts, still sprawled. “If only there was a way to make a change.” Then the shirtless men in breakaway pants appear behind her. An eyeful of oiled torsos, however muscular, may not have been a perfect substitute for real social transformation. This playful scene, an imagined forerunner to a Chippendales-style revue, occurs in the second season of “Minx,” which began on Starz on Friday. A workplace comedy set at an erotic magazine for women, “Minx” revisits the 1970s collisions, confusions and correspondences between women’s liberation and the sexual revolution.

Persons: “, ”, Jennifer Romolini, Jane ” Organizations: Starz Locations: America

☆ They Put on a Show at Camp, and It Changed Their Lives
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Alexis Soloski | More About Alexis Soloski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Camp: French WoodsMemories: It was a miracle. Going to this wonderland, where I met other kids who loved this as much as I did gave me a true sense of belonging. The thing that has kept me in the theater for so long is that sense of belonging. I felt the most like myself when I was at camp. Camp made me feel like, “Oh, this could be my profession.”

Persons: Sally Bowles, “ Don Quixote ”, “, I’ve, Celia Keenan, Bolger, Sondheim, Camp, ” Organizations: Interlochen Locations: “

☆ ‘The Democracy Project’ Puts America Onstage, Warts and All
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Alexis Soloski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Tourists who pause outside Federal Hall, a Wall Street memorial maintained by the U.S. National Park Service, will find its neoclassical facade covered in scaffolding. But until July 22, the man himself can be found inside, fussing over his dentures, his sleep and his coming inauguration. “Oh, hon,” his wife, Martha, says. The project began when Marie Salerno, the chief executive officer of Federal Hall, and Lynn Goldner, a producer, were strategizing how to raise the memorial’s profile ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary in 2026. Where Federal Hall stands (the original hall was demolished in 1812) was the site of Washington’s inauguration and the first Capitol building.

Persons: George Washington, “, Martha, ” George, Tom Nelis, Erin Anderson, Michael R, Jackson, George, Billy Lee, Nathan Hinton, Ona Judge, Alexander McGillivray, ”, Lisa D’Amour, Marie Salerno, Lynn Goldner, —, “ Hamilton Organizations: U.S . National Park Service, Democracy, Federal Hall Locations: Washington, New York

☆ In ‘The Bear,’ Molly Gordon Is More Than the Girl Next Door
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Alexis Soloski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“We really wanted to get to what would it be like for Carmy to actually try to experience some form of happiness in his life,” he said. On “Ramy,” Storer had found Gordon inherently lovable. Carmy has armored himself against feeling, but opposite Gordon’s Claire that armor is useless. “She sees right through, in a really beautiful way, to the core of Carmy,” White said by phone. For Gordon, the scenes opposite Carmy — the sweet, morning-after ones, the anguished ones — felt uniquely personal, mirroring her experiences with past partners.

Persons: ”, Calo, ” Storer, Gordon, “, Claire, Carmy, R.E.M, Gordon’s Claire, ” White, Ayo, Gordon’s, ” Edebiri, “ I’ve

Card 2 of 12Pink Floyd, ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and MeThe inside story of a Times reporter’s strange role in a foundational moment in early internet culture: “The Dark Side of the Rainbow.”Background Image: A video montage showing scenes from “The Wizard of Oz” with Pink Floyd song lyrics superimposed.

Persons: Pink Floyd, ‘, Oz ’, Oz

☆ In ‘A Simulacrum,’ Steve Cuiffo Has Nothing Up His Sleeves
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Alexis Soloski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Cuiffo and Hnath have created “A Simulacrum,” which includes both classic tricks (the ambitious card, the torn and restored newspaper) and some new ones. Because “A Simulacrum,” running through July 2 at Atlantic Stage 2, is less a demonstration of magic than a deconstruction of how and why magic is made. To perform it, Cuiffo, 45, had to unlearn most of his habits, to strip away any vestige of showmanship. His offstage persona is fairly close to the stage one he favors — rumpled, excitable, mildly sardonic, casually authoritative. Cuiffo, a familiar face Off Broadway, is unusual both in how he fuses magic and theater, which few performers do, and in how he appears to combine rigor with a seeming spontaneity.

Persons: ”, —, Maya Phillips Organizations: Atlantic, The Locations: Chelsea, The Times

☆ John Corbett Knows What You Want From Him
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Alexis Soloski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

There were such strong associations between Corbett and the role that he struggled to be seen in any other way. His work on “Sex and the City” and in the “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” movies, the first of which was released in 2002, affirmed and limited his type: the nice boyfriend. “He is a very fun rapscallion who likes to have a good time,” said Nia Vardalos, the writer and star of the “Greek Wedding” films, which seemed to refer equally to actor and role. “I’m still living the same life.”In “Sex and the City,” that life, for all of Corbett’s warmth, had its darkness. (For Corbett, the line gets blurry here, too: “I get upset.

Persons: Corbett, ”, “ I’ve, “, I’ll, Nia Vardalos, Toni Collette, Aidan, there’s, “ I’m Organizations: City, Showtime Locations: United States, Tara

☆ Can’t Repeat the Past? An Immersive ‘Great Gatsby’ Thinks You Can.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( Alexis Soloski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The original script was brief, just 35 pages, and the set, created mostly from scavenged furniture, was improvised and minimal. Audiences entered up a fire escape, over the roof and through the back of the building into a replica of a drugstore speakeasy. Scheduled to run for just four weeks in 2015, the production re-emerged in two new spaces the next year. Wright and his producers, Immersive Everywhere, had long wanted to bring the show — which uses both group scenes and more intimate ones and select one-on-one encounters to bring “Gatsby” alive — to New York. To bring this “Gatsby” to the city in which it’s set felt, Wright said, “amazing, inspiring, humbling, a bit intimidating.” It was also challenging.

Persons: Wright, Gatsby, —, Louis Hartshorn, Arnold Rothstein, Meyer, Hartshorn, it’s Organizations: Audiences, Bond, Central Locations: London, Belgium, Ireland, Wales, South Korea, New York

☆ William Jackson Harper on ‘Primary Trust’: ‘I Needed to Do This Play’
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Alexis Soloski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

And since there is no audience reaction, you’re just like, Am I doing OK? And the fact that you get to do stuff over and over and over again is kind of nice. I needed to do this play. I just needed to, I was going to be upset if I didn’t. Because I really felt like I just understood this character really, really deeply.

Persons: I’m, Kenneth, I’ve, That’s

Tony voters struck a perfect equilibrium with the awards for scenic design. Beowulf Boritt won for the musical “New York, New York,” a big, buoyant throwback of a show whose aesthetic is decidedly classic Broadway. “There’s no video wall in ‘New York, New York,’” he assured the audience, which sounded glad to hear it. Recognizing such different kinds of excellence, the Tonys gracefully embraced both tradition and tradition-breaking. LAURA COLLINS-HUGHESSmall is beautiful

Persons: Tony, Beowulf Boritt, ”, “, ’ ”, Tim Hatley, Andrzej Goulding, LAURA COLLINS, HUGHES Organizations: “ Locations: York , New York, ‘ New York , New York

At this point, Audra McDonald is part of Tony Awards history. McDonald previously won four featured actress Tonys in the play and musical categories for her roles in “Carousel” (1994), “Master Class” (1996), “Ragtime” (1998) and “A Raisin in the Sun” (2004). She is the only person to win in all four acting categories. Despite the cascade of awards, she told The New York Times in an interview last month that the recognition remained special. “It’s an honor,” she said while on a lunch break from working on yet another project.

Persons: Audra McDonald, Tony, who’s, —, Suzanne Alexander, Adrienne Kennedy’s, McDonald, Chita Rivera, Julie Harris, Tonys, ”, Bess, Porgy, Bess ”, Billie Holiday Organizations: Sun, New York Times

☆ ‘Succession’: Jeremy Strong on Kendall’s ‘Catastrophic’ Ending
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Alexis Soloski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When filming on the final season of “Succession” wrapped this winter, the actor Jeremy Strong flew to the Danish fishing village where he and his wife have a home. For Strong, who began filming the HBO drama seven years ago and won an Emmy for playing Kendall Roy, this was a happy ending. But for the character, “Succession,” created by Jesse Armstrong, concluded on bleaker terms. Kendall began Sunday night’s finale episode believing that he would emerge as the chief executive of a giant conglomerate. But the final scene, which also took place at the water’s edge, also at sunset, left Kendall numb, friendless, bereft.

☆ ‘Succession’ Clears the Air: Here’s What to Read
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Jennifer Vineyard | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

None of his children could manage to put a sticker on that.) Below, we put stickers on some of the noteworthy recent features on the series coming to its end. ‘“Succession” Is Over. Why Did We Care?’ [NY Times]The “billon-dollar question,” as Alexis Soloski puts it, has been answered — none of the Roys won the prize. “Writers have argued that we love ‘Succession’ because of what it says about America, what it says about class, what it says about money, family, trauma and abuse,” Soloski writes.

☆ In ‘Succession,’ Tom and Greg Were Never Playing the Long Game
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Alexis Soloski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

I genuinely don’t know what he wants any more than I know what I want. Do I need to feel this bad at work?” I also don’t know if he’s going to cut my salary. Walking down the hall, every office: “You’re fired.”Why do you think Shiv sides with Tom over her brothers, Kendall and Roman? She just looks at Kendall and thinks, “I can’t.” I don’t think she made a rational decision. And then there’s this beautiful stage direction that Jesse wrote in the script of Tom and Shiv in the car.

☆ Sarah Goldberg on the ‘Barry’ Finale and Bad Decisions
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Alexis Soloski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Was this really a comedy, especially in this final season? I had a lot to say, which I never took for granted, because it’s rare. I find it interesting to play characters who are making bad decisions. Sally attracted a lot of online hate, which reminded me of the reactions to female characters on other series. I feel like there’s just this undercurrent of cultural misogyny — the sexism involved in how we view those characters is wild to me.

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