1,428 stories by "Roger Friedman"
This is the reason I like Kelly Ripa: she told me last night at the Broadway premiere of “The Normal Heart” that her kids don’t watch TV, share a family computer, don’…
The Outer Critics Circle announced its nominations today for Broadway and Off Broadway. Some surprises: many of the star names now playing on Broadway from Hollywood didn’t make the cu…
Who knew? Ben Stiller has made so many movies in the last few years, it was all getting to be a blur. But when he opens Monday night on Broadway in John Guare‘s “House of Blue Le…
Kathleen Turner has a lot of loyal exes, I’ll say that for her. Last night for the premiere of her new play, called “High,” she packed the house with ‘em. Michael Dou…
“Spider Man: Turn off the Dark” played its last preview Sunday afternoon after more than a 100. Without ever officially opening, it closed for three weeks to retool ostensibly wi…
Michael Morpurgo‘s “War Horse” comes to Broadway tonight so highly marketed that the hype is almost scarier than World War I. A monster hit in London, and a movie to be rel…
So the f word, which already makes dozens of appearances in “The Book of Mormon,” is literally all over Stephen Adly Guirgis’s uneven new play, “The Motherf**cker wit…
Steven Spielberg is probably a busy guy, but this is his week on Broadway. Last night, a musical version of his film, “Catch Me If You Can,” opened with a star studded premiere a…
Elton John has been getting might testy lately. First he went after Billy Joel for his drinking. Then on Saturday Night Live he took a poke at his “Lion King” collaborator Julie …
Robin Williams has a stunning hit on Broadway: he’s the star and main character in “Bengal Tiger in the Baghdad Zoo.” He opened Thursday night to rave reviews and thunderou…
“Spider Man: Turn off the Dark” is now using understudies instead of its leads for regular performances. Two sources tell me that an announcement was made to the cast and crew th…
Exclusive: The last time Woody Allen and Elaine May combined forces was about fifteen years ago. They put their one act plays together with another by David Mamet. “Death Defying Acts&…
I do think the New York Times’s Ben Brantley has lost his mind. He loved (to an embarrassment) the rather underwhelming “Book of Mormon.” He didn’t like last night…
The producers of “Spider Man: Turn off the Dark” are busy gutting the show they had, and trying to erase creator Julie Taymor‘s work. Good luck with that. Last night they a…
For some reason, the Playbill for “The Book of Mormon” doesn’t have a song list. Who knows why? An usher told us during intermission on Wednesday night that the reason was …
There’s some brilliant writing in “The Book of Mormon,” which opens tonight on Broadway from the creators of “South Park.” There’s also some lazy writing.…
Sunday night will bring the opening night of the musical version of the Australian film, “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.” Because I’m in Washington on Sunday night, I caug…
"Arcadia" is back after 15 years. Tom Stoppard's amazingly wonderful play, now directed by David Leveaux, is better than ever. It's supposed to be on for three months, but they could extend …
Remember during the Oscars I asked why Scott Rudin wasn’t coming out to Hollywood for the show? He had two Best Picture nominations, for “The Social Network” and “Tru…
It does seem that Julie Taymor will stick to her original credits in “Spider Man.” Despite last week’s wild move to oust Taymor from the show she created, co-wrote and dire…
“Spider Man: Turn off the Dark” will shut down for four weeks, from April 19th to May 11, for retooling. Performances will resume on May 12th. A new opening night (maybe you neve…
So: Julie Taymor has been sidelined by the producers of “Spider Man.” Ousted? Yes. Gone altogether? Not quite. “Spider Man” remains her show, no matter what they do t…
No one wants to stand up for Julie Taymor. “Spider Man: Turn off the Dark” has played 100 previews, and mostly received poor reviews for its book– or lack of one. But if Ta…
What year is it? 2011? I remember when Glenn Close‘s daughter Annie was a baby. Now she’s following in her mom’s hallowed footsteps and joining the cast of Nora Ephron̵…
“Scrubs” star Zach Braff is heading back to off Broadway. The “Garden State” director-writer appeared last summer at the Second Stage company in “Trust” a…
