1,418 stories by "Roger Friedman"
“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…
That March 15th opening for “Spider Man: Turn off the Dark”? It’s now called a “Hope-ening.” It will not be the official opening night, according to sources. On…
Well, well. “Spider Man: Turn off the Dark” has actually improved. I saw it on Friday night, and there were no glitches or stops of any kind. The flying and all the special effec…
No one plays prickly and contentious like Frances McDormand. It doesn’t matter if she’s the mother in “Almost Famous” who declares that “Rock stars have kidnapp…
