Billy Elliot

Margaret Thatcher, RIP. Here's What She Was About

The first female prime minister of Britain and a woman with a checkered, controversial legacy, Margaret Thatcher has died at 87, after a stroke. For those of us who only know her through some distant headlines, an Oscar-grabbing Meryl Streep performance, and a few cutting lyrics in Billy Elliot, he ... More >>

Spring's Awakening: The Return of Professor Sticky-Tongue and the Kids

Marvell Rep tackles the Frank Wedekind classic

Closing The Colony: A Visit To Times Square's Shuttering Sheet Music Outpost

In some ways, the Friday before last looked like business as usual at Colony Records, the venerable Theater District music-and-sheet-music retailer that recently announced its impending closing after 64 years of operation. At the counter, Warren Tesoro, an employee for 25 years, asked a middle-aged ... More >>

Sex, Drag Queens, And Fudge At The Other Gay Resort

I just went to Provincetown, the gay jewel of Massachusetts--even more so than the recent Boston production of Billy Elliot--and found that it's racy, carnivalesque, and totally hopping with boys, drag stars, taffy, lobster rolls, and celebrity sightings. And I wrote this crazy column about it, whi ... More >>

The Five Worst Kinds Of Broadway Board Commenters

Something about proximity to the theater world--or wanting proximity to it--makes people extra crazy and dramatic sometimes. Here are the five most Tony-deserving types of annoyances that lurk on the show boards that I happen to spend half my life on: (5) The ones who respond to a long, involved ... More >>

Newsies Opens: My Review

Let's table the palaver and get down to business, to quote one of the characters. Newsies the Musical--based on the so-so 1992 movie about striking newsboys--is a slick, entertaining show that's sort of like Annie meets Billy Elliot. As in the movie, the boys are selling their "papes" (i.e., newsp ... More >>

The U.K. Way: A Week of London Theater

From rebelling tots to rocking Shakespeare

Julie Walters Reminisces About Her Vagina's Initiation!

You know her as the Oscar-nominated actress from Educating Rita and Billy Elliot. But I know her as the lady who spills about her vajayjay in her memoir, That's Another Story, which I'm currently devouring as if it were a piping-hot chili dog made from scraps of shepherd's pie.

Musicals Based On Movies: What's Next?

​Billy Elliot, Priscilla, and Sister Act have carried on the time-honored tradition of turning popular movies into musicals. What next? I'll tell you: *Fatal Attraction The adaptation--titled Crazy Bitch, The Musical--will feature a well-chosen bunch of Sondheim chestnuts. ("You said you l ... More >>

Guess What Stories I've Been Pitched This Week?

​Think the life of a columnist/blogger is nothing but glamour and gift bags? Well, it is--sort of--but it also involves sifting through the piles of angsty promotional emails begging for my attention. Here are the pitches that have passed by my technology in the last week alone. You decide ... More >>

Gossip! Gossip! Gossip! With Names!

Valiant Sandra Bernhard, curious Mickey Rourke, and simply Divine

Frankenstein and Keira Knightley—Don’t Confuse the Two

A March march through London theater (sorry, ‘theatre’)

Second-Century Derring-Do in The Eagle

Will Anyone Buy "Woody Hoodie" Condoms?

Swing-dancing, Fringe-watching, Montauk-visiting—almost relaxing

Cheek, in Review: 7 Days of Runnin' Scared

On Third Avenue. Albany went coup-coup! Pedro Espada Jr. seized the state senate with the help of Hiram Monserrate and billionaire Tom Golisano. After some skirmishes, which saw Tom Duane appearing to lean GOP to save gay marriage, the Dems locked the chamber, but Espada got the key and the GOP w ... More >>

Movie Stills of Me!

You've already seen the sneak peak of The Big Gay Musical, the future blockbuster that starts with me as a cranky theater patron walking out of a bad play (a real stretch I know). Well, here are the stills! Don't take them in all at once--you might have a heart attack--but pore over each one slowl ... More >>

Billy Elliot Takes 10 Tonys

The Tony Awards producers did not take our suggestions, but the show still moved at a relatively brisk pace and had some nice moments, such as the acceptance of the Best Actor in a Musical Award by the three nice young men who alternate the lead in Billy Elliot; they were physically poised as you ... More >>

My Tony Predictions, World!

Here's who's I say is going to win the Tony awards for Broadway excellence this Sunday. Then again, I'm at a disadvantage because I've actually seen the shows. I'm even a Tony voter! Best Play: God of Carnage Best Musical: Billy Elliot Best Actor: Geoffrey Rush, Exit The King Best Actress: Jane ... More >>

Quick Hits

Some guy's leg and foot on the subway, via twitpic. We love Mary Louise Parker as much as anybody, maybe more, but find it hard to credit her claim that she was "goaded" into a nude scene in an (upcoming!) episode of Weeds and is "bitter" about it. She's, like, naked in everything. Here is a practic ... More >>

Is Billy Elliot Gay? Is Liza Admitting To Marrying Them?

Not all the liquid refreshment was at the after-parties.

I Talked To Liza Minnelli!

Yes, darlings, I met my idol, Liza Minnelli, at a Tony nominees' reception last week, and she was faaaabulous! "I know you!" Liza said when introduced, promptly sitting down to talk to me as I kneeled at her feet. I asked Liza how her eye is. (She recently had to cancel out of a Kander & Ebb tribu ... More >>

Three Top-10 Lists From the 2008-2009 Theater Season

FANCY FEET

Only real dancers allowed

This Week's Voice: Summer Arts Guide, Bjork and Dirty Projectors, Dan Graham's Whitney Retro, Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown, Cam'ron, Lit Seen, Summer Hours, and More

In this week's Village Voice, we unveil our 2009 Summer Arts Guide: Stacey Anderson on the constantly curious and enduringly romantic Malian duo Amadou & Mariam, Jed Lipinski on author Lawrence Osborne's delightfully vulgar Bangkok Days, Aaron Hillis in conversation with Surveillance director Jennif ... More >>

Tony Award Nominees Announced

The Tony Award nominees have just been announced. The best musical nominees are Billy Elliot, Next to Normal, Rock of Ages, and Shrek the Musical. (Rock of Ages being a jukebox musical, its place in the Best Score category was taken by 9 to 5; [title of show] replaced it in the Best Book list.) Best ... More >>

Get Your Tony Nominations And Cry

This is my big day--when the announcement of the Tony nominations sends an insular yet powerful world of Broadway thesps and businesspeople shrieking into the street with either glee or despair! And they're not acting! This year's batch of honorees is a distinguished bunch led by the Billy Elliot g ... More >>

Holy Shit, Constantine Maroulis Is Up for a Tony

Boy, were we out in front on this one. Tony nominations went out today, and who do we see in the Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical category but one Constantine Maroulis, for his contribution to the crassly splendid hair-metal musical Rock of Ages. Have fun getting your ass kicked by ... More >>

Broadway Beauties Battle For Cutie Crown

Unlike Miss USA, the Broadway Beauty Pageant--a benefit for the Ali Forney Center, hosted by Tovah Feldshuh--didn't attract anyone who felt gay marriage was a bad idea. Even the token straight contestant--a hottie from Billy Elliot--said he's always supported the gays and added that the longest gay ... More >>

Cynthia Nixon on Sex and the City and Awards Shows Galore!

Estrogen at the New York Women in Film & Television Muse awards; nights in drag with Murray Hill

Winslet and Fiennes' The Reader Takes the Long and (Oscar-)Worthy Road to Redemption

Faust and Billy Elliot: Souls Adrift in Multimedia. Saturn Returns: No Soul at All.

Oscar Nominee Swallowed After BJ!

Ken Russell and other crazy people we love.

Radiohole and Ivo van Hove Show Their Flicks Tricks

The film society

A Plea for Theater Producers to Become Less Predictable

Looking to the fall, a season on the brink with Billy Elliot, Shrek, 13

Elton John Cries His Way to the Bank

Open bars, closed bars, quickies on Broadway (See also these blind items)

The Year in Pop Culture Shame!

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Open Season

Fall brings hope of a brave New World and a historic Violence

Ghost of Jerry Garcia Makes Video Game

Love Child of Billy Elliot and Billy Banks

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Dance

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Dances With Woolf

Good Morning Britain

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More, but Not Merrier

Tights May Not Keep Boys From Football, but They Still Drive Them From Ballet

Great Leaps Forward

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