On Friday Gothamist visited the set of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Undead, a bizarre little indie shooting in the East Village. The movie is a sequel of sorts to Tom Stoppard’s hilarious existential comedy Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, but with “sexy vampires, the Holy Grail and Hamlet.” Jake Hoffman (son of Dustin), who appeared on some Arrested Development episodes, is a broke, frustrated ladies man who jumps at the chance to direct an off-Broadway play written by a pale, mysterious Romanian, played by John Ventimiglia, best known as Artie Bucco in the Sopranos. (Pictured above.) more ›

It’s not Tracy Letts’s fault that his play, August: Osage County, has been breathlessly overhyped by the critics, from the Times’s Charles Isherwood on down. It’s also not his fault that compared to many other Broadway spectacles the play stands out as a polestar of humor and intelligence. Still, it’s difficult to disassociate the play from the deafening buzz; August: Osage County is being heralded as an Important Theatrical Event, when it’s really just a well-crafted new play that happens to stand out among Broadway’s other lowbrow pygmies. (Tom Stoppard’s Rock ‘n’ Roll is well acted but as affectless as it is thought-provoking; the current revival of Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming is absolutely magnificent but, obviously, not the New American Drama critics lust after.) more ›

The reviews are in for the $180 million production of The Golden Compass, and they’re lackluster at best, which is a pity not just for fans of the novel from which it’s adapted but for New Line Cinema, which was banking on another Lord of the Rings cash cow. Times critic Manohla Dargis calls it flawed and cluttered, although her description of Nicole Kidman ought to sway any dudes reluctant to see a movie starring... more ›

READING: Dave Eggers has delivered two (out of three) great novels, and tonight he reads from last one (which is just out on paperback), What is the What. He'll be at the Strand discussing the book and he'll also give a slideshow presentation from a recent trip he took to Sudan. More info here. Friday // 7pm // Strand Bookstore [828 Broadway] // Free EVENT: We love a good pillow fight, and tonight there's a... more ›

Brian Cox is widely admired for commanding performances in films like The Bourne Identity, Rushmore and the original Hannibal Lecter in Michael Mann’s Manhunter. But like most actors from across the pond, the Scottish Cox originally built his reputation on decades of tireless stage work in theaters around the word. Until the stagehands’ strike shut down Broadway, he could be seen in the role of Max, a diehard British Marxist and Cambridge professor in Tom... more ›

Having already seen one of this season’s most anticipated Broadway plays, Tom Stoppard’s Rock ‘n’ Roll, we haven’t been yet been personally disappointed by the Local One stagehands’ strike. While we sympathize with the union and the theatrical community that’s now out of work, we’re not exactly losing sleep over tourist tweens missing out on Legally Blonde for a few days. Now, however, we’re really starting to sweat it: though talks will resume this weekend,... more ›

THEATER: In November, Tom Stoppard’s latest smash hit Rock ‘n’ Roll will transfer from London to Broadway (delighting Rushmore fans by bringing Brian Cox – AKA Dr. Guggenheim – in tow.) In the meantime, fans of our most intellectually dazzling living playwright can plug into Stoppard Goes Electric, an evening of three short teleplays that Stoppard penned for BBC early in his career. According to the Boomerang Theatre Company, which is producing the program, some have never been seen live on stage before. Ends Sunday.– John Del Signore more ›

Although the mass media informs us that our nation was monolithically united around last night's final Sopranos episode, we believe a small pocket of dissenters were tuned into CBS, where the 61st Annual Tony Awards were broadcast over the span of three hours. We know from The Playgoer’s pithy live-blogging that there were big musical numbers by each of the nominated musicals, a (“thankfully”) drunk Eddie Izzard and an appearance by American Idol sensation Fantasia Barrino belting out a song from The Color Purple. more ›

Voyage, Tom Stoppard’s first installment in the three play Coast of Utopia series, crowned a month of breathless Times hype with a gushing Brantley rave. But good old Tommy “Can’t Stop; Won’t” Stoppard – famous for his perfectionism – still ain't satisfied. According to Michael Riedel, Stoppard has been staking out Lincoln Center during intermission and confronting any audience member with the temerity to jump ship during the (nearly) three hour tour. According to Riedel, the exchange usually goes something like this: more ›

A monstrous wave of theater will engulf Lincoln Center next month and Tom Stoppard, the protean dramatist of unparalleled wit and imagination, is at the center of the squall. His three play cycle, “The Coast of Utopia”, will have its U.S. premiere in October and seems like an ideal autumn theater overload. more ›

In a city where there’s as much theater as there is here, we’re never too surprised when shows open that have a lot in common, but it’s always fun to note and wonder what was happening in the creative Zeitgeist to generate technically unrelated but similar works. This week, for instance, Rachel Shukert’s Bloody Mary opens, bringing the life of the notoriously unbalanced daughter of Henry VIII to the stage in suitably off-the-wall fashion (Mary has a guardian who just might be Jimi Hendrix; a New York lawyer somehow gets involved in the power struggles). Meanwhile, at the Pearl you can see Schiller’s dark, brooding Mary Stuart, which looks at the events surrounding the execution of Bloody Mary’s cousin, which was ordered by Elizabeth I. The Pearl always presents loving, carefully considered revivals, so the coincident dates with Shukert’s production should provide a good opportunity for comparing and contrasting visions of ye olde England. more ›

Another really short Weddings and Celebrations this week, so enough with the pleasantries and let's just jump in: more ›