911 stories by "Michael Riedel"
Nathan Lane's missivesAnd Fiona Shaw's britches Kelsey's French kisses And Spider-Man's glitches . . .Those were four of my favorite things in the theater this year, and before the hook come…
On Jan. 31, the New York Drama Critics Circle has one last chance to check its slide into irrelevancy when it comes to "Spider-Man, We're Postponing Again." The critics meet that day, and o…
I'm sick of "Spider-Man." So let's talk about something that's supposed to be good -- "Matilda," a new musical that opened last month in Stratford-Upon-Avon, Bill Shakespeare's hometown. Th…
Producers of the beleaguered $65 million musical, "Spider-Man:Turn Off the Dark," appear to be losing faith in their director Julie Taymor, creator of the "Lion King," and are looking to hir…
Nicole Kidman's returning to Broad way, clothed.The actress will star in a revival of Tennessee Williams' "Sweet Bird of Youth" next fall. The director is David Cromer, who won glowing revie…
'Why don't you just shoot me dangling drunk from the lamppost? That's what they want to see.'
Bono is now captain of the Titanic. After keeping a low pro file for months while director Julie Taymor was steering "Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark" into the iceberg, Bono is spearheading a…
A very impressive ensemble cast has come together for Stephen Adly Guirgis' new play "The Motherf---er With the Hat" -- hereafter known, for obvious reasons, as "Hat."
The elephant gun I trained on "Spider- Man: Turn Off the Dark" seems a little excessive for today's target -- Frank Wildhorn's "Wonderland." A popgun should do. The musical, which begins pr…
It's Rosh Hashanah -- but the only Jew on Broadway who's celebrating is Shylock. Al Pacino, as Shakespeare's complex villain in The Merchant of Venice, has racked up by far the highest advan…
The final performances of "Dracula" last weekend played less like a Gothic thriller and more like the backstage farce "Noises Off."The antics -- which Tony-win ning costume designer Willa Ki…
Bono is one of the world's great philanthropists, speaking out for the oppressed, the sick and the poor. But where's Mr. Humanitarian when it comes to the disaster that's "Spider-Man: Turn O…
Bette Midler says she loves the musical "Priscilla Queen of the Desert" so much "I'd be starring in it -- if I were a gay man!"She has, however, found another way to get her name above the t…
Lying in bed one night in 1996, Broadway producers Fran and Barry Weissler decided to make the biggest bet of their lives. The deadline for financing the revival of "Chicago" on Broadway wa…
It's a role he was born to play -- in fact, he wrote it. Harvey Fierstein, one of the last of the bankable Broadway stars, will join the cast of "La Cage aux Folles" as Albin, the high-stru…
Mormons! Catholic Leaguers! Freedom Partiers! The time has come to get out the signs and rev up the protesters. "The Book of Mormon" starts previews at the Eugene O'Neill on Feb. 24, and fr…
In "Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark," our dangling hero vanquishes a parade of villains -- the Green Goblin, Swarm, Electro, Carnage, Swiss Miss and Kraven the Hunter. But Spidey may have met…
My friends at The Broadway League, the bloated and useless organization that runs the Tonys into the ground, are in crisis mode. The reason? All the bad press about Broadway falling apart b…
Even Spider-man can't weave a perfect web in the troubled Broadway production bearing his name.
Everybody in the theater who'd heard about John Logan's script for the new HBO series The Miraculous Year knew that the main character was based on Stephen Sondheim. Everybody, that is, but…
The cast and crew of "Spider-Man: Please Go Away" are awaiting an announcement that the March 15 opening will likely be scrapped for a date in June -- though the year has yet to be determin…
The role of Mama Rose in "Gypsy" has always attracted great divas, from Ethel Merman to Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly to Patti LuPone. And now comes word that the greatest diva of them all -- B…
The fall is lacking fireworks.
Not even Spider-Man could avert this disaster. Last night's opening pre view of Broadway's most expensive production ever, "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark," was an epic flop as the $65 mill…
The Lion Queen is being dethroned. As I reported last week, the producers of "Spider-Man: We Are Lost in the Dark" are indeed throwing Julie Taymor under a bus. The new director is likely t…
