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    Review: A New ‘Great Gatsby’ Leads With Comedy and Romance

    This musical adaptation, now on Broadway, is a lot of Jazz Age fun. But it forgot that Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel endures because it is a tragedy.Jay Gatsby — self-made enigma, party host extraordinaire and talk of the summer season in West Egg, Long Island — doesn’t carry his insecurities lightly. The facade of his wealth-drenched life is a grand and precarious creation, and propping it up requires constant vigilance.His is new money, so he has to prove his worth to the snobberati. Thus his pathetic habit of showing that photo of himself in his Oxford days to people he has barely met. Or, more endearingly, his over-the-top insistence on glamming up the humble cottage of his neighbor, Nick Carraway, when the lost love of Gatsby’s life, the fabled Daisy Fay Buchanan, is coming over for tea.In the new musical “The Great Gatsby,” which opened on Thursday night at the Broadway Theater, the grass outside the cottage is groomed, flowers are everywhere, and a fleet of servants is ferrying food. And Jeremy Jordan’s Gatsby is an adorably panicked basket case, second-guessing in charming comic song his plan to ambush Eva Noblezada’s Daisy with a reunion.“She is late, so I’m off to go scream in a jar,” he sings, but Daisy arrives before he can flee. Unsuavely, he topples into some greenery.It’s a perfectly winsome scene, and a highlight of this ultimately underwhelming new adaptation, which has a book by Kait Kerrigan (making her Broadway debut), music by Jason Howland (“Paradise Square”) and lyrics by Nathan Tysen (also “Paradise Square”). Comedy and romance are strong suits of this production by Marc Bruni (“Beautiful: The Carole King Musical”), which ran in the fall at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey.There are plenty of big dance numbers, too (by Dominique Kelley), with some standout tap. The 1920s costumes (by Linda Cho) are fun to look at, Daisy’s in particular: all those handkerchief hemlines, wafting on air. Gatsby’s yellow Rolls-Royce and Tom’s blue coupe drive onstage, extravagantly. And while the fireworks we see in the distance are projections, other sparkling pyrotechnics are delightfully real.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Review: Jessica Lange Stars in Paula Vogel’s ‘Mother Play’

    Jessica Lange stars as a ferocious matriarch alongside Celia Keenan-Bolger and Jim Parsons in Vogel’s latest family drama.In the first scene of “Mother Play: A Play in Five Evictions,” Paula Vogel’s antic, mournful new drama, Martha, a character modeled on the playwright, offers a version of Ecclesiastes.“There is a season for packing,” Martha (Celia Keenan-Bolger) says as she slits open a cardboard box. “And a season for unpacking.”Vogel, 72, has spent the majority of her career unpacking. Her work is not strictly autobiographical, but as in the plays of Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee or Adrienne Kennedy, she has a canny way of rearranging the emotional furniture of her lived experience into tragicomedy.Here, at Broadway’s Helen Hayes Theater, that furniture includes a mother, Phyllis (Jessica Lange), and a brother, Carl (Jim Parsons), named for Vogel’s own family. The story begins in 1964 with the family moving into a basement apartment in a Washington, D.C., suburb; Carl is 14, Martha 12. Phyllis is in her mid 30s, barely treading water after a foundered marriage. At times, when she can pry her hands from a gin bottle, she clings to her children as if they are life rafts. Otherwise, she regards them as jetsam. Phyllis, we learn, never wanted to be a mother.On finding herself pregnant: “I thought: Other women aren’t mother material, but they get through it. Just hang on, Phyllis, hang on. But it is never over. It’s a life sentence.” How’s that for a bedtime story?As a single working mother, Phyllis can afford only custodial apartments, and those early evictions come when she complains too loudly about the roaches and maggots. The vermin are brought to life, extravagantly, in Shawn Duan’s projections. And David Zinn’s flexible set nimbly conveys each new abode. The later, more fraught expulsions come when Phyllis rejects first Carl, who comes out as gay in college, and then later Martha, who is also queer.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    What to Watch This Weekend: An Experiment from Comedy Weirdos

    Perhaps you would enjoy “Knuckles,” a Sonic the Hedgehog spinoff that outpaces its origin story.Wendy Whipple (Stockard Channing) and Knuckles (voiced by Idris Elba) in “Knuckles.”Paramount Pictures/Sega, via Paramount+What if I told you that midway through “Knuckles,” the new Paramount+ limited series based on the character from the Sonic the Hedgehog universe, there’s a mini rock opera featuring vocals from Michael Bolton? If that piques your interest, then you will find many things to enjoy in this show, which frequently feels less like an exercise in I.P. expansion and more like an experiment from comedy weirdos. There’s some strange sauce at work in “Knuckles,” which makes it overcome its crassly commercial origins to feel like a worthwhile watch for those in need of a quick and zany distraction.At its core, “Knuckles” is a spinoff of the two “Sonic the Hedgehog” movies about a blue alien who can go fast. “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” (2022) introduced Knuckles, a bright red echidna, sometimes called a spiny anteater, voiced by Idris Elba, who starts out as Sonic’s foe but turns out to be an ally. You don’t actually really need to know much of anything about the “Sonic” movies or Sega video games to enjoy “Knuckles,” however. There’s occasionally mention of Sonic lore, but it just serves as a backdrop to a bizarre buddy comedy.“Knuckles” finds the titular character teaming up with Wade Whipple (Adam Pally), a lowly deputy sheriff of the town where Sonic and his pals reside. Wade wants to win a bowling tournament. The deadpan Knuckles believes his quest worthy and promises to turn Wade into a “warrior.” (The theme song is Scandal’s very catchy “The Warrior” from 1984.)So, yes, “Knuckles” is mostly about a man and an animated egg-laying mammal with super strength venturing from Montana to Reno in order to bowl. Along the way they are pursued by some bad guys (Scott Mescudi, a.k.a. the rapper Kid Cudi, and Ellie Taylor) who want to trap Knuckles, but they also stop to have Shabbat dinner at Wade’s childhood home. There, Wade’s mother, played by Stockard Channing, teaches Knuckles about Judaism and the filmography of Julia Roberts.And then there’s the “low-budget rock opera,” directed by Lonely Island’s Jorma Taccone, in which Wade enters a musical dream sequence dressed as Knuckles in a fuzzy mascot suit. He is accompanied by a chorus of dancing owls led by Julian Barratt of the British comedy group the Mighty Boosh. It’s a deeply absurd episode that feels right in line with the rest of Taccone’s work, especially the underrated film “Hot Rod” (2007).We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Disney Scrapped ‘The Spiderwick Chronicles.’ Roku Saved It.

    Canceled by Disney before it even aired, “The Spiderwick Chronicles” found a new home at Roku and has so far “delivered results beyond expectations,” its creator said.Last summer, the writer and producer Aron Eli Coleite was on holiday in Las Vegas with his wife when he received an urgent call from Nicole Clemens, the president of Paramount Television.Coleite was the showrunner on “The Spiderwick Chronicles,” a fantasy series Paramount was producing for Disney+. The show had recently finished production on its first season, but Clemens was calling with bad news: Disney had decided to pull the plug, effectively canceling the series before it made it to air.Without warning, “The Spiderwick Chronicles” was “being turned into one of those tax write-offs that I’d heard so much about,” Coleite said in an interview. Christine McCarthy, the chief financial officer for Disney, had said on an earnings call in May 2023 that Disney was in the process of a strategic shift that would lead to downsizing and cost-cutting across the board, beginning with the removal and cancellation of some shows on their streaming platforms. “Spiderwick” was a casualty of these cuts, and “there was no fighting against it,” Coleite said. (Disney declined to comment.)Clemens said in an interview that she was shocked by the move. “We’d started a second season, and there was a lot of love and excitement for the project,” she said. “It was like, whoa.”But after facing certain extinction, “The Spiderwick Chronicles” was rescued by an unlikely savior: The Roku Channel, the ad-supported streaming platform built into the company’s smart TV interfaces and stand-alone streaming devices. All eight episodes of “The Spiderwick Chronicles” debuted on Roku last week, joining the platform’s modest but growing library of original content, including the movie “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” and its reboot of “The Great American Baking Show.”So far the move has paid off: Roku announced on Tuesday that “Spiderwick” had the best first weekend of any on-demand title on the Roku Channel, in terms of total hours streamed. (The streamer also offers live channels and sports.) Roku declined to give specific numbers, saying only that “Spiderwick” was watched by “millions of streamers” in its first three days on the platform.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    The Culture Desk: Alicia Keys on Reimagining “Fallin” for Broadway

    Alicia Keys was only 20 years old when her 2001 single “Fallin’” became an international sensation, topping the Billboard charts, winning multiple Grammys and helping propel her to stardom. Now, more than two decades later, the song appears in the new Broadway musical “Hell’s Kitchen.”The show — which draws from Keys’s life story and her discography — presents ”Fallin’” in a totally new way: as a song of seduction sung by a middle-aged man. Keys joins our theater reporter, Michael Paulson, to discuss the history of “Fallin’” and what she has learned from adapting the song for the stage.On today’s episodeMichael Paulson, a theater reporter for The Times. More

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    Jimmy Kimmel Dunks on Trump’s Billion-Dollar Stock Bonus

    “Donald Trump somehow made a lot of money from a company that makes none,” Kimmel said.Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.Taking StockFormer President Donald Trump is set to receive an additional stake in his social media company after Truth Social’s stock price stayed high and hit certain benchmarks. The additional shares were valued at about $1.3 billion.“It’s nice when good things happen to good people, isn’t it?” Jimmy Kimmel joked on Wednesday.“Donald Trump somehow made a lot of money from a company that makes none.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Honestly, how can this farting dementia patient be making a billion dollars on a company that has $4 million total in revenue? What kind of con artist Wall Street wizardry is this?” — JIMMY KIMMELThe Punchiest Punchlines (World Peace Edition)“Yes, Taiwan. Now, they’re not at war yet, but you’ve got to make a reservation in advance just to save your spot.” — JORDAN KLEPPER, referring to President Joe Biden signing an aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, calling it “a good day for world peace”“A good day for world peace? I’ve wanted one of those!” — JORDAN KLEPPER“I wonder what happened — did the nations of the world finally band together to outlaw war? Did they finally buy everyone a Coke? Is there finally peace between Kendrick and Drake? ” — JORDAN KLEPPER“Oh, ‘world peace.’ OK, is peace the one with the tanks?” — JORDAN KLEPPERThe Bits Worth WatchingThe Mexican singer-songwriter Christian Nodal performed “La Mitad” on Wednesday’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”What We’re Excited About on Thursday NightKyle Chayka, a writer for The New Yorker, will discuss his book “Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture” on Thursday’s “Daily Show.”Also, Check This OutNicole Kidman in “The Hours.” “She is fearless in the characters that she plays,” said the movie’s director, Stephen Daldry.Paramount PicturesThe filmmakers Baz Luhrmann, Stephen Daldry, Gus Van Sant, Jane Campion and Karyn Kusama discuss what makes Nicole Kidman a dream actor for any director ahead of her life achievement award from the American Film Institute. More

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    Pennsylvania School Board Reinstates Gay Author’s Speech Amid Backlash

    The Cumberland Valley School Board reversed its decision to cancel Maulik Pancholy’s speech at a middle school next month after many community members said the actor had been discriminated against because of his sexuality.Less than two weeks after a Pennsylvania school board unanimously voted to cancel a gay author’s anti-bullying speech at a middle school, the board voted Wednesday night to reverse its decision and reinstate the event amid pressure from parents, students and administrators.The 5-to-4 vote by the Cumberland Valley School District’s board came in front of scores of community members who packed a high school auditorium and, for several hours, chastised the board for having canceled the event featuring the actor and author Maulik Pancholy over what they said were homophobic concerns.Bud Shaffner, a board member who had come under fire for introducing the motion at the April 15 meeting to cancel the speech, apologized for his comments about Mr. Pancholy’s “lifestyle.” He later introduced the motion to reinstate the speech and voted for it.“I will accept the blame because of the insensitive word I spoke on April 15,” he said at the beginning of Wednesday’s meeting. “I fully understand the interpretation of my poor word choice.”Many community members who spoke during the public comment period of Wednesday’s meeting rejected the contention by some board members that Mr. Pancholy’s speech had been canceled over concerns about what they called his “political activism.”“To claim that Maulik Pancholy is a political activist and use that as a justification to cancel his event is an excuse that the public sees through,” one person told the board.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Review: Steve Carell as the 50-Year-Old Loser in a Comic ‘Uncle Vanya’

    Sleek, lucid, amusing, often beautiful, it’s Chekhov with everything, except the main thing.Why is it called “Uncle Vanya”? All the man does is mope, mope harder, try to do something other than moping, fail miserably and mope some more.You can’t blame him. Vanya has spent most of his nearly 50 years scraping thin profit from a provincial estate, and not even for himself. The money he makes, running the farm with his unmarried niece, goes to support life in the city for his fatuous, gouty sort-of-ex-brother-in-law, an art professor who “knows nothing about art.” Also, Vanya is hopelessly in love with the old man’s exquisitely languorous young wife, who, reasonably enough, finds the moper pathetic.In short, he is the opposite of the bold, laudable characters most writers of the late 1890s would name a play for. That’s probably just why Chekhov did it, announcing a new kind of protagonist for a new kind of drama. Life in his experience having turned squalid and absurd, he could no longer paint it for audiences as heroic. So how could his protagonist be a hero?The “Uncle Vanya” that opened on Wednesday at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, its 10th Broadway revival in 100 years, sees Chekhov’s epochal bet and raises it. If Vanya is properly no hero in this amusing but rarely deeply affecting production, it’s because he’s no one at all. He despairs and disappears.That would seem to be quite a trick, given that he’s played by Steve Carell, the star of “The Office” and, perhaps more relevantly, “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.” Carell’s Vanya imports from those appearances the weaselly overeagerness that makes you roll your eyes at him while also worrying about his mental health. He makes jokes that aren’t. He gets excited over all the wrong things. Rain coming? He called it.Without a camera trained on such a man, you quickly learn to ignore him, as you would in real life. Indeed, in Lila Neugebauer’s sleek, lucid staging, you barely notice Vanya even as he makes his first entrance, hidden behind a bench. When he speaks you don’t pay much more attention; in Heidi Schreck’s smooth, faithful yet colloquial new version, his first words, naturally, are complaints. “Ever since the professor showed up with his spouse,” he says, with a bitterly sarcastic spin on the last word, “my life has been total chaos.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More