Rex Reed

2 weeks ago | observer.com | Rex Reed

Smart’s considerable stage presence isn’t enough to salvage this production. Photo: Marc J. FranklinAs much as I like Jean Smart—for five seasons, I was glued to her sophisticated brand of humor in the TV sitcom Designing Women—I recoiled with disappointment while suffering through her misguided verbal marathon with an incomprehensible Southern accent in the new one-woman Broadway show Call Me Izzy at Studio 54. As a rule, I consider Smart stylish, impeccable and flawless.

2 weeks ago | observer.com | Rex Reed

John Krasinski takes a bold detour from Hollywood with his return to the stage in this provocative one-man off-Broadway show. Photo: Jonny Cournoyer“Broadway is Back!” echoed through the star-studded theater season that just ended—and the 78th Tony Awards that reflected the excitement, proof that the 40-carat names once filling Hollywood sound stages are now lighting up New York marquees.

2 months ago | observer.com | Rex Reed

Jonathan Groff as Bobby Darin in Just In Time. Matthew Murphy and Evan ZimmermanClosing out the Broadway season, get ready for spectacular! That’s the word, in my opinion, that best describes Just in Time, the endlessly show-stopping new musical about the late singer-dancer-songwriter-actor Bobby Darin, who lived fast and died at a ridiculously young 37 in 1973—and especially the sensational centerpiece performance by Jonathan Groff in the leading role.

2 months ago | observer.com | Rex Reed

Floyd Collins, Adam Guettel’s experimental 1996 debut about a man stuck under a rock in a Kentucky cave, is revived at Lincoln Center—complete with carnival barkers, claustrophobia and Jeremy Jordan singing his heart out, mostly while lying motionless. Joan MarcusWhen Stephen Sondheim died, it was the end of a chapter, the farewell to an era, in theatre history. Who, everyone asked, will continue the tradition of the legendary Broadway musical?

2 months ago | observer.com | Rex Reed

Catherine Deneuve, at 81, might have gained a bit of the dreaded matronly demeanor that comes with maturity, but in my opinion, she’s more beautiful than ever. Her latest film, The President’s Wife, proves it. What a life. She’s worked with most of the great directors from Roman Polanski to Luis Bunuel and Francois Truffaut, had children by Marcello Mastroianni and Roger Vadim, and easily earned the reputation as France’s greatest living star.