Stage Door: "Six Degrees of Separation" Revived

Stage Door bringing you intermittent theater reviews when we manage to get there. Here's Nathaniel R

It's so basic to binge plays during Tony season as opposed to a more sensible and committed once-a-month diet of live theater. Alas, just as the more familiar mainstream obsession of the Oscar circus encourages studios to backload their releases to the last quarter of the year, most of the "big" theater shows open as late as they can for Tony consideration. This makes April and May a madhouse of theater-going for those who care about such things. Because most of the musicals are too expensive, I've been catching up with the plays. We've already covered The Little Foxes (a must see) and the Pulitzer-winning economic tragedy Sweat. So let's talk Six Degrees of Separation nominated for 2 Tonys: Best Revival of a Play and Best Leading Actor (Corey Hawkins).

"Chaos, control. Chaos, control. You like, you like?"

That's Stockard Channing's most sweetly funny line reading (among thousands of exquisite ones) in the 1993 movie adaptation of this stage classic. That was also, roughly, my reaction to the Broadway revival with Allison Janney, John Benjamin Hickey, and Corey Hawkins (Straight Outta Compton), taking over the roles Channing, Donald Sutherland, and Will Smith played onscreen...

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Red Carpet: Creative Arts Emmys

Purse first. Purse first. Jose here. First things first: congrats to RuPaul on his first Emmy! The iconic entertainer won on his first nomination as Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program for RuPaul's Drag Race. It only took him 8 seasons, but that's another story, Emmy as we all know is a notoriously slow learner who only starts liking things once they've stopped being cool, or once the uncool things they love have ended and they have no other choice but to reward cool things, which is why over the weekend Amy Poehler and Steve Buscemi also became Emmy winners <3

Keeping up with their tradition of loving the same things, the Creative Arts Emmys (which this year were awarded over two nights after hitting a record 82 categories!) also perpetuated the same red carpet trends, as the stars showed up in gowns that were either beaded or Grammy-esque, or both. Unlike the Oscars which continue being the epitome of glamour, or the Golden Globes which are its more playful cousin, the Emmys are usually about restraint and stars often show up in the same designers they did the previous year. This becomes even duller in the Creative Arts ceremony which isn't televised, which is my way of saying that coming up with looks worthy of discussion was quite the feat...

See the notable looks after the jump. 

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Best of '15: The TV Experience

Dancin' Dan here to take a look at 2015 on the small screen. When I moved to NYC late last year I thought that I would be going to the movies all the time. After all, so many more movies play here than my previous home in the middle of Connecticut! But the sheer glut of movies to see, both old and new, caused a lot of second-guessing and a bit of paralysis, leading to a less robust slate than I had imagined.

But the plentiful offerings of television were there for me in my indecisive, paralyzed state. I didn't watch everything, but I did watch a lot. And these are...

15 Favorite Things About TV in '15
after the jump... 

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Red Carpet: 67th Annual Creative Arts Emmy Awards

Jose here with shocking news: Thanks to technology and the magic of television, the 67th Annual Creative Arts Emmy Awards took place in 1988. Or so it seemed based on the number of overtly sparkly, asymmetrical cocktail dresses the stars wore to the event. More fitting for a John Hughes-inspired prom than an awards show in the 21st century, several of the looks defied logic and made me wonder if in fact the show had a theme we weren't aware of? 

more "fashion" after the jump...

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Critics Choice TV Awards: Faceoff, Allison Janney, The Americans

Charlize giving a "Genius" award to Seth McFarlane. The title disturbs both of them. After the laziest weekend of all time in TFE HQ, we must jump right back to deep conversations on all the entertainment thingies that matter and some that don't. Who's to say which is which but you? This week I watched a lot of mindless TV as I vegged out (I have no idea why my body/mind absolutely rejected my normal blog 24/7 routine) so let's go with that first and talk about the Critics Choice TV Wins. They're the Emmy-like sibling branch of the BFCA (I am not a member of the former, just the latter). Thankfully they don't try to predict the Emmys at all the way my branch tries to predict the Oscars (sigh). They're totally willing to get behind TV shows that haven't a prayer with Emmy (note their win for The Americans which The Emmys consistently ignore) . This doesn't mean they don't still make annoying choices but at least you can tell they're voting from their hearts.

Drama
Best Drama Series: The Americans (FX)
Best Actor in a Drama Series: Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul (AMC)
Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Jonathan Banks, Better Call Saul (AMC)
Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Lorraine Toussaint, Orange Is the New Black (Netflix)
Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series: Sam Elliott, Justified (FX)

More winners and commentary after the jump...

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