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Theater Reviews: The Stage Dive Memorial Day Roundup

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The cast of February House, music and lyrics by Gabriel Kahane, book by Seth Bockley, and directed by Davis McCallum, running at The Public Theater from May 8 through June 10. Photo credit: Joan Marcus.

FEBRUARY HOUSE (Playing at the Public Theater through June 10)

February House is an ambitious artistic experiment about an ambitious artistic experiment: An attempt by Harpers fiction editor George Davis (Julian Fleisher) to found an art commune in Brooklyn Heights in 1940. Davis’s incandescent brood of tinderbox souls included wunderkind novelist Carson McCullers (the adorable Kristen Sieh), composer Benjamin Britten (Stanley Bahorek) and his lover-muse, the tenor Peter Pears (Ken Barnett), anti-fascist firebrand Erika Mann (Stephanie Hayes), “thinking-man’s stripper” Gypsy Rose Lee (Kacie Sheik), and, as elder statesman (at 33), the revered poet W.H. Auden (Erik Lochtefeld, subtly and sustainedly wrong for a disagreeable and miswritten role).

Old Jews telling jokes. Which is also the name of a show! »

Barry Sonnenfeld Explains Why Justin Bieber Is an Alien

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NEW YORK, NY - MAY 23: Director/producer Barry Sonnenfeld attends the "Men In Black 3" New York Premiere at Ziegfeld Theatre on May 23, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images)

In the previous two Men in Black movies, the MiB video surveillance zoomed in on famous people who were in fact aliens (or suspected aliens): In the first film, the list included Isaac Mizrahi, Danny DeVito, Sylvester Stallone, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg. In MiB3, which opens this weekend, the Men in Black are monitoring new celebr-E.T.s (trademark ours), including Lady Gaga (of course), Justin Bieber, the Dalai Lama, Shaun White, and Tim Burton. So when Vulture ran into director Barry Sonnenfeld at the premiere party on the Intrepid flight deck on Wednesday, we had to ask: What makes these people aliens?

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Pop Culture’s Greatest Lanes

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There's Avenue Q, Sunset Boulevard, "The Street Where You Live," "Life is a Highway," Abbey Road, and Jason Street. And those are all great! But none of those thoroughfares can hold a candle to the Lanes. There are characters named Lane, characters who live on lanes, and lanes that represent an era, a romance, or a place for the Muffin Man to live. These are the greatest Lanes in pop culture.

So John Waters Was Hitchhiking for a Book

Last week, we were all charmed by the story about how Brooklyn indie band Here We Go Magic randomly picked up John Waters hitchhiking in Ohio. But why was John Waters hitchhiking in Ohio? Because he is writing a book, tentatively titled Carsick, about his eight-day cross-country trip. He says everyone was "lovely." Good job on your manners, America!

How to Behave at Cannes’s Elite Yacht Parties (If You Get In)

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P Diddy invites celebrities and friends for a party on a yacht in Cannes. Paris Hilton, Nicky Hilton, Kim Kardashian, Michelle Rodriguez, Tara Reid, Benito Del Toro and more were seen aboard. <P> Pictured: P Diddy <P> <B>Ref: SPL396596 220512 </B><BR/> Picture by: Splash News<BR/> </P><P> <B>Splash News and Pictures</B><BR/> Los Angeles: 310-821-2666<BR/> New York: 212-619-2666<BR/> London: 870-934-2666<BR/> photodesk@splashnews.com<BR/> </P>

If there's one defining difference between the celebrities and the little people at Cannes (you know, besides having won the genetic lottery), it's the ability to get one's self on a yacht. Sure, there are some yacht owners who dock near the Palais and welcome anyone friendly and daring enough to climb onboard, offering them a glass of Champagne no matter how mid-priced their wardrobe. But we're talking about the elites-only megayachts — the ones so big that they don't fit in no stinkin' harbor; the ones whose flashing lights and cheery revelers you watch from the beach each night, anchored just far enough out to sea to make it clear that you will never be able to board one. Like Roberto Cavalli's or — the mother lode — Paul Allen's yacht, on which he threw his annual special-people-only party on Tuesday, and where, special people tell us, a spontaneous band formed with Allen on guitar, Jeremy Irons on harmonica, and Cyndi Lauper on vocals. (Allen's guest list is, however, extremely respectful of the film festival, and he invites every director in competition to come ... the lucky, talented bastards).

I grilled some yacht veterans for some do's and don'ts about life at a big boat bash. »

Noomi Rapace’s Odd Childhood Prepared Her for Unconventional Roles

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Swedish actress Noomi Rapace poses during a photocall for the Premiere of "Prometheus" on April 11, 2012 in Paris. AFP PHOTO THOMAS SAMSON (Photo credit should read THOMAS SAMSON/AFP/Getty Images)

There's a big profile of Prometheus star, Swedish actress Noomi Rapace, in this Sunday's New York Times Magazine, and author Karen Olsson has something of a theory about why Rapace is drawn to playing outcasts, like her signature role as Lisbeth Salander in the original version of the Millennium trilogy: her strange upbringing. When Rapace was 5, she moved with her mother, stepfather, and half-sister to a remote village in Iceland called Solheimar that had been founded as a sort of home for the disabled.

"I was afraid of them." »

Cannes: Robert Pattinson Talks Wasted Talent and the End of the World

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"I'm hungry for something thick and juicy," growls Robert Pattinson at the start of Cosmopolis, and one can imagine Pattinson issuing the same order to his agents after years spent sinking his vampire teeth into wan Twilight flicks. His team earned their keep by landing Pattinson this David Cronenberg–directed movie and a berth at Cannes (where Kristen Stewart's On the Road premiered just a few days before). And yes, he's good in it.

"I always had the feeling that he'd never seen any of my movies." »

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Watch an Exclusive Clip From Michelle Williams’s Take This Waltz

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In Sarah Polley's new film, Michelle Williams grapples with the following question: Should she give in to her intense feelings for handsome neighbor Daniel (Luke Kirby), or should she remain faithful to her loving husband (Seth Rogen)? You, like Michelle's character, will want to weigh all the evidence before forming an opinion, so Vulture now presents an exclusive clip from the movie, in which Williams seems very much in love with her cookbook-author husband. She even dances (and as we know from Blue Valentine, dancing is the true measure of Michelle Williams's affection). Take a look for yourself; Take This Waltz is in theaters on June 29 and on VOD today.

Christopher Abbott From Girls on Ignoring Controversy and Charlie’s Drippy Sex Scenes

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On Girls, Christopher Abbott plays Charlie, Marnie's irritatingly nice, rather Sad Sack-y boyfriend. He's so hapless that he recently got dumped by Marnie, mid-coitus, after four years together. Talk about timing! (It's hard to blame her; the stuff coming out of his mouth during their final romp almost made us gag.) The two had been growing apart for a while, and tensions had been mounting between them, especially since Charlie learned about Marnie's true feelings for him while he and his smarmy buddy Ray were snooping through Hannah's diary. We sat down with Abbott to discuss what he thinks of Charlie, the cringe-worthy stuff he's forced to say during sex, and the fact that he's barely aware of any controversy surrounding the show (really).

"I don’t know much about that." »

Vulture Recommends: David Edelstein’s Films to See This Memorial Day Weekend

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Film critic David Edelstein recommends you celebrate America by checking out a jingoistic military action flick, a political satire, and, you know, a ballet documentary.

1. Oslo, August 31st
This knockout Norwegian drama crosses the blood-brain barrier like ... like ... whatever the drug is, I haven't tried it, thank God. The movie eats into your mind — slowly. The protagonist, Anders (Anders Danielsen Lie), is a cleaned-up junkie on his first trip to the big city for a job interview, after nearly a year as an inpatient. He’s 34, the love of his life is long gone, and his retired parents are in the process of selling their house to cover his frightening debts. Director Joachim Trier follows him for 24 hours, beginning with Anders in a motel beside an old Swedish girlfriend (barely glimpsed) on the morning of August 30 and ending with his return to a different bed under much different circumstances. Each moment of what follows is quiet — and momentous.

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NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 10: Actress Joanna Garcia attends the Monique Lhuillier Spring 2012 fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at The Theater at Lincoln Center on September 10, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week)

Joanna Garcia Joins Justin Kirk’s NBC Comedy

Joanna Garcia has joined the cast of Animal Practice, NBC's upcoming vet-set single-camera comedy that stars Justin Kirk and a monkey. You know, that one. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Garcia will replace Amy Huberman, one of NBC's many abrasive blonds of pilot season. Garcia's had a string of one-season shows — Welcome to the Captain, Privileged, Better With You — and her most recent pilot, Oh Fuck, It's You, didn't get picked up. Somewhere, Paula Marshall is passing a torch.

Six Female Showrunners Talk Ratings, Their Comedy Icons, and Internet Hate

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In our TV issue, we chatted with six female showrunners — Liz Meriwether (New Girl), Whitney Cummings (2 Broke Girls and Whitney), Emily Kapnek (Suburgatory), Emily Spivey (Up All Night), Nahnatchka Khan (Don’t Trust the B— in Apartment 23), and DeAnn Heline (The Middle) — to get their takes on the state of the sitcom and their experiences this season working on hit shows. Herewith, some outtakes from those interviews, in which these women talk about their comedy icons, whether ratings matter, and getting flack on the Internet.

"I don’t know if I’m qualified to speak about the progress of society, because I am probably, in a big part, responsible for halting it." »

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