Cobie and Lauren: From HIMYM to Shakespeare

Cobie Smulders fans will be pleased to learn that the season premiere of ‘How I Met Your Mother” is next Monday, with the popular CBS sitcom back for a sixth season. Check out the sneak preview here. Among the new cast members is Geoff Stults as a Cobie love interest, Pussycat Doll and “Dancing With the Stars” winner Nicole Scherzinger as Robin’s former co-worker from her days as a Canadian chat show host and pop star, Jennifer Morrison in a guest starring role the producers have hinted may be life-changing for the characters.

In a recent New York Times piece, reviewer Ben Brantley mused about the handful of times he has seen a performance on stage that jolted him into completely rethinking a character he thought he knew by heart.

“I’m talking about Hedda and Hamlet, Nora and Blanche, even the child-murdering Richard,” wrote Brantley. “These are figures from classical theater who show up with numbing regularity in the life of a drama critic. (I feel like I’ve hung out more with Hamlet than I have with my closest friends in recent years.)

Among the very few performances he notes in this category: “Cate Blanchett’s Blanche in “A Streetcar Named Desire,” Kate Burton’s Hedda Gabler and Lauren Ambrose’s Juliet. ”