Old soldiers never die and neither do old Tony winners – at least judging from the omission of the In Memoriam video from the Tony broadcast last week.
Complaints against this snub were drowned out by the protest over the Tonys’ subsequent decision to eliminate the awards next year for sound design of a play and of a musical.
More fall-out from the Tonys – two Broadway shows announced this they were closing. But two new shows announced Broadway runs, including one in which Jake Gyllenhaal will be making his Broadway debut.
Scroll down for more theater news involving Steven Spielberg, Bryan Cranston, Audra McDonald, Randy Harrison, Neil Patrick Harris (they announced his replacement in Hedwig) and my two controversial essays – about diversity and the anti-elderly attitude in the theater, where many seem to want older audience members to fade away.
The Week in New York Theater
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2014 Tony winners
Aladdin: Come for Adam Jacobs’ chest, stay for James Iglehart’s feet. #TonyAwards
— Jonathan Mandell (@NewYorkTheater) June 9, 2014
.@AudraEqualityMc has won more Tonys than any other performer in history. The first to win in ALL FOUR CATEGORIES.
— Jonathan Mandell (@NewYorkTheater) June 9, 2014
I’m standing on Lena Horne’s shoulders, on Maya Angelou, on Diane Carroll and Ruby Dee and most of all Billie Holidays.-A McDonald
— Jonathan Mandell (@NewYorkTheater) June 9, 2014
(Jennifer Hudson looks beautiful, but WTF is this?)
— Jonathan Mandell (@NewYorkTheater) June 9, 2014
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Hugh Jackman hopped, the ratings dipped: Preliminary Tony figures show 7.02 million viewers, down from last year’s 7.24 million.
Director Steven Spielberg reportedly wants Bryan Cranston to play LBJ some more — on a television mini-series, says Deadline.
Era of grant-funded artists is dead, writes Hannah Wolf. How to turn “there’s no money” into an advantage
Of Mice and Moolah: Of Mice and Men recouped its $3.8 million capitalization (broke even) with 7 weeks to go on its limited run.
In Memoriam – not shown during the Tony broadcast
“Why should dead people expect special treatment?”~Tony Kushner (facetiously) on Tony snub of In Memoriam.
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Mothers and Sons by Terrence McNally will play its final performance June 22nd matinee after 104 regular performances.
Disgraced, Ayad Akhtar’s Pulitzer winning play, will open on Broadway’s Lyceum Oct. 23. The lead will be played by Hari Dhillon (pictured), who played the lead in the London production. The play is described as the story of “a successful Pakistani-American lawyer whose dinner party spins out of control amid a heated discussion of identity and religion.”
Jersey Boys, The Clint Eastwood Movie: Photographs, Trailer
The Ballad of Audra McDonald and ADHD
1. Tony speech thanks her folks “for disobeying the doctors’ orders and not medicating” her but pushing her “into the theater.”
2. Sorry, Audra McDonald—My Kid Needs His ADHD Meds – in TIME , \
3. Audra replies to her critic: I have no doubt that had they medicated me I wouldn’t be in the theater.
In praise of the proscenium (Prosceniums don’t cause distance;people cause distance)
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No Sound Tonys
The Tony Administration Committee has cut the categories of Best Sound Design of a Play and Best Sound Design of a Musical.
A silent tribute? MT @petermarksdrama The sound design trophies will be featured in next year’s off-camera In Memoriam.
— Jonathan Mandell (@NewYorkTheater) June 11, 2014
Sound designer John Gromada circulates petition: Reinstate Sound Design Tonys. (1000s have signed already)
Yes, writes Douglas Clayton, most Tony voters are ignorant about sound design. So educate them.
Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill with Audra McDonald as Billie Holiday extends through August 31st
10 Questions About Diversity
My sweet encounter (at Cupcake Café) with David Henry Hwang
Creating a Theater of Inclusion with Jeff Calhoun (Deaf West) and Ike Schambelan (TBTBTheater) Wed June 18 Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (1501 Broadyway) Free
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“The greatest gift is not being afraid to question.” ~ actress Ruby Dee, dead at 91. pic.twitter.com/TnsuSChxPz
— Jonathan Mandell (@NewYorkTheater) June 12, 2014
Broadway to dim its lights tomorrow at 7:45 p.m. in honor of Ruby Dee, who appeared on Broadway in eight productions, including the original “A Raisin in the Sun.”
Dee and Davis, who married in 1948, and whose marriage lasted until Davis’s death, in 2005, had become, together and separately, stars in a world that didn’t exactly welcome actors of color or handle them with anything approaching sensitivity. Dee was born in Ohio, in 1922; she moved with her family to Harlem while still a young girl, and it was there that she became immersed in theatre, her great love. With the support of black-run theatre companies formed by the likes of Frank Silvera, Dee was able to work and hone her craft. Being in the majority always gives you confidence, and for many years her world was the black stage and, eventually, black film.
Jake Gyllenhaal will make his Broadway debut in “Constellations” by Nick Payne, the same playwright who wrote “If There Is I Haven’t Found it Yet,” the play in which Gyllenhaal made his New York stage debut in 2012. Constellations is described as telling the story of two strangers who continue to meet by chance under the parallel universe framework of string theory. It opens January 13 at MTC’s Sam Friedman Theater, a couple of months after his sister Maggie is scheduled to make her Broadway debut opposite Cynthia Nixon and Ewan McGregor in a revival of Tom Stoppard’s “The Real Thing.”
Neil Patrick Harris is leaving Hedwig and the Angry Inch as planned on Aug 17th. Replacing him: Andrew Rannells, Aug. 20 to Oct. 12.
Picture of @AndrewRannells as #Hedwig in 2001 (via @BroadwayGirlNYC & @zachtheatre) pic.twitter.com/g7xqgM2b81
— Jonathan Mandell (@NewYorkTheater) June 12, 2014
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Randy Harrison’s Manhattan Project
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stAgeism: Anti-Elderly Attitudes In The Theater
Sadly,After Midnight will close on June 29 after 8 months, losing $. A terrific revue!
Like the acting in Orange is the New Black? As it turns out, ELEVEN of the cast members are Broadway vets; 2 currently.
