Monday, July 16, 2012
One more cast addition to Sondheim’s Into The Woods this summer at the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park: Glenn Close will be the voice of the Giant.
Yes, 15 percent of drama majors go on to earn less than $15,000 a year. But 15 percent of business majors also make that little. On average drama majors (not just actors) earn $46,000,says “Theater Careers: A Realistic Guide,” by Tim Donahue & Jim Patterson
New York Times architecture critic Michael Kimmelman loves Lincoln Center’s new Clare Tow Theater, a “floating jewel” at night, with a “wondrous new rooftop deck” that should be open to the public at large, not just ticketholders.
Finished watching the season 5 of MAD MEN last night. Just remarkable writing filled w/ so much thematic and character richness. Brilliant.
— Robert Falls (@RobertFalls201) July 16, 2012
@NewYorkTheater Not comparable – TV can create stories, theme, develop characters over 100 hours plus – At best, a brilliant medium!
— Robert Falls (@RobertFalls201) July 16, 2012
My review of Shakespeare in the Parking Lot’s Merry Wives of Windsor
| The distractions that come from outdoor Shakespeare are different in a parking lot on the Lower East Side than in the Globe Theater in England or even in the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. The night I attended “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” the latest in the two-decade history of the “Shakespeare in the Park(ing) Lot” free summer theater, a fire truck blasted by at ear-injuring volume, followed half an hour later by a police-car siren and then by a member of the audience who took at least 30 photographs using a rapid-fire, highly illuminating flash.Most of these distractions (I’ll except the photographer) were a fitting complement to director Hamilton Clancy’s crowd-pleasing production, as he has moved the play’s setting to the Lower East Side and turned Shakespeare’s convoluted tale of sexual misadventure into a fight over the neighborhood’s gentrification. |
Full review of Merry Wives of Windsor
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Tribes at Barrow Street Theater, written by Nina Raines and directed by David Cromer, has been extended until January, 2013.
10 mistakes theaters/arts organizations make on Twitter — 1. always retweeting praise. via UK’s A Younger Theatre.
Can you sing and dance like Michael Jackson? Little Stevie Wonder? Berry Gordy wants YOU to audition for his Broadway-aimed Motown the Musical — via Youtube.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess will end a week earlier than planned, September 23. At 322 performances, it’ll be the longest-running of the eight productions of Porgy and Bess that have been on Broadway.
NYP: James Lapine, on commission from Andre Bishop of Lincoln Center Theater, has adapted Moss Hart’s theater memoir Act One for the stage
In season 2 episode 1 of web series Pzazz101, Tony winner Beth Leavel has unhealthy issues with her Tony medal
Poor Kevin Yee. He created “Jeremy Lin the Musical” video in February.Maybe a Houston theater will be interested
Ha! Tell me about it. Jlin breaks hearts of NY sports fans AND theater lovers. Guess I’d better email TUTS…
The lights of Broadway marquees dim tonight in honor of Celeste Holm (1917-2012), the original Ado Annie in “Oklahoma,” and the playwright’s wife in “All About Eve.”
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Complete list of Emmy nominations
Playbill: Theater-related nominees include songwriters Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (“Hairspray” “Smash”), London stage star Benedict Cumberbatch for the miniseries “Sherlock,” Broadway’s Jim Parsons, currently of Harvey, for “The Big Bang Theory,” Jesse Tyler Ferguson, the late Kathryn Joosten, Edie Falco, Ty Burrell, Bobby Cannavale, Maggie Smith, Julianna Margulies, Kathy Bates, Michael C. Hall, Christine Baranski, Denis O’Hare,etc.
Kathie Lee Gifford announced on Today today: Her musical “Scandalous,” on evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, opens on Bway November 15. She has been working on the book and lyrics for 13 years, she said.
Katie Holmes (soon no longer Mrs. Cruise) is returning to Broadway in Dead Accounts by Theresa Rebeck, set for the Fall.
Friday, July 20, 2012
The UK hit Matilda from The Royal Shakespeare Company will open at the Shubert April 11, 2013
Traces is ending its NY run September 2 and then going on tour. Acrobatic act worth seeing: My review when it opened
Feeling frustrated is essential to the creative process.Before there can be a breakthrough, there has to be a block~Jonah Lehrer
Andre De Shields, director,performer,choreographer,writer, lyricist, composer–never waiter!– explains how not to have a day job:
Sunday, July 22, 2012
The ninth Broadway production of “A Streetcar Named Desire” ends its limited run. Also ending today: “Freud’s Last Session,” which lasted an improbable two years Off-Broadway.
The Andre de Sheilds video really says nothing about how to avoid a day job except some vague thing about not getting pigeon-holed and “re-inventing” oneself. Not terribly useful for those young actors who are the most likely to be waiting tables and hating it. More useful suggestions might be
1. Reduce your monthly expenses as much as possible, most importantly, rent, but also unfortunately, social activities.
2. Audition for EVERYTHING for which you are even remotely appropriate. You don’t have to accept everything, but audition for everything.
3. In addition to focusing on the kind of work you really want to do – Shakespeare, new musicals, new plays, whatever – have another branch of your work focus on well-paying gigs: try to get a commercial agent or TV agent or voice-over agent, even if you are not really interested or think they are distasteful. They still allow you to practice some elements of your craft and landing one job could pay your expenses for 6 months.
There are more, but that’s a much better start than mr De Sheilds little talk.
Good point, and great advice. Andre De Shield’s talent is intimidating. I’m not sure everybody has the ability to be so versatile.