Given the seven-week gap between the last Broadway opening and the next one, there’s an awful lot of talk about Broadway this week — talk (two weeks before it even opens at the Public Off-Broadway) of Hamilton moving to Broadway. Meanwhile, Hamilton — which has been sold out — just announced that it’s been extended until May 3 at the Public (making a Broadway this Spring — past the Tony Award cut-off — unlikely.)
There’s also been talk of the new Broadway play starring Jim Parsons; and talk of all the new Broadway books (ok, I’m the only one talking about that; scroll down.)
The real juice this month is Off-Broadway, as my preview of the February offerings make clear (Scroll to February 1.) Putting aside the Super Bowl and the blizzard that wasn’t (at least not in New York City), it was like A Month in the Country with a whole slew of TV stars (see my review of that play.)
Week in New York Theater Jan 26 – Feb 3
Monday, January 26, 2015
Alex Sharp has won the Clive Barnes Foundation Prize for his role in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.
.@NapOnACott goes from Jack Kelly in @newsies to Gaston Lachailles in @GigiOnBroadway pic.twitter.com/Cjts41OpJN
— Jonathan Mandell (@NewYorkTheater) January 27, 2015
January 27
#Frozen composer couple @lopezbobby and @Lyrikris10 will write a song for @ActuallyNPH at #Oscars2015 pic.twitter.com/ZEbCTYI0xG”
— Jonathan Mandell (@NewYorkTheater) January 27, 2015
Little snow and even fewer people. A sweet NYC. pic.twitter.com/Pc1wsgc7Ph
— Jonathan Mandell (@NewYorkTheater) January 27, 2015
January 28
The original On The Town was a pioneer in bias-free hiring – Japanese-American dancer, black conductor etc
Poster for @TheVisitMusical, Kander/Ebb musical w/ @Chita_Rivera. Opens at Broadway’s Lyceum April 23 pic.twitter.com/dFwa7xCDjx
— Jonathan Mandell (@NewYorkTheater) January 28, 2015
Whither UK after Queen Elizabeth? That’s subject of Charles III,UK hit w/Tim Pigott-Smith, aiming for Bway pic.twitter.com/21eYRK30Y4
— Jonathan Mandell (@NewYorkTheater) January 28, 2015
To celebrate its impending 125th anniversary, Carnegie Hall will commission at least 125 new works over 5 yrs (musical theater too?)
January 29
Big Bang’s Jim Parsons returns to Broadway as… God, in Act Of God by David Javerbaum, who Tweets as @TheTweetOfGod. It opens in May.
Shakespeare in the Park:
The Tempest with Sam Waterston, directed by Michael Greif May 27-July 5
Cymbeline directed by Daniel Sullivan July 27–Aug 23
Yay @DIAMONDLILLIAS et al MT @BistroAwardsNYC Complete list of 2015 winners http://t.co/MbQoIMEJYl pic.twitter.com/iUUutFpCmJ
— Jonathan Mandell (@NewYorkTheater) January 29, 2015
Theater is not a club so why do we make it feel that way?
January 30
American Playwriting Foundation seeks submission of a new play for its $45,000 Relentless Award,created to honor Philip Seymour Hoffman, by encouraging “works from first time playwrights and underrepresented voices.”
Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda: First Photographs
“I don’t like labels. But if you have to put a label on it, I’m a gay man’~Joel Grey, coming out in PeopIe magazine at age 82.
One in five people working in entertainment has sought help for mental health issues, reports Arts and Minds (UK)
When does “be given to our toddlers” become “be given to ayatollahs”? TV subtitles stink.
My review of A Month in the Country
Fans of Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones) or Taylor Schilling (Orange is the New Black) drawn to the Classic Stage Company’s production of “A Month in the County” surely don’t expect anybody to be beheaded, or shivved in the prison shower, in this comedy of manners written by Ivan Turgenev in the 1850s. But just as surely they couldn’t have known it would feel like homework.
Full review of A Month in the Country
January 31
January New York theater quiz
Art demands we work inside out, so that our insight & skills exceed our desire to be noticed.~@JohnBecker73 http://bit.ly/1vmKSjk
February 1, 2015
The focus on personal life rather than work of actresses has (sexist) consequences, writes Elissa Avery in The Week.
No theater is too big to fail, writes Lyn Gardner, prompting the question: Why the focus on buildings?
New York cultural institutions spent $1.3 billion on new construction from 2010 to 2014.
February 2
It’s been a long time since Broadway was just a street. Now it’s shorthand for a range of memories and meanings. Narrowly, “Broadway” is a group of 40 theatres located between 41st Street and 66th Street in Manhattan, but it is also an industry, a product, a brand, a theatrical genre, a trigger for gushing nostalgia—and a target of scorn. It’s too expensive, critics say, too predictable, not diverse enough. Above all, it saps attention from other (better?) theatre throughout the country, as well as theatre a few subway stops away. The haters may hate, but Broadway still lures, as is evident in a spate of new and reissued books.
The best of the batch is American Musicals: The Complete Books and Lyrics of 16 Broadway Classics, 1927–1969, the Library of America’s two compact volumes containing the texts (without musical notation) of such tuneful and beloved shows as South Pacific, Guys and Dolls, My Fair Lady and Fiddler on the Roof, as well as a previously unpublished musical revue by Irving Berlin and Moss Hart…
In Black Broadway, a beautifully-designed coffee-table book about African-Americans, author Stewart F. Lane informs us that in 1928, more than 20 million people attended some 264 shows on Broadway. These days, roughly 12 million a year attend about 40. But Black Broadway is one of few books about Broadway that not only spends quality time talking about Broadway shows and show people that date after 1990—it actually sounds optimistic about the future of the Great White Way.
My complete review of all five Broadway books on American Theatre Magazine.
Congratulations to Jen Bender, the new director of programming for the New York Musical Festival.
@NewYorkTheater Off the top of my head: A Chorus Line, Night Music, and Falsettos. But expect much more variety than that at NYMF.
— Jen Bender (@jenbender76) February 2, 2015
February 3
“I’ve gotten a lot of nice e-mails …congratulating me for being a great bad actor”
Finalists for Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, honoring women playwrights:
Lisa D’Amour (U.S.) – Airline Highway
Alice Birch (U.K.) – Revolt. She said. Revolt again.
Alecky Blythe (U.K.) – Little Revolution
Clare Barron (U.S.) – You Got Older
Clara Brennan (U.K.) – Spine
Katherine Chandler (U.K.) – Parallel Lines
Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig (U.S.) – The World of Extreme Happiness
Lindsey Ferrentino (U.S.) – Ugly Lies the Bone
Zodwa Nyoni (U.K.) – Boi Boi Is Dead
Heidi Schreck (U.S.) – Grand Concourse
Ruby Rae Spiegel (U.S.) – Dry Land
Tena Štivičić (U.K.and Croatia)- 3 Winters
The winner of the $25,000 prize will be announced March 2
