Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have A Dream speech.
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Lin-Manuel Miranda went back to his elementary school for his second indoor #Ham4Ham:
Here’s his first the day before, with Alan Menken
The Week in Hamilton
The past week in New York theater could be called the Week in Hamilton. That may describe most weeks these days, but this one marked both Alexander Hamilton’s 261st and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s 36th birthday
Happy Birthday to Ethel Merman, born today in 1908, & reincarnated as @Lin_Manuel, born today in 1980 pic.twitter.com/YSnWtw903u
— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) January 16, 2016
Hamilton Musical’s Celebrity Signings
Counterfeit Hamilton tickets
Fake tickets show up at the door almost daily.
#NewYorkValues
“Everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro- gay-marriage, focus around money and the media,” Ted Cruz said at the sixth Republican presidential debate.
But New Yorkers have a different understanding of what our values are. Much of it has to do with culture.
My twins and their friends supporting my oldest son at his first piano recital in BROOKLYN… #NewYorkValues pic.twitter.com/DjgsxxGYFr
— Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) January 16, 2016
#NewYorkValues pic.twitter.com/sSjBqpooHv
— mia farrow (@MiaFarrow) January 15, 2016
#NewYorkValues pic.twitter.com/b8qE040F4t
— mia farrow (@MiaFarrow) January 15, 2016
#NewYorkValues pic.twitter.com/bHhzOOhpzH
— mia farrow (@MiaFarrow) January 15, 2016
Much of it has to do with a tradition of acceptance.
Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…I lift my lamp beside the golden door #NewYorkValues
— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) January 15, 2016
And ok, we take no shit from nobody.
The Week in New York Theater Reviews
Under the Radar Festival: Samedi Detente
Week in New York Theater Previews
David Lawson, New York Theater Guy, Times Square Flyer Guy
David Lawson is a New York theater person, which is to say he makes his art for the stage, but, like thousands of others, he makes his living doing something else. He hands out flyers in Times Square, working alongside and getting to know The Painted Topless Ladies, and The Naked Cowboy (who says he makes $34,000 — a month) and Racist Elmo (who used to work for the Girl Scouts)….Lawson tells funny stories from his life as a Times Square flyer guy in “Flyer Guy”
Soul to Soul, comparing African-American and Yiddish folk music traditions.
Elmore James, who sings with two Jewish blondes and another African-American man in the “Soul to Soul” concert, grew up in Harlem and made his Broadway debut in the black gospel musical “Your Arms Too Short to Box With God.” So it seems only natural that he would fall in love with Yiddish music.
“I first heard Yiddish music sung by Paul Robeson,” James says. “It resonated with me.”
Week in New York Theater News
RIP great actors Alan Rickman (69), David Margulies (78), Brian Bedford (80), Richard Libertini (82) and Billie Allen (90)
Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are the central characters of Nerds, a new musical opening at Broadway’s Longacre Theater on April 21, 2016. No cast has been announced yet.
Len Cariou (Sweeney Todd) to star in “Broadway and the Bard, an evening of Shakespeare and song,” Theatre Row, Jan 28-Mar 6
Nick Cordero (“Bullets Over Broadway”) to join Jessie Mueller in Waitress. Opens April 24
New York Theatre Workshop is charging $1,000 to $2,500 per ticket for final performance of David Bowie’s Lazarus January 20, to benefit its education dept.
The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs is working on a report to be released this month on how well museums and performing-arts groups reflect city’s diversity
Sharyn Rothstein is the winner of ATCA’s $10,000 Primus Prize for an emerging woman playwright, for her play By The Way at MTC
The 61st annual Obie Awards, now under the American Theatre Wing, is set for May 23rd at Webster Hall, with Lea DeLaria once again the host.
Marie and Rosetta, by George Brant (Grounded), about legendary rock-n-roller Sister Marie Rosetta, is scheduled for the Atlantic Theater’s 2016-17 season
NBC plans to make Hairspray its next live TV musical
Full cast for Tuck Everlasting, which is scheduled to open April 26, 2016
Pippa Pearthree as “Nana,” with an ensemble of Timothy J. Alex, Jonathan Burke, Callie Carter, Chloe Campbell, Benjamin Cook, Deanna Doyle, Brandon Espinoza, Lisa Gajda, Jessica Lee Goldyn, Christopher Gurr, Neil Haskell, Matt Meigs, Heather Parcells, Justin Patterson, Marco Schittone, Brooklyn Shuck, Jennifer Smith, and Kathy Voytko. They join previously announced three-time Tony Nominee Carolee Carmello as “Mae Tuck” (Finding Neverland), Outer Critics Circle nominee Andrew Keenan-Bolger as “Jesse Tuck” (Newsies), two-time Emmy Award winner Michael Park as “Angus Tuck” (How To Succeed…),three-time Tony Nominee Terrence Mann as “The Man in the Yellow Suit” (Pippin), Fred Applegate as “Constable Joe” (The Last Ship), Robert Lenzi as “Miles Tuck” (South Pacific),Michael Wartella as “Hugo” (Wicked), Valerie Wright as “Betsy Foster” (Elf The Musical), and introducing 11-year-old Sarah Charles Lewis as “Winnie Foster”.
Open letter from Marlee Matlin upon leaving Spring Awakening
There is still a long way to go in terms of accessibility for theatergoers who are Deaf or hard of hearing …I’m able to watch TV, surf the internet on my mobile device or see a film (even opera!) with the benefit of captions… [But] millions of Deaf and hard of hearing people like me who come to New York City and want to see a Broadway show… are told they’d have to make accommodations that hearing people do not.”
Theaters sell a cup of wine for $24 — and some 500 theatergoers go for it at every performance.
“The appeal of performing in general. It’s being able to express very private, personal things that you can disavow as soon as the lights go up at the end. You have plausible deniability from the time the applause starts.” ~ Michael Cerveris
