The Village Voice shut down on Friday after 63 years. The Obie Awards, honoring Off & Off-Off Broadway, which the Voice launched in 1955 and still co-sponsored, will continue, according to Heather Hitchens, president of the American Theater Wing, which began co-presenting the Obies in 2015.
The final issue of the Voice (just digital, since they shut down the print edition last year) features Bob Dylan, who seems to be saying goodbye. But he is also saying hello. A new musical featuring his music is one of the many shows scheduled for Off-Broadway this season.
Off Broadway Fall 2018 Preview Guide
Below, news about “Mrs. Doubtfire,” “Gettin’ My Band Back Together,” “Be More Chill,” “Hamilton” in Puerto Rico, plays for Labor Day, September theater openings, and the monthly New York theater quiz. In this week in New York theater, Times Square abuzz, literally.
THE WEEK IN NY THEATER REVIEWS
Scraps
In “Scraps,” Geraldine Inoa, making a memorable professional playwriting debut, imagines the deep and lasting after-effects on the people left behind when police kill somebody – telling the survivors’ stories through a theatrical filter that goes from lyrical to naturalistic to surreal.
Remnant
Remnant,” according to Theater Mitu’s director Ruben Polendo, is a meditation on war, death and loss. It is Mitu’s first piece in the first building that the 20-year-old company can call its own….The company spent three years interviewing people who have been directly affected by war, especially veterans, and people who have been diagnosed with terminal illnesses…But it is only part documentary theater. It is also equal parts art installation, performance art, and technology-as-poetry.
1969: The Second Man
Buzz Aldrin was the second man to walk on the moon (nine minutes after the first, Neil Armstrong), 50 years ago next summer.
“No one will think of them as ‘the first men on the moon.’ Neil will be remembered. Buzz will be forgotten,” say members of the cast of “1969 The Second Man.” On stage through September 8 at Next Door at New York Theatre Workshop, the show recounts some of the high and low points of the astronaut’s life – before, after and during the Apollo 11 mission.
Plays for Labor Day:
In Praise of Theater About Unions, Workers and Workplaces
In the last few years, I’ve seen several fine plays specifically about the taxing conditions of workers in various workplaces…Such plays are the exception..This arguably reflects what seems to have become an American consensus. Many of us don’t value “the worker” the way earlier generations did; don’t even identify as workers; minimize workplace stresses and inequities; and don’t see unions as a solution.
September 2018 New York Theater Openings
THE WEEK IN NY THEATER NEWS
Director Jerry Zaks, whose @HelloDollyBway closed over the weekend, has a new gig. He’s been hired to direct #MrsDoubtfire the musical adaptation of the 1993 Robin Williams film. The quartet that created @RottenBroadway will write the book and score. Casting & schedule TBD. pic.twitter.com/n9dPEgMtoy
— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) August 28, 2018
.@GettinTheBand will close on Sunday, September 16, having played 30 previews & 40 performances at the Belasco “The audience who are seeing the show love the show…but we can’t get the sales traction we need as fast as we need it”-producer @kendavenport https://t.co/CtMgX8989u
— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) September 1, 2018
A Times Square intersection, near Hard Rock Cafe was cordoned off this afternoon after a swarm of bees engulfed a hot dog cart.
Fear not, New Yorkers and tourists. Midtown Manhattan is all abuzz about #NYPD’s ability to bee 🐝 a full-service organization. Right now, we’re humanely, & safely, handling the @NYPDBees swarm in @NYPDTimesSquare. Just another day in #NYC. @NYPDnews https://t.co/iXlQ79dRpk
— Commissioner O’Neill (@NYPDONeill) August 28, 2018
“Be More Chill” might be moving to Broadway, Forbes reports. The producers set up a separate production company for a Broadway run last week, and are now looking to raise $9.5 million for its transfer.
For the three-week engagement of Hamilton in Puerto Rico in January, starring Lin_Manuel Miranda , there will be 10,000 tickets sold to island residents for $10. That’s a quarter of all available tickets.
New York Theater Quiz August 2018
RIP Carole Shelley, 79, 20-time Broadway veteran – one of the Pigeon sisters in “The Odd Couple,” Tony winner for her role in “The Elephant Man,” the original Madame Morrible in “Wicked.” The lights of The Gershwin Theatre, The Walter Kerr Theatre, The Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, and The Imperial Theatre in her memory on Wednesday, September 5 at exactly6:45pm for one minute.
