Today is Election Day! If you live in NYC, find your polling site here.
If you live anywhere in America, you can go to Vote.org for some cool info — like, for example, what’s on your specific ballot.
Below, everybody from the cast of Hamilton to Daphne Rubin-Vega, Laura Benanti and Randy Rainbow to civil rights hero Congressman John Lewis weigh in with some funny, touching, inspiring and annoying messages urging you to take democracy seriously.
Also below,the week in New York theater: November openings, October’s quiz, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Off-Broadway plans after Puerto Rico; Wicked at 15 (Watch the NBC special);
November New York Theater openings
New York Theater Quiz for October, 2018
How well were you paying attention to the theater, and theater news, in October? Answer these 10 questions to find out.https://t.co/dGfIbm6dZJ pic.twitter.com/gNTRkCiRPa— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) October 31, 2018
The Week in NY Theater Reviews and Previews
Torch Song
The 1982 Broadway production of Torch Song Trilogy, starring Harvey Fierstein as Arnold Beckoff, a sometime drag queen and gay Jewish romantic searching for love and acceptance, could be credited with having made history. But no such claim would be credible for the revival, renamed Torch Song, starring Michael Urie as Arnold and Mercedes Ruehl as his mother. It’s just an entertainment now, unthreatening and largely unchallenging,…
But if Torch Song suffers in comparison to the spate of first-rate gay plays over the last few decades, and the excellent revivals over the past year, there’s no denying how witty and well-meaning it is. Many in the barrage of one-liners are still quite funny, and the strong performances of Urie and Ruehl in particular help make more palatable the artificial feel to many of the scenes.
Lewiston/Clarkston
Lewiston/Clarkston, two powerfully affecting plays by Samuel D. Hunter about 21stcentury descendants of the 19thcentury North American explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, play out in close-up — a stage just 13 feet wide. Such close proximity of audience to actors could be a challenge for both. But even at its most intense,“Lewiston/Clarkston” is never less than credible, and all the more moving, thanks to the direction by Davis McCallum and the six-member cast, who give astonishingly good performances.
La MaMa Puppet Festival
Food for the Gods is about the killing of black men; Exodus addresses the current refugee crisis; Blind is a solo work about disability. These may not sound like typical subjects for puppet shows, but little about the La MaMa Puppet Festival fits most audiences’ preconceptions about the art form
VOTE
Do you know someone who needs a nudge to go vote? Hear from @repjohnlewis, @fullfrontalsamb, @johnkasich, @reshmasaujani and more: There is no good reason to sit this one out. pic.twitter.com/TY0vwvs0SS
— NYT Opinion (@nytopinion) November 3, 2018
“It might be nice. It might be niiiice… to get to democracy back on track,”
Saturday Night on Broadway at @HamiltonMusical tonight. GO VOTE. (From the genius mind of @kurtmoji) pic.twitter.com/c5mHQTEu8y
— Deanna Weiner (@DeannaShweiner) November 4, 2018
Hello white women who helped get us into this mess, can you please help clean it up?
Signed,
White women who are aware of their privilege, are working on checking it and see clearly that aligning themselves with the patriarchy is a fools errand and a tragic mistake. #Vote— Laura Benanti (@LauraBenanti) November 6, 2018
Daphne Rubin-Vega and a dozen other Broadway veterans sing .
It’s #ElectionEve and I’m feeling Wicked. Here’s a PSA to get you in the spirit. #MondayMotivation #VoteTuesday #NewVideo #ElectionDay 💖💚🇺🇸🗳🌊🎶 pic.twitter.com/esmEoUJLAS
— Randy Rainbow (@RandyRainbow) November 5, 2018
Taylor Mac to Stephen Colbert: “Donald Trump is like the heckler in chief. He’s trying to steal the story of America away from America.”
The Week in NY Theater News
After he returns from performing @HamiltonMusical in Puerto Rico (Jan 8-27), @linmanuel will co-produce, and occasionally perform in, an Off-Bway run of @freestylelove, his improvisational hip hop group, 1/30-3/2 @greenwichhouse Theater. pic.twitter.com/uW23SxaKtS
— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) October 30, 2018
RT if your night was just made seeing our original green girl return to #DefyGravity. @idinamenzel #Wicked15 #Wicked pic.twitter.com/akh6nUaE0F
— Wicked the Musical (@WICKED_Musical) October 30, 2018
Heidi Schreck’s “What The Constitution Means To Me” will transfer to Greenwich House starting November 27th.
Missed A Very Wicked Halloween, a celebration of 15 years of @WICKED_Musical on Broadway? Here’s all 42 minutes of it, courtesy @NBChttps://t.co/1ySe4rSfYt
— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) October 30, 2018
.@PublicTheaterNY has embarked on a project to fix its #DelacorteTheater in Central Park, to replace decaying infrastructure, make it more accessible, etc.
Here’s the page they’ve set up to explain, and update ushttps://t.co/269swOHmgl pic.twitter.com/gPB34jgBWc— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) November 1, 2018
Congratulations to composer @WillCReynolds & lyricist/book writer Eric Price for winning the 14th annual #FredEbbAward (and $60,000) for musical theater excellence. Their shows: The Violet Hour, Radioactive, Around the World, and The Sixth Borough pic.twitter.com/pqSG65zVwP
— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) November 5, 2018
The cast of Head Over Heels will celebrate the release of their Original Broadway Cast Recording … with an in-store performance and album signing event at the Drama Book Shop on Monday, November 12 from 5:00pm – 7:00pm
Harvey Fierstein:: “I try to do one new idea a year. Now I’m working on a play about my old friend Bella Abzug. The former Congresswoman is also a character in the current play Gloria: A Life
.@PublicTheaterNY‘s 15th annual @UTRFestival will feature 21 artists from 9 countries in 10 days (Jan 3-13, 2019)
Among the performers:@RudeMechs, @ManualCinema doing a puppet version of #Frankenstein,@ifeomafafunwa, @taniaelk, @new_saloon, @Flaconavajahttps://t.co/kJ7NSKA9qD— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) October 31, 2018
Rest in Peace
“We can only do what is possible for us to do. But still it is good to know what the impossible is.” – María Irene Fornés, 88, an influential playwright who gained admiration from her peers more than fame from the public.
“Major writers—Tony Kushner, Paula Vogel, Mac Wellman, and her contemporary Sam Shepard among them—cite María Irene Fornés as a principal influence and inspiration.” Todd London, in one of the @HowlRound essays below. https://t.co/40hI46sQsL
— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) October 31, 2018
We’ve collected a list of essays and videos honoring the impact and legacy of playwright and teacher María Irene Fornés. We hope that the words of those who knew, loved, and learned from her may be a comfort and an inspiration.https://t.co/g0PfHQ0lTJ
— HowlRound Theatre Commons (@HowlRound) October 31, 2018
