Stageworthy News of the Week:
Quickly following last Tuesday’s announcement that Broadway will remain shut down until at least Labor Day, Disney announced that “Frozen” would not return once Broadway resumed (“Three Disney productions will be one too many titles to run successfully in Broadway’s new landscape,” said Disney Theatrical president Thomas Schumacher, making it clear that “The Lion King” and “Aladdin” plan to be back.) The producers of both the revival of “Plaza Suite” and “MJ the Michael Jackson Musical” also rescheduled their planned Broadway runs to Spring, 2021. Shortly thereafter, the Hollywood Bowl then canceled its summer season for the first time in its 100-year history, followed by the announcement that Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937, would move its music festival online.
If Summer’s live entertainment seems to have gone the way of Spring — kaput — online arts have stepped up. Disney had better news this week for theatergoers: its online channel Disney+ will show the “live capture” of the original Broadway production of “Hamilton” starting on July 3rd, which is 15 months earlier than initially scheduled. This is the show I found breathtaking and groundbreaking when I reviewed the Off-Broadway production in February, 2015 and in some ways appreciated it even more four years later.
Maybe the streaming of “Hamilton” will change theatergoers’ view of online theater (and increase their viewing of it)
Poll: Since the shutdown, I have seen
— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) May 14, 2020
A Call for Rent Suspension
Alarmed by the permanent closing of Shetler Studios and Secret Theatre on the same Day, The League of Independent Theater, an advocacy group, is calling for a virtual town hall May 28 at 1pm to call upon elected officials to suspend commercial rents. On the page in which one can register to attend, the league further explains:
“Since the beginning of the PAUSE in New York, small arts venues have been at a standstill, unable to generate any revenue while public events remain on hold for the greater good. Meanwhile, rents are due each month with no relief. As theater space after theater space announces permanent closures, the League of Independent Theater and IndieSpace are calling on elected officials to take action and protect small businesses and performance venues throughout the city.”
The Week in Theater Awards
The 70th Annual Outer Critics Circle Awards featured for the first time honorees, rather than nominees. (There will be no subsequent selection of winners.)
The American Theatre Critics Association (of which I am a member) also announced its awards, which are given to playwrights with professional productions anywhere in the United States EXCEPT “the five boroughs of New York City” (although the winners often subsequently get a production here)
Brava @ellmarlew #SteinbergATCA Award + $25k
for touching play How the Light Gets In
about getting over grief, @BostonCourtCitations + $7,500 each to
Chandler Hubbard, Animal Control @firehouservaLee Edward Colston II, #firstdeepbreath @VictoryGardens#ATCA@Theatre_Critics pic.twitter.com/PPKUGzslxe
— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) May 13, 2020
Bravo @DanMcCabePlays for winning @Theatre_Critic‘s #OsbornAward for the play about hip-hop & musical theater lovers, “The Purists,” @huntington. pic.twitter.com/HfntsVNgBX
— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) May 13, 2020
Remaining awards calendar:
May 19: Off Broadway Alliance Awards, whose nominations were announced April 28, will announce winners at 11 a.m. via Facebook, with a reception planned for sometime in the Fall.
May 31: The 65th annual Drama Desk Awards, whose nominations were announced last week, will announce its winners on NY1 TV program On Stage at 7:30 p.m
The Week in Online Theater Reviewed
To Master The Art Review: Julia Childs Again, This Time Online
Frankie and Will, a comedy about Shakespeare during the Plague
Symphony Space Selected Shorts
COVID and Incarceration Review: Viral Monologues Goes to Prison
Significant Other
The Week in Other News
. @nycgo has created The Coalition for NYC Hospitality & Tourism Recovery & named as co-chairs @Lin_Manuel + the heads of @AMNH , @studiomuseum, @NYHTC, and restauranteur @dhmeyer.
The hope is to restore NYC as a world-wide draw once it emerges from COVID-19 pic.twitter.com/Nhoih3ls4r— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) May 13, 2020
Broadway on Demand, another new online platform, launched on Sunday. “Currently free to all Basic Subscribers,” there will be “paid events” (including forthcoming streaming of the Broadway musicals “Allegiance” and “Bandstand”) and a paid subscription for “premium content.” There is a daily live schedule, which features such new programs as a daily ballet class with Tyler Peck and incorporates some theater-oriented shows that already exist elsewhere, such as Stars in the House, and The Producer’s Perspective interviews. There are some glitches yet to work out, such as requiring that you sign up having read the terms of use, but when you click on the link to “terms of use,” it says “page not found.”
For a list of ongoing online theater platforms and new series, please check out Where To Get Your Theater Fix Online
The Daily Call That 200 Arts Groups in NYC Hope Will Help Them Survive. (quote below from Lucy Sexton, of New Yorkers for Culture & Arts) https://t.co/XTqurWNc93 pic.twitter.com/aPoUiMGIeK
— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) May 12, 2020
What’s Ahead
Please check out my May 2020 calendar of theater openings for details on some thrilling shows this week, including The Bombshell concert, A Streetcar Named Desire, Our Lady of 121st Street, Love Letters….and
The Homebound Project, second edition.
Following up on its impressive first edition, this collection of original plays to raise funds for No Kid Hungry, is on the theme of “sustenance,” will run from May 20 to May 24th and features:
Uzo Aduba in a work by Anne Washburn
Utkarsh Ambudkar in a work by Marco Ramirez
Nicholas Braun in a work by Will Arbery
Betty Gilpin in a work by Lily Houghton
Kimberly Hébert Gregory in a work by Loy A. Webb
Hari Nef in a work by Ngozi Anyanwu
Mary-Louise Parker in a work by Bryna Turner
Christopher Oscar Peña in a work by Brittany K. Allen
Taylor Schilling in a work by Sarah DeLappe
Babak Tafti in a work by David Zheng
Zachary Quinto in a work by Adam Bock
The nation’s largest fully digital new play festival, based in San Francisco, continues through June 14, with a total of 25 real-time live streamed performances .
I like how @stratfest is cataloguing the Bard’s plays online — “isolation,” minds pushed to the edge” — as if tailor-made for our odd era.
King Lear: streaming until 5/14
Coriolanus: until 5/21
Macbeth: until 5/28
The Tempest: coming 5/14′https://t.co/OqND1YCWVh pic.twitter.com/SCnbGMILKF— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) May 11, 2020
Lincoln Center Dance Week
5/30 Ballet Hispánico
New York City Ballet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
5/31 American Ballet Theater
6/1 School of American Ballet
6/2 New York City Ballet, Coppélia
6/3 NYC Ballet, Tribute to Balanchine
6/4 Alvin Ailey, Chroma, Grace, Takademe, Revelations
The Week in New Videos
“Stubb Kills a Whale” from the original A.R.T. production of Dave Malloy’s Moby-Dick, directed by Tony winner Rachel Chavkin
Ramin Karimloo plays Eidelweiss from The Sound of Music
A new look, a new kid. A funny finish
Thanks for having me @latelateshow! pic.twitter.com/gwrQBLIiK1
— Leslie Odom, Jr. (@leslieodomjr) May 14, 2020
