Posted in New York Theater, New York Theater Weekly Summary

Dr. Fauci and Lloyd Webber:The vaccine will reopen Broadway. Jeremy O. Harris: Hollywood should subsidize theater. #Stageworthy News.

   Published Date: December 7, 2020  Leave a Comment on Dr. Fauci and Lloyd Webber:The vaccine will reopen Broadway. Jeremy O. Harris: Hollywood should subsidize theater. #Stageworthy News.
Jeremy O. Harris did not see a play on Broadway until four years ago — and then it was a free ticket — because he couldn’t afford it, as he explained on Late Night with Seth Meyers. Now the playwright of “Slave Play” has had Hollywood come calling — and he is using his movie money to advance the cause of theater — which he thinks is an idea with legs (See Week in Theater News below.)

A good news, bad news week. IF approved by federal regulators, a vaccine could start arriving in New York City next week, and, say both Dr. Anthony Fauci and impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber, IF enough people get vaccinated, Broadway should be able to reopen September 2021 or earlier.
The bad news is that the virus is surging — “On Friday, a national single-day record was set, with more than 226,000 new cases.” — and likely to worsen at least through January. “Pandemic fatigue” is real, and,  U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams has said, largely to blame for the surge.

December 2020 Theater Openings

Week in Theater Reviews

Adam Guettel and Mary Rodgers

Richard Rodgers, Daughter Mary Rodgers and Grandson Adam Guettel at the 92nd St Y

The Prom on Netflix

A Christmas Carol with Jefferson Mays

Old Friends New Works: Laura Linney, Edie Falco, Jeremy Pope

Oscar and Walt.

 

New Works Virtual Festival – December 5 to 25

George M. Cohan. Mankiewicz reviewed his “autobiography” (Mank’s quotation marks)
Eleanora Duse. Mankiewicz wrote her obituary

Before Mank: Herman J. Mankiewicz, Man of The Theater

Before Herman J. Mankiewicz wrote Citizen Kane (as we see in “Mank”), he wrote the elegiac obituary for Eleanor Duse, a disappointed review of George M. Cohan’s “autobiography” and a snide review of a book by a press agen.t Read excerpts from his theater writing;

Week in Theater News

Playwright Jeremy O. Harris and the New York Theatre Workshop have announced the Golden & Ruth Harris Commission which will be two $50,000 commissions for new theatrical work

On Late Night With Seth Meyers a second time, December 7, 2020, repeating his call for a new Federal Theater Project.. Asked whether he feels optimistic, Harris said “there’s a lot of reason to feel despondent right now…but in this moment we get to reframe and reimagine who theater is for, how we get it to them, and how to change the dynamics of theater that makes it so difficult to get to.”

Andrew Lloyd Webber believes in the imminent return of Broadway and the West End. That’s all he asks of you.

“On the topic of getting theaters reopened safely worldwide, Lloyd Webber is a Pied Piper, testifying at government hearings, pressing industry leaders, giving interviews — participating in vaccine trials.

“He’s so invested in how to envelop theatergoers in a protective antiviral cocoon that he spent a fortune bringing to his 2,200-seat London Palladium devices from South Korea that emit antibacterial mist as ticket holders pass through them. He said he was about to install them — as they had been used for a Seoul production of “The Phantom of the Opera” — when authorities from Public Health England stopped him out of concern that the spray might damage contact lenses or cause skin rashes….

“….’I think we’re likely to see things get much better come about April. I’m reckoning for getting into rehearsal with ‘Cinderella’ in March and opening in May. And I want ‘Phantom of the Opera’ to open in June here. It would be good to think it could open on Broadway again — and we could get Broadway up earlier than people are saying. There’s talk of September, but maybe it can be earlier now that the vaccine exists.'”

 

Actors Equity Diversity Report: 2016-2019 in Review :

 

“There has been improvement since the 2017 study — meaning there has been more equitable distribution of contracts and earnings –but most improvements have been extremely gradual and inconsistent across geographical areas.”

Broadway Stage Managers Form Group To Expand BIPOC Opportunities

 Broadway & Beyond: Access For Stage Managers Of Color – was founded by Lisa Dawn Cave, production supervisor for Disney’s Frozen; Beverly Jenkins, production stage manager, Hadestown; and Jimmie Lee Smith, stage manager with Disney Theatrical Group, Aladdin

Flea Theater to Shut Down Programs for Emerging Artists

News leaked out about the actions of The Flea Theater through a new parody/guerrilla Twitter account, @FleaTheater, which expressed its outrage at the actions in every Tweet:

The movie of “In The Heights” will be released on HBOMax
at the exact same time as in the movie theaters, sometime in summer 2021. (This is an adaptation to the pandemic that will apply to all Warner Bros. pictures in 2021.)

Watch any part of the telethon you missed, through 6 p.m. December 8.

The Reverb Theater Arts Festival, representing the voices of artists with disabilities on the virtual stage, will be conducting a Q&A Session for applicants via Zoom on Wednesday, December 9, 2020 at 12–1pm EST

Rest in Peace

Pamela Tiffin, 78, actress
“Her sole appearance on Broadway was in a revival of the Kaufman and Ferber comedy “Dinner at Eight” (1966). She played Kitty Packard, the flashy and most obviously out-of-place dinner guest, played by Jean Harlow in the 1933 film.”

Week in Theater Videos

Author: New York Theater

Jonathan Mandell is a 3rd generation NYC journalist, who sees shows, reads plays, writes reviews and sometimes talks with people.

Leave a Reply