September 24, 2018 Leave a comment
Shakespeare knew Kavanaughs well: “Say what you can, my false o’erweighs your true”
The 2018-2019 Broadway season, launching in earnest this week with two plays, is shaping up after several exciting announcements. Check out the preview guide
September 17, 2018 Leave a comment
2018 Theatre Hall of Fame inductees:
Actors Rene Auberjonois, Christine Baranski, Cicely Tyson
Playwrights Maria Irene Fornes, David Henry Hwang, Adrienne Kennedy
Director Joe Mantello
Producer James Houghton, posthumously.
Below: Complete casting for Glenda Jackson’s King Lear and To Kill a Mockingbird; highlights reel from Marin Mazzie’s career.
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September 11, 2018 Leave a comment
Nathan Lane and Andrea Martin will star on Broadway in “Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus,” a new comedy marking the Broadway debut of acclaimed theater artist Taylor Mac (A 24-Decade History of Popular Music, Hir.) Directed by George C. Wolfe, “Gary” is set just after the blood-soaked conclusion of William Shakespeare’s first tragedy, Titus Andronicus. Civil war has ended and the country is in the hands of madmen. Casualties are everywhere; two Lane and Martin portray servants charged with cleaning up the corpses. The play is set to open at the Booth Theater April 11, 2019
Andrew Lloyd Webber
With the 2018 Emmy® Award win in the Outstanding Variety Special (Live) category for “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert,” Andrew Lloyd Webber joins a distinguished list of artists who have won Emmys, Grammys, Oscars and Tonys — EGOT — as do John Legend and Tim Rice
Below: News about Be More Chill, Beetlejuice; Al Roker and Tatiana Maslany make Broadway debuts. Lin-Manuel Miranda celebrates his friends and neighbors in a TV commercial Also: Remember public funding for the arts? And: how Burt Reynolds made a mark on live theater.
September 4, 2018 Leave a comment
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.
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.
August 27, 2018 Leave a comment
Playwright Neil Simon, who dominated Broadway with his many comedies for more than two decades, died on Sunday at the age of 91. Broadway will dim its lights in his honor on Thursday, August 30 at exactly 6:45pm for one minute.
His is the latest death of a theater artist in a week full of them: Actress Barbara Harris, director Vivian Matalon, actor Brian Murray, producer Craig Zadan.
See details below.
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August 20, 2018 Leave a comment
For 20 years, August was the month when New Yorkers who hated the beach and couldn’t afford to travel could have a “staycation” sampling some 200 shows at the New York International Fringe Festival. That ended last year, when Fringe went on hiatus.
Now details have been announced for the 21st annual Fringe, and it’s two festivals in one, FringeNYC, and FringeBYOV – which are taking place in all five boroughs…in October.
Explanation and examples below, along with news of Keri Russell from “The Americans” debuting on Broadway, Gina Gershon as Melania Trump; the cover of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s new book; Broadway remembers Aretha; and a plea: Critics are not the enemy of the (theater) people.
August 13, 2018 Leave a comment
With two Broadway shows opening this week — “Gettin The Band Back Together” and “Pretty Woman” — it’s hard to say we’re in the Dog Days of August. Yet, these hot and humid days do encourage thoughts of the Dogg Days of October: See below for details about Snoop Dogg’s theatrical debut in Brooklyn.
Also below: news of Bryan Cranston’s return to Broadway, Michael C. Hall’s to Off-Broadway, a Maria Irene Fornes festival for free; a Tony-winning actor (Christian Borle) turning into a director, and a Tony-winning director (David Cromer) returning to acting; a musical turning into a novel; and an all-male macho Mamet play turning all-female. I guess theater really is transformative!
August 6, 2018 Leave a comment
Ruthie Anne Miles performed for the first time after her terrible loss, Julia Roberts visited the musical adaptation of the movie that made her a star, Rosie O’Donnell is leading a busload of Broadway performers to protest in front of the White House, and the theater community said goodbye to Charlotte Rae. Details below.
July 30, 2018 Leave a comment
Soon after this…
.@Lin_Manuel,Hollywood mogul?
1 Starring in @MaryPoppins
2. Directing movie Tick, Tick…Boom!
3. Executive producer on @FX TV series about Bob Fosse & Gwen Verdon.
4. #InTheHeights film
5. Bidding underway to show @HamiltonMusical in movie theatershttps://t.co/l3ZqJEv3LO pic.twitter.com/9bL7B0o1ja— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) July 24, 2018
You’re totally forgetting he has a Kingkiller Chronicles series set at Showtime.
— alex (@alex_is_reading) July 24, 2018
…this was announced
The entire creative team behind @HamiltonMusical including @Lin_Manuel Thomas Kail, music director @LacketyLac , and choreographer @ABlankenbuehler will receive the 2018 @KenCenter Honors, along w/ @Cher, Reba McEntire, Wayne Shorter, and Philip Glass. pic.twitter.com/uzkviILlFx
— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) July 25, 2018
Also: Lin-Manuel Miranda has been cast, along with James McAvoy and Ruth Wilson, in the BBC’s forthcoming series “His Dark Materials,” based on the bestselling fantasy novels by British author Philip Pullman.
And:
Miranda sets up arts fund for Puerto Rico, the Flamboyan Arts Fund
July 24, 2018 Leave a comment
Lin-Manuel Miranda is making his film directorial debut in a movie version of “Tick,Tick…Boom!” an early, semi-autobiographical musical by “Rent” composer Jonathan Larsen about a struggling musical theater writer. Miranda performed in a production of the show at City Center’s Encores! in 2014 (pictured above with his Hamilton co-star Leslie Odom, Jr.). Listen to him comment on the gig in the video below (at around the 10:20 mark)
But that’s not the only film news involving Miranda. We already know about his starring role in “Mary Poppins Returns,” which will be in movie theaters in December, and the plans to turn his musical “In The Heights” into a film, aiming for completion in 2020.
Then Variety has reported that Miranda is one of the executive producers on a TV series for FX about the life of Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon, starring Sam Rockwell and Michelle Williams
Now there is a report in the Wall Street Journal,that “Hamilton” may also be coming to the local cineplex: “Hollywood studios are currently bidding for the big-screen rights to Lin-Manuel Mirandas hit musical…But in an unusual twist, the ‘Hamilton’ movie won’t be a filmed adaptation. Instead, it is a recording of the show made in 2016 with its original cast, including Mr. Miranda in the lead role.”
Bidding could go as high as $50 million, which seems reasonable considering that the show reportedly has grossed nearly $400 million in New York alone since opening in 2015.
Meanwhile, the composer, director and actor prepares to take “Hamilton” to Puerto Rico, as he explains in this interview on the Today Show.
Below more news about filmed theater, involving Bruce Springsteen and Jennifer Hudson, among others, as well news as about staged theater — the latest theater awards, the closing of an Andrew Lloyd Webber show, the new seasons at Lincoln Center, The Flea, The Bushwick Starr, a “critic’s corner” that features some (more) sad news and some controversy; and an unusual break for the over-40 theatergoer. Read more of this post
