Hello faithful readers. With the end of summer coming way to quickly upon us, I have decided to return to the world of my blog. Though I will probably not be posting on a daily basis for another week or so as I get back into the swing of school, I did want to get the ball rolling again and make sur you had some updates to get the year started.
Just to whet your appetites, recently, actress Anne Hathaway (whose name, I was recently reminded by a theater director friend of mine, is the same as that of William Shakespeare's wife) is in talks to star as Fantine in the upcoming film version of Broadway's megahit Les Miserables. She will star opposite Hugh Jackman, who has been confirmed to play Jean Valjean in the film. The film is to be directed by Tom Hooper, who recently had a hit with The King's Speech, for which he won the Best Director Oscar. Other actors rumored to be in talks for the film are Russel Crowe who is said to be up for the role of policeman Javert, and Jeffrey Rush and helena Bonham Carter, who are said to team up as the Thenardiers, the comedic hotel owners. The original Broadway production of Les Miserables is the third longest running showin Broadway history.
Speaking of long-running hits on Broadway, the current revival of Chicago, which opened back in 1996, became the fourth longest-running production in Broadway history on August 29th after its 6,138th performance, surpassing the record previously held by A Chorus Line. As though that was not enough, the show simultaneously became the longest-running American musical on the list, with three British imports in the top three spots (in order, Phantom of the Opera, Cats, and the aforementioned Les Miserables).
In other news, the previously-announced revival of Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth, which was set to star Nicole Kidman and James Franco, has been delayed and Franco has dropped (or been dropped, it is unclear which) out of the project. While there has been no comment from Nicole Kidman, the production's director, David Cromer, has said to The New York Times that the show is being postponed indefinitely so that the show's lead producer, Scott Rudin, can focus on an upcoming revival of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman which is set to star Phillip Seymour Hoffman is Willy Loman, Linda Emond as his wife, Linda, and film star Andrew Garfield as one of their sons.
Well, those are the highlights of the past few days. I will be updating more frequently as time moves on and will be back to my usual daily routine within another week or so.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
"Other Desert Cities" Casting Update
Here's an article from Broadway.com with some exciting casting news for the Broadway transfer of Lincoln Center's Other Desert Cities.
Broadway newcomer Rachel Griffiths and Tony nominee Judith Light will join returning stars Stockard Channing, Stacy Keach and Thomas Sadoski in Lincoln Center Theater's forthcoming Broadway transfer of Jon Robin Baitz's acclaimed Other Desert Cities. The play, helmed by Tony winner Joe Mantello, is scheduled to begin previews at the Booth Theater on October 12 and open on November 3.
Griffiths will be making her Broadway debut as Brooke Wyeth, a role created off-Broadway by Elizabeth Marvel. Light steps in for original cast member Linda Lavin who, as previously reported, will star in the Vineyard Theatre's forthcoming production of Nicky Silver's The Lyons.
In Other Desert Cities, Brooke Wyeth (Griffiths), a once promising novelist, returns home after a six-year absence to celebrate Christmas in Palm Springs with her parents (Channing and Keach), former members of the Reagan inner-circle, her brother (Sadoski), and her aunt (Light). When Brooke announces that she is about to publish a memoir focusing on an explosive chapter in the family’s history, the holiday reunion is thrown into turmoil as the Wyeths struggle to come to terms with their past.
Griffiths is best known for her Emmy-nominated roles on the HBO series Six Feet Under and the Baitz-created ABC hit Brothers and Sisters. She earned an Academy Award nomination for her role in Hilary and Jackie; other film credits include Muriel’s Wedding, Ned Kelly, The Rookie, Blow and My Best Friend’s Wedding. In her native Australia, the actress has appeared in Sylvia, A Doll's House and Proof.
Light is a 2011 Tony nominee for her role in Lombardi, other Broadway credits include A Doll’s House and Herzl and she was also seen on the New York stage in Wit. She is best known roles on long-running TV shows Who’s the Boss? and Ugly Betty, as well as the soap opera One Life to Live, which earned her two Emmy Awards.
Other Desert Cities premiered on December 16, 2010, at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, where it officially opened on January 13, 2011. The Broadway production will reunite Lincoln Center Theater’s original design team: John Lee Beatty (sets), David Zinn (costumes), Kenneth Posner (lighting), Jill BC DuBoff (sound) and Justin Ellington (original music).
Broadway newcomer Rachel Griffiths and Tony nominee Judith Light will join returning stars Stockard Channing, Stacy Keach and Thomas Sadoski in Lincoln Center Theater's forthcoming Broadway transfer of Jon Robin Baitz's acclaimed Other Desert Cities. The play, helmed by Tony winner Joe Mantello, is scheduled to begin previews at the Booth Theater on October 12 and open on November 3.
Griffiths will be making her Broadway debut as Brooke Wyeth, a role created off-Broadway by Elizabeth Marvel. Light steps in for original cast member Linda Lavin who, as previously reported, will star in the Vineyard Theatre's forthcoming production of Nicky Silver's The Lyons.
In Other Desert Cities, Brooke Wyeth (Griffiths), a once promising novelist, returns home after a six-year absence to celebrate Christmas in Palm Springs with her parents (Channing and Keach), former members of the Reagan inner-circle, her brother (Sadoski), and her aunt (Light). When Brooke announces that she is about to publish a memoir focusing on an explosive chapter in the family’s history, the holiday reunion is thrown into turmoil as the Wyeths struggle to come to terms with their past.
Griffiths is best known for her Emmy-nominated roles on the HBO series Six Feet Under and the Baitz-created ABC hit Brothers and Sisters. She earned an Academy Award nomination for her role in Hilary and Jackie; other film credits include Muriel’s Wedding, Ned Kelly, The Rookie, Blow and My Best Friend’s Wedding. In her native Australia, the actress has appeared in Sylvia, A Doll's House and Proof.
Light is a 2011 Tony nominee for her role in Lombardi, other Broadway credits include A Doll’s House and Herzl and she was also seen on the New York stage in Wit. She is best known roles on long-running TV shows Who’s the Boss? and Ugly Betty, as well as the soap opera One Life to Live, which earned her two Emmy Awards.
Other Desert Cities premiered on December 16, 2010, at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, where it officially opened on January 13, 2011. The Broadway production will reunite Lincoln Center Theater’s original design team: John Lee Beatty (sets), David Zinn (costumes), Kenneth Posner (lighting), Jill BC DuBoff (sound) and Justin Ellington (original music).
Cynthia Nixon to Return to Broadway
Tony- and Emmy-Award winner Cynthia Nixon will be returning to Broadway this year, according to a press release on Broadway.com. Nixon is set to play Vivian Bearing, a professor of metaphysical poetry and a preeminant scholar on the John Donne, in Margaret Edson's play Wit in a production to be directed by Lynne Meadow. The actress, probably best known to American audiences for her Emmy-winning six year run on television's Sex and the City, won a 2006 Best Actress Tony for her star turn in another Manhattan Theatre Club production -- David Lindsay-Abaire's Rabbit Hole (a role which recently garnered an Oscar nomination for Nicole Kidman in that play's film adaptation).
Friday, July 8, 2011
Master Class Is Now in Session
The Manhattan Theatre Club's revival of Master Class opened last night at the Biltmore (now the Samuel J. Friedman) Theatre. The play with music, written by Terrence McNally, is about a series of Master Classes given by the late opera diva Maria Callas at Lincoln Center and won the 1996 Tony for Best Play. Zoe Caldwell played Callas in the original production, winning her fourth Tony for the role, and the show made helped a star out of relative newcomer Audra McDonald (who won her second featured actress Tony for her role in the show).
While the previous production was certainly a star vehicle in its way, the supporting performers were vital and integral to the story telling. This production, however, belongs entirely to Tyne Daly and her staggering performance in the central role. The sets and lights were noted on in some of the reviews, which can sometimes be an indication of Tony worthiness, but it is definitely too early to make any such assumptions. Given that this show will close long before the relevant Tony race heats up, Tyne Daly is the only likely candidate for a nomination for this production.
While the previous production was certainly a star vehicle in its way, the supporting performers were vital and integral to the story telling. This production, however, belongs entirely to Tyne Daly and her staggering performance in the central role. The sets and lights were noted on in some of the reviews, which can sometimes be an indication of Tony worthiness, but it is definitely too early to make any such assumptions. Given that this show will close long before the relevant Tony race heats up, Tyne Daly is the only likely candidate for a nomination for this production.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
A Tempting Production Model? Not If You Ask the Ones Who Did It!
Here's an article from Variety.com about producing for Broadway.
New "Normal" For Plays? by Gordon Cox
With three Tony Awards and brewing plans for a national tour and a London run, Broadway revival "The Normal Heart" has done pretty well for a last-minute addition to the 2010-11 season.
Factor in the super-quick rehearsal period of two weeks and the low capitalization pricetag of around $1.5 million, and it all starts to look like a potential new model for producing plays.
But not so fast. According to those involved, "Normal Heart" came together with a serendipity unlikely to be re-created, especially given the unusual number of hurdles faced by the production.
"The logistics became more and more complicated as time went on," producer Daryl Roth said.
Roth decided she'd try to mount Larry Kramer's 1985 play, about the early days of the AIDS epidemic in 1980s New York, in the wake of a starry benefit reading she produced in October. She secured the participation of two of the reading's stars -- Joe Mantello, the legit helmer who stopped acting soon after he appeared in "Angels in America" in the early 1990s, and John Benjamin Hickey -- but as soon as she did, the benefit's director, Joel Grey, booked a role in the current Roundabout revival of "Anything Goes," complicating his attachment to "Normal."
Even once "Angels" director George C. Wolfe fell into place as the new helmer, the production still didn't have a theater amid a bustling spring 2011 season that saw 22 shows open.
A slot finally freed up when the revival of "Driving Miss Daisy" shuttered at the Golden Theater on April 9. "Normal" loaded into the venue the day after "Daisy" moved out. Previews began April 19 for an April 27 opening, just a day before the cutoff for the season's Tony eligibility.
In what seemed like an unusually coy PR strategy, producers and creatives initially wouldn't say for sure whether "Normal" would more resemble a reading -- like "Salome," the semi-staged Al Pacino topliner Roth produced in 2003 -- or a fully produced show.
That's because they didn't know themselves. With only a couple of weeks of rehearsals for thesps to memorize a wordy script, the team decided that remaining on-book was a real possibility, and David Rockwell's minimal set, dominated by a spare white box, was designed to accommodate whatever form the production assumed.
According to Wolfe, it wasn't until the tenth of the production's 12 rehearsal days that the cast decided to leave the scripts behind and fully stage the show.
The accelerated process was "unnatural," Wolfe said, but there was at least one advantage. "Because of the intensity of the time period, the actors didn't have the luxury to create their characters with their usual techniques," he said. "They're using their emotions in the rawest, most immediate way."
Along with the Tony for play revival, the show scored thesping trophies for Hickey and Ellen Barkin. Mantello was nommed as well. And since the awards attention, box office has jumped significantly. The week after the show opened, weekly sales came in at less than $250,000; for the frame ending June 19, B.O. rang in at $455,000 and attendance hit 99%.
Due to the skeds of all involved, the Main Stem production is slated to close July 10. Interest from other markets, however, has prompted Roth to expect future stints in other U.S. cities, including Washington D.C., and in London, where Elton John is said to be considering signing on as a producer.
Given the show's success, it's natural to wonder whether creatives or producers can imagine mounting another under such tight restraints.
"Two weeks? No," Wolfe said. "Hateful, horrible, never to be repeated. I wouldn't want to tempt the generosity of the theater gods by trying to do it again."
Also likely to put off producers: The show is far from guaranteed to make a profit given its brief run and the relatively low B.O. logged in its early frames on the boards.
Besides, some of that earned income is going to charities including amfAR, Friends in Deed, the Actors Fund and the Human Rights Campaign.
But according to Roth, turning a profit was never the guiding principle. "I wanted it to have a charitable component, and everyone involved is doing this in that generous spirit," she said.
New "Normal" For Plays? by Gordon Cox
With three Tony Awards and brewing plans for a national tour and a London run, Broadway revival "The Normal Heart" has done pretty well for a last-minute addition to the 2010-11 season.
Factor in the super-quick rehearsal period of two weeks and the low capitalization pricetag of around $1.5 million, and it all starts to look like a potential new model for producing plays.
But not so fast. According to those involved, "Normal Heart" came together with a serendipity unlikely to be re-created, especially given the unusual number of hurdles faced by the production.
"The logistics became more and more complicated as time went on," producer Daryl Roth said.
Roth decided she'd try to mount Larry Kramer's 1985 play, about the early days of the AIDS epidemic in 1980s New York, in the wake of a starry benefit reading she produced in October. She secured the participation of two of the reading's stars -- Joe Mantello, the legit helmer who stopped acting soon after he appeared in "Angels in America" in the early 1990s, and John Benjamin Hickey -- but as soon as she did, the benefit's director, Joel Grey, booked a role in the current Roundabout revival of "Anything Goes," complicating his attachment to "Normal."
Even once "Angels" director George C. Wolfe fell into place as the new helmer, the production still didn't have a theater amid a bustling spring 2011 season that saw 22 shows open.
A slot finally freed up when the revival of "Driving Miss Daisy" shuttered at the Golden Theater on April 9. "Normal" loaded into the venue the day after "Daisy" moved out. Previews began April 19 for an April 27 opening, just a day before the cutoff for the season's Tony eligibility.
In what seemed like an unusually coy PR strategy, producers and creatives initially wouldn't say for sure whether "Normal" would more resemble a reading -- like "Salome," the semi-staged Al Pacino topliner Roth produced in 2003 -- or a fully produced show.
That's because they didn't know themselves. With only a couple of weeks of rehearsals for thesps to memorize a wordy script, the team decided that remaining on-book was a real possibility, and David Rockwell's minimal set, dominated by a spare white box, was designed to accommodate whatever form the production assumed.
According to Wolfe, it wasn't until the tenth of the production's 12 rehearsal days that the cast decided to leave the scripts behind and fully stage the show.
The accelerated process was "unnatural," Wolfe said, but there was at least one advantage. "Because of the intensity of the time period, the actors didn't have the luxury to create their characters with their usual techniques," he said. "They're using their emotions in the rawest, most immediate way."
Along with the Tony for play revival, the show scored thesping trophies for Hickey and Ellen Barkin. Mantello was nommed as well. And since the awards attention, box office has jumped significantly. The week after the show opened, weekly sales came in at less than $250,000; for the frame ending June 19, B.O. rang in at $455,000 and attendance hit 99%.
Due to the skeds of all involved, the Main Stem production is slated to close July 10. Interest from other markets, however, has prompted Roth to expect future stints in other U.S. cities, including Washington D.C., and in London, where Elton John is said to be considering signing on as a producer.
Given the show's success, it's natural to wonder whether creatives or producers can imagine mounting another under such tight restraints.
"Two weeks? No," Wolfe said. "Hateful, horrible, never to be repeated. I wouldn't want to tempt the generosity of the theater gods by trying to do it again."
Also likely to put off producers: The show is far from guaranteed to make a profit given its brief run and the relatively low B.O. logged in its early frames on the boards.
Besides, some of that earned income is going to charities including amfAR, Friends in Deed, the Actors Fund and the Human Rights Campaign.
But according to Roth, turning a profit was never the guiding principle. "I wanted it to have a charitable component, and everyone involved is doing this in that generous spirit," she said.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Photographs in the Theater?
I just discovered this fascinating (and important) article on Playbill.com written by Robert Simonson about the issue of taking pictures in a Broadway Theatre. I hope this can shed some light on an issue that comes up a lot and that I have been asked about quite a few times!
Few activities are more frowned upon by theatre managers than photograph-snapping inside the auditorium. Every theatregoer is familiar with the pre-show announcement that the "taking of photographs and use of recording devices" is forbidden by law. This is owing to various union rules concerning the safety of the actors, as well as intellectual property issues with regard to the shows' creators.
But what's wrong with taking a shot beforehand as a remembrance of the occasion? Well, a lot, it turns out.
"There are several reasons" why photographs can't be taken prior to curtain, said Carol Bokun, a business agent for IATSE Local 360, the union whose members include many back- and front-of-the-house theatre professionals, including those shushing ushers. "First of all, we're instructed in some theatres that the actual curtain of the show is copyrighted."
She's not referring to the red-velvet job we all associate with Broadway theatres, but the painted, decorative ones that have become common at some musicals and plays. Very often, these are the work of the show's scenic designer. Bokun works at the Ambassador Theatre, where Chicago has played for many years. That show has no curtain, but famously puts its orchestra on stage, surrounded by a large gilt frame. "We were told the frame is part of the show," and thus copyrighted, said Bokun. Thus: no pictures.
Laura Penn, executive director of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC), echoed those contentions. "With the curtain, there are issues of intellectual property with the artists involved," she said. "As for someone wanting to photograph their grandmother, that is probably a theatre issue." Bokun said Local 360 gets its marching orders from each individual theatre owner regarding photographs, and often these dicta are made with an eye toward overall theatre security. "In some cases, there are security reasons for it," Bokun said. "It does vary from show to show." Bokun declined to elaborate about what those security concerns might be.
Penn suggested that the moratorium on pre-show photos might also be the theatre's way of enforcing a uniform, easy-to-understand policy. "Because it is completely not O.K. to take photos during a performance, we can accomplish that by encouraging people to not take photos inside a theatre at all. That is how we do it. It makes sense to say 'No photographer in a theatre.' Otherwise, how are you going to do it? Are you going to say, 'You can take pictures at this time but not at that time'? How do you control thousands of people in all of the theatres?"
Beowulf Boritt, a 2011 Tony Award nominee for his stark scenic design of the musical The Scottsboro Boys, told us, "The scenery is intellectual property, much like a book, or a song. While you may not be doing anything nefarious with your snapshots, if they end up on the web, that visual information is available to anyone with a quick Google search, and the designs can essentially be stolen.
"I just did a quick Google image search for productions of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and The Last Five Years. I designed the original productions of both shows, and my search yielded a pile of images that were clearly copies of my designs. It's hardly worth my time to start chasing down every high school or community theatre that does this. You might argue that my work being copied does me no harm, but it's work I have done that is being co-opted without my being compensated or asked permission.
"While these organizations presumably have paid the licensing fees for the rights to the scripts, I don't get a penny for their using of my designs. The prohibition on photos, at it's simplest, is an attempt to give the creative team a little protection from potential intellectual theft."
Few activities are more frowned upon by theatre managers than photograph-snapping inside the auditorium. Every theatregoer is familiar with the pre-show announcement that the "taking of photographs and use of recording devices" is forbidden by law. This is owing to various union rules concerning the safety of the actors, as well as intellectual property issues with regard to the shows' creators.
But what's wrong with taking a shot beforehand as a remembrance of the occasion? Well, a lot, it turns out.
"There are several reasons" why photographs can't be taken prior to curtain, said Carol Bokun, a business agent for IATSE Local 360, the union whose members include many back- and front-of-the-house theatre professionals, including those shushing ushers. "First of all, we're instructed in some theatres that the actual curtain of the show is copyrighted."
She's not referring to the red-velvet job we all associate with Broadway theatres, but the painted, decorative ones that have become common at some musicals and plays. Very often, these are the work of the show's scenic designer. Bokun works at the Ambassador Theatre, where Chicago has played for many years. That show has no curtain, but famously puts its orchestra on stage, surrounded by a large gilt frame. "We were told the frame is part of the show," and thus copyrighted, said Bokun. Thus: no pictures.
Laura Penn, executive director of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC), echoed those contentions. "With the curtain, there are issues of intellectual property with the artists involved," she said. "As for someone wanting to photograph their grandmother, that is probably a theatre issue." Bokun said Local 360 gets its marching orders from each individual theatre owner regarding photographs, and often these dicta are made with an eye toward overall theatre security. "In some cases, there are security reasons for it," Bokun said. "It does vary from show to show." Bokun declined to elaborate about what those security concerns might be.
Penn suggested that the moratorium on pre-show photos might also be the theatre's way of enforcing a uniform, easy-to-understand policy. "Because it is completely not O.K. to take photos during a performance, we can accomplish that by encouraging people to not take photos inside a theatre at all. That is how we do it. It makes sense to say 'No photographer in a theatre.' Otherwise, how are you going to do it? Are you going to say, 'You can take pictures at this time but not at that time'? How do you control thousands of people in all of the theatres?"
Beowulf Boritt, a 2011 Tony Award nominee for his stark scenic design of the musical The Scottsboro Boys, told us, "The scenery is intellectual property, much like a book, or a song. While you may not be doing anything nefarious with your snapshots, if they end up on the web, that visual information is available to anyone with a quick Google search, and the designs can essentially be stolen.
"I just did a quick Google image search for productions of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and The Last Five Years. I designed the original productions of both shows, and my search yielded a pile of images that were clearly copies of my designs. It's hardly worth my time to start chasing down every high school or community theatre that does this. You might argue that my work being copied does me no harm, but it's work I have done that is being co-opted without my being compensated or asked permission.
"While these organizations presumably have paid the licensing fees for the rights to the scripts, I don't get a penny for their using of my designs. The prohibition on photos, at it's simplest, is an attempt to give the creative team a little protection from potential intellectual theft."
Alice Pleyton Dead at 63
Here's an article from Braodway.com about the death of Alice Pleyton.
Alice Playten, whose distinctive voice was put to good use in comedic stage roles spanning more than 50 years, died on June 25 of heart failure complicated by pancreatic cancer. She was 63 and lived in Manhattan.
Born in Brooklyn on August 28, 1947, the former Alice Plotkin studied at the Metropolitan Opera ballet school and made her Broadway debut as Baby Louise in the original production of Gypsy. In 1963, she played Bet, Nancy’s younger sister, in Oliver!, then created the role of Ermengarde, Horace Vandergelder’s niece, in Hello, Dolly! At age 20, the diminutive actress received a Tony nomination and Theatre World Award for the short-lived musical Henry, Sweet Henry. Other Broadway credits include Rumors, Seussical and Caroline, or Change (as Grandma Gellman).
Playten was a two-time Obie winner for National Lampoon’s Lemmings and First Lady Suite and appeared off-Broadway in Sorrows of Stephen, Spoils of War and A Flea in Her Ear, among others. After starring with Richard Masur in the Flea Theater’s The Oldsmobiles in 2009, Playten made her final stage appearance in the short-lived off-Broadway comedy It Must Be Him in September 2010.
Alice Playten, whose distinctive voice was put to good use in comedic stage roles spanning more than 50 years, died on June 25 of heart failure complicated by pancreatic cancer. She was 63 and lived in Manhattan.
Born in Brooklyn on August 28, 1947, the former Alice Plotkin studied at the Metropolitan Opera ballet school and made her Broadway debut as Baby Louise in the original production of Gypsy. In 1963, she played Bet, Nancy’s younger sister, in Oliver!, then created the role of Ermengarde, Horace Vandergelder’s niece, in Hello, Dolly! At age 20, the diminutive actress received a Tony nomination and Theatre World Award for the short-lived musical Henry, Sweet Henry. Other Broadway credits include Rumors, Seussical and Caroline, or Change (as Grandma Gellman).
Playten was a two-time Obie winner for National Lampoon’s Lemmings and First Lady Suite and appeared off-Broadway in Sorrows of Stephen, Spoils of War and A Flea in Her Ear, among others. After starring with Richard Masur in the Flea Theater’s The Oldsmobiles in 2009, Playten made her final stage appearance in the short-lived off-Broadway comedy It Must Be Him in September 2010.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Calendar Sneak Peek
Hi all. Though I usually wait until September to post the Broadway calendar, I did want to post a preliminary heads-up as to what productions we can expect to see in the upcoming season. A more comprehensive list can be found at the link below, but some highlights to look out for are: a return engagement of the 2009 Tony-Winning revival of Hair, Tyne Daly as Maria Callas in a revival of Terrence McNally's Master Class, and the 40th anniversary revival of Stephen Schwartz' Godspell, among many others. Check out the article below for more productions and come back in September for my full list.
http://www.playbill.com/celebritybuzz/article/80060-Schedule-of-Upcoming-Broadway-Shows
http://www.playbill.com/celebritybuzz/article/80060-Schedule-of-Upcoming-Broadway-Shows
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Spider-Man Opens on Broadway ... Finally
Well, all ... no sooner has the 2010-2011 Broadway season come to an end with this year's Tony Awards than the 2011-2012 season has begun with the opening of Julie Tymor's latest Broadway outing ... well, sort of.
The mega-expensive mega-musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark has finally opened on Broadway and the reviews are in. To say that they aren't good is the understatement of the year. Though it is slightly more coherent than the previous incarnation, it is still not worthy of the price of admission -- valuable only to die-hard theater vultures and slightly less than prescient 10 year olds with money to burn. We shall see how this fares next year, by which time I believe the show will be mostly forgotten.
The mega-expensive mega-musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark has finally opened on Broadway and the reviews are in. To say that they aren't good is the understatement of the year. Though it is slightly more coherent than the previous incarnation, it is still not worthy of the price of admission -- valuable only to die-hard theater vultures and slightly less than prescient 10 year olds with money to burn. We shall see how this fares next year, by which time I believe the show will be mostly forgotten.
Monday, June 13, 2011
The Value of a Tony ... and a Blog
Now that the Tony Awards are over, for this year at least, it is time for some wrap up and to look forward to the next season (and next year's Tony Awards!). I found this article on the New York Times blog about the value of winning a Tony Award ... the extent to which a Tony win can increase a show's ticket sales. Check out the link below to read the article and let me know what you think.
And, with that, it is time to look forward to the next round of Tony Awards and the next year of this blog. I will be taking the summer away from this blog except to report about new openings (like Spider-Man, which opens tomorrow night) and other major news that can't go without reporting. Let me know what you would like to see more of this year and I will do my best to make it happen.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/09/just-how-much-is-a-tony-worth/?ref=theaterspecial
And, with that, it is time to look forward to the next round of Tony Awards and the next year of this blog. I will be taking the summer away from this blog except to report about new openings (like Spider-Man, which opens tomorrow night) and other major news that can't go without reporting. Let me know what you would like to see more of this year and I will do my best to make it happen.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/09/just-how-much-is-a-tony-worth/?ref=theaterspecial
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