Theatre Talk: In Our Own Little Corner

[aradia22]

TNR is up. Does the casting of Matthew Broderick increase anyone's desire to see Sylvia? I guess the Lopez's are off Bob the Musical? I feel justified in my dismissal of Deep Love as it won zero NYMF awards. I should have seen Single Wide instead. The casting of Mary J. Blige and Queen Latifah is a pretty encouraging sign for The Wiz. Well, at least the singing. Blige will be Evilline while Latifah plays The Wiz.

Edited July 29, 2015 by aradia22

[aradia22]

TNR is up. Some thoughts on Significant Other. If you do not know how to turn off your cell phone, just don't bring it to the theatre. What do you think about watching Verdi's Otello in Times Square and outdoor opera experiences in general? Romeo and Juliet in a nursing home? Where does the conflict come from?

[aradia22]

TNR is up. I'm sad that Mrs. Smith's Broadway Cat-Tacular is closing early. More people should have experienced it. 

Lupita Nyong'o being cast is sure to draw people to Eclipsed at the Public.

Anyone planning on seeing Betsy Wolfe and Jeremy Jordan at Kennedy Center?

Carly Hughes was great in Chicago. I'm glad she's returning briefly even though I won't see the show again during her run. 

[caracas1914]

Actually Matthew Broderick makes me want to see Sylvia LESS. I was offended by how he so obviously phoned in his last BW performances.

[Rinaldo]

Same here, caracas1914. I used to really enjoy him as a young actor, finding him both charming and talented. But his stage performance in The Foreigner for Roundabout went instantly into my special group of Unforgivable Performances by a Professional Actor (which contains only a half dozen names after decades of theatergoing). I refrained from appending his Nice Work if You Can Get It performance only because I was ready for him this time. So he's no inducement for me to see a play at this point.

[aradia22]

Going to see Chicago with Brandy tonight. This afternoon there were still 100 or so seats, maybe more. They managed to sell them all so I will be standing for the show. We'll see how it goes. I doubt I'll have much to say about Chicago at this point but I'm interested to see how she'll interpret it.

[JustaPerson]

I wonder what you guys think about this. 

 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/louispeitzman/broadway-songs-that-will-make-you-sob-uncontrollably#.gsmdMxGLB9(in case that doesn't work)

Edited August 1, 2015 by JustaPerson

[aradia22]

I will post my thoughts on Chicago in the beginning of tomorrow's TNR on my blog but for now I'll just say that I had a blast. :D

 

Edited to add since it didn't fit with the rest of the post, I had one of the best stage door experiences at Chicago last night. It was more like a receiving line. She was so gracious though a little tired from her performance (and maybe the prospect of the very long line of fans). She immediately went for a hug and then signed my Playbill and my Cinderella songbook (her version) and took a photo with me. 

Edited August 2, 2015 by aradia22

[aradia22]

TNR is up. I lied. I ended up having too many thoughts about Chicago (though I wouldn't call it a review) so I put it in a separate post. I'm considering seeing this weird Cleopatra play with Christine Baranski, possibly because the Hollywood Prospectus podcast has brainwashed me. My Doctor Zhivago CD came in the mail today. I'm listening to it now. It's pretty good but still not as amazing as hearing those songs in the theatre. I'm using my good headphones ($40) but maybe I need to invest in better headphones or speakers. The biggest story of the day is the PBS Arts Festival. I hate that I can't set my DVR in advance but I definitely don't want to miss Show Boat (my thoughts are somewhere back here in this thread), Chita Rivera, and the Kander and Ebb tribute. A Hamilton book will be published. Enough Hamilton already. Kidding. Not really. ;)

[aradia22]

Obviously it makes the most sense to listen to the album in order but if you want to know what it sounded like in person, I'd say Blood on the Snow and Ashes and Tears come across best. For some reason Tam Mutu doesn't sound as strong as he did in person. I blame part of it in how they layered the voices or if it's the headphones wherever his voice sounds like it's coming from (you know how sometimes the audio is only in one ear?) because it's the duets that I find the most flawed. It's still very good just not as good as it was. Paul Alexander Nolan is the MVP of the album for me. The women sound a lot lighter and prettier. I think that works better for Tania but I kind of miss Kelli Barrett's strength, particularly on When the Music Played. She's better on It Comes As No Surprise though. She was a little harsh in person. It's difficult but they're two different mediums but I so desperately want people who listen to the album to hear what I heard when I saw this show twice and fell in love with it. Without the context and the actors in front of me some of the weaker lyrics are standing out more but I still love the album. I'm sorry. I have no distance from this show. I enjoyed it too much.

[Kris223]

Article from NPR on the most performed plays and musicals in high schools throughout the decades. I was surprised that South Pacific was only in the top 6 once - to me, it's one of the most overdone musicals. 

 

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/07/30/427138970/the-most-popular-high-school-plays-and-musicals 

[Rick Kitchen]

I've never even heard of "Almost, Maine".

[Rinaldo]

Article from NPR on the most performed plays and musicals in high schools throughout the decades. I was surprised that South Pacific was only in the top 6 once - to me, it's one of the most overdone musicals. 

 

Not in schools though. Early on it was perhaps a bit too "adult" for many schools. In time, it joined the other R&H titles as too old-fashioned for kids' tastes. Actually, where is it that it's overdone? I seriously can't recall seeing many productions announced over the years; the recent Broadway revival was its first.

 

Anyway, this is a thoroughly fascinating article and I loved reading it. Thank you for the link. It was a kick seeing ​The Curious Savage ranked so high in earlier decades. Yep, my high school did it in the early 60s, and I've never heard of it outside that context. But it must have been quite the popular item for schools.

 

I talk to my undergrad students about what musicals they did before college, and these charts definitely match what I hear from them. The only one of the "golden age" titles that has retained a place in the top 10 is indeed Guys and Dolls; I guess its raffishness and cynicism keeps it fun to perform, plus it has good female roles. (The Music Man is hanging in there at #13; it might do better if it didn't require students all the same age to play both adults and young children.) 

Edited August 3, 2015 by Rinaldo

[aradia22]

 

Not in schools though. Early on it was perhaps a bit too "adult" for many schools. In time, it joined the other R&H titles as too old-fashioned for kids' tastes. Actually, where is it that it's overdone? I seriously can't recall seeing many productions announced over the years; the recent Broadway revival was its first.

Thanks! I'm looking forward to reading this later. I just looked at the charts now. As for South Pacific, I think it's more likely that you have room for a big male ensemble than a big female ensemble. Even then it's still mainly a show for the principals where the ensemble doesn't have to be on stage that much (contrast with Oklahoma). 

 

Grease, Little Shop, and Bye Bye Birdie really fall into that sweet spot of perfect for high school productions.

[Rinaldo]

Thanks! I'm looking forward to reading this later. I just looked at the charts now. As for South Pacific, I think it's more likely that you have room for a big male ensemble than a big female ensemble. Even then it's still mainly a show for the principals where the ensemble doesn't have to be on stage that much (contrast with Oklahoma). 

Very true; I'd been thinking much the same thing. It's also true of My Fair Lady, which (despite widespread agreement that it's a masterpiece of the form) kind of vanished from sight once its original productions and tours fizzled out (which admittedly took a decade or more). It just doesn't fit the needs of a school/college, or a rep theater, or a regional opera (or light-opera) company: it's all about 3 (maybe 4) principals, for 2 of whom the singing is secondary, and meanwhile the chorus has only half a dozen tiny (sometimes nonsinging) appearances, each time with a new set of costumes.

Grease, Little Shop, and Bye Bye Birdie really fall into that sweet spot of perfect for high school productions.

 

 

Right. Birdie does have that generational-casting problem, but it's much easier when the younger ones are supposed to be teenagers and not little kids. I would have thought it would start to seem old by now, with the popular emergence of rock&roll now half a century old, but it seems to have kept its freshness. 

 

Into the Woods seems like a lot of work compared to most of these (so many roles and tricky ensembles), but a lot of schools do it anyway.

Edited August 3, 2015 by Rinaldo

[aradia22]

Have you all seen many high school productions? I haven't since I was out of high school myself. I didn't even watch our college productions (beyond a rehearsal I had to attend for interview purposes). I think it's important to find a show that will showcase raw talent without beyond the abilities of the performers? Any favorite shows that you've seen or that you wish were performed more often.

 

They did Into the Woods the year after I moved to a new school. I was very disappointed because it was such a big cast and when I was at that school I had an easier time getting cast in an actual part (for reasons I will not sidetrack us with but if you want to PM me we can get into it). Despite the difficulties of the score, I think the chance to showcase so many actors appeals to directors and in spite of some of the more... unsavory plot points, you don't see too much on stage and it's arguably more tame than some of the things they might be starting to introduce to you in English class (Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby). They actually did it in my middle school during what would have been my 8th grade. 

[aradia22]

TNR is up. Misery tickets on sale. Anyone biting?

The Side Show revisal (which I still think is flawed) will be staged in Chicago with a new cast.

Funny Girl in London.

 

UPDATE!!! Kelli O'Hara and Victoria Clark reuniting for an opera.

Edited August 4, 2015 by aradia22

[Kris223]

Not in schools though. Early on it was perhaps a bit too "adult" for many schools. In time, it joined the other R&H titles as too old-fashioned for kids' tastes. Actually, where is it that it's overdone? I seriously can't recall seeing many productions announced over the years; the recent Broadway revival was its first.

 

 

 

 

 

Rinaldo - both high schools in my hometown and my cousin's high school put it on in the early/mid-90s. And my college actually did too now that I think about it. There was also a community production a friend was involved in a few years later. So to me it's overdone - also probably because it's not a show I'm particularly fond of. Fortunately, my school put on their production after I graduated.

 

Bob Mondello from All Things Considered also has a piece on this.

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/07/31/427723071/the-plays-the-thing-high-school-productions-down-the-decades 

[Rinaldo]

both high schools in my hometown and my cousin's high school put [South Pacific] on in the early/mid-90s. And my college actually did too now that I think about it. There was also a community production a friend was involved in a few years later. So to me it's overdone - also probably because it's not a show I'm particularly fond of. 

 

That'd do it, all right. And it certainly answers my "where" question, for which my thanks. Truthfully, I had my own reservations about the show* until the recent Lincoln Center revival, which did a marvelous job of revealing its strengths and power.

 

(*Except in one rather prurient context, which I had thought was mine alone till I much later learned how widely it was shared around the country at the time. When the movie of South Pacific was released in 1958, its many scenes with half-unclothed military men hanging out on the beach alerted a multitude of boys on the verge of becoming men to the awareness that this was what they liked. Or as some wag inaccurately but amusingly summarized it, it "turned a generation of men gay.")

Edited August 4, 2015 by Rinaldo

[aradia22]

TNR is up. Two productions of Pirates of Penzance. Amelie beginning previews in California at the end of the month. Frank Langella returning to Broadway and Megan Fairchild returning to the NYC Ballet. The Descendants on DVD.

 

Casting call for Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris. I guess it's a game show now?

[Rick Kitchen]

Casting call for Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris. I guess it's a game show now?

 

I think one segment of the show is a game show.

[aradia22]

Article on opera. Anyone have thoughts on #3, #5, and #6? I'm not sure I subscribe to the idea that there's no depth and you should just listen to the music and ignore the words. Also, at least to me some of the Broadway vs. opera stuff is pretty inflammatory.

[caracas1914]

The original BW production of Grease , that I saw as a teenager, woud proably not make it to schools these days.

[aradia22]

A very late TNR is up on the blog. Some highlights. 

• Sad for those who enjoyed it that On the Town is closing. It held on much longer than expected in such a larger theatre not selling to capacity and should be applauded for the joy I know it brought many people. 
• Ruthless extending until January.
• 18-year-old newcomer cast as Dorothy in The Wiz. With Uzo Aduba, Amber Riley, Mary J. Blige, Queen Latifah, and David Alan Greer it's looking like this might be the first NBC live musical to be genuinely good.
• I'm very interested to hear about this new animated musical called Charming though what I do know isn't encouraging. Better or worse box office numbers and production values than Legends of Oz? We shall see.
• New musicals about the music business (Breaking Through), Archie comics, first daughters (First Daughter Suite), Shakespeare (These Paper Bullets), something improvised (Identity Crisis)...
• No more blackface at the Metropolitan Opera. At least for Otello...

[Phebemarie]

Going to see Head Over Heels (written by Jeff Whitty) at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival this Saturday (if the smoke clears out from nearby fires). 

 

For many smaller schools like mine (we have fewer than 300 students), RnH musicals are difficult.  A big chorus is a requirement in all those traditional shows.  South Pacific would be impossible due to the number of males in the cast. Royalties have also gone up, making shows like The Sound of Music a bit of a financial stretch as well.  

 

Almost Maine is a really sweet, simple show . Schools are producing it because it has flexible casting and a variety of characters so a lot of kids are show-cased.  
 

[aradia22]

TNR is up. Thinking about going to see the Zoe Sarnak concert because she was my favorite part of Broadway's Rising Stars but I'm really over venue minimums. Hamilton album available for pre-order. Also vague hints about a play I saw that I don't want to talk about in the specific because I was 20 minutes late. I know. I hate me too. I spent 3 hours in a waiting room.

[Milburn Stone]

Also vague hints about a play I saw that I don't want to talk about in the specific because I was 20 minutes late. I know. I hate me too. I spent 3 hours in a waiting room.

 

This is a salutary reminder that when we see someone take his or her seat twenty minutes into a play, and we say to ourselves, "What a boor!", there might be a reason the person is late. I'm sorry you had that waiting room experience.

[aradia22]

TNR is up. Opening up with a few thoughts on Whorl Inside a Loop. I've been awful about writing reviews so I'm just going to encourage you to see this now if you have any interest before it closes. It's a very solid play with good performances.

A VERY impressive cast assembling for Shuffle Along. A lot of strong casts next season with She Loves Me, Allegiance, and Noises Off.

Grey Gardens opens in Sag Harbor. (I happened to run into someone who played in the orchestra for a rehearsal who had great things to say but there's no way I can get out that far on Long Island.)

39 Steps celebrating Hitchcock's birthday and offering a new lottery. (Let's just say I know it's not selling that well.)

[Rick Kitchen]

Today's Sacramento Music Circus production was West Side Story.

 

Starring:

Tony - Justin Matthew Sargent, Broadway's Peter Parker from Spider-Man:Turn Off the Dark. - http://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Justin-Matthew-Sargent/

Maria - Carolann M. Sanita - http://carolannmsanita.com/Carolann_M._Sanita_Official_Web-site/Home.html

Anita - Desiree Davar - http://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Desiree-Davar/

Bernardo - German Alexander - http://www.broadwayworld.com/people/german-alexander/

Riff - Shane Rhoades - http://www.broadwayworld.com/people/shane-rhoades/

Lieutenant Schrank was played by Rich Hebert, and he did a really good job. - http://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Rich-Hebert/

 

Once again, Andy Richardson performed on the Music Circus stage this summer, I think his fourth performance, as Baby John, he was an original from Newsies.

Garett Hawe played A-Rab, I swear I've seen him somewhere before.  He also was in Newsies.  http://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Garett-Hawe/

 

Justin Matthew Sargent has a nice voice, and did a good job of acting, particularly at the end when he thinks Maria is dead. He played Tony as very young, something I haven't seen before, and I liked it.

Carolann M. Sanita has a beautiful soprano and a lovely touch.

Shane Rhoades was a great dancer, probably the strongest in the show, which boasts a great dance troupe.

 

West Side Story may be my favorite Broadway play, the music and the choreography still shine.  And I was thoroughly entertained.

 

My only complaint is that I was in Row A, half a foot from the stage, in this theater in the round.  No leg room, and at one point, one of the dancers' feet went right over my head.

 

Edited August 10, 2015 by Rick Kitchen

[aradia22]

A VERY late TNR is up.

More impressive casting for Spring Awakening, Les Miserables, and The Bandstand. Not quite at the level of Shuffle Along, She Loves Me, Allegiance, and Noises Off but still notable.

William Finn song cycle. David Byrne Joan of Arc?

Reviews for Cymbeline and Up Here

[aradia22]

Another late TNR is up. Saw a play tonight. It was good. The performances were stronger than the material.

• 15th edition of If It Only Even Runs a Minute. Definitely thinking about going but I'm going to wait to see if they get a performer I really love because I know it's all going online anyway.
• Wayne Brady as Lola in Kinky Boots
• Robert Sean Leonard coming back to the stage for John Patrick Shanley's Prodigal Son.
• Waitress and Dear Evan Hansen staking their ground
• Ne-Yo joins The Wiz
• Jersey Boys announces a lottery
• Not a story but I read the casting info for A Bronx Tale at Papermill and apparently it'll have at least a bit of a doo wop vibe. I don't want to get ahead of myself by suggesting Little Shop but maybe Jersey Boys?
• Song list for Act 1 of Prince of Broadway. It's certainly... a lot. 
• King Lear with sheep? WTF, London?

[Mindymoo]

I'm in Stratford, Ontario until tomorrow, and we saw "Hamlet", "The Diary of Anne Frank" and "Carousel." The first two were completely amazing. The actor portraying Hamlet was breathtaking, and "The Diary of Anne Frank" left everyone in tears. "Carousel", though? It reminds me of why I can't stand Rogers and Hammerstein. The female characters were so thinly drawn, the play was very misogynistic, and it was just frustrating. The Stratford actors (other than the girl who played Julie) did what they could with their roles and had great voices, but I really hated that play. It even seemed to be condoning domestic violence! You can't tell me that it was the time period it was written in either, because Noel Coward and Tennessee Williams, both playwrights of the same era, wrote strong female characters. (Not musicals, I know. But still.) The set design was cool, and the best thing about it was that Billy's afterlife judge came out on a giant white carousel horse and he looked like the ghost of Liberace. But man, that's probably my least favorite musical I've ever seen here. But it was either that or "The Sound of Music", another R&H, and I hate that one too.

Edited August 14, 2015 by Mindy McIndy

[Rinaldo]

To properly fuel one's hatred :), it's satisfying to get the name right -- Rodgers with a D. But yes, Carousel is exceedingly problematic, to put it mildly, and it takes heroic acting and directing to make it even minimally palatable (if that can even be done) given the lines the characters have to say. I have to include it when I teach History of Musicals because it's a famous title, but I don't even try to defend it dramatically. It's a pity, because it's maybe their richest achievement musically. 

Edited August 15, 2015 by Rinaldo

[aradia22]

 

It reminds me of why I can't stand Rogers and Hammerstein.

GET OUT!!!

 

Just kidding. :) It just goes to show, different strokes for different folks. I find Tennessee Williams a bit too misogynistic for my taste.

[Mindymoo]

See, I hate Rodgers and Hammerstein so much that I don't even care about how to spell their names properly! The playbill said that the story was adapted from some Bulgarian playwright's story, which ended in tragedy, and that they decided to flip it with Billy. That was their idea of a happy ending. Reading that blew my goddamn mind! It's like how they took "Tommy", the rock opera and movie, changed it from his dad being killed by his mom's boyfriend to his dad killing his mom's boyfriend, adding in a whole subplot about him falling in love with Sally Simpson who in the movie/album was just a 12-year-old groupie, and then after he has been raped, tortured, exploited and abused by his family for his whole life and forced to be a cult figure, he comes back to them and they forgive him and all is well? No! Fuck no! The movie version made sense and was perfect. Tommy was free of the cult and free of the rotten family that turned him into a "deaf, dumb and blind boy" in the first place- because they were dead! That was a satisfying ending. The play ending was garbage. Beautifully performed garbage, but garbage all the same. I love ya, Pete Townshend, but that you were involved in the additional music and storyline for the Broadway show makes me think you were hard up for money and that this was nothing but a cash grab.

 

I saw both "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and "The Glass Menagerie" in Stratford a few years ago. "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" used the original script, which had the gay subtext with Brick's character. It made everything that happened in that play make much more sense, and made Maggie more tragic than just whiny and annoying because she knew that something was up with Brick and Skipper. (You probably know that already though.) Watching the movie with Elizabeth Taylor, who I already cannot stand as an actress anyway, yeah, I can see the misogyny. And "The Glass Menagerie" was just so sad. I haven't seen "A Streetcar Named Desire" on stage, so I don't know if there's anything missing from the movie the way that there was with "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."

Edited August 14, 2015 by Mindy McIndy

[aradia22]

When you're talking about a prolific creator, especially someone with a vaunted status, I think it also depends on how you were exposed to the work. With R&H I think I started with The Sound of Music, then The King and I, and then Cinderella. Then in high school we did Oklahoma and I discovered South Pacific when the revival came out. I can't remember if I saw the movie version of Flower Drum Song before or after seeing South Pacific but it was around the same time. I still haven't gone into Carousel or State Fair or Allegro or Me and Juliet or Pipe Dream. 

 

Now, I don't hate Tennessee Williams but my exposure to his work has been Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, A Streetcar Named Desire, and The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone so I might have a different opinion if I watched/read the rest of his work. Of course, that's down to forming a holistic opinion about a creator. I don't think anyone is owed the luxury of having an audience absorb everything they've ever created before forming an opinion. Some people only get one movie or book or play, etc. 

[aradia22]

TNR is up. Saw Whorl Inside a Loop again tonight. I can't believe it's still in previews. It's already ready to go. Great performances. Solid writing. The first time I was angrier with Sherie Rene Scott's character and I felt like she didn't fit in the story. The second time I was better able to appreciate the ending and get to a stronger place of understanding. I connected more with Walter's character and it was easier to step back and realize who had really been telling the story all along. Do you want a review? I'll write one regardless but if you say you want one I'll move it up the priority list if it'll get you to see the show. ;)

 

The entire Illiad will be live-streamed from London.

NY Fringe Festival starting. So far I don't have a ticket for anything.

MCC Playlabs is an interesting concept but I don't like the sound of any of the shows.

Did anyone ever see Tarzan on stage? Just curious.

Rumblings of UK Mack and Mabel maybe transferring if it does well on the West End.

[Milburn Stone]

To properly fuel one's hatred :), it's satisfying to get the name right -- Rodgers with a D. But yes, Carousel is exceedingly problematic, to put it mildly, and it takes heroic acting and directing to make it even minimally palatable (if that can even be done) given the lines the characters have to say. I have to include it when I teach History of Musicals because it's a famous title, but I don't even try to defend it dramatically. It's a pity, because it's maybe their richest achievement musically. 

 

I was going to correct Mindy's spelling, but then I figured, nah, Rinaldo will do it, let him be the pedant for once. :) But of course it's not mere pedantry to insist that our greatest theater composer be paid the respect of having his name spelled right.

 

As for how nearly unacceptable the relationship between Billy and Julie is to our delicate 21st century sensibilities, I have to part company in a big way with Mindy, and in a lesser way with you, Rinaldo. I find it deeply moving, and it works in most productions I've seen. There are all kinds of relationships in this world, some of them what we would call in our modern parlance dysfunctional. There are all kinds of ways people who love each other treat each other, ways that only those two people understand, despite that by common definition their ways may meet the standard of dysfunctional. What matters is not whether we approve of how Billy acts, or whether we approve of how Julie accepts his behavior; what matters is that we feel the love they had underneath the dysfunction and that we mourn the tragedy of love expressed through dysfunction. Oscar Hammerstein is not advocating domestic violence by telling us it happened, and he's not advocating broader acceptance of it; he's simply daring us to be the ones who cast the first stone. When all the rest of us have removed dysfunction from our lives, in all the myriad forms dysfunction can take, then we can sit in judgment of Billy and Julie as the highest judges of all. Until then, that role is not for us to play.

Edited August 16, 2015 by Milburn Stone

[aradia22]

 

There are all kinds of relationships in this world, some of them what we would call in our modern parlance dysfunctional. There are all kinds of ways people who love each other treat each other, ways that only those two people understand, despite that by common definition their ways may meet the standard of dysfunctional.

On the one hand, I believe that everyone is entitled to their opinion. You can't argue someone into liking something and there's something valid in that person's reaction. It doesn't mean that detractors are necessarily right about a piece but if it wasn't effective for them then to some degree it was a failure of the piece.

 

On the other hand, I don't think we should shy away from the truth. It's important to tell all kinds of stories. That's how we'll really make progress in the diversity of what's represented in the media. There's no shortage of dysfunctional/abusive relationships in theatre. I can't speak to Carousel specifically but two that I love jump to mind... Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors and Queenie in The Wild Party. Great work can come from exploring these topics. To a far lesser extent you could throw in Nola in Show Boat and Sarah in Ragtime. I'm not familiar enough with Porgy and Bess but that might work too. As long as these aren't all of the stories that we're telling I think they deserve to be considered. They serve as a counterpoint to the idealized romances that can be harmful in their own ways. We just have to trust the audience to be able to think critically while acknowledging that there will always be some people who take things at face value and miss the point.

 

I wouldn't put any of these works on the level of Twilight and 50 Shades of Grey. 

[Rinaldo]

Well, that's what I meant by heroic acting and directing, Milburn Stone. Yes, all that potential is there (as well as the issue of we would now call "breaking the cycle" of acting out one's frustrations in violent ways that one generation teaches to another, especially in hard-up circumstances such as both Julie and Billy were born into). The problem in performance is, there are so few lines in the text to support that, while there are several that have to be subverted by subtextual acting, like Julie assuring her daughter (who is puzzled that this unknown man [her father visiting from beyond] hitting her "felt like a kiss") that it is possible for someone to hit you hard and never hurt you at all. (And any attempts to say that as a sad truth about some lives are subverted by the sound of "If I Loved You" throbbing away in the pit as underscoring to tell us that this is true and inspiring.) I never said Hammerstein was advocating domestic violence, but I will dare to say that he, like others in his time, was relatively insensitive to its seriousness. If I say that better understanding has (to some extent) been achieved on this and other matters since then, and I sometimes regret what's said in some dramas of the past, it's not with any kind of smug conviction that I've now achieved perfection.

[Milburn Stone]

I never said Hammerstein was advocating domestic violence, but I will dare to say that he, like others in his time, was relatively insensitive to its seriousness. If I say that better understanding has (to some extent) been achieved on this and other matters since then, and I sometimes regret what's said in some dramas of the past, it's not with any kind of smug conviction that I've now achieved perfection.

 

No…nor was I meaning to imply that you were accusing Hammerstein of advocating domestic violence, or feeling any smug superiority to the POV of the work. I know you better than that. :) My irritation was directed at those I perceive to hold those attitudes--people not limited to the members of this board, by the way, for I have heard those objections to Carousel expressed elsewhere, and it drives me up the wall. (I was going to say "makes me want to put my fist through a wall," but I can't trust that everyone will understand I don't mean it.)

[aradia22]

Short TNR today. Some thoughts on Informed Consent (the play I told you I was late for that I ended up seeing again) at the beginning. In short, not perfect but interesting ideas at work and the ending really got to me. Have you ever had that experience where the piece as a whole doesn't work for you and you see that it's flawed but there's one song or one moment or even just a piece of dialogue that really emotionally affects you? 

[aradia22]

Not in the TNR but I've been trying to figure out where this Once Upon a Mattress revival was happening since I saw it listed for Broadway in Bryant Park. After a bit of digging, I've finally figured out it's being produced by the Transport Group from November to January of next year with Jackie Hoffman as Winnifred. Thoughts? I love the score (particularly the revival album with SJP) but I'm not so sure about the casting.

[Rick Kitchen]

I adore Jackie Hoffman.

 

This is a clip from "One Life to Live", many years ago.

 

[aradia22]

TNR is up. 

• Openings: Informed Consent (Not great but an interesting subject and an ending that really moved me. Review coming soon now that I don't have to write crazy long weekly recaps), A Delicate Ship, Mercury Fur (Very mixed word of mouth on BWW), Drop Dead Perfect
• Closings: Hedwig on September 13 (Random question: What is with all the matinee last performances?)
• Going to try to see Daddy Long Legs, Ruthless, and Avenue Q through 20at20. Wish me luck!
• In Your Arms to play the Old Globe. it sounds both amazing and terrible. I don't know. Too many cooks?
• I might see Matilda with the new cast.
• Flight and Songbird sound interesting.

[Charlie Baker]

Time to take out a loan between Hamilton tickets and this?

 

http://nyti.ms/1JlycxH

[aradia22]

TNR is up. 

• Kinky Boots red shoe promotion/contest, Broadway Week 2 for 1 tickets, new Hedwig lottery
• Yente cast for Fiddler, casting change for China Doll
• Cirque du Soleil taking over the Lyric
• casting for TV Land pilot "I Shudder" (Pilots can easily get dumped but I think TVLand has been killing it lately with Younger and Impastor so we'll see.)

 

Also ALW and his cat. What the hell did I just watch?

[aradia22]

TNR is up. Missed my last chance today since I work on the weekends. Unless something magically happens, I'm not going to be seeing Cymbeline. :(

• The Little Prince musical written by ALW's son to premiere in Canada with a cast featuring Louise Pitre. She was my Donna in Mamma Mia. I have an unabashed love for ABBA. I don't know if I've mentioned that before but it's true.
• Also some reviews for Waitress but I'm staying away until I see the show.

[Rick Kitchen]

Today was the last production of Sacramento Music Theater for the summer.  Today's show was Hair.

 

Claude - Oliver Thornton - http://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Oliver-Thornton/

Berger - Peter Saide - http://www.broadwayworld.com/people/peter-saide/

Woof - James Michael Lambert - http://www.broadwayworld.com/people/james-michael-lambert/

Dionne - Bryonha Marie Parham - http://www.broadwayworld.com/people/bryonha-marie-parham/

Jeanie - Stephanie Mieko Cohen - http://www.broadwayworld.com/people/stephanie-mieko-cohen/

Sheila - Laura D'andre - http://www.broadwayworld.com/people/bio/Laura-D%2527Andre/

Hud - Omari Tau - http://www.broadwayworld.com/people/bio/omari-tau/

Crissy - Lizzie Klemperer - http://www.broadwayworld.com/people/bio/lizzie-klemperer/

 

Lizzie Klemperer and Laura D'Andre (she sings "Good Morning Starshine" and "Easy to Be Hard" below)  had beautiful voices, and the whole performance was fun and enthusiastic.

 

 

The fall and winter season of Broadway Sacramento has started selling season tickets,but I'm only looking to buy tickets for a few productions, so I'm waiting till individual show tickets come on sale.

 

This is what's coming for fall and winter:

 

Elf

Pippin

Disney's The Little Mermaid

The Book of Mormon

Disney's Newsies

Motown The Musical

 

I'm interested in Pippin, The Book of Mormon and Newsies, although I could be persuaded to see Motown the Musical.

[Wilson Cat]

Seeing the Road Show of Pippin tomorrow at Seattle's Paramount.  Just got tickets to American Idiot in October at the tiny Arts West Theatre in West Seattle, but chickened out of the "Interactive" participation.  How do you make a chicken sound with a keyboard.....anyway......cluck cluck cluck cluck, that would be me.  Tickets to Come From Away at the Seattle Rep go on sale on September 1, and I can't wait to pick those up because I love Kendra Kassebaum.  Oh, and Erik Ankrim, another Seattle local actor who was in ACT/5th Avenue's Jacques Brel this spring is directing American Idiot and will be in Come From Away.  It will be a fun year of theatre in Seattle...got season tickets to both Seattle Theatre Group (Paramount) and The Fifth Avenue.  Now if I could just find out what's doing in Paris in November when I'm there I'd be a totally happy cat.