Curtainup Blog Annex

Theater can't get cheaper than FREE

2012-02-14T09:46:00.000-08:00

The Living Theatre will offer a free encore performance of its production of Judith Malina's The History of the World, February 27 at 7 pm. Judith Malina, who's something of a theater legend both directs and appears in the production.

This free encore production will also be streamed live on the internet. For what it's about check our review at curtainup.com:
www.curtainup.com/historyoftheworld.html

Cure forDownton Abbey withdrawal : The Grand

2012-02-12T07:47:00.000-08:00

Fans of Downton Abbey take heart: Instead of succumbing to withdrawal pains when the last of the current series ends, you might want to consider another upstairs/downstairs costume drama, The Grand. Like Downton Abbey, the title of this 1997-1998 series refers to a big, posh establishment, in this case a glamorous family owned hotel in Manchester. Its "downstairs" characters are as in Downton Abbey the worker bees but the "upstairs" characters are not aristocrats, but middle class entrepreneurs.

The Grand is not as well known as some other popular period series. Downton Abbey not only instantly caught must-watch fire but crossed the audience age divide (even the generation that has tended to view Masterpiece period dramas as something for their parents and grandparents), The Grand though boasting period perfect scenery and costumers and a cast that includes Susan Hampshire, who nabbed Emmy Awards for her roles in other golden oldies like The Pallisers and The Forsyte Saga, somehow never made it to the top ranks of the TV golden oldies hit parade.

But this handsomely packaged old-timer may be just the guilty pleasure to see you through the lull between Downton Abbey seasons. Like Downton Abbey, The Grand plays out right after the first World War and features several characters who served and suffered or lost loved ones in that conflict. Before taking on the 5-disc collection, a caveat: The show's pleasures are less genteel than Downton Abbey and lean heavily towards violence and Dickensian melodrama. The production values are excellent. Their being somewhat less eye-popping than D.A. is offset by the spiky social realism that's not afraid to bring sexy sizzle to its romantic threads, and tackle every sin imaginable (embezzlement, adultery, prostitution, rape, abortion, child selling, murder, a hanging, homosexuality). Even (and especially!) the often unlikeable characters and over-the-top subplots get an addictive hold on you so that instead of watching one episode at a time, you may find yourself gobbling up two or even three at one sitting.

The multiple story lines begin with the Bannerman heir to the elegant hotel, John (Michael Siberry who musical theater goers will remember as King Arthur in Spamalot and his wife Sarah (Julia St. John) celebrating the New Year and the reopening their refurbished hotel. But while the hotel looks great, its finances are in bad enough shape for them to bring in brother Marcus (Mark McGann), as a partner. What's good for the bottom line is less so for the marriage since Marcus, the series' irresistibly watchable villain in chief not only has questionable business ethics but is bent on charming his brother's wife to side with him on matters pertaining to the hotel — and worse yet, into a sexual liaison.

It takes most of Series 1 and the first four episodes of Series 2 for Marcus's schemes to result in an explosive confrontation between the brothers and a change of management. As we watch the Bannerman marital situation unfold we also get involved in the stories of the various members of the hotel staff with the most memorable and likeable the all-seeing maor domo Jacob (Tim Healy, the original Dad of the hit musical Billy Elliot and scrappy chambermaid Kate Morris (Rebecca Callard). Christine Mackie who plays Mrs. Harvey, the bossy housekeeper whose harshness covers a heart of gold, actually appeared in Downton Abbey.

The Bannerman saga is further complicated by John and Sarah's emotionally traumatized by war veteran son Stephen (Stephen Moyer initially, then Ifan Meredith) and becomes the manager of Marcus's shady nightclub, and gets entangled with Kate as well as Christine Lloyd-Price (Emily Hamilton) an upper class " new" woman. To send the melodramatic elements skyrocketing, there's Marcus's marriage (a coverup for him to have his way with Sarah and also to father a child) to the devious Ruth (Initially Amanda Mealing, but after the marriage, Victoria Scarborough). Unfortunately the midstream switch of actors is not for the better and one of the series, the replacement actors have such different looks and personalities that it takes quite a bit to adust to the change.

Of course the guessts are as important as the people running a hotel, and one of The Grand's chief assets is Susan Hampshire as Esme Harkness who earned the income that makes her permanent residence at The Grand affordable. She's her usual charming self as the retired (well, semi-retired) prostitute with the heart of gold who has enough time to get involved with the Bannermans' and the staff's problems. She's prominently on stage for all 18 episodes, including the surprise that comes after we find out whether Marcus finally gets his comeuppance.

The Complete 5-Disk Collection is available from Acorn Media linked herewith: http://acornonline.com/the-grand%3a-complete-collection/p/grand-complete-collection/

Will Smash be a Smash?

2012-02-09T15:21:00.000-08:00

Smash, Episode 1--

To paraphrase the cliche about not judging a book by its cover, don't judge this show's future by its first episode

Everybody seems to be talking about Smash which, after millions of dollars spent on ads and a marketing campaign that included access to viewings the pilot on line, finally aired its first segment on February 6th. The new series certainly provided plenty of fodder courtesy of the buzz-triggering folks (actors, script and song writers, not to mention director and producer) to ratchet up high expectation for Smash to become a more adult audience geared Glee and eventually turn its basic premise —- the inside look at the making of a Broadway musical about Marilyn Monroe — into an actual Broadway musical.

But not to put that cart before the horse let's look at Smash in its current permutation — as a weekly TV show about show business that aims to be irresistible not just to Broadway Theater buffs to the couch potatoes who watch a lot of television but for whom live theater is an occasional experience which means they're going to miss a lot of the insider stuff sure to make it a must-see for a large but not large enough to make another behind the scenes story fly into the multi-season stratosphere. I'll therefore do as script Theresa Rebeck did, borrow from another cliche to sum up the first Smash episode with a caveat: Don't judge a series show by its initial installment!

Smash, like any first episode of a series is basically an introduction to everything to follow. In short, it's a set-up to establish who's who and what and the various plot thread s to propel us through the weekly episodes. And while the Smash creative team accomplished this goal quite proficiently it added up to a rather hop, skip and ump all over the place hour (actually closer to 40 minutes) that was somewhat too reminiscent of every backstage story staged or flmed to absorb even a theater and movie enthusiast like yours truly. Of course a cast that's literally a Who's Who of Hollywood, TV and Broadway and Off-Broadway was great fun. And with musical interludes by Hairspray's song writing duo Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman it looks as if the musical numbers will be fun, original and well integrated. In fact, the most original, enjoyable and, hopefully often used, directorial twist by Director Michael Mayer (who most recently helmed American Idiot) is to intersperse the auditioning wannabe stars' presentations to the fictional producer (a terrific Anelica Huston), astute but lecherous director (ack Davenport) and songwriting team (Debra Messing and Chrisian Borle) with a dreamlike vision of the full dress Broadway version.

It's easy to see that there wll be plenty of opportunities for guest appearances which will be welcome gigs for others besides this line-up of regular players: Debra Messing (Julia Houston), Jack Davenport (Derek Wills), Christian Borle (Tom Levitt), Megan Hilty (Ivy Lynn), Katharine McPhee (Karen Cartwright), Raza Jaffrey (Dev), Brian d’Arcy James (Frank), Jaime Cepero (Ellis) and Anjelica Huston (Eileen Rand). So, if you were a bit unerwhelmed, as I was, by this introductory episode, remember, some of the biggest hit serials like the similarly named but quite different Mash and Seinfeld, were not instant must-sees.

The Ironing Board Fuels Luxury Fantasies not just Misogyny

2012-02-05T06:26:00.000-08:00

Poor Jimmy Porter.-- that's the angry young man of John Osborne's play Look Back in Anger. Jimmy's been put down as a   hopeless misogynist and t he main exhibit of Jimmy's sexist pig status   is the ironing- board that   dominates the Porter living room, at which    his wife Alison and, eventually, her friend Helena uncomplainingly ironing his shirts

But while there isn't an ironing board on view in    the popular PBS TV series Downton Abbey, the women as well as the men have everything they wear and touch kept smooth and crisp.
In her    February 5th New York Times review of the books seeded by the phenomenal success of Downton Abbey, Judith Newman   posits   that the fantasies the show has inspired seem to revolve around-- guess what-- the ironing board:. These fantasies   include wanting to have an elf of any sex iron her newspaper, her sheets and her shoelaces

And so,    who can begrudge Jimmy Porter   of   the recently revived by the Roundabout Theater Company, a   woman to iron his shirts. Sloppy   as he is about discarding empty food containers he may hate his work as a sweet shop vendor, but he never spends a day there without    a freshly washed and ironed shirt..

www.curtainup.com/lookbackinanger12.html

Curtainup's Recent On/Off Broadway tweet review links

2012-02-03T04:03:00.000-08:00

Look Back in Anger- Director Sam Gold takes a stylized, super downsizing approach to John Osborne's "kitchen sink" realism . . .

Ionescopade, A Musical Vaudeville- The return of the wild and wacky vaudeville-styled revue that Robert Allan Ackerman conceived in the mid 1970s to celebrate the absurdist canon of Eugene Ionesco is sure to win new fans for the York Theater Company . . .

Russian Transport- With New Group founder Scott Elliott at the helm, Erika Sheffer's suspenseful new drama is staged with flair and a fine cast . . .

These Seven Sicknesses- As re-envisioned by Sean Graney this heaping serving of Sophocles' dramas makes for a vitally alive experience . . .

Hamlet: Uncut! - watching the American Theatre of Actors’ new uncut version of Shakespeare’s tragic masterpiece,you may discover that the play you thought you knew like the back of your hand is more Hydra-headed.. . .

The Consul- New York's "other Met" offers a rare opportunity to see the Menotti's opera which actually opened on Broadway and nabbed a Pulitzer Prize as a DramaCritics Circle award for best musical of 1950 . . .

Wit- While the indignities Cynthia Nixon's Doctor Bearing undergoes are indeed not easy to take, this is still an exceptionally rich play, a triple layered exploration not just of death but how we deal with life. . . .

Gob Squad's Kitchen (You've Never Had It So Good) - The Gob Squad returns to the Public for a beyond the Under the Radar Festival run . . .

An uncle from hell in Sheepshead Bay

2012-01-31T07:15:00.000-08:00

Morris Spector as the sexy but sinister uncle in Erika Sheffer's Russian immigrant variation on Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge

Russian Transport- With New Group founder Scott Elliott at the helm, Erika Sheffer's suspenseful new drama is staged with flair and a fine cast . . .

Maybe plays pay more interest than banks?!. . .

2012-01-28T07:03:00.000-08:00

Delia Ephron's funny but, sadly, all too true, Op-Ed piece Banks Taketh, but Don’t Giveth in the January 27, New York Times, credits her as the author of a forthcoming novel but fails to mention that she is also co-author, with her sister Nora of the long running Off-Broadway hit Love, Loss and What I Wore.
www.curtainup.com/loveloss.html

Maybe Ms. Ephron could do another piece about how investing in a play, long considered a non-starter for anyone looking to get anything back from money put into a show, is no more foolhardy than those counting on earning money from money kept in the banks proliferating every neighborhood in New York, including the outer boroughs.

Curtainup's current tweet-peeks

2012-01-23T14:55:00.000-08:00

In New York

The Philanderer- With excellent production values and acting, even at a somewhat too long 2 1/2 hours, this witty production of minor Shaw play is quite a major pleasure. . . .

Richard III- Kevin Spacey concludes The Bridge Project with a showboat performance as "The bottled spider" . . .

. Untitled Feminist Show- the chief accomplishment of Young Jean Lee's show, in my mind, was to steal away any body shame or embarrassment, either on the part of the performers or the audience. . . .

The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess- Diane Paulus and her collaborators have created a fantastically, even giddily entertaining Porgy and Bess that has enough merits to make all the controversy about ill-conceived tampering melt with the first glorious note of "Summertime." . . .

The Fall to Earth- At just 85 minutes this 3-hander held my attention, even though neither the script or the actors had me quite buy into the mounting contrivances. . . .

The Road to Mecca- Athol Fugard is deservedly revered for having proved again and again that the pen can indeed be a mighty weapon against injustice. However, despite a stellar cast, this revival illustrates his tendency for obvious metaphors and saddlling his characters with overlong, monologues. . . .

Leo - Whether this multi-media piece is welcomed in the New York with the same enthusiasm that greeted it earlier this year at The Edinburgh Festival Fringe remains to be seen. I certainly fell for it head-over-heels . . .
. .

New Jersey

The Convert- Danai Gurira’s gripping new play set in the region of South Africa now named Southern Rhodesia, on the first leg of its three-theater rolling world premiere. . .

London
Constellations - Nick Payne’s latest play for The Royal Court is a two hander on the possibilities of alternative actions and parallel existences. . . .

Our New Girl-an exciting example of new and original writing on an old theme. . . .

Lovesong- Writer Abi Morgan's play arrives in London as she is riding on the crest of a wave with her screenplay of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s political career and her acclaimed serial last year for BBC television of The Hour . . .

Elsewhere

Yasen Peyankov, Scott Jaeck,Tracy Letts in Penelope

Penelope- Playwright Enda Walsh seems to be all over the place -- musical theater librettist, solo play in Brooklyn. . .and this at Chicago's Steppenwolf Donstairs Theater. . .

2 onstage cripples-1 a saint, 1 a sinner

2012-01-23T06:30:00.000-08:00

Norm Lewish with Audra McDonald-- Kevin Spacey as King Richard III

During the past week I've seen two actors portraying cripples navigating the stage on canes, each with a leg so painfully twisted that you fear the actor is going to throw something out of joint before the show they're in ends its run. But the resemblance between those two fictional cripples ends with the twisted foot and cane. Porgy, the beggar in The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess is emotionally healthy and, in fact, an almost saintly character. Richard III is of course, one of Shakespeare's most malevolent villains, crippled in spirit as well as body. And Kevin Spacey, outdoes the infamy of the "bottled spider" to spectacular excess, so much so that watching this final production of the Bridge Project is something of a master class in how to get away with over-the-top acting. For more about each play:

www.curtainup.com/porgyandbessbway.html

www.curtainup.com/richard3bam12.html

Review: Kevin Spacey as Richard III at curtainup.com
http://www.curtainup.com/richard3bam12.html

Romney's acting could get him cast in a Cats Road Show

2012-01-17T05:27:00.000-08:00

My favorite theater-related political quote of the week

If Mitt Romney were auditioning for a part in a musical instead of as our commander in chief, he might make it in a road show of "Cats" rather than the "Book of Mormon." As op-ed columnist David Brooks puts it:
"Mitt Romney is never going to be confused for Pericles on the stump. Every sigh and utterance is prescripted, so watching his rallies is like watching the 19,000th performance of the road show of “Cats.”-- David Brooks, " South Carolina Diarist," New York Times, January 16, 2012

tweet--peeks at Off-Broadway shows

2012-01-16T03:34:00.000-08:00

Tweet Peeks at Off-Broadway show reviews. .
Curtainup Broadway reviews coming this week: The Road to Mecca & The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess

Leo - Whether this multi-media piece is welcomed in the New York with the same enthusiasm that greeted it earlier this year at The Edinburgh Festival Fringe remains to be seen. I certainly fell for it head-over-heels . . .

History of the World- Judith Malina’s History of the World takes theatergoers on a whirlwind tour of history. But in compressing thousands of years into less than two hours, its historical personages get the dime-store treatment. . . .

BeyondUnder the Radar Festival- Chimera - The Festival's closed--but you CAN still catch this unusual show . . .

The Picture Box - The Negro Ensemble Company presents Cate Ryan’s leisurely verbal slideshow of family memories. . .

Outside People: play with a happier real life parallel

2012-01-11T03:45:00.000-08:00

Just a few days after I saw Outside People by Zayd Dohrn, the latest play about Americans in   China, and just as I was finishing up my review of the play, an article entitled, "Go East, Young Man" by Jonathan Levine appeared on the Op-Ed page of the New York Times

Levine, like Malcolm, the new play's central character, was well educated but unsatisfyingly employed in this country As he wrote "When I saw the Occupy Wall Street protesters on TV, fed up with the economic status quo in the United States, I saw myself." That is until he moved to Beijing which is also the setting for Dohrn's play   and where he landed a job "teaching American culture and English."

Levine apparently had no special pull to get his job and declared that others willing to take a chance as he did will find the demand for native English speakers "white-hot." He recommended ChinaJob.com, TheBeijnger.com and Dave’s ESL Cafe as just some of the places to search for work. While he also lists the down side of life in Beijing, it's clear that Mr. Dohrn's Malcolm could have found a way to a job and new life in Beijing even without the help of his   college friend who's become one of China's new capitalists.

Levine does not promise any romances with sexy native language teachers such as the one in Outside People. His piece is, after all, a factual account and not a romantic comedy.

Here's the link to my review of Outside People: www.curtainup.com/outsidepeople.html

The complete NYTimes piece can be read at

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/09/opinion/china-as-a-destination-for-job-seekers.html?ref=todayspaper.

Freebies: LABrynth Reading Series

2012-01-10T08:05:00.000-08:00

LABrynth Theater Company continues ts FREE Barn Reading Series at the Bank Street Theater (155 Bank Street). Admission is free and LABPASS members ($35 for a pass) can make advanced reservations though seating will be first come, first served, so it's advisable to arrive at the theater at least one half-hour before each reading is scheduled to begin. The schedule of the upcoming plays of the series below. Complete casting will be announced at a later date.

Mentor By Webb Wilcoxen. Directed by Jill DeArmon. January 28 & 29 8:00 p.m.

Between You, Me & The Lampshade By Raúl Castillo. Directed by Felix Solis and featuring David Anzuelo, Audrey Esparza, Lyle Friedman, Alex Flores & Daphne Rubin-Vega February 2 & 3. 8:00 p.m.

For additional information, or to order a LABPASS Membership t www.labtheater.org

Book equivalent of a 90-minute play

2012-01-07T07:36:00.000-08:00

Long before   theater goers embraced plays   running just 90 minutes without an intermission magazine readers adored the novelette. That was way back when fiction was a staple of magazine publishing so that the novelette or longer than usual short story was something of a bonus.

Happily   the book publishing world   currently has its   own worthy equivalent of the 90-minute play:
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes, winner of.    the Booker Prize.

At 163-pages it took me about   as long to read as watching a 90-minute play.   Like the best and most substantial of the many plays   running this length,   it delivers   on all counts:   stylish writing, an absorbing narrative   and enough substance to keep you engaged.    Actually, it's likely to end up being a longer reading experience,   as   it's the kind of book, which like a good play, you're likely to want to re-visit.

The story, narrated by   a man in late middle age who we watch flip through the pages of   his life, is chock-full of philosophical ideas and creates enough suspense to fit the rubric of psychological mystery. While The Sense of an Ending doesn't quite beg to be adapted for stage (or screen) like another novel   recently blogged about novel,   Major Pettigrew's Last Stand,, I wouldn't rule out some   savvy director finding a way to adapt it for the stage without   ruining the elegance of the source material.

Jan-Feb Freebiies@ Lincoln Center

2012-01-05T08:26:00.000-08:00

Warm up during the cold months to come with one of the FREE Thursday concerts at the David Rubenstein Atrium. at Lincoln Center, Broadway between 62nd and 63^rd Streets.

Following a lineup of scheduled events:

Thursday, January 12 at 8:30 p.m.

Jayme Stone’s Room of Wonders

Banjo virtuoso Jayme Stone, inspired by folk dances from around the world. For more information on the artist visit: jaymestone.com/

Thursday, January 19 at 8:30 p.m.

Lucia Pulido Special Celebration

With Sebastian Cruz, Adam Kolker, and Stomu Takeishi

And special guests Dave Binney, Erik Friedlander, La Cumbiamba eNeYe and others. Video by Sean FerryFor more on the artist, visit: www.luciapulido.com from the Atlantic Coast,

Thursday, January 26 at 8:30 p.m.

FACE THE MUSIC

The only student ensemble in New York City dedicated to performing music by living classical composers. A recipient of the 2011 ASCAP Aaron Copland Award, the ensemble has also been featured on WQXR’s “Young Artist Showcase” and National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. For more information visit kaufman-center.org/special-music-school/face-the-music

Thursday, February 2 at 8:30 p.m.

Ezequiel Viñao: "Sonetos de Amor"

Argentinian-American composer, Ezequiel Viñao's "Sonetos de Amor" brings the power of Neruda's love poems together with a group of musicians from diverse backgrounds who blend the sound worlds of Tango, North African and Western classical music. The band includes Latin Grammy winning pianist Fernando Otero; Grammy nominee Pablo Aslan on bass; the up-and-coming young Argentinean bandoneón virtuoso Juan Pablo Romarion; the wonderful genre-bending Syrian clarinetist Kinan Azmeh; Silk Road Ensemble hand-drum master Shane Shanahan, Ezequiel Viñao on laptop/synths, and the riveting and multitalented vocalist Sofia Rei from Argentina.

Thursday, February 23 at 8:30 p.m.

Ruth Moody

Ms. Moody’s songs are filled with hope, longing, and love, delivered with a country/bluegrass flavor that perfectly suits her pure, high-arcing voice. For more information on the artist, visit:

www.ruthmoody.com/

"Styrofoam Mitt & the Oedipal Drama of Politics

2012-01-04T07:11:00.000-08:00

As a theater magazine editor and critic, I'm always on the lookout for theater-related tidbits by news and political journalists. My favorite to kick off 2012 (which I'm also adding to my file for items to add to a planned update version of my Metaphors Dictionary with Visible Ink Press} comes from the ever witty New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd:.

Dowd summed up her take on the bizarrely entertaining Iowa Caucus, with a January 4th column comparing presidential candidates and winners to a Greek drama. The piece entitled "Oedipus Rex Complex" included this priceless metaphoric take on Mitt Romney and his father, former Michigan Governor and also a presidential hopeful:

Publish Post

While his father was often described as a force of nature, Mitt is more like a sea of Styrofoam. .

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand's characters beg for a page to stage. transfer. .

2012-01-01T12:36:00.000-08:00

Reading Helen Simonson's   delightful first novel, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, is a bit like indulging in a sinfully   rich dessert. Though essentially   a   romance, it's much more than   light, escape reading.

Besides introducing   us to   the most irresistibly   endearing hero and heroine to have kept the pages of a book turning,   their romance has enough twists and turns   to   make for a surprisingly   suspenseful and thought provoking   reading experience.

I   dare you not to fall in love with the   stiff-upper-lip 68-year-old Englishman who personifies Englishness and who, for all his   fuddy-duddy qualities, is   irresistibly charming, witty and romantic.    And who could   think of   a   woman more deserving of the Major's adoration   than Mrs. Ali,   the Pakistani widow and shopkeeper in the quaint village of Edgecombe St. Mary in Sussex, England.

Besides   the Major and Mrs Ali whose relationship develops with "a gravitational pull, slow but insistent, as a planet pulls home a failing, " Ms. Simonson has populated her book with a rich cast of   characters -- like Grace DeVere who wouldn't mind being the second Mrs. Pettigrew but refuses "to play the dried rose and accept that life must be tepid and sensible" . . . or the Major's awsomely awful son Roger who has "the perceptiveness of concrete" and seems to view love as   "a big fat bonus that you hope kicks in after you negotiate the rest of the term sheet."

There isn't a single actor in the book, or anyone with even a remote connection to the theater. Yet   every character seems destined   to jump off the page and   onto   the   stage.

Granted, a film (and given the popularity of the book, this may well be something in the works as I write), might more easily navigate the shifts to various locations:    from   Major Pettigrew's   thatched cottage, to Mrs. Ali's shop, the village golf club, and so forth. However, other writers whose work Simonson's story   evoked are all playwrights.

For starters, there's Sir Alan Ayckbourne with his    wonderful multi-location but   single set plays (the most recent being   Neighborhood Watch-- www.curtainup.com/neighborhoodwatch.html).

Two plays by English Pakistani writer/actor Ayub Khan Din -- Rafta Rafta and East Is East (www.curtainup.com/raftaraftany.html   and www.curtainup.com/eastiseast.html)   prompted   visions   of   a wonderful live stage version of Pettigrew. . .     Actually   both of Mr. Khan Din's plays were   movies as well as plays, so   it would be   nice to see the Major   have a life on screen as well as stage.

In the meantime, the book published by Random House and    available in print as well as e-book format is highly recommended

Not free--but bargain-priced live theater. . .

2011-12-24T05:15:00.000-08:00

live theater at not much more than a movie ticket

Five New Works by Emerging Artists in
Metropolitan’s Seventh Annual Living Literature Festival
January 16 – 29, 2012

The Horatio Alger Festival, will play at 9th Space, 150 East Ninth Street (Ninth Street and 1st Avenue. Each new work is presented five times over the festival unless otherwise noted. $18. tickets at www.metropolitanplayhouse.org, or by phone at 212 995 5302.

The festival featuresone-act and full-length plays, ranging from adaptation to biographical fantasy, all inspired by Alger and his work. Alger's legacy as the man who made the rags to riches story an American staple, is familiar to all; less well known are his actual stories, and the story of his own life, with inspirational and nefarious twists of its own. The lineup is as follows:

Shifting for Himself, or Gilbert Greyson's Fortunes (An adaptation)
by Michael Schwartz (Philadelphia)
Shifting for Himself (or Gilbert Greyson's Fortunes) is an adaptation of the typical Horatio Alger story--a young man finds himself poor, but through hard work, good manners, and some good luck, he gets the best of cheaters, schemers, and layabouts in end-of-the-19th century New York City. Can pluck, integrity, and innocence prevail on Wall Street? In Horatio Alger's world, you bet your boots it can!

Another Horatio Alger Story (A new play, set in the present)
by Jason Jacobs (New York)
An impassioned teacher leads his impressionable student in an exploration of Alger's life and work ... but the charms of fiction are threatened by dangerous facts. Is there a true "Horatio Alger story?" What secrets do these tales conceal?
The Return of Ragged Dick (An alternative biography)
by Dan Evans, A LuLu LoLo Production
In 1866, young Horatio Alger, Jr. arrives in New York, an ex-Unitarian minister and budding author disgraced as a pederast. Twenty years later, a fearsome stranger from the Amazon Rain Forest suddenly appears on the doorstep of this now popular but near- bankrupt author with surprising results.

Horatio Alger's Boys (A biographical fantasy)
by David Lally (New York and Los Angeles)
Prey or victim? A scandalous incident in Horatio Alger's past may affect his future. A "ripped from the headlines" story, the saga of Horatio Alger did not begin and end with his "rags to riches" stories.
Pluck (Staged Reading - A special work-in-progress for $10)
by Adam Klasfeld, in which he Devil narrates the despicable fall and triumphant rise of Horatio Alger, Jr., a fallen minister turned unlikely prophet for the American gospel of wealth.
In 1866, scandal strikes a Unitarian church in a coastal New England town as elders investigate Alger for "gross immorality and ... the abominable and revolting crime of unnatural familiarity with boys." Alger escapes arrest on the first train to New York, and one bitter deacon predicts he will “serve the Devil by writing novels.”

War Horse the Movie

2011-12-23T09:55:00.000-08:00

Albert (Jeremy Irvine) and his horse Joey in the movie

Despite it's long run in London and New York and planned traveling productions, the incredibly imaginative stage adaptation of this boy and horse kids' novel will no doubt reach an even larger audience in the Spielberg Movie adaptation

Steven Spielberg's War Horse - Our stage and screen page review comes down in favor of the Puppet Horses in War Horse, the play . . .

Happy Holidays and 2012. . .

2011-12-22T10:38:00.000-08:00

A Happy and Healthy Holiday to Our Readers. . .and everything good for 2012

Thursday, December 22, 2011

News: Theater for New Audience/Fiasco's Cymbeline extended to Jan15th!. . . To an early grave end of December-- Bonnie and Clyde andPrivate Lives. . .In the extended run department--Venus in Fur will resume its run at the Lyceum from February to June. . . Brits Off Bway has added Dec 16 &26th 2pm matinees to run of Neighborhood Watch. . .Another Public Theater reprise, The Agony and Ecstacy of Steve Jobs for a 5-week run, Jan 31-March 4. . .The PublicTheater will reprise Gatz, the marathon theatrical adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's Gatsby next spring. See details in our Off-Broadway listings. . . Newsies is Broadway bound. See our Broadway listings for details. . . Eligibility go-ahead by Tony Awards Administration Committee for Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark actors Reeve Carney, Jennifer Damiano and Julie Taymor's direction. . . On the Fall 2012 Broadway Horizon-- A new play about politics, money, religion & sex, written/directed by David Mamet & starring Patti LuPone and Laurie Metcalf. . Curtainup at Facebook & at Twitter. . . Visit CurtainUp's Friends

It's a Wonderful Life-- made new as an old style radio play

2011-12-21T01:04:00.000-08:00

Connecticut -- If you're too young to remember radio plays. . .

It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play- While it adds little to the warmth or sentiment of the original film, this makes for a diverting evening in the theater proving there is more than one way to skin a cat or say “Merry Christmas.” . . .

In Chicago

Yasen Peyankov, Scott Jaeck,Tracy Letts in Penelope

Penelope- Playwright Enda Walsh seems to be all over the place -- musical theater librettist, solo play in Brooklyn. . .and this at Chicago's Steppenwolf Downstairs Theater. . .

New at 2 famous London Theaters . . .

2011-12-20T16:06:00.000-08:00

London Theater Goers have a chance to see Eddie Redmayne in Michael Grandage's farewell production at the Donmar. . .
Richard II-

Also the famous Menier Chocolate Factory's production of the musical Pippin- a bold reinterpretation that will no doubt provoke strong reactions from its audiences. However, whether you love it or hate it, there is no doubt that you will have experienced something truly extraordinary

2011 Theater Season Ends With 3 Misfires

2011-12-20T05:24:00.000-08:00

A Year On/Off Broadway Ends: Alas, With 3 Misfires

After the delightful Once - a rare screen-to-stage adaptation that retains the charms of its source, the Irish Indie film of the same name, it was a final, week of the year that went steadily downhill

The basketball version of the Greek classic -- Lysistrata Jones- was a case of overreaching by moving to Broadway. Even with Harry Connick Jr. playing a grieving widower and a gay twist On a Clear Day You Can See Forever- was underwhelming.

And finall, my last theatrical outing for 2011, brought a straight play, www.curtainup.com/closeupspace.html also with a widower as its central character -- but this literary cross between a a passionate about clarity editor Ebenezer Scrooge and Connick's Dr. Bruckner, didn't so much need a editing as deletion.

pre-holiday on/off Broadway tweet -sized previews

2011-12-18T09:13:00.000-08:00

Hamlet at Home- How do you winkle out the magic and the thought behind Hamlet? Scott Elliott, the Artistic Director of The New Group did just that as part of the enjoyable “Dark Nights at The New Group” series . . .

Lysistrata Jones- the move uptown is a case of overreaching. It's still light-hearted and purposefully silly fun, but it's just too slight and limited in broad audience appeal . . .

Shlemiel the First- Besides being imbued with Klezmer this offers many lessons. And you don't have to be Jewish to appreciate them and enjoy the show . . .

On a Clear Day You Can See Forever- if anyone can bring out the very best in a show and make a half-full cup of entertainment filled to the brim, Mayer's the man. At least I thought he was . . .

Once - a rare screen-to-stage adaptation that retains the charms of ther source but as a work of art in its own right . . .

Titus Andronicus- A rare and very brief opportunity to see Shakespeare's bloodiest play . . .

Farm Boy- a far more low-keyed but cleverly conceived sequel Michael Morpurgo’s 1997 novel than War Horse, the play or the soon to be released movie. . . .

Jackie Hoffman
(Photo credit: Carol Rosegg)

A Chanukah Charol- Who better to give Dickens' famous holiday story a Jewish twist than Hoffman, the queen of side-splitting stand-up kvetch? Who indeed! After all, Hoffman's kvetching is a way of saying "Bah! Humbug." . . .

A Child's Christmas in Wales-Howard McGillin leads the five-member cast in Dylan Thomas's concertized story that's as good as a striped and colored peppermint stick . . .

Good (Paul) Gross sunk by Low-Gross Box Office

2011-12-14T11:00:00.000-08:00

Bad Box Office Grosses Sink
Paul Gross's Broadway debut in Private Lives

Considering that I've seen my share of Noel Coward's idle rich hedonists who can't live peacefully together but are miserable apart, I've found myself mumbling "enough already" when faced with seeing another revival of Noel Coward's   smartly constructed, bon mot stuffed marital comedy, Private Lives.

But being a great fan of the tall, dark and handsome Canadian actor Paul Gross via his   playing the harried, Shakespeare besotted theater director in   Slings and Arrows (currently available as a DVD from Acorn Media), I actually went to the latest revival   on Broadway with high hopes.   Gross's Elyot did not disappoint.   Kim Cattrall, best known for her Sex and the City stint,   was lucky to have him as her co-star. www.curtainup.com/privatelivesbway11.html

But,   alas and alack,   Gross's debut   was a low-gross at the box office. Between mixed reviews and theater goers feeling   it was too soon to   bring on the Cowardesque mots yet again, especially if they had fond memories of the last and very highly ranked one starring   Alan Rickman (currently back on Broadway in Seminar) and Lindsay Duncan.

Actually, the early trip to the theatrical burial grounds   isn't all that unusual for this play. Its longest run was the   1969 with Tammy Grimes, Brian Bedford at 198 performances. The number of runs went steadily down with the next three revivals: In 1975 with Maggie Smith, John Standing it lasted for 92.   Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton couldn't keep it going for more than 63 in 1982, and the 1992 Joan Collins -Simon Jones   production hit a new low at 37.

Well received and more successful (at 127 performances) as   the 1992 Lindsay Duncan and Alan Rickman were that probably should have been the last of it.   www.curtainup.com/privatelives.html

Here's hoping Paul Gross will return -- hopefully in a bran-new play -- and not let this prematurely ended (at 53 performances) debut discourage him.

NJTheater reviews @curtainup.com

2011-12-11T11:24:00.000-08:00

New theater reviews at Curtainup/NJ

Bakersfield Mist- an out-of-the-ordinary, almost out-of-the-blue —, but more importantly, outstanding— two-hander . . .

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol - this is definitely unlike any other version you have seen before. . . .

The Nutcracker and I- Despite its occasional treats, this needs a more amusing book if it wants to qualify as a traditional holiday entertainment. . .

Another week of on/off Broadway tweet previews

2011-12-10T05:54:00.000-08:00

James X - Gerard Mannix Flynn's James is a natural, amiable Irish story teller, yet much of his humor is distracting. . .

Stick Fly — Lydia R. Diamond's country house comedy a fresh twist by having it play out in the seaside home of a wealthy African-American family. . .

The Canterbury Tales Remixed - Playwright/Rapper/Performer/Scholar Baba Brinkman & sidekick composer/DJ Mr. Simmonds bring a modern poetic bent to Gilgamesh, a few Canterbury Tales, and even a sampling of Beowulf.. . .

Bonnie & Clyde- Laura Osnes and Jeremy Jordan's beautifully entwined voices are the key to our involvement in numerous emotionally charged, gorgeously melodic ballads. . .

John Hurt in Krapp's Last Tape at BAM

Krapp's Last Tape- Under Michael Colgan's quite faithful direction,John Hurt seems to be embodying the essence of Krapp as Beckett's (oft-revised) script intended. . .

Neighbourhood Watch- With Alan Ayckbourn exploring the less than wonderful aspects of modern suburban life, anyone who buys a ticket to follow Bluebell Hill residents' efforts to contain a crime wave will have a wonderful theatrical experience . . .

Maple and Vine- time traveling back to the 1950s proves to be no guantee of either happiness and biting social satire . . .

Happy Hour- the umbrella title for Ethan Coen's latest collection of one-acts is something of an oxymoron. What ties the three plays together is misery. . .

The Cherry Orchard- The Classic Stage production has ratcheted up the comedy of Chekhov's last play more than any I've seen; it's also the trimmest . . .

Jim Brochu

The Man Who Came to Dinner-still a strong and entertaining play executed it in a way that will still appeal to contemporary audiences. . . .

An Evening With Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin- For two hours these legendary performers deliver a musical storybook through the lyrics of some of theater’s greatest songs and, as one of those songs says, it is “Some Enchanted Evening.” . . .

Suicide, Incorporated- Andrew Hinderakers’s modestly macabre but also humorously tender play is also an ironically good fit for the Underground series as it deals with the decision by people to end their unhappy lives above ground . . .

Last weeks new on/off Broadway tweet previews

2011-11-27T15:14:00.000-08:00

Blood and Gifts- enlightening and worthy as T. J. Rogers' dramatized history lesson is, his efforts to humanize the lesson never quite escapes its textbook roots. . . .

Sean McNall and Jolly Abraham

Richard II- the Pearl Theatre has deftly handled Shakespeare’s difficult (and long), history play, . . .

Wild Animals You Should Know- There's probably a good play in here somewhere. But it's been given a ready for prime time production somewhat prematurely. The producers would have been wise to followthe Boy Scout motto: "Be Prepared.". . .

Seminar- With copy editing jobs disappearing with other publishing jobs, writers wanting a sharp eye cast on their fledgling literary efforts may well need an expensive private teacher like the one in Theresa Rebeck's new comedy . . .

She Kills Monsters- Whether or not you ever played a heroic paladin or wise wizard, if you know true devotion when you see it, this is fun and worth seeing . . .

The Jazz Singer- With imagination and fluidity, the Metropolitan Playhouse keeps Samson Raphaelson's nostalgic aura , dusting off most of the excess, and delivering the viable core of a period theater. . .

Nudity & Sex on Stage -- how much is too much?

2011-11-22T13:38:00.000-08:00

Nudity and Sex On Stage. . .When is Bare Bones the right costume? How real should sex scenes be? How necessary is all this in your face staging?

When I first started going to the theater, sex was   pretty much what a torrid kiss   triggered in the viewer's mind's eye.   I do remember some shocking breaks with taboos (as when the actress playing    Pam Gem's Edith Piaf actually urinated on stage. Since then playwright Adam Rapp has topped this with on stage vomiting and defecating.

But with sex scenes getting more and more realistic-- the only taboo in that department that's left seems to be for the actors to actually have sex instead of   mimic it so realistically that an XXX-Rating is in order. Most recently, the New Group's production of Thomas Bradshow's Burning (www.curtainup.com/burning.html) had practically every member of the cast strip to their birthday suits for lengthy couplings in every permutation, including   masturbation.

But guess what?   All this titillation had   the audience either giggle or look bored by all these orgasmic convulsions. Worse yet, none of it   made for an auspicious   uptown debut for a playwright with a reputation as a downtown naughty boy.

So   what is the best way to handle   nudity, and sex on stage?

Following are   three   points directors would do well to consider before telling their actors   to take it off and/or get it on:

1. Is getting naked integral to the show?
While many actors have taken nudity in their stride, and audiences have long stopped gasping even at full frontal nudity, the determing question still is:   What exactly does an actor's getting naked add to the specific scene, the play overall?   Margaret Edson's Wit which is being revived by Manhattan Theater Club, is a case in point about nudity being part of the theater goer's   painfully absorbing experience).   Yet all too often, nudity might actually be distracting.   If bare bones acting doesn't add a layer of meaning, I vote for letting actor(s) keep their clothes on.

2. Is the actor's physique suited for this type of exposure?
To give credit to the Bradshow play's cast, they were all well built. But given that so many actors   follow the prevailing mantra of "you can't be too thin,"    I've seen some, especially women, who without clothes look like concentration camp victims-- no hips, no boobs, no titillation!   If nudity seems a necessity, I'd like the actors baring all to be suited for the bare-all modus operandi.

Can a super realistic sex scene really   be done convincingly on stage?
There maybe a good reason kisses have long served   to evoke images of what follows, instead of spelling it all out.   The sizzly   Nina Ariande in Venus in Fur (www.curtainup.com/venusinfurbway.html ) is provocatively costumed   but she's never naked nor is there any actual sex with her co-star Hugh Dancy.   The off-beat musical The Blue Flower (www.curtainup.com/blueflower2stg.html ) has a sex scene that begins on stage (fully clothed) but moves behind a curtained prop for a brief   see-nothing   spell that is more stimulating to watch   than the more voyeuristic approach taken   in Burning.

And so to sum it all up in less than a tweet:
Sex often works best   if it's not spelled out. Nudity is more likely to give your actors a cold than enhance their performances.

Holiday Freebies at Lincoln Center's Atrium

2011-11-21T14:31:00.000-08:00

Lincoln Center’s public and visitors space on the Upper West Side, the David Rubenstein Atrium, has a range of , FREE programs this November, December and January -- the Atrium is also the place to check for discount tickets to a range of performances taking place across Lincoln Center.

Following a lineup of Holiday Seaon Events. . .

Thursday, November 24 at 8:30 p.m.

Target Free Thursdays

The Accidentals

A unique mixed a capella septet, The Accidentals are known for their finely tuned harmonies, off-beat sense of humor, and an eclectic repertoire of original songs and distinctive arrangements.

Monday, November 28, 2011 at 6:30 p.m.
Winter’s Eve at Lincoln Square

Dennis Lichtman's Brain Cloud
“My brain is cloudy, my soul is upside-down... When I get that low-down feeling, I know the blues must be someplace around.” - Bob Wills, the King of Western Swing

Enjoy the Brain Cloud’s exuberant take on “western swing” in this special early evening concert

Thursday, December 1 at 8:30 p.m.

Target Free Thursdays

Raymond Scott Orchestrette (RSO)

Celebrating the music of Raymond Scott

Deemed, “The Gertrude Stein of Dada Jazz,” composer and inventor Raymond Scott rose to prominence in the late 1930s leading a six-piece Quintette which performed novelties that were part jazz and part chamber music.

Saturday, December 3 at 11:00 a.m.
Meet the Artist Saturdays

George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker™ Family Workshop
Presented in Collaboration with New York City Ballet

Co-Hosted by the Children’s Museum of Manhattan

Explore the story, music, movement and themes of George Balanchine's The Nutcracker™ in this 45-minute program for families. See performance excerpts from the beloved ballet classic about Marie and her magical Nutcracker, performed New York City Ballet Dancers and get to know these marvelous artists in a Q&A session. Children in the audience are invited to participate in a movement workshop where they can learn ballet steps and choreography to perform for their families and friends!

Thursday, December 8 at 8:30 p.m.

Target Free Thursdays

Sarah E Geller / SEGUE

Presented in collaboration with The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

Violinist Sarah Geller creates one-of-a-kind programs as soloist and the founder of her ensemble, SEGUE, which features various combinations of award-winning artists, musicians and dancers. S

Thursday, December 15 at 8:30 p.m.

Target Free Thursdays

Kool and Together
Where Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys left off is exactly the spot where Kool and Together was born. Inspired by the family band dynamics of The Jackson Five, Charles Sanders formed the band with his sons Charles Jr., Tyrone and Joe in 1970 in Victoria, Texas. Kool and Together forged a sound that effortlessly blended the screams of Psychedelic Rock with the Funk and Soul of Motown.

Thursday, December 22 at 8:30 p.m.

Target Free Thursdays

LOST IN KINO

A film and music experience by composer Lev “Ljova” Zhurbin

featuring Romashka, Tall Tall Trees, PubliQuartet and special guests

Celebrating the upcoming release of Ljova’s newly-mastered CD built around the compilation of his many film scores, this award-winning composer brings his formidable musical and cinematic talents to the stage along with a vibrant array of his instrumentalist friends to create a full-blown audio-visual experience of stories from the sound-side out.

Thursday, December 29 at 8:30 p.m.

Target Free Thursdays

CHRIS VELAN

Presented in collaboration with NewSong Music

Motivated by a range of influences spanning 70s’ singer-songwriters, blues, rock, 80s alternative, West African music and reggae, Montreal-based singer-songwriter and NewSong Recordings artist Chris Velan's continues his musical journey carving out his own path. Velan’s fourth studio album Fables For Fighters produced by renowned producer Iestyn Polson (David Gray) finds Velan at his most poetically versatile. Sonically, it has a quality to it that is both timeless and new, intimate and cinematic, open and claustrophobic, haunting and reassuring. Thematically, the songs strive to balance the pains of struggle with the hope of transformation; the very personal search for one’s place in the world. For more information about the artist visit:www.chrisvelan.com

Thursday, January 5 at 8:30 p.m.

Target Free Thursdays

Theo Bleckmann: Hello Earth! The Music of Kate Bush

After tackling American maverick composer Charles Ives and being rewarded with a Grammy nomination for it, vocalist Theo Bleckmann now takes on the mysterious songbook of British art-pop recluse Kate Bush. This project goes beyond merely re-creating Kate's Bush music but taking it to even further realms of sound and interpretation. Joining him in this venture will be long-time collaborator percussionist John Hollenbeck, bassist Skuli Sverrisson and keyboardist Henry Hey and special guest, mult-instrumentalist Caleb Burhans on viola, guitar and laptop.

Saturday, January 7, 2012 at 11 a.m.

Meet the Artist Saturdays

ATTACCA QUARTET

Presented in collaboration with The Juilliard School

Violinists Amy Schroeder and Keiko Tokunaga, violist Luke Fleming and cellist Andrew Yee, formed the Attacca Quartet at The Juilliard School in 2003.

New on/off-Broadway tweet previews

2011-11-18T05:40:00.000-08:00

Private Lives — Paul Gross, Kim Cattrai new Elyot is tall, dark and handsome, the sort of debonair leading man born to wear tuxedos and silk dressing gowns and he foxtrots divinely

Horsedreams - Dael Orlandersmith's brutally frank play about a family decimated by drug addiction, written in a beautifully composed, essentially lyrical, narrative -driven style

Burmese Days-Unfortunately, the plot, characters and evocative setting of George Orwell's first novel have become muddled and denuded in this page to stage transfer . . .

Burning -Thomas Bradshaw's new play overloads the play with too many ideas that don't work and sex scenes that more excessive and boring than titillating . . .

Hugh Jackman Back on Broadway- he's the current King of Broadway. For him, it’s home. For us, it’s a treat. . . .

Standing On Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays- A bunch of A-list authors and actors explore the joys and pitfalls of same sex nuptials . . .

Iron Curtain - The Prospect Theater's delightful musical gets a welcome second life -- . . .

A trio of musicals for adventurous theater goers

2011-11-11T20:17:00.000-08:00

This has been a wonderful few weeks for off-the-beaten track musicals. No million dollar song and dance shows at the top of tourist and suburbanite's must-see musicals list-- but stellar performances, interesting and enjoyable music, unusual stories and appealing presentations
.
I'm talking about three musicals: one brand-new and two being given fresh off-Broadway productions .

The first-time on stage show is Michael John LaChiusa's Queen of the Mist, about a 63-year-old woman tempting fate by shooting Niagara Falls in a barrel of her own choosing. It's a terrific star vehicle for a musical theater artist long overdue for a show made to order for her. I'm talking about Mary Testa . The vaudeville framework and the . LaChiusa's catchy music could easily resonate with a larger audience than the art-house crowd that has long championed his work. With some needed trimming and if a not too big house could be found for a transfer, Queen of the Mist could easily have a longer life than its limited run at the Transport Group's Judson Gym home. Review: www.curtainup.com/queenofthemist.html

The Blue Flower by Ruth Bauer and Jim Bauer, which began life at the New York Music Festival and then as a Prospect Theater Company production in a church theater (West End Theater)- on Manhatten's upper west side is back with a new cast but its original director at the prestigious Second Stage Theater. It's the theater equivalent of an art house movie, but if you give it a chance, you're in for a powerful experience. The performances are outstanding and the filmed images that accompany the story are stunning. While many Second Stage productions have transferred to Broadway, The Blue Flower is probably too special for that, but it is likely to find enough adventurous regional theater artistic producers to have the extended life it deserves. In the meantime, catch it at 2nd Stage while you can. The music is gorgeous. The Review: www.curtainup.com/blueflower2stg.html

The couple behind the Prospect Theater Company-- composer Peter Mills and director Carla Reichel -- have brought the Iron Curtain back to life. No, not the Russian one of Cold War days, but the delightful , hilariously funny and tuneful musical spoof Iron Curtain . I loved it at Prospect's tiny midtown church home, and it's now back better than ever at the Baruch Center Theater on 25th Street.

Review of original and current production:
www.curtainup.com/ironcurtain

More Tweet previews of On/Off-Broadway openings

2011-11-08T20:19:00.000-08:00

Venus in Fur - The Classic Stage hit moves to Broadway with the star who was born at CSC aboard and better than ever. . .

King Lear- Sam Waterston delivers a foot stamping, bipolar Lear . . .

Other Desert Cities-Better than ever on Broadway. . .

Queen of the Mist- The Transport Group's smartly staged but overly long production of Michael John LaChiusa's new slice-of-American musical . . .

Recent On/OffBroadway reviews in a tweet

2011-11-03T12:23:00.000-07:00

Chinglish- David Korins' gliding and swiveling sets that include a hotel lobby with elevator and revolving door come close to stealing this comedy about mis-communication in global relationships . . .

Milk Like Sugar- Kirsten Greenidge's slice of inner city life in which three teenagers make a pact that's sure to derail their already slim chances for escaping lives brightened only by short-term gratification . . .

Reg E. Cathey as Don Armado in Love's Labor's Lost

Love's Labor's Lost- Karin Coonrod has chosen n a mode that embraces both the past and the present which works as well as any pseudo-historical time in the Public's wonderfully affordable LAB production. . .

Dancing at Lughnasa - I can't think of a better place to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Brian Friel's 1991 Tony award winning play than The Irish Rep Theater, especially given their lovely production. . .

The Atmosphere of Memory- While sending up Tennessee Williams and Eugene O'Neill's navel gazing dramturgy does showcase David Bar Katz's comic gifts and ability to juggle a genre spanning plot, the result is too much of a mish-mash to work . . .

Cries and Whispers- Ivan van Hove's stage adaptation of Ingmar Bergman's film . . .

Asuncion- The chance for Jesse Eisenberg groupies to see him up close and personal in his first playwriting effort is likely to flll every seat at the Cherry Lane Theater. . . .

Children- this revival of A. R. Gurney's first play shows an impressive from the get-go display of theatrical savvy . . .
========================================
Coming up: The Broadway transfers of Venus in Fur and Other Desert Cities, the Transport Group's new musical, Queen of the Mist and Sam Waterston , NYLaw's DA as King Lear

This week's On-Off Broadway openings in a tweet

2011-10-21T10:24:00.000-07:00

Sons of the Prophet- This comedy about grief and pain will l indeed have you laughing often but it's also deeply touching and filled to the brim with serious issues.. . .

Relatively Speaking: Talking Cure by Ethan Coen; George is Dead by Elaine May, Honeymoon Motel by Woody Allen- The bookend pieces are strictly for laughs, the middle piece is as sad as it is funny. Taken together, the three pieces are a bit like having three desserts instead of a really substantial meal. . . .

The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs- Mike Daisey takes off his rose-colored glasses to tell his version of the Jobs story Extended to Dec.4th . . .

The Dumb Waiter- NAATCO does Pinter and does it superbly. . .

Next up Jesse (Social Network) Eisenberg's first play, Asuncion,

Free Off-Broadway Staged Reading of New Musical

2011-10-19T08:51:00.000-07:00

Thursday, November 3 at 6:00pm, and Friday, November 4 at 3:00pm and 7:00pm, at The Snapple Centre, 1627 Broadway.Amas Musical Theatre will present <free staged readings of A Good Man,, a new musical with music by Ray Leslee, and book and lyrics by Philip Goodman, directed by Jerry Dixon. <

The show, based on the novel by the late Jefferson Young, tells the story of Albert Clayton, an African American sharecropper in post-World War II rural Mississippi, where blacks are leaving for the urban north in droves. Albert, proud of his work and accomplishments, resists the trend and, upon learning that his wife is pregnant, decides to fulfill a dream to fix up and put fresh white paint on his shabby tenant house. He encounters a firestorm of criticism and resistance for this presumption, and not only from the local white community.

Tony Award winner Nikki M. James (Book of Mormon), John Jellison (Memphis), Bob Stillman (Grey Gardens) will join Joshua Henry (Tony nomination, The Scottsboro Boys) as Albert Clayton, Cheryl Alexander (Dreamgirls, Little Ham), Jeremy Gumbs (The Scottsboro Boys, The Lion King), Anastacia McClesky (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Hair), and Kenneth Robinson (Baby It’s You!). <br>

The presentations are part of the ongoing Amas Six O’Clock Musical Theatre Lab, a development series for writers, lyricists and composers to mount staged readings of their new musicals free to the public. For reservations to this free events: email boxoffice@amasmusical.org or CALL (212) 563-2565

Israeli's soldier's release recalls 2010 theatrical lecture

2011-10-19T04:18:00.000-07:00

When journalist Lawrence Wright took to the stage he began and ended his impassioned monologue, The Human Scale with footage about the young soldier Gilad Shalit who'd ben held hostage in the endless confllict between Palestiniaians and Israelis. Hopefully the happy ending for Shalit as a result of a deal to exchange him for Palestinian prisoners will also have a positive effect on the inever-ending Israeli and Palestinian conflict . Here's a link to my review of Wright's passionate theatrical lecture
www.curtainup.com/humanscale.html

About pick-and-choose criticism

2011-10-11T13:34:00.000-07:00

New York Times critic Christopher Isherwood's   Arts Beat blog about his plan to ask his editor to let him off the hook in terms of reviewing future Adam Rapp plays certainly served its purpose:
It   garnered lots of eyeballs-- probably more than his and other NYTimes critics' reviews.   And let's face it, eyeballs is what it's all about when it comes to keeping your job as a journalist for a publication grappling   with survival by appealing to both print and on line readers.

I think Mr. Isherwood's   using Rapp's latest play   Dreams of Flying, Dreams of Falling as the means to this attention-getting end was ill-advised -- first, because   this blog    amounted to beating up on Rapp a second time; second, and more importantly,   because   the critic    shut the door on his own willingness to revisit not just a playwright he doesn't much like but his own opinions.

As a playwright whose work you love can surprise and disappoint you with a less satisfying piece,   so writers change and grow. I've had my own problems with Rapp's plays (see my sidebar in Curtainup's review of   Dreams of Flying Dreams of Falling-- www.curtainup.com/dreamsofflying.html ). However,   he's   certainly not   a stand-still playwright. He's young and incredibly prolific and   clearly talented and   I'm   ready to   keep   seeing his work   hoping   to   find nothing or almost nothing to quibble about.

Being only human,   critics do   tend to respond more to some people's work   or   play genres than others.     I   admit that the ever proliferating   solo play   inevitably leaves me wishing for at least one other actor on stage instead of   having   the performer turn to me   as he's got no one   on stage to interact with.

That said ,   a release I just received about a new solo show by Sherry Glazer whose terrific Family Values which I saw before the curtain went up on Curtainup.com,   is a reminder about the importance of   remaining   open-minded -- ready, and even eager, to   change my mind.

And so,   since especially busy times require me as editor as well as chief critic,   to   hand off some shows to my trusty backups, I tend to   assign solo shows to others.   But this   is never a hard and fast rule.   Otherwise I would have missed   quite a few   entertaining and memorable   solo shows like Neil LaBute's Wrecks,   Billy Crystal's 100 Sundays, or maybe triple monologue plays like Brian Friel's Molly Sweeney and The Faith Healer.

I also wouldn't be writing this, looking forward to Mike Daisey's latest solo The Agony and the Ecstacy of Steve Jobs.

My first Kindle library loan is by Nora (Love Loss & What I Wore) Ephron

2011-10-06T04:44:00.000-07:00

The Kindle e-reader has finally embraced library lending. But before you find other uses for the money saved purchasing your books from Amazon a caveat:   While the libraries that are part of digital lending have tons of titles, you'll   find a frustratingly number of books and authors not included.

And when a title you want   is there, don't expect to click off and find an e-mail telling you it's available for downloading-- waits, especially for current and popular titles can make you lose interest until you move to #1 on the "hold" list. Even being #1 isn't always an instant deal.

So. . . I'm now on hold for about 6 books (you can put a hold for up to 50), and yippee, I actually   got one book:   Nora Ephron's collection of essays I Remember Nothing.   which focuses on her feelings about the aging process. At 69 she admits to being old-- though not yet "very Old" as being 80 would be.

I Remember Nothing is like   getting a whole bunch of what Amazon calls Kindle Singles in one swoop. Those Singles are (a clever marketing gimmick to package long articles, or novelette length short stories as separate items for people whose attention span balks at a full book and who are fooled into believing they're getting a bargain since the price tags are considerably less than for what I can only call a "real"   book.

But before this turns into an essay by me and about my love/hate relationship with the Kindle, back to I Can't Remember. It's fun to read a few pieces at a time, sort of like treating yourself to a few bon bons   from a candy box, and saving the rest for another day.

While Ephron, is a super successful essayist and script writer she does include one piece called "Flops" in which she talks about the lingering pain of   her biggest flop a play that got   "mixed" reviews which according to Ephron translates into a bad review from the New York Times. Maybe her current   hit, the play she and her sister Delia adapted from Ilene Beckerman's   charmng   illustrated book, Love, Loss and What I Wore   has by now   put an end to her continued kvetch over the pain of that flop's limited life.   Everybody loved Love, Loss and What I Wore, including   the one opinion-maker who really counts at the box office, The New York Times.

Being a   great fan of the Beckerman book,, I probably came closest to a somewhat mixed review -- It's given a lot of   actors   employment since the cast changes each monthe. This is, of course wonderful. and certainly makes this a big hit for Ephron and has made her and her sister rich, but probably not Beckerman, rich. www.curtainup.com/loveloss.html

What do Kilgore Trout and playwrighjt Adam Rapp have in common?

2011-10-04T07:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, I admit it. I'm addicted to playing scrabble on my Kindle and, lately Amazon's Daily Deal.   I have a somewhat tattered copy of a number of Kurt Vonegut's novels, including his hilarious and profound Breakfast of Champions.   But how could I resist the chance to re-read it with the type at my eye comfort level and for just 99cents.

The book is   funny and incisive as ever and Vonnegut's little line sketches reproduce well in this digital format.    What's more, it turns out that Vonnegut is playwright Adam Rapp's favorite dead author, and   in the course of   writing   a piece about   Rapp's prolific career to go with Curtainup's review of his new play Dreams of Flying, Dreams of Falling.   I realized that Rapp and    Breakfast of Champions' Kilgore Trout have a lot in common:   Amazing productivity.    Trout wrote 209 books-- Rapp at 42, seems   slated to outdo him-- and much more successfully so.

Successful as Rapp has been in building up a large following, lately including "conventional" as well as downtown theater goers, his work isn't   a universally loved cup of theater. The love/hate/so-so responses apply to his latest   outing-- to wit my worthy colleague Simon Saltzman found it hilarious-- while I was less amused or persuaded that it was as profound as either Vonnegut or Edward Albee, the playwright whose influence is most in evidence here.   And so-- we've posted Simon's review and   an overview of Rapp's oeuvre to explain why I differ.

To read all about it see www.curtainup.com/dreamsofflying.html
And here's a picture of the cast:

Don't Miss out on the best theater deal in NYC

2011-09-28T13:48:00.000-07:00

The Signature Theater which began life in a more than modest downtown space, and has since called the lovely but small theater on West 42nd Street,   will be moving into its   new Frank Gehry-designed home at 480 W. 42nd Street, near 10th Avenue, The new expanded new space   has also afforded this New York theatrical treasure to expand its programs.

For starters there's the Residency Five initiative.which guarantees five playwrights Playwrights three world-premiere productions of new plays over the course of a five-year residency. This is the first program of its kind in the American theater. Residency Five playwrights receive a significant cash award, full health benefits, a stipend to attend theater, access to Signature’s resources and staff, and like all of Signature’s playwrights, a place at the center of the artistic process

The Residency One   program which honors one playwright each year continued, with this year's resident playwright Athol Fugard, whose Signature season will begin January 31st with   Blood Knot, to be followed by   he Train Driver. and My Children! My Africa!.

To add to the theatrical feast there's the Legacy program for past Signature Playwrights-in-Residence, which this season will will feature the World Premiere of Edward Albee, Laying an Egg, The Residency Five plays will include Katori Hall’s Hurt Village, directed by Patricia McGregor, Will Eno’s Title and Deed, directed by Judy Hegarty Lovett. Kenneth Lonergan's playm still TBA will be a World Premiere.

The best news is that all these plays   will be available at an affordable price since    the signature has picked up sponsorship to continue the ticket initiative that . Inevitably, the cost has gone up a little-- the $15 ticket price for the announced run of any signature play will now be $25-- but that's still one of the best bargains in the Big Apple. If you appreciate good theater at   a price that won't throw your entertainment out of whack, sign up for a subscription now: 212-244-PLAY or www.signaturetheatre.org.

African-American Women Playwrights Front and Center

2011-09-21T11:50:00.000-07:00

In 1957 African-American playwright Alice Childress's   play Trouble in Mind, a was slated for Broadway. But the producers wanted her to make the play more palatable to a Great White Way audience. Childress refused to tone down the script and so it never made it to Broadway. the Great White Way because she refused to tone down her script as the producers requested. It would have been the first Broadway play by a writer of color.

Fast forward to the 2011-12 Broadway season and you ca look forward to not one, but three African-American women: headlining Broadway productions: Katori Hall's “The Mountaintop” opens Oct. 13 at the Bernard Jacobs Theater, and “Stick Fly” by Lydia R. Diamond, opening Dec. 8 at the Cort Theater.   There's also Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks' contribution as the book writer the revised version of   "The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess."

With the Arena Stage in DC   bringing back a   fine production of   Ms. Childress'   "Trouble in Mind," it's not unlikely that it too will finally make it to The Great White Way.. .

Our DC critic's review of Trouble In Mind:    www.curtainup.com/troubleinminddc.html

For an idea of what to expect from Stickfly   and Mountaintop and the new Porgy and Bess see our reviews of the New Jersey, London and Boston productions:
www.curtainup.com/stickflynj.html
www.curtainup.com/mountaintoplon.html
www.curtainup.com/porgyandbess11.html

Curtainup's September review tweets

2011-09-16T11:16:00.000-07:00

New York- Broadway
Follies- To paraphrase Samuel Johnson, "When you're tired of Stephen Sondheim's Follies, you're tired of musical theater" . . .

New York-Off-Broadway
The Wood- Dan Klores's docu-drama about the late journalist Mike McAlary is too jumpy and maudlin . . .

The Lapsburgh Layover - this odd little concepty gets stranger and stranger as the night goes on. And funnier and funnier . . .

Play It Cool- Singer/actress Sally Mayes runs away with this noir-ish new show . . .

Completeness-There's a lot of talk about algorithms and protein cultures in Itamar Moses' amusingnew play, but there's also a lot of pillow talk . . .

The Complete & Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O'Neill, Volume 1: Early Plays/Lost Plays
Text by Eugene O'Neill- A brave ensemble of actors throws itself at the absurd challenge of bringing Christopher Loar concept of adapting O'Neill's early plays by cutting out everything but the stage directions. Hilarity ensues. . . .

Sweet and Sad- the Apple family has another "real time" get-together -- this time for bruunch and conversation prior to a 9/11 memorial concert and reading. . .

Invasion — Jonas Hassen Khemiri's intriguing play gets a 2nd life at the Flea . . .

The Select (The Sun Also Rises)- Less time consuming than Elevator Repair Service's Gatz, but still a hefty theatrical meal but its one that's nourishing and enjoyably brings Hemingway's novel to life. . . . . .

Book Review A novel about bankers and playwrights
Other People's Money - theater buffs will love this terrific and timely comedy of manners that's all about a London bank scandal -- but also a backwater town's dying newspaper and local theater producer and playwright. . .

London
The Wild Bride- Kneehigh's dark fairy tale fantasy is not for children, but it's a stunning, not to be missed experience. . .

The Kitchen- Arnold Wesker's seems strangely mundane, saying too little of significance but I wouldn’t have missed Bijan Sheibani’s lyrical episodes for all the tea in China. . . .

Ragtime- The Landor is a tiny pub theatre in Clapham with a big heart and their production of this musical is the most comprehensive I have seen in London. . . .

Ralph Fiennes as Prospero

The Tempest- Ralph Fiennes draws the audience into Prospero’s world and we are almost complicit in his wizardry . . .

truthandreconciliation- debbie tucker green's (lower case is her choice) new play for the Royal Court . . .

The Golden Dragon- I've liked Roland Schimmelpfennig’s plays in the past better than this much hyped production . . .

The Good Wife's prim ma-in-law oomphs it up in Follies

2011-09-14T06:18:00.000-07:00

Pictured above: Jayne Houdyshell as Hattie and Mary Beth Heil as Solange as former showgirls in   Follies.

What's this picture from the latest production of Stephen Sondheim musical Follies doing on this page? And who's that sexy, willowy blonde to the right of the picture?

She's none other than Alicia Florrick's prim and proper mother-in-law from hell Jackie, In the terrific revival of Follies Mary Beth Heil   plays of the former showgirls at the reunion of the about to be torn down theater standing in for the old Roxie which was home to the famous Ziegfeld Follies.

While taking a break from her dirty tricks shenanigans as Jackie, Heil    plays former show girl Solange, who belts out a mean   "Ah Paris!"

Follies is slated to run through January 1st, but let's hope the next set of Good Wife episodes will accommodate her schedule   so she can be back on the home screen

For more about Heil-Jackie's Solange in follies see Curtainup's review: www.curtainup.com/folliesny.html

Grab the kiddies for this freebie. . .

2011-09-07T08:04:00.000-07:00

Berenstain Bears Live to Present Free Performance on September 25

If there's a youngster in your house, take note of

Let's Move in Bear Country, an event triggered by First Lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" initiative. The event will take place Sunday, September 25 at 3:30pm at Manhattan Movement and Arts Center. It features a FREE performance of the musical reviewed at Curtainup by Deirdre Donovan (www.curtainup.com/berenstainbears.html), a pre-show healthy snack bar and a post-show dance lesson, and face painting and photos with the Bears.

Campus Theater

2011-09-02T04:27:00.000-07:00

Fans of music, drama and dance don’t always have to head to big cities and see amazing performances. Colleges across the nation put on top-notch professional shows as well as their own program so that you just might get a chance to see a rising star on stage before he or she hits it big. While the performance is, of course, the main draw, some colleges boast theaters and performing arts centers worth seeking out for their architectural beauty and innovation alone. Following is a link to a feature that includes photos of ten impressive examples embracing styles from the ultra-modern to the gothic, that give audiences something to marvel at before the show even starts.

www.onlinecolleges.net/2011/09/01/the-10-most-incredible-college-theaters/

Curtainup's Latest Tweet Reviews

2011-08-31T07:18:00.000-07:00

Off-Broadway: Temporal Powers - The invaluable Mint Company's 's production of Irish playwrightTeresa Deevy's long ignored play is a sure cure for those in search of a good yarn

London: South Pacific- a largely British cast needs extra concentration to maintain the American accents, in song as well as voice.

Berkshires: My Name Is Asher Lev, a young man's struggle to grapple with his religious heritage and artistic gift has universal appeal.

Los Angeles: Each family in Deborah Zoe Laufer's comedy End Days is unhappy in its own way

Links to full reviews at www.curtainup.com

Latino Mixfest of FREE readings. . .

2011-08-15T17:30:00.000-07:00

Atlantic Theater Company will present LATINO MIXFEST, a series of free readings that will run Thursday, August 25 – Monday, August 29 at Atlantic Stage 2 (330 West 16 Street). Writers from around the country, both established and new are featured. The line-up is as follows:

Thursday 25th 3pm Danger of Bleeding Brown by Enrique Urueta. Marco and Cerelia are trying to figure out their place in the world by snorting cocaine and drowning in promiscuous encounters. Peter is a brilliant young professor getting sex and life lessons when he begins dating Marco. Dulce, our audacious drag queen narrator, spins this story from the underbelly of San Francisco.

Friday 26th 2pm Ask a Mexican! by Gustavo Arellano. Adapted from the award-winning syndicated column published in the OC Weekly and other alternative newsweeklies across the country. Readers send in questions on Mexican culture ranging from what part of illegal Mexicans don’t understand to why Mexicans use tortillas instead of forks. Arellano brings his satirical responses to the stage for the first time ever.

Friday 26th 3:30pm Pinkolandia by Andrea Thome. Two young Chilean sisters living in Reagan-era Wisconsin create imaginary worlds to make sense of their family’s exile. Gaby escapes to a make-believe “closetland,” while her older sister Beny dreams of fighting fascists, just like their communist uncle Ignacio. This inventive play takes us on a journey through fantasies filled with talking polar bears, Nazis, and the joys and betrayals of revolution.

Sunday 28th 2:00pm La Bella Familia by Edwin Sanchez. Bella, a Puerto Rican hit woman and her family get mixed up with their neighbors from hell. Linda, the brutal foster mother, tries to build her version of a quiet home next door. Each family struggles to avoid loneliness in their own tangled mess. This dark and surprising play was just granted the 2011 National Latino Playwriting Award. Monday 29th 2pm Kingdom by Aaron Jafferis and Ian Williams. Andres and Juan are swept up by the Latin Kings' populist ideals and by-any-means-necessary survival tactics. This raw hip-hop/rock musical confronts the explosive and magnetic power of gang life. Jafferis and Williams have revised KINGDOM since its premiere at the Old Globe.

Admission is free but reservation are required. Call 646-701-7372

Downsizing is very much part of life in the theater. . .

2011-08-15T12:09:00.000-07:00

Actors- are forever taking   classes to hone their skills.   Could it be that to get cast in a musical in today's economy they should expect more of   John Doyle's style of multi-taking   actor-singer-instrumentalists and brush up on   the music lessons of their   school days?

Should    band   musicians in turn   take some acting, singing and dancing lessons so that they can leave the pit or wherever they're usually positioned   and   become part of the cast?

While I've admired director Doyle's inventive rejiggering of   traditional musicals -- as he did in Stephen Sondheim's   Company and Sweeney Todd,   the   American premiere of Ten Cents a Dance   (www.curtainup.com/wtf11.html#Dance) is chillingly   timely in that its chances of   life beyond   The Williamstown Theatre Festival and McCarter Theater's   brief premieres may well be boosted by the economical   casting.

With more and more solo and two-actor plays, there's no doubt that downsizing doesn't just
mean job losses in finance and manufacturer.

Great idea. . . . .but an oxymoron

2011-08-13T07:45:00.000-07:00

According to a report written for Arts Council England., arts organizations need to get on the ball and create new income streams. How? By developing more    live theater content to be viewed on screens (tv, movie theater, tablets).

As the report argues, the public has already displayed a real appetite for quality "live arts" by which they no doubt mean the various broadcasts of stellar stage actors in successful stage productions at selected movie houses; ditto for operas.

   All well and good but isn't live theater watched on sccreen something of an oxymoron. It's "live theater" that's now recorded and   screened so that the special interaction between performers and audience is gone. No curtain calls. No standing ovations. Granted, also no annoyances like coughs, misbehaving cell phones and such.

Movie adaptation of hit plays and musical have long been with us but these are not exact replicas of the stage versions but usually filmed to take advantage of the ability to open things up and often feature   partially or completely new casts..

So, yes the idea of   mining a stage   play's potential for revenue and wider exposure for the actors, is an   excellent idea that deserves   further exploration.    But let's not   add to the fuzziness that already looms large on the linguistic landscape.   These   digitized versions of live performances   deserve   an accurate name of their own.   Great Performances?   Ah, sorry. . .that one's already taken.   Any suggestions?

Free August Events at Lincoln Center

2011-08-03T14:59:00.000-07:00

AUGUST FREE EVENTS AT THE DAVID RUBENSTEIN ATRIUM AT LINCOLN CENTER

Thursday, August 4 at 8:30 pm

A NIGHT UNDER GALILEO'S STARS

Fordham University Alumni Theatre Company

Presented in collaboration with Fordham University

Following their July 14-July 31 run at the Veronica Lally Kehoe Theatre at Fordham College at Lincoln Center, cast members of Fordham Alumni Theatre Company’s production of Bertolt Brecht’s Life of Galileo will take the Atrium stage in A Night Under Galileo’s Stars. The evening’s program, directed by Ian Crawford, will feature selections from the production’s vibrant original score by Nate Weida, influenced by both madrigals and cabaret. Through the new music and selected scenes, a young, brash Galileo comes to life in Brecht's dark and witty world. Life of Galileo is a WITH SALT collaboration.

Saturday, August 6, 2011 at 11:00 am

Tres Leches

Tres Leches creates world-infused urban folk music for people of all ages with exquisite harmonies and accompaniment. The trio’s sublime voices combine beautifully to create a harmonic synergy that draws in any listener. They have become known for their dynamic performances with hip-swingin’-glove-flingin’ dance moves and their inventive arrangements of original and traditional songs. This Brooklyn-based trio was formed in spring 2007 singing songs that organically emerged from the musical merry-making of three mamas—Havalah Collins, Renée Skuba, and Jessie White, all professional singers and new mothers—and their babies.

Tuesday, August 9 at 7:30

Film Screening presented by Lincoln Center Out of Doors

Wattstax

“Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get,” says the opening song, and Wattstax, the dynamic film of the 1972 Los Angeles event attended by over 100,000 concertgoers and first billed as the “black Woodstock,” will getcha plenty. Its performances burn with vitality. Its forays into the neighborhood are a time capsule of pride and pain. And the Richard Pryor comedy riffs that provide the film’s running commentary are a treasure all by themselves. The film includes live performances by Isaac Hayes, the Staples Singers, Rufus Thomas, Johnnie Taylor, Albert King, the Bar-Kays, Carla Thomas, Little Milton, Luther Ingram, and other artists of the Stax family, and intros by emcee, a young Jesse Jackson.

Thursday, August 11 at 8:30 pm

NEWSONG MUSIC: In The Round

featuring Maureen Andary, Farewell Milwaukee/Ben Lubeck, and Rose Polenzani

Presented in collaboration with NewSong Music

The artists of In The Round all participated in the Mountain Stage competition, an annual performance and songwriting event, now in its tenth year, which is an outgrowth of NewSong Music and National Public Radio’s show, “Mountain Stage.” Maureen Andary is one half of the Washington, DC based folk/pop/jazz duo The Sweater Set that just finished a tour performing with folk legend Michelle Shocked. Farewell Milwaukee/Ben Lubeck, front man of the Minneapolis Americana/indie band Farewell Milwaukee focuses on the power of honest, confessional songwriting with no pretense or ulterior motives. Rose Polenzani is a Boston based folk/pop singer-songwriter. NewSong Music, whose two-fold mission is to build a supportive community of performers and songwriters across all genres of music and levels of skill, and to identify exceptional artists in order to develop their careers and introduce their music to a broad audience, partners with Lincoln Center for the first in a series of concerts.

Thursday, August 18 at 8:30 pm

Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys

The band is called Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys. The guy in the middle holds a button-box that squeezes like an accordion, but shouts hallelujah like a big brass band. The fiddle cracks wise and warm, the guitar falls off the edge of the earth, and the rhythm section purrs. It all flows as a smooth groove, topped with three heartfelt voices harmonizing in 17th-century French from the sub-tropics. Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys began over twenty years ago.

August 25 8:30 pm

Ballets with a Twist: Cocktail Hour

Cocktail Hour is a clever, sumptuous suite, which promises to seduce new and seasoned audiences alike. This collection of dances celebrates cocktail culture with an irreverent, pop sensibility. The New York Times has called it “witty and fantastic.” Ballets with a Twist serves up original choreography by Marilyn Klaus, music by the Grammy-nominated Stephen Gaboury, and costume design by Catherine Zehr. Klaus’s dance influences range from Isadora Duncan to Busby Berkeley to the great dance instructor Carmelita Maracci with whom she studied. The program opens with a performance of Return to Normalcy which Dance Magazine compared to “Twyla Tharp’s wonderfully convoluted madcap dances for the Joffrey and ABT.”

A drive-in Hamlet-- and it's FREE

2011-08-03T09:26:00.000-07:00

If you need confirmation about the popularity of Shakespeare's Hamlet, just check out Curtainup's Shakespeare page (www.curtainup.com/shakes.html) or archives (www.curtainup.com/mastridx.html )where you'll find liks to more than two dozen reviews of variously interpreted stagings interpretations traditional and updated, with unknown and box office drawing casting. We've even covered a puppet Hamlet for family audiences.

But there's always a first-- to wit, the current FREE production of Hamlet In The Park(ing) Lot -- www.curtainup.com/hamletparking.html

You have just a couple of weeks more to head for the lower East Side by subway (if you have an easy to carry chair, bring it along, as chair supplied by the Drilling Company are in short supply-- or, as our reviewer, Deirdre Donovan, said, you could drive your car right into that parking lot which serves as the theater.

Visual Mischief that's worse than Titular Mischief

2011-07-29T06:18:00.000-07:00

The latest entry in critic John Simon's Blog (John Simon Uncensored)   talks about what he calls "Titular Mischief" -- the practice of mistitling    plays to "lure people in under falsely provocative pretenses."

The trigger that set   off    Simon's rumination was reading about the Williamstown Theater Festival's revival of   Ibsen's marital drama about a wife who realizes that she must leave her husband   if she wants to retain her humanity. And so, she slams the door on her comfortable, protected life for an uncertain future.

According to Simon A Doll's House, the title used at Williamstown as well as at other English speaking   theaters should be A Doll House. Minor as this   switch to the possessive case might appear,   the acerbic critic and now thoughtful blogger, considers it a serious mistake.   As he puts it, Ibsen’s point is that the husband, Torvald, has turned his wife, Nora, into a doll—not a full-fledged human being, but a plaything for himself. Their house is like that still popular toy: a miniature dwelling with a doll as its miniature mistress.

Simon's "Titular Mischief" rant moves from Ibsen to Ingmar Bergman and other writers who've had their titles messed with.
It's an interesting   rant   but as someone who actually saw the Williamstown production of A Doll's House, the titular mischief is   nothing in the light of   the mischief done to this   and   other   classic plays   by   directors   who create stage images that   visually turn   a playwright's meaning on its head.

In the case of   director Sam Gold's   problematic production the most   egregious mischief was    in   the final     husband and wife confrontation   which took place   in the Helmer living room instead of the kitchen so central to Norwegian middle class life.   That confrontation was painfully drawn out   with Torvald sort of massaging himself with a golf club. But   worse still,   when Nora (a wonderful Lily Rabe) realizes   that her marriage is hopeless, she exits down a staircase (which a good portion of the audience can't see) and quietly, almost inaudibly, shuts the door behind her.   Instead of the famous slamming door, the   final image and sound comes from Torvald   angrily smashing his golf club into the couch.   In short,   the play which belongs to Nora, no matter what the title,   has been handed over to the undeserving Torvald.

Perhaps Mr. Simon will   in a future blog talk about directors   reinterpreting   a play with    visual mischief .
To read Curtainup's review of the   Williamstown production of A Doll's House go here. www.curtainup.com/wtf11.html#Doll

To read John Simon's complete Titular Mischief piece   go here: http://uncensoredsimon.blogspot.com/2011/07/titular-mischief.html

A new play with "legs" to carry it to a theater near you...

2011-07-28T16:59:00.000-07:00

The Best of Enemies adds a slam-bang, surprise to conclude a slam-bang new play:   A scrim reveals a Choir featuring members of   local church choirs and other Berkshirites to introduce   curtain call -- encore: a well-deserved standup ovation . (Photo by Kevin Sprague)

Julianne Boyd, the founder and artistic director of Barrington Stage has created   a theater that's an integral part of the community for increasingly longer seasons. It's a community theater in the best sense:   a boon to the local economy   with ticket pricing designed to make live theater affordable to people of all incomes,   besides    putting on    revivals and new works in two theaters, it   also puts on an annual Youth Theater production featuring talented high school students an opportunity to work with an experienced   director.

But there's nothing amateur or even remotely   second rate about any Barrington Stage production.   The talent --   actors, directors,   designers -- is top tier.   Some of   the musical   revivals    like Cabaret and Follies have    sent    musical theater buffs   rushing from Manhattan to the Berkshires.    A number of shows   that premiere at   Barrington Stage,   have had successful   other lives. In fact, The 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee,   is the little engine that huffed and puffed its way from the company's   original   home in a high school to   Off-Broadway and Broadway (plus numerous other locations, including London) and helped to fund   the company's move to its current home in Pittsfield.

   Freud's Last Session by Mark St. Germain, after extending again and again at Barrington's Second Stage, has been an Off-Broadway hit in New York. Now, after   a    much acclaimed revival   of   Guys and Dolls   launched this summer's Main Stage summer season,    St. Germain's newest play, The Best of Enemies,   has been given a   stunning   premiere production.

It's probably the best new play   reviewed in any of Curtainup's locations during the past couple of months. If you're not going to be in the Berkshires before August 6th,   keep an eye out for it to show up in a theater near you. If you're n luck it will have the same outstanding quartet of actors.   For more details, see the full review www.curtainup.com/barrington11.html#Enemies

A new FREE Shakespeare in Brooklyn Heights

2011-07-25T06:35:00.000-07:00

Summer and Shakespeare go together like crackers and cheese, meat and potatoes. For New Yorkers, the Bard has been in full force with its usual Shakespeare in Central Park, despite being FREE taking a backseat to the much publicized quintent of Shakespeare plays by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Armory -- that's despite exorbitantly high prices. Clearly the RSC shows are the snob event of the season. But for those who love the Bard and don't want to burn a hole in their wallets, Deirdre Donovan, our intrepid explorer of all things Shakespeare recomends a subway ride to Brooklyn heights to take in Theater 2020's FREE Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare's star crossed lovers story are being presented at Saint Charles Borromeo Church in Brooklyn Heights and Pier 1 at Brooklyn Bridge Park. Although the acting is uneven, the production is highly original in its cross-cultural setting and retooling of its protagonists as a Muslim and a Hindu.. For full details here's the link to Deirdre's review www.curtainup.com/romeoandjulietbklyn11.html

Free musical for Kids: The Yellow Brick Road

2011-07-21T07:36:00.000-07:00

Theatreworks USA ( is presenting a world premiere of the new Latin-themed children's musical THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD at Off-Broadway's Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher St.) through Friday, August 19.

The FREE was inspired by The Wizard of Oz. Here's what it's about:

In Chicago, the windy city, Dora Inez Garza is preparing for her fifteenth birthday celebration -- a traditional quinceanera. Her mother and uncles have worked so hard to make it an exciting fiesta for her, but Dora, feeling caught between the expectations of her heritage and her desire to be like any other contemporary American teenager, doesn't understand why the tradition is so important to her family.

With a little help from a mysterious woman and her enchanted gift, Dora is swept up into a gran tornado that drops her (and her little chiuahua, too) in a magical world where she must slip on the ruby zapatillas and take a journey of self-discovery, dancing down the yellow brick road.

She seeks the only person who can help her return to the world she knows -- the superstar with all the answers: the Wizard of Oz -- la Maravillosa Maga de Oz. Along the way she befriends a tongue-tied scarecrow, a heartless iron chef and a cowardly mountain lion, but a crazy, mean bruja intent on total world domination will stop at nothing to steal Dora's stylish, yet super powerful shoes.

More than 15,000 FREE tickets will be distributed on a

first-come, first-served basis in-person at the Lucille Lortel Theatre Box OfficeThere is a limit of four (4) tickets per adult per day. The one-act show runs 60 minutes. The performance schedule is Mon through Friday 10:30 am and 1pm and Sundays at 2pm. There are no 1 p.m. performances July 19-22, and no 10:30 a.m. performance on Monday, July 25. There are added 4:30 p.m. performances on Sunday, July 24 and Sunday, August 14, and added 6 p.m. performances on Thursday, August 4 and Thursday, August 18.

Cole Porter enriches Gurney's Sylvia & Tanglewood Pops concert.

2011-07-18T06:18:00.000-07:00

Cole Porter 2 days running-- Who could ask for anything more?

This past Saturday went to the opening of A.R. Gurney's ever popular doggie romance, Sylvia at Berkshire Theatre Festival.

www.curtainup.com/btf11.html#Sylvia

While I like Gurney and am a dog lover, I'm not enamored of anthropomorphic dog stories. Still audiences love this whimsical comedy and this umpteenth production at a regional theater is well done. And when BTF's Sylvia led the two-footed married couple whose life she's upended in Cole Porter's plaintive "Every Time I Say Goodbye. . .", even I found it doggone funny and moving. On the following Sunday afternoon, Broadway stars Kelly O'Hara and Jason Danieley did a rousing tribute to Cole Poerter-- most of Porter's brilliant melodies included, though not the one from Sylvia.

Bored with the Bard -- or smitten as ever?

2011-07-06T08:38:00.000-07:00

Are we bored with the Bard?

This is the query posed by John Moore, theater critic of the Denver Post. Moore backs up his belief that, at least in Colorado, the Bard's by-line can be found on a decreasing number of offerings. He admits that mixing non-Shakespeare authored plays is not new but feels it's a rising trend. Maybe so. . . but as a look at Curtainup's reviews posted so far during the summer have plenty of Shakespeare plays- - and there's more to come.

In addition to the Public Theater's annual Shakespeare in the Park which did a few seasons back feature a highly successful revival of Hair this summer again has 2 Shakespeare plays and last summer's Merchant of Venice was a big enough hit to transfer to Broadway (yes, and so did Hair).

Besides the Central Park offerings, New Yorkers this summer have a chance to see work by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Armory on Park Avenue.

What's more, the Public Theater seems to be reversing the trend Moore sees and has changed the focus of their wonderful LAB series ($15 for live theater!) and instead of presenting new work, usually still in development, by living playwrights, the focus is now on Shakespeare. The just announced Fall season features a starry King Lear in the Public's biggest theater, the Newman, and Titus Andronicus and Love's Labor's Lost

Another college scandal evoked by the Secret Court expose. . .

2011-06-24T06:06:00.000-07:00

Unnatural Acts (www.curtainup.com/unnaturalacts.html), the dramatic expose of Harvard's shameful Secret Court 1920 prompted by a homosexual student's suicide and leading to the formation of a Kangaroo Court style committee bent on ousting homosexuals from the university. a series of secret hearings brings to mind another Never Again scandal involving a whole bunch of Ivy League and Seven Sisters colleges. This one revealed the school administrators being taken in by a pair of mad scientists -- William Herbert Sheldon and E.A. Hooton -- and allowing them to force incoming students to pose for nude photographs, The purpose of this Nude Picture Program was supposedly intended to gauge the rate and severity of rickets, scoliosis, and lordosis in the population. The photos were taken in the 1940s through the 1970s may have actually been used to support Sheldon and Hooton's theory on body types and social hierarchy. What remained of the images were transferred to the Smithsonian and finally destroyed between 1995 and 2001

Unlike the Secret Court, which seeded an extensive expose article in The Crimson, a book and more recently Unnatural Acts and another play entitled Veritas (a sellout at last year's Fringe Festival, the brouhaha about these Nude Photos have only resulted in one play to my knowledge-- a very clever off-off-Broadway play by Richard Willett called Triptych. Why hasn't anyone ever given that another production?

www.curtainup.com/triptych.html

Count on Spider-Man Spoofs to Keep Coming. . .

2011-06-22T09:38:00.000-07:00

Not tired of the gennius Tiger Woman who kept Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark in previews for seven months?

Missed Law & Order's killer   take-off (literally-- there is a killer!) with Cynthia Nixon playing a Taymoresque visionary? That's the one that had Nixon-cum-role-model drink too much and fly too close to the sun -- getting the star of her aptly named mega-musical Icarus killed.   Her nemesis-- well one of them-- was    the script writer's own Ben Brantley style reporter to jump the official review gun. But the guy who did it? Not the Bono-look alike! But the dramaturge!!!! Really. Oh, yes, the producer did have something to do with it.

If you're aback-stage faction   addicted,   you'll also want to check out The Legend of Julie Taymor, or The Musical That Killed Everybody! The rock musical will be getting its considerably less than $70million dollar world premiere at this August New York International Fringe Festival. The show, with book and lyrics are by Travis Ferguson and music and lyrics by Dave Ogrin, tells the story of the rise and fall of Director- you-know-who and the behind-the-scenes scandals of the now officially opened and still working on recouping its millions Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark.

The still to be cast roles will be for a clueless rock star, a scheming producer, a naive young actor, and a narcissistic movie star actress.

Need more to intrigue you?   Songs will include "Broadway's Burning," "Boy Falls From
The Rafters," "65 Million!" "Julie, Julie, Why Did You Hurt Me?" "Tweet,
Tweet, Tweet!" and "Julie's Turn."   For more information on the show, www.LegendOfJulie.com

Of course if you've had your fill of Spider-Man, the annual Fringe Festival has some 200 productions each   August.   So be sure to check out Curtainup's coverage.

Spiderman 2.0's villainous Arachne now fairy godmother

2011-06-15T06:51:00.000-07:00

T.V. Carpio as the now downsized Arachne and ensemble members in "Behold and Wonder."

The mythical Arachne may have been downsized and homogenized into a good fairy godmother but she's still there, in one of Julie Taymor's loveliest and most Lion King-like production numbers. The press agents hauled in enough celebrities to hold up the long awaited opening night (after an unprecedented 183 previews!). . .but the critics who jumped the gun last February and refused to wait for the show to be "frozen" have not exactly done mea culpa turnarounds. They admit its less confusing but are still generally less than thrilled, especially with super rocker Bono's and Edge's songs.

I found it entertaining if not perfect and on the chance that not everyone know Spidey's long history, added a history of the superhero's history with Marvel Comics:
www.curtainup.com/spiderman.html

The only surprise at the Tonys was that there rwere no surprises

2011-06-13T16:51:00.000-07:00

tain

The Big Tony Winners Top L-r: Leading performers Frances McDormand (Good People), Mark Rylance (Jersulaem), Norbert Leo Butz (Catch Me In You Can). . . Scene from Best play War Horse, also awarded best directing and other awards Bottom L-R: Best Feature performer, Ellen Barkin & John Benhamin Hickey (Normal Heart--which also won Best revival). . . Andrew Rannell & Josh Gad stars of Best Musical and multiple other award winning Book of Mormon. . . Best Musical performance star Sutton Foster with Colin Donnell in Best Musical Revival winner Anything Goes

The Mormons of the cheeky new musicals were the elephants in the room at Sunday's Tony Awards ceremony-- but it was a horse- that took Best Play honors. Full details about who was nominated for what-- who won -- as well as other awards winners and losers are in Curtainup's annual omnibus awards page: www.curtainup.com/awardlist2010-11.html

One production showcased at the ceremony that wasn't was the show that has remained in previews for 7 months. To introduce that segment, the show's songwriters, Bono and The Edge, took the stage. The show WILL open tomorrow so look for our review based on last Friday's official press prevnies.

The unhappy family play is alive and well-- courtesy of a famous first sentence. . .

2011-06-10T07:51:00.000-07:00

In a season rich with straight plays, the problem family play once again laid claim to being a genre in its own right-- Off Broadway we had Other Desert Citites, Blood From a Stone, A Small Fire, On Broadway, Tony Kushner's The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide. . . took up where August: Osage County left off, and long before that Arthur Miller's Loman family and O'Neill's Tyrones.

But the writer who really explains the enduring appeal of unhappiness over happiness is, in play is of course the novelist who wrote the best opening sentence ever. literary work : " Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.": I'll leve it to you to fill in is name ...................... and the title of the novel. . .

The Most Populr Summer Freebie of all: Centrtal Park Shakespeare

2011-06-01T12:03:00.000-07:00

The Public Theater (will begin previews on Monday, June 6 for the 2011 Shakespeare in the Park summer season featuring MEASURE FOR MEASURE, directed by David Esbjornson, and ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, directed by Daniel Sullivan. The two shows will run in repertory with the same company of actors through Saturday, July 30 at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.

The 2011 repertory company for MEASURE FOR MEASURE and ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL consecutively, includes Kristen Connolly (Juliet/Diana), John Cullum (Escalus/King of France), Carson Elrod (Pompey/Interpreter), Joe Forbrich (Friar Peter/Duke of Florence), Danai Gurira (Isabella in Measure for Measure), Michael Hayden (Angelo/Second Brother Dumaine), André Holland (Claudio/Bertram), Jordan Lund (Abhorson/Rinaldo), David Manis (Elbow/Lavatch), Dakin Matthews (Provost/Lafew), Caitlin O’Connell (Nun/Widow,Isbel), Annie Parisse (Mariana/Helena), Tonya Pinkins (Mistress Overdone/Countess), Lorenzo Pisoni (Duke/First Brother Dumaine), Reg Rogers (Lucio/Parolles), and Lucas Caleb Rooney (Barnardine/Gentleman).

MEASURE FOR MEASURE sweeps from the corridors of national power to the intimate confines of the bedroom, and from the convent's chapel to the executioner’s block. It is Shakespeare at his grittiest: a bracing and bawdy glimpse of what happens when those in power allow their basest human impulses to range unchecked. ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL is a fairytale for grown-ups. This beguiling fable follows the low-born Helena, one of Shakespeare’s most resourceful heroines, as she inventively surmounts obstacle after impossible obstacle in order to win the love of the aristocratic and haughty Count Bertram.

TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets to Shakespeare in the Park are FREE and are distributed, two per person, at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park at 1:00 p.m. the day of the show. This summer, The Public Theater will again offer free tickets through our Virtual Ticketing, available at www.shakespeareinthepark.org. The way this works is that on n the day of a show, users can log on to www.shakespeareinthepark.org anytime between midnight and 1:00 p.m. to register for that evening’s performance. After 1:00 p.m. that same day, users can log on to see if they have received tickets through Virtual Ticketing; recipients will also be sent a confirmation email by 5:00 p.m. if they have received tickets for that evening’s performance. Virtual Ticketing recipients are chosen at random to receive tickets, not in the order requests are received.

Participants with a Virtual Ticketing confirmation can claim their tickets at the Delacorte Theater Box Office between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. that evening. Any tickets not picked up by 7:00 p.m. will be released to the standby line. A valid photo ID is required for all Virtual Ticketing pick-ups at the box office.

Senior Virtual Ticketing functions the same way as the regular virtual ticketing but registrants must be 65 or older to be eligible and must present valid photo ID with proof of age.

More ways to get tickets:
In addition to the ticket line at the Delacorte Theater and Virtual Ticketing online, a limited number of vouchers for specific performances will be distributed at locations throughout New York’s five boroughs. Each person in line is allowed two vouchers and each voucher is good for one ticket for that evening’s performance. Vouchers must be exchanged for tickets at the Delacorte Theater Box Office that same day from 4:00-7:30 p.m.

Borough Distribution Details:
For MEASURE FOR MEASURE, a limited number of ticket vouchers will be distributed on Tuesday, June 7 in Brooklyn at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum (145 Brooklyn Avenue); Monday, June 13 in Queens at New York Hall of Science (47-01 111th Street); Wednesday, June 15 in The Bronx at Lehman Stages at Lehman College (250 Bedford Park Boulevard West); Saturday, June 18 in Staten Island at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center (100 Richmond Terrace); and Monday, June 27 in Manhattan at Harlem Stage at The Gatehouse (150 Convent Avenue at West 135th Street).

For ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, a limited number of ticket vouchers will be distributed on Saturday, June 11 in The Bronx at The Point (940 Garrison Avenue); Thursday, June 16 in Queens at The Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning (16104 Jamaica Avenue); Fiday, June 17 in Brooklyn at 651 Arts Center (651 Fulton Street); Thursday, June 23 in Manhattan at El Museo del Barrio (1230 5th Avenue); and Tuesday, July 5 in Staten Island at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center (100 Richmond Terrace).

Summer Supporter donations can be made at The Public Theater Box Office at 425 Lafayette Street, by phone at (212) 967-7555, or online at www.publictheater.org. Seating locations for Summer Supporters and Public Theater Partners will be allocated strictly by giving level.

The best awards party of them all: OCC at Sardi's

2011-05-26T19:59:00.000-07:00

This is this is the season of awards parties and while not everyone agrees with everyone's choices, there's little disagreement about the best awards party of all: The Outer Critics keep things intimate and informal, no suspense about opening the evenelope. Everyone who's invited is a winner. A full dinner is served (which given the meagerness of the food at the Drama Desk Awards party drew lots of compliments about the delicious chicken from people who had were pleased to collect their awards but left the party hungry. Best of all, OCC members and their honored guests really mingle and each table is a mix of OCC members and award recepients. The party is held in the lovely Eugenia Room with its walls lined with pictures of Broadway luminaries. -- what could be more appropriate

My dinner partner Matthew Lopes who was awarded this year's Gassner Award for an American play, TheWhipping Manption

Charles Bush and Julie Halston proved to be witty and charming presenters

Broadway newcomer Nina Rianda won one of 2 Best Actress awards for the revival of Born Yesterday

Nina shared the best actress award with veteran actress Frances McDormand, the lead in the wonderful new play Good People

Ellen Barkin was thrilled to win her first ever award at age 57 for contribution to The Normal Heart

The Normal Heart's co-director (with Joel Grey) for Best revival winner The Normal Heart

This year's party had some of the wittiest and original acceptance speeeches with Mark Rylance reading of a displeased New Jersey viewer's letter bringing down the house

John Leguizamo expressed his appreciation for the continued support of solo plays like his Ghetto Klown the Outstanding Solo Performance winner

The Book of Mormon was this seasons big original musical winner-- and the Outer Critics contributed their share of accolades-- here's Josh Gad accepting his Outstanding Actor in a Musical Award

In the musical revivall category, Anything Goes was this year's big winner-- and here's Sutton Foster accepting her award for outstanding Actress in a Musical

One-on-one Theater-- Really-- and it's Free

2011-05-25T18:38:00.000-07:00

How intimate can theater get? How about one on one?

In the center of the New York City Theater District, Tony Award-winning set designer Christine Jones, in association with LOT-EK® Architects, True Love Productions and Times Square Arts, presents “Theatre for One”, a four foot by eight foot portable theater with one performer playing to one audience member. The uniquely intimate theatrical experience will be available to anyone on a first-come, first-served basis for 6 days only. Theater for One opens on Tuesday, June 7 and will continue through Sunday, June 12, 2011 in Times Square (Duffy Square, located on 46^th and Broadway).

When it premiered in May 2010 as a commission of the Times Square Alliance, Theatre for One was met with overwhelming critical acclaim and popular success.

The cast of June's Theatre for One includes Steve Cuiffo, Birgit Huppuch, Marin Ireland, Tasha Lawrence and Dallas Roberts. These artists, of different disciplines (including theater, poetry, and magic) will perform five to ten minute pieces that will be presented in rotation during a six day residency in Times Square. The works, all of which have been specifically created for this venue, are by playwrights Zayd Dorn, Stephanie Fleischman, Jacquelyn Reingold, Emily Schwend and Beau Willimon. Some surprise musical guests may be interspersed between performances.

The Theatre for One creative team includes Ana Cappelluto (Lighting and Costume Designer), Christine Jones (Artistic Director and Set Designer), and LOT-EK®, Ada Tolla and Giuseppe Lignano (Architects).

The performance schedule is as follows: Tuesday, June 7^th from 6-9 p.m., Wednesday through Friday, June 8^th – 10^th, from 7-11 p.m., Saturday, June 11^th from 4-6 p.m. & 7-11 p.m., and Sunday, June 12^th from 4-7:30 p.m. Tickets are free, fut donations are accepted.

2011-05-19T10:49:00.000-07:00

In anticipation of finally going to an official press preview of Spiderman on June 9th, I took a walk around my Forest Hills neighborhood—the same neighborhood where Peter Parker (Spider-Man), lived with his aunt Ben and May Parker at 20 Ingram Street in the Gardens section of Forest Hills, designed by Frederick Olmstedt, whose father designed Central Park. He went to Forest Hills High School from 1962 to 1965; Other notable graduates (yours truly modestly omitted): Paul Simon ('58) and Art Garfunkel ('58) [3], Bob (Captain Kangaroo) Keeshan, pera singer Tatiana Troyanos ('56), TV personality Jerry Springer ('61, Punk rockerrs The Ramones ('74), Pulitzer prize winning author Art Buchwald ('43 drop-out),

Get out your video camera for Mamma Mia's 10th Anniversary contest. . .

2011-05-12T07:58:00.000-07:00

Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus’ smash hit musical MAMMA MIA!, now celebrating 10 years at the Winter Garden Theatre, has launched an interactive Sing-Along video contest. Thide is to capture the “Dancing in the aisles” experience that has made the show such a hit.

Contestants may enter by submitting a video of themselves singing a selection from the show while using a computer webcam, or by uploading the video directly to the website. Fans may vote for each other or their own video, and the top ten entries will be entered for a chance to win the Grand Prize. Get your friends to vote for you by sharing your entry through Facebook, Twitter and email to increase your chance to win.

One Grand Prize winner will receive two tickets to Broadway’s 10^th Anniversary performance at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway on October 18, 2011, party passes to meet MAMMA MIA!’s stars at the post show celebration, roundtrip airfare for two to New York City and hotel accommodations at The Roger Smith Hotel and dinner for two at Brasserie 8 ½.

On the tenth of each month from May through August, one video submission will be selected at random to win Official MAMMA MIA! merchandise.

If you can afford the time & $ for just one new Broadway show. . .

2011-05-10T08:39:00.000-07:00

Members of the various awards granting cirtics' organizations   didn't have an easy time   choosing   shows and their creatives to honor. Not because there   were too few good new shows. On the contrary.    Goodies in both the play and musical categories abounded. . .mos with actors aplenty giving terrific performances and great    behind the scenes wizards enhancing   the shows were often nothing short of amazing.

The NY Drama Critics Circle smartly   made their best play choice a bit easier by   giving the Best Play prize to an American play, Good People, and made Jerusalem a winner in a separate category of Best Foreign Play.

The problem for audiences in this goodie-filled season is, of course, that going to the theater, even off-Broadway, is outrageously expensive   so   it takes deep pockets for anyone to see everything.   Of course there are deals to be had- for savvy New Yorkers the most popular are detailed and linked    on our list of New York resources:
www.curtainup.com/links.html

Soo o o. . .if you have to choose just one new show, here are a few tips:

For   anyone looking for a truly spectacular   theatrical experience   for    the whole family (kids should be at least 10, however),
War Horse is definitely     the choice pick. lwww.curtainup.com/warhorseny.html

For adults looking for an accessible but   thought provoking American drama with a terrific cast,   Good People   would be my first recommendation.www.curtainup.com/goodpeople.html

If you have money for just one new musical, if you can snag a ticket The Book of Mormon is it. But remember, this is not The Lion King or Mary Poppins   to be enjoyed from age 5 and up. It's an adult musical, as are all the other new and newly revived musicals As for a musical   to please adults with divergent tastes,   the one most likely to be an all-around winner is the revival of Cole Porter's Anything Goes.
www.curtainup.com/bookofmormon.html
www.curtainup.com/anythinggoesny11.html
If there's a   Harry Potter fan in your family, How to Succeed in Business with Daniel Radcliffe would also be a sure-fire choice. www.curtainup.com/howtosucceed11.html

If you hop over to our front page, you'll see that there's plenty more to pick from.

A Tony-related Freebie

2011-05-02T11:39:00.000-07:00

The first ever FREE Tony Award Documentary Film Series, will take place as part of the 2011 Tony Awards Showcase at the Times Square Visitors Center and Mini-Museum (Seventh Avenue between 46th and 47th Streets). The series will feature three films that examine what it’s like to be behind-the-scenes on a Tony-eligible Broadway musical. The Showcase, which will be on display at the Times Square Visitors Center and Mini-Museum, will feature historic Tony memorabilia including costumes, posters, video footage, and much more. Featured films and dates are as follows:

May 9, 2011 Finding Billy -- behind-the-scenes in the search for the young male leads in Billy Elliot the Musical.

May 16, 2011 Every Little Step follows the real-life dancers as they struggle through auditions for the Broadway revival of A Chorus Line. The film also takes a look at the history of the show and the creative minds behind the original and revival Broadway shows.

May 23, 2011 Show Business: The Road to Broadway goes behind the curtain to capture a Broadway season in all of its controversy, passion, and risk.

Each screening will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will be following by a panel discussion with the film producers, Broadway theatere producers and talent. The free tickets will be available on a first come, with a limit two (2) tickets per person. To RSVP, send your ticket request and film preference to TonyFilmSeries@broadway.org.

FREE Readings of New plays

2011-05-02T11:00:00.000-07:00

Primary Stages, has announced the line-up for the annual Fresh Ink Reading Series,. All readings are free and open to the public and are set for May 23 – June 1, 2011 at Primary Stages Rehearsal Studios 307 West 38th Street, Suite 1510, between 8th & 9th Avenues. Reservations are required and can be made via email at Readings@primarystages.org or by calling (212) 840-9705. The schedule is as follows:

Where You Can’t Follow by Adam Szymkowicz May 23 at 3:00 p.m. Matt's doctor tells him he doesn't have long to live. He realizes he's never been in love before. So he leaves home, flies to Paris and tries to find love before he runs out of time. Show People by David Caudle May 24 at 3:00 p.m. In 1882, a 17-year-old NYU student is driven to help the disrespected and downtrodden actors in New York City. Recruiting megastars Edwin Booth, James O'Neill, Sarah Bernhardt and Buffalo Bill, the teen hopes to realize his dream by establishing a fund for actors. But to overcome society's prejudices, he must first overcome his own doubts and fears.

The Virtues of Raw Oysters by Cheri Magid May 25 at 5:00 p.m. Bushwick 1894. An eighteen-year-old entrepreneur and scamp boosts his father’s phonograph business by producing and selling aural smut. When he gets caught, questions of indecency and censorship arise.

Zero by Tommy Smith May 26 at 5:00 p.m. When an aspiring young architect receives a grant to work on his studies in a swanky condo for a year, the pressure of producing work overwhelms his psyche and forces him to externalize his inner turmoil, causing an increasingly aggressive relationship with his clueless doorman.

A Swell in the Ground by Janine Nabers May 27 at 5:00 p.m. Olivia is grieving over the loss of her mother while her seemingly happy relationship with her fiancé Nate is starting to deteriorate.

Bicycle Girl by Rogelio Martinez May 31 at 5:00 p.m. In 1939 two girls from very different backgrounds travelled across America on bicycle. Their destination was New York and the World’s Fair with its promise of revealing to every single American The World of Tomorrow.

Little Man by Bekah Brunstetter June 1 at 5:00 p.m. Howie, or Little Man, attends his high school reunion with his best friend Andy. He’s suppressed his tragic high school experience. After all, now he’s a millionaire. Little does Little Man know the truth and whiskey to be had at the convention hall as the evening and his memories unfold.

Tthe art of Lively Turrning

2011-05-02T07:32:00.000-07:00

ainThe term Lively Turning   is an Elizabethan concept used   to define the process of   taking a piece of   existing wisdom -- a   phrase or a historical   chronice --   subject to the imagination of   the "turner"   to be transformed   into a new form and thus gaining new life.

   In the theater, the most famous adapter of all time was William Shakespeare whose plays    were invariably based on existing    works, most frequently The Holinshed Chronicles.    Shakespeare himself has been, and still is, regularly   turned    to make the characters and stories more relevant to modern audiences.   Since language is the Bard's great gift,   his text tends to remain with the turning   focused on shefts in costume and   time frame.

The term turning has itself   metamorphosed   into the term adapting..    There are adaptations that stick closely to the work being adaptated, with    the only turning being some freshening   of words more understandable to modern audiences. In short, these are more translations than adaptations or turnings.

It's the lively turning that takes greater liberties with both text, plot and characters. One of the cleverest cases in point now on stage is David Ives' funny and clever turning of Moliere's popular The Misanthrope now called The School of Lies. (our review: www.curtainup.com/schoolforliescsc.html )

If the leading lady looks familiar, that's because Mamie Gummer is Meryl Streep's daughter, a young thespian who not only looks remarkably like her famous mom, but    has show   great promise of   becoming   a star in her own right.. Gummer's co-star in School for Lies,   Hamish Linklater, is also walking in his mother's footsteps-- thatt's teacher, director actor   Kristin Linklater.

For more about lively turning, go see the play and read the program notes.

An ending with two new beginning.s . .

2011-05-01T07:41:00.000-07:00

The revival of Tony Kushner's Angels in America www.curtainup.com/angelsinamericany10.html   at the Signature Theatre's was a smash hit that had to be extended again and again, and finally had to bring in    a replacement cast.   But   Bill Heck was with the production   throughout its long run,, as he was for another Signature hit, Horton Foote's   3-Part The Orphans Home Cycle. in 20009. in which   he and    Maggie Lacey played a husband and wife.

Maggie came to the final performance of Angels, and guess what-- Bill Heck's curtain call turned into an on-stage proposal (yes, on bended knee!) that they become husband and wife off stage.    With so many very final endings in Kushner's play,   Heck   provided   those in attendance with a heck of a nice ending!

And while Angels   is finished, its author Tony Kushner is experiencing another beginning:   A New York run of his latest drama at the Public Theater THE INTELLIGENT HOMOSEXUAL’S GUIDE TO CAPITALISM AND SOCIALISM WITH A KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES. Now there's an epic length title to match the almost 4-hour length play which I'm off to see this afternoon and will report on when it opens officially later this week.

It's raining awards-- with some, as usual weird choices. . .

2011-04-26T12:10:00.000-07:00

The theater awards season is getting into full swing. There are times when nominees picked are not only astounding bu, if you happen to belong to the organization doing the nominating, downright embarassing . Take the astounding choice by the Outer Critics of the awful Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. and a little children's musical like Freckleface Strawberry getting a nod Of course, no one ever agrees with all these choices-- even awards at the highest level like the Pulitzer come up with surprising choices-- like the messy Free Man of Colour which was a runner-up to the very deserving winner, Clybourne Park.

Ah well, if you want to stay on top of what's nominated and who the finalists are-- just check out the News column on Curtainup's front page which includes a link to CU's omnibus awards page--

FREE talk based on new play's Neuroscience tie-in

2011-04-21T09:35:00.000-07:00

w.The Free panel discussion, per item below should be especially enlightning for anyone who's seen or plans to see Christopher Shinn's Picked currently at the Vineyard. I'd certainly like to see the issue of the physical risks in herent in the imaging techniques used by the play's pretentious director to give his latest movie a new-new-thing twist. For my review of the play:
www.curtainup.com/picked.html

A panel discussion -- free and open to the general public -- will be presented by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning Vineyard Theatre and Barnes & Noble Booksellers at Barnes & Noble Union Square (33 E. 17 St.) on Sunday, May 1 at 5:30 p.m.
The l discussion -- titled THE MEANING OF THE HUMAN SOUL IN THE LIGHT OF TECHNOLOGIES -- will be held following the May 1st 3 p.m. performance of Christopher Shinn's new play PICKED about a legendary, big-budget film director who submits his young leading man to a series of personal questions during MRI scans in the hopes of gleaning information about the actor's psyche that the director can use in the construction and direction of his newest film

The excellentClybourne Park Nabs Pulitzer for Drama--

2011-04-18T17:51:00.000-07:00

www.curtainup.com/clybournepark.htmlwww.curtainup.com/clybournepark.htmlwwCongratulation to Bruce Norris for being awarded the 2010-- 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. We loved Clybourne Park in New York www.curtainup.com/clybournepark.html and in London www.curtainup.com/clybourneparklon.html For a list to all Pulitzers for Drama see our Pulitzer Prize Page www.curtainup.com/pulitzls.html

Joel Grey stars in museum exhibit as well as on Broadway

2011-04-11T14:09:00.000-07:00

The Museum of the City of New York (MCNY) (1220 Fifth Avenue), in its all-new exhibition Joel Grey / A New York Life, examines the enduring impact that legendary actor Joel Grey and his adopted city have made on each other. Through rare artifacts from his stage and screen career, objects from his personal collection, and his own photography, MCNY offers a unique look at New York through Grey’s eyes as well as a visual retrospective of his career. The exhibit will be open to the public through Sunday, August 14.

The exhibitionincludes photographs, posters, playbills, and costumes from several of Grey’s productions, including the iconic Emcee costume from Cabaret, a crown worn in Goodtime Charley, and an original costume sketch for George M!. Original caricatures of Mr. Grey by legendary artist Al Hirschfeld are also on view.

The exhibition caps a landmark year for Grey, who is represented with two concurrent Broadway productions this spring: starring in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of Anything Goes and directing the Broadway premiere of The Normal Heart.

Here's a link to my review of Anything Goes: www.curtainup.com/anythinggoesny11.html

My review of The Normal Heart when it opens officially

A contest for the ladies-- but does it have to be?

2011-04-05T17:05:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

A contest for the ladies-- but does it have to be?

This contest will draw mostly female respondents-- but does it really have to be? I bet there are some guys out there who remember going shopping with mom or grandma -- for a special outfit-- maybe for a sporting event, a first summer at camp-- a bar mitzvah? Good luck girls and women. . .but bravo to any fellow who has something to add to what is admittedly a for the girls hit show.

What item of clothing reminds you of your mother? Do you remember the first time she took you shopping, or the shoes she just wouldn’t buy you? Producer Daryl Roth announced today that Love, Loss, and What I Wore, the show of monologues and vignettes written by Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron based on Ilene Beckerman's book of the same name about clothing and accessories and the memories they trigger, is giving fans the chance the see their own personal stories performed on stage for Mother’s Day.

The show is now accepting submissions of stories about moms, daughters, grandmothers, and anyone else who is celebrated on Mother’s Day, written in the style of the show. Two grand prize winners will have their stories read on stage at the Westside Theatre (407 West 43 Street) following performances on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 8 (one story at the 3:00 PM performance and one at the special 7:00 PM performance) by one of the show’s all-star cast members, which, on May 8, will include Conchata Ferrell, Anne Meara, AnnaLynne McCord and B. Smith. Winners will also receive two tickets to the performance, so they can see their story read on stage.

Stories should be no more than 500 words and should be submitted via email to LoveLossContest@gmail.com or fax to (212) 375-1120 no later than Monday, April 25, 2011. Winners will be contacted via email and announced on the show’s website on Friday, April 29, 2011. See www.lovelossonstage.com for official rules and conditions

FREE at Lincoln Center in April

2011-03-31T12:52:00.000-07:00

April's FREE traget Thursdays have much to offer:

April 7 at 7 p.m.

UNSOUND FESTIVAL NEW YORK

Modular Dreams

Morton Subotnick’s Silver Apples of The Moon; Video by Lillevan

Atom™

April 14 at 8:30 p.m.

URBAN RESEARCH THEATER

THEATRICALE World Premiere

Directed by Maximilian Balduzzi

Songs and Text by Ben Spatz and William Shakespeare

Ensemble: Douglas Allen, Claro Austria, Kasidy Devlin, Sara Galassini, Mara Radulovic, Raphael Sacks, Ben Spatz, Liz Stanton and Elizabeth Hope Williams

April 21 at 8:30 p.m.

ELECTRIC KULINTANG

Composers/percussionists: Susie Ibarra and Roberto Rodriguez

Kulintang, a style of traditional music from the Philippines and elsewhere in Southeast Asia gets a contemporary update

April 28 at 8:30 p.m.

Essentially Ellington Alumni All-Stars

Presented in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center

An all-star ensemble of Essentially Ellington alumni plays the music of Duke Ellington and celebrates the 16th anniversary of the annual Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) education event that invites select high school jazz bands from across North America to spend three days immersed in workshops, rehearsals, jam sessions, and performances at Frederick P. Rose Hall..

The Spoiler issue for reviews

2011-03-29T09:55:00.000-07:00

It's common practice for critics to give readers an idea as to what a play is about-- how it's staged and performed but not to give it all away so that there are no surprises. Some plays are particularly tricky as much of their impact depends upon the reader discovering what's going on. A new play, The Other Place, is a case in point. It's about a very smart woman, a scientist-- who suddenly finds herself a victim of the very illness she's developed a nwe drug for. Tell a lot more than that-- and the reader has an easier but less intriguing time navigating the play's intricate structure. I chose to tell as little as possible in my review, but a number of my colleagues felt no compulsion to reveal what the trauma is-- why certain interactions and remarks only gradually make sense. As you can see from the link below, there was plenty to write about without going into details. . .
www.curtainup.com/otherplace11.html

One of the advantages of online reviewing is that you could possibly have it both ways-- review with minimal plot details but provide a detailed plot synopsis or description of how it all turns out on a separate page which the reader can then choose to ignore or click on at will. In the case of the new hit musical, The Book of Mormon, the creators felt the usual song list in the program would be the equivalent of a surprise spoiler. We therefor opted to use the click/don't click option for the song list. See the link below:
www.curtainup.com/bookofmormon.html

Wrecks, a play seen some seasons back, was especially prone to spoiler accusations-- and we thus separated the details from the main review. We didn't ask the reader to click to another page-- but just continued with more details in a special yellow box that readers had to scroll to. Here's the link so you can see what I'm talking about
www.curtainup.com/wrecks.html

Freebie: War Horse prompted Puppetry Discussion

2011-03-25T14:02:00.000-07:00

War Horse comes to Lincoln Center riding on a wave of praises in London -- which includes our London critic's take. www.curtainup.com/warhorselond.html

Puppet artists Dan Hurlin, Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler, along with writer Yvette Christiansë, will [artoco[ate om a public forum m entitled War Horse: The Puppeteers, about puppetry as a contemporary medium of communication and advocacy to be held on April 13 at the The New School in conjuncti on with Lincoln Center Theater's Broadway presentation of War Horse, which features designs by Jones and Kohler.

The event is free and open to the public. For further information see
/www.newschool.edu/vlc/ .

Can you name the 5 longest running Browadway shows?

2011-03-22T14:06:00.000-07:00

Okay, so you know The Phantom of the Opera is THE longest

running show on Broadway. Can you name the next, and the next,

and the next? The answers are below. . .

1. The Phantom of the Opera (9,633)

2. Cats (7,485)

3. Les Miserables (6,680)

4. A Chorus Line (6,137)

5. Chicago (5,960)

The best Monday nights are Broadway by the Year nights

2011-03-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

The only thing wrong with the Monday night Broadway by the Year series at The Town Hall is that each show is a one night stand. Unfortunately, I couldn't make last night's evening devoted to the Broadway Musicals of 1932 -- especially since that was a grand year for music. I did get a copy of the lineup of songs and who performed them -- including which were sung in the series' traditional unamplified or unplugged. To see the list see www.curtainup.com/broadwaybytheyear.html.

Iff you're unfamiliar with the series, that link will take you to our omnibus page which gives you an overview of the series, its host Scott Siegel, and documents all the shows we've covered.

Costumes & Makeup bring glitter and gloss to Priscilla Queen of the Desert

2011-03-21T04:54:00.000-07:00

Clothes do a lot to make it fun to join the "girls" riding the Priscilla bus through the Australian outback. How about. . .

500 costumes imade in 18 houses in 4 countries around the world.. . .

251 costume changes
150 pairs of shoes with the highest pair of heels a towering 6" 295 ostrich feather plumes

200 hats and head dresses
The key costume worn by Felecia for her “bus top Aria” is a body suit encased in Swarovski crystal

And what a spectacle like this be without lots of other "stuff". -- like. . .

Approximately 24 pairs of false eyelashes for each performance, roughly 150 pairs a month. The longest pair is 3.5 inches longAapproximately 72 wigs which require a team of four hairdressers to maintain, with the tallest for "The Divas" at just 3 feet tall.

Approximately 1,500 makeup remover wipes are used each week; . 175 tubes of lipstick, 75 pots of eye shadow and 2 pounds of glitter a month

Approximately 72 wigs

The tallest wigs for "The Divas" come in at just 3 feet tall.

Approximately 1,500 makeup remover wipes are used each weekly and .

175 tubes of lipstick, 75 pots of eye shadow and 2 pounds of glitter are used each month

No wonder Priscilla Queen of the Desert , the musical, is such fun. Here's a link to our review: www.curtainup.com/priscillany.html

TOM STOPPARD'S DIALOGUE TOO GOOD TO MISS

2011-03-18T11:48:00.000-07:00

How not to miss dialogue in a play. . .

I received a number of emails from readers attending early previews of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia complaining about some of Stoppard's wit lost either because of   an actor's voice or the theater's sound system. Since a Stoppard's dialogue is too good to be missed, I decided to avail myself of one of the free assisted listening devices available in practically all theaters. www.curtainup.com/arcadiany.html

A good move! I sat in Row K and heard every word, even the high pitched Thomasina's. Another critic sitting a row away from me, complained about missed dialogue. As you can see if you read my review www.curtainup.com/arcadiany.html
there are too many   witty bon mots to have missed.

So here's what I suggest, and plan to do myself:    Whether you have a hearing problem or not, make use of this terrific FREE service whenever you see a play in a big house   and especially if the cast is British or is directed by someone you know has a penchant   for encouraging intimate dialogue to be in living room mode, without special regard for the audience.

The listening devices are available in many off-Broadway houses (for example: both theaters at Playwrights Horizon) as Broadway houses.

My favorite quote of the week

2011-03-13T06:47:00.000-07:00

In summing up his move from The New York Times to New York Magazine, on March 12th Frank Rich (Confessions of a Recovering Op-Ed Columnist) concludes by summing up his proudest moment, not as op-ed columnist but as the paper's chief theater critic:

Of all the things I’ve done at The Times, there may be none I’m prouder of than, in my critic’s days, championing “Sunday in the Park with George,” Stephen Sondheim’s and James Lapine’s 1984 musical about two artists in two different eras restless to create something new. For a quarter-century now, the show’s climactic song has inspired countless people in all walks of life when the time has come to take a leap. “Stop worrying where you’re going,” the Sondheim lyric goes. “Move on.

FREEBIES COMING TO lINCOLN CENTER'S ATRIUM

2011-03-11T11:19:00.000-08:00

FREE EVENTS Coming To the David Rubenstein Atrium

This March and april

March 17 at 8:30 p.m.

ESCHER STRING QUARTET

Adam Barnett-Hart, violin; Wu Ji, violin; Pierre Lapointe, viola; Dane Johansen, cello

Presented in collaboration with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

The acclaimed Escher Quartet, recent graduates of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s international roster of CMS2 artists, draws inspiration from its namesake, Dutch artist M.C. Escher, by highlighting the interplay between individual musical components working together to form a whole. Recently named BBC New Generation Artists, the quartet has performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, 92^nd Street Y, Orange County Performing Arts Center, as well as the Ravinia and Caramoor festivals. In the final year of its CMS2 residency, the Escher collaborated with Lawrence Dutton, Leon Fleisher, Lynn Harrell, Wu Han, Jeffrey Kahan, Joseph Lalichstein, and Pinchas Zukerman, among others. 2010-11 appearances include Carnegie’s Zankel Auditorium, and chamber music series in Chicago, Cincinnati, Ottawa, Austin. Find more on the artists at: escherquartet.com

March 22 at 7:30 p.m. SPECIAL FREE EVENT

Intangible Asset No. 82

Director Emma Franz

Film Screening and Preview performance of Daorum

In conjunction with he performance by Daorum (see March 24), there will be a free film screening of the film Intangible Asset No. 82 at the Atrium, followed by a Q and A with director Emma Franz and a sneak preview duo performance by featured drummer Simon Barker and vocalist Bae Il-Dong of Daorum. In 2005 Barker traveled to Korea to explore traditional music learn about the physical and spiritual aspects of Korean music practice. During this incredible journey Barker met with some of Korea’s greatest musicians including the late Kim Seok Chul, a Grand Master of Shaman music, and Kim Dong Won, a professor at Wonkwang Digital University, who acted as Barker's guide, teacher, translator and collaborator. Along the way, Barker was introduced to the exceptional pansori artist, Bae Il-Dong who is one of the few contemporary singers who is traditionally trained by spending long periods of isolation practicing on waterfalls. Filmmaker Emma Franz documented the journey and the result is the feature film Intangible Asset No. 82. Indiewire called the Intangible Asset No. 82, “A complex musical and cultural exploration that taps into the spiritual essence of an art form.” For more information about the film, visit: www.IntangibleAsset82.com.

March 24 at 8:30 p.m.

DAORUM U.S. Debut

featuring
Bae Il Dong - pansori singer
Simon Barker - drums
Carl Dewhurst - guitar
Kim Dong Won - percussion
Matt McMahon - piano
Phil Slater - trumpet

Daorum is a phenomenon, a meeting of old and new, of East and West, a groundbreaking musical project creating an exciting high-energy cultural exchange. Simon Barker, one of Australia's greatest jazz drummers, leads a contingent of Australian musicians who, together with renowned Korean Pansori artist Bae Il Dong and percussionist Kim Dong Won, create what Living Arts Korea has described as a “utopian anthem.” And The Independent Weekly said of the group, “An exceptional example of musical fusion at its best. Steeped in the conventions of modern jazz but celebrating the traditions of Korean pansori singing, Daorum is a rare musical treat. It is new, original, and very exciting." The group has performed at numerous international arts festivals including the 2008 Hemispheres Festival, Sydney Opera House, 2006 Jeonju Sori Festival, Korea, 2007 Queensland Music Festival, 2008 OZASIA Festival, Adelaide, and the 2010 Gwangju World Music Festival, Korea. Daorum’s debut recording is now available through Kimnara Records. For more information about the artists and project go to: http://www.kimnara.com.au/daorum.html

March 31 at 8:30 p.m.

ANSAMBL MASTIKA

Greg Squared, Composer/bandleader

With song styles ranging from the heart-wrenching clarinet miroloi of northern Greece to the funkier chocheci of the Serbian and Macedonian Roma (gypsies); from the oriental mystery of Turkish chalgi ensembles and Middle Eastern orchestras to the driving power of Bulgarian wedding bands and Klezmer kapelye, Ansambl Mastika's music is rooted in the myriad styles of Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean basin and the Middle East. The group’s players—Greg Squared, woodwinds; Ben Syversen, trumpet; Matthew Fass, accordion; Joey Weisenberg, harmonica, guitar; Reuben Radding, bass; and Matt Moran, percussion—are all well-known musicians on the thriving Brooklyn Balkan-music scene. Ansambl Mastika just released a second album, Songs and Dances for Life NONSTOP, that joins the rapturously funky grooves and ardent horn lines of what they call, “New Balkan Uproar” with songs using both traditional and original lyrics. “The New Balkan Uproar” of Ansambl Mastika—is a joyful synthesis of these tumultuous sounds and irresistible grooves with jazz, funk, rock and other exotic Western styles that captivates audiences everywhere. For more information on the artists and to hear samples from the new CD, go to: www.ansamblmastika.com

April 7 at 7 p.m.

UNSOUND FESTIVAL NEW YORK

Modular Dreams

Morton Subotnick’s Silver Apples of The Moon; Video by Lillevan

Atom™

Co-presented by Fundacja Tone, the Polish Cultural Institute in New York and the Goethe-Institut New York.

Back in New York after last year’s critically acclaimed launch, Unsound Festival New York returns to the Atrium for another innovative evening of electronic music and video art. The double bill features rare live appearances by two of the boldest innovators of electronic music. The acclaimed pioneer of electronic music Morton Subotnik revisits his classic first-recording from 1967, Silver Apples of the Moon, collaborating with Berlin-based visual artist Lillevan, whose work was featured at last year’s Atrium performance. And Atom™, alias for the ever-inventive German electronic musician, Santiago-based Uwe Schmidt (who also goes by Atom Heart, Lisa Carbon, Coeur Atomique Datacide, Flanger, Flextone, and Señor Coconut) makes a long overdue, first-ever live appearance with a set that joins music and video. Note: special start time. Unsound Festival New York 2011 runs from April 1–10. For more information: [GAMALL: Please provide links for Unsound Fest NY, Lillevan, and Subotnik and Atom if available]

Thursday, April 14 at 8:30 p.m.

URBAN RESEARCH THEATER

Winter Project [World] [New York] Premiere

Urban Research Theater will present a new ensemble-based work, Winter Project, which integrates text with song and action and pushes the limits of theatricality while exploring ideas of the relationship between people and cities. Directed by Maximilian Balduzzi, Winter Project is performed by Ben Spatz and ensemble. Urban Research Theater develops original performances out of a continuous, long-term practice of research. The ensemble is committed to integrating narrative and image with irreducible "liveness" in performance that draws on the theatrical legacies of Konstantin Stanislavski and Jerzy Grotowski, as well as postmodern dance and performance art. Urban Research Theater was founded by Ben Spatz in Wroclaw, Poland in 2004, with support from a Fulbright Fellowship and the Grotowski Institute. Since its founding, Urban Research Theater has led over forty public events in the United States and Europe. The group defines itself as a performance laboratory for the twenty-first century. For more artist information visit: urbanresearchtheater.com

April 21 at 8:30 p.m.

ELECTRIC KULINTANG

Composers/percussionists: Susie Ibarra and Roberto Rodriguez

Kulintang, a style of traditional music from the Philippines and elsewhere in Southeast Asia gets a contemporary update in Electric Kulintang. Composer/percussionists Susie Ibarra and Roberto Rodriguez formed Electric Kulintang in 2005 after traveling to the Philippines to research live Kulintang music and dance. Kulintang, broadly describes a style of music named for an ancient percussion instrument that consists of horizontally-placed gongs. With Rodriguez programming beats and Ibarra composing the music and doing vocals, traditional Kulintang is integrated with field recordings, jazz drumming, dance beats, electric keyboards, guitars, noise and Cuban percussion. The duo’s debut album, Dialects, was released in 2007. Filipina-American Susie Ibarra has performed and recorded with John Zorn, Dave Douglas, Pauline Oliveros, Thurston Moore and Yo La Tengo, among others, while Havana-born Roberto Rodriguez has played percussion for Rufus Wainwright, Joe Jackson, Marc Ribot, Celia Cruz, Paquito D’Rivera, Julio Iglesias, Miami Sound Machine and Paul Simon, among others. For more information about the artists visit: electrickulintang.com.

Spider-Man struggles--Peter and the Starcatcher soars. . .

2011-03-10T07:45:00.000-08:00

As the mega-budget Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark struggles to gain profitable altitude, bringing in a new creative team and sidelining it's visionary director, Peter and the Starcatcher a decidedly low-tech show though with a big budget backer--Disney Theatricals -- has charmed enough critics to make a transfer to Broadway a distinct probability. While I loved the staging, I'm not sure that its conceptual similarities to Wicked (which, incidentally was panned by most critics) will give it the needed altitude in a big Broadway house -- it didn't for co-director's equally cheeky and witty Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.
www.curtainup.com/peterandthestarcatcher.html
www.curtainup.com/bloodybloody10.html