An interview with Director Mary Zimmerman

February 15, 2011 By 1 Comment
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Director Mary Zimmerman on The Arabian Nights and Candide

DC audiences were given two holiday gifts from Director Mary Zimmerman: her lavish and eye-popping productions of Candide for The Shakespeare Theatre Company and The Arabian Nights for Arena Stage. I became a fan of Mary’s after seeing her Tony Award-winning production of Metamorphoses at Circle in the Square Theatre in 2002 in NYC (she won the Tony for Best Director). Like many DC area audience members, I was wowed by the visual delights of Candide and The Arabian Nights. I asked Mary to take us on her journey of adapting these two great works for the stage and the recent DC productions. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Theatre Schmooze Tagged With:

Broadway – The American Musical (Book & DVDs)

February 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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There are many ways to approach the topic of musical theatre. There’s the scholarly approach of books that survey the topic as a whole. There’s the research approach that digs into one slice of the topic at great length. There’s the biographical approach looking  at the life of one contributor or team at a time. There’s the reference approach providing tabular or statistical details in orderly presentations that make it easy to look up a specific fact. Then there’s the collector’s approach which is to gather all of the above and use each to expand your knowledge or appreciation of this particular art form. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Theatre Shelf

Beyond Therapy

February 15, 2011 By 1 Comment
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Bruce (Graham Pilato) meets Prudence (Mundy Spears) at a restaurant. It is their first date, and they are both nervous. They shake hands. Bruce gestures her to her seat, and sits down across from her. He looks into her eyes. They share a moment. “You have beautiful breasts,” he says, and the worst date in human history is on its way. [Read more...]

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