Xanadu, starring Olivia Newton John, bombed as a movie in 1980. It even won a Razzie Award as one of the worst films Hollywood produced that year. Its fortunes turned upward when Jeff Lynne, John Farrar and Douglas Carter Beane reconstituted it for Broadway, where it won four top Tony Award musical nominations.
The Wind in the Willows
June 29, 2011 By 1 Comment
Roll the clock back to Britain’s glorious Gilded Age of 1908 when Kenneth Grahame dreamed up this rambling adventure for his little son about animals with human traits and the importance of friendship. After seven motorcars wrecks, three hospitalizations and a sentencing to 20-years in prison for speeding and car theft, wacky Mr. Toad, who is mad about motorcars, discovers who his real friends are. Sounds like a Grimm’s Fairy Tale.
The Trumpet of the Swan
June 29, 2011 By 2 Comments
One small side-section of a theatre shelf should have a couple of the all-too-few works for children’s ears that combine oral storytelling and orchestral music – Peter and the Wolf, Tuby the Tuba, The Trumpet of the Swan. [Read more...]
Producer Charlie Fink – he’s not just in it for the money
June 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment
A theatrical producer wears more than just one hat. Yes, he is a financier, but he is not merely the stage world’s equivalent to an investment banker. He is also—at times—a critic, a midwife, a promoter, a supervisor, a mediator among numerous parties, and least recognized—an advocate for their local theater community. [Read more...]
Secrets to the set of Old Times
June 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Most interesting read of the morning: ‘White Hot Set’ from WeLoveDC. Jenn Larsen, seeing that minimalist all- white set for Old Times wondered what it took to create and maintain it. [Read more...]
The Merchant of Venice
June 27, 2011 By 3 Comments
It is Venice in the middle of the 16th century – or the mid-1920s, in New York’s Little Italy, as director Ethan McSweeny would have it; it doesn’t matter. Salerio (the excellent Andy Murray) has just heard something that is making him laugh. [Read more...]
Randy Danson’s Wicked return to town
June 27, 2011 By 1 Comment
In her life in the theater, Randy Danson has played a roll call of outsized women. Think of them: Clytemnestra in The Oresteia, Agave in The Bacchae, Mae Garga in In the Jungle of the Cities, Phaedra, Ahab’s Wife, Kate in The Taming of the Shrew, the Duchess of Malfi, Arkedina in Chekhov’s The Seagull, , Masha in The Three Sisters, Dr. Vivian Bearing in Wit, Lady Macbeth and, of course, Shen Ta/Shui Ta in The Good Person of Szechuan. [Read more...]
Spoleto Festival USA
June 27, 2011 By 3 Comments
There is a special feel when you take in performances at a festival. You get the excitement of discovery, a pilgrimage, and celebration all at once. It has as much to do with the juxtaposition of offerings as the offerings themselves. [Read more...]
Completely Hollywood (abridged)
June 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment
There’s nothing new under the sun, or in fact, under the Hollywood sign. The movie biz’s penchant for endlessly recycling itself is parodied in the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s show Completely Hollywood (abridged). [Read more...]
Step Afrika
June 24, 2011 By 2 Comments
SLAM tap tap tap tap… SLAM tap tap tap tap….
Like a shot from a gun or a huge book crashing to the ground, the SLAM defies description. It’s a sound not so much heard as felt. The impact of the man’s shoe on the stage sends vibrations into my chest. [Read more...]
