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Monday, April 14, 2008

    [ ECO ]  NYTW Production Staff FIRED

    Blog scoops NYT. Again.

    [ NYT ]  An Off Broadway Institution Lets Its Production Staff Go

    All six employees on the production staff of the New York Theater Workshop have been told that they will be laid off as of May 30, and that their jobs will be performed in the future by temporary workers in a bid to cut costs.

  • Posted by James Marino at 6:20 PM | Item Link


      • [ B ]  Broadway Grosses: South Pacific Shows Strength

      [ P ]  Broadway Grosses: April 7-13

      [ NYP ]  LIZ SMITH

      THE INSIDE story of the flacks of "Young Frankenstein" is that they are fighting back against those who say this Mel Brooks project has been a "disappointment."

      [ DN ]  Jo Piazza

      Broadway's "Young Frankenstein" is looking to dip into the "American Idol" pool when Sutton Foster drops out of the lead role of Inga in August. The show is hoping to nab country singer Carrie Underwood or even current "Idol" wanna-be Kristy Lee Cook.

      [ LAT ]  Gold Derby by Tom O'Neil
      Scott Rudin to The Envelope: Let's clear up all 'Doubt'

      [ GAWKER ]  Crazy Socialite Brings Broadway Divorce Battle to Youtube

      Features:

      [ WP ]  Sondheim's Sound, in the Key of 'Sorry-Grateful' By Nelson Pressley

      If you like Stephen Sondheim musicals, pause for a moment and ask yourself why. Is it for the witty lyrics? The bittersweet stories?
      You're lucky if it's not for the music.

      [ TS ]  Benedict Cammpbell's Wake-up Call by Richard Ouzounian

      Everything changed for venerable actor the day he was diagnosed with prostate cancer

      [ NYP ]  CINDY ADAMS
      FREEMAN PROJECT: MAKING 'GIRL' A HIT

      [ CT ]  Cast of distinction By Chris Jones

      Would Tracy Letts have won the Pulitzer for 'August' without the Chicago performers?

      [ BR ]  Not-for-profit companies' delicate balance by Robert Feldberg

      [ V ]  Tennessee waltzes back with lost play

      N.Y. production of 'House' may become a reality

      [ B ]  SPECIAL VIDEO SECTION: Meet the Family of A Catered Affair

      [ LAT ]  PLAYWRIGHTS ON WRITING: Richard Greenberg's fresh perspective

      The phrase 'sad little play' hung in his mind -- no way did he want them applied to his new script. Perhaps it was time to rearrange his thinking.

      [ TM ]  The White Stuff By: Brian Scott Lipton

      From Up Here's Julie White discusses returning to New York, playing mothers, her obsession with Project Runway, and Mickey Rooney's revenge.

      [ JN ]  Open season on 'Port Authority' By Peter D. Kramer

      John Gallagher Jr. knew he had to be careful with the follow-up to his Tony Award-winning performance in "Spring Awakening."

      [ NJ ]  Composers hope this 'Cry-Baby' thrives on extra helping of snark by Jay Lustig

      [ NYP ]  PAGE SIX

      IF Bruce Springsteen has a beef with the new Broadway musical "Glory Days" for ripping off one of his hits, he shouldn't blame its creators.

      [ NYT ]  Star of Stage, Screen, TV and Bathtub By DAVE ITZKOFF

      Craig Bierko reinvents himself as a talk-show host with a difference (and a lot of soap and water).

      [ V ]  Musical slate way up Down Under

      It's always feast or famine in the musical theater market in Australia, but right now auds are feasting like never before.

      [ DN ]  Classic rock 'n' roll - with lotsa Rapp BY MICHAEL GILTZ

      Don't expect to hear any old-fashioned show tunes when Broadway star Anthony Rapp performs at Queens Theatre in the Park on Saturday night.

      [ V ]  Broadway stages switcheroo

      'August' and '39 Steps' swap venues

      [ V ]  'Evil Dead' kills in South Korea

      Canadian adaptation a hit overseas

      [ NYT ]  A Distinguished Professor With a Ph.D. in Nonsense By COREY KILGANNON

      Irwin Corey, a 93-year old comedian, is being billed as "The World's Foremost Authority," a reference to his trademark style of highfalutin double talk and long, nonsensical observations.

      [ LSJ ]  Dreams, real life collide with controversy and hilarity on 'Avenue Q' by Mike Hughes

      [ NYT ]  Letter
      'South Pacific': Pinza a Geezer? Hardly.

      [ B ]  VIDEO: On the Scene: Spring Awakening Star Lea Michele Sings Solo at Feinstein's

      [ B ]  VIDEO: On the Scene: Spamalot's Clay Aiken Cements Broadway Idol Status at Planet Hollywood

      [ LAT ]  Gold Derby by Tom O'Neil
      QUIZ: Which role did not win an Oscar and Tony?

      [ B ]  PHOTO OP: Bette Midler Rocks Out at Passing Strange

      [ B ]  PHOTO OP: Angela Lansbury is the Guest of Honor at A Catered Affair

      [ B ]  PHOTO OP: Taye Diggs Gets a Dose of Xanadu Magic

      [ P ]  PHOTO CALL: The/King/Operetta in Concert at Joe's Pub

      [ P ]  MARQUEE VALUE: Les Liaisons Dangereuses at American Airlines Theatre

      [ B ]  STAGE NOTES BLOG: Photo Tease: Hottie on the Line

      [ P ]  PHOTO CALL: Mario Lopez Rehearses for Broadway Bow in A Chorus Line

      "My Fair Lady":

      [ P ]  PHOTO CALL: My Fair Lady National Tour Opens in Los Angeles

      [ LAT ]  THEATER REVIEW: 'My Fair Lady' at the Ahmanson By Charles McNulty

      By George, the old girl is indestructible.

      [ CU ]  My Fair Lady

      Revisiting the stage production of this classic musical is like going to your high school reunion and finding that high school sweetheart really deserved to be your first love and that there was more to her than met the eye.

      [ V ]  My Fair Lady
      Review By BOB VERINI

      Part of an ongoing U.S. tour that so far has bypassed Gotham, production is a more character-driven, deeply felt "My Fair Lady" than most (and more so than the 1964 film). But at the price of a certain heaviness, material's essential joie de vivre is offset by a cold center.

      Other Reviews:

      [ BN ]  Rudnick Aims for Cheap Yucks, Hits Mark in New Show: John Simon

      [ BN ]  Cleopatra Captivates Boy From Oz; Goering's Forger: John Simon

      [ BS ]  Fire Island - Reviewed by JERRY PORTWOOD

      Charles Mee's play attempts to capture the fleeting seduction of a summer weekend in the popular island retreat. In the hands of director Kevin Cunningham, it becomes a Felliniesque video-art piece.

      [ CU ]  Fire Island

      A rare marriage of material and production which director Kevin Cunningham weaves into an exuberant whole.

      [ NJ ]  Oh, to be in love at the beach BY MICHAEL SOMMERS

      An unorthodox event perhaps enjoyed best by the younger crowd -- or at least the younger at heart -- "Fire Island" offers an overlapping series of conversations regarding love, passion and the ebb and flow of relationships.

      [ TM ]  Fire Island
      Reviewed by: Patrick Lee

      Charles Mee's latest collage piece is visually impressive but lacks the narrative drive to sustain its 90-minute length.

      [ WP ]  Two of a Kind? No, but Ripley and Skinner Make a Winning Pair By Nelson Pressley

      [ TM ]  What They Have
      Costa Mesa Review by: Rob Stevens

      Kate Robin's world premiere about two different couples in Hollywood is one of the best plays of the year.

      [ LAT ]  THEATER REVIEW: 'What They Have' By Charles McNulty

      A privileged quartet tackles failure and loss in the gabby play at South Coast Rep.

      [ NYT ]  'Three Girls and Their Brother' By THERESA REBECK
      Reviewed by JANET MASLIN

      Theresa Rebeck, a playwright, screenwriter and television writer, has written an amusing if one-note debut novel.

      [ BS ]  Untitled Mars (This Title May Change) - Reviewed by JERRY PORTWOOD

      The intentionally confused acting by a talented international cast keeps the plot from being obvious; the entire performance feels as if it might have sprouted organically in some creative hot house.

      [ TM ]  Satyagraha
      Reviewed by: David Finkle

      Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch bring a timeless production of Philip Glass' 1979 opera about Mahatma Gandhi to the Met.

      [ V ]  Better Late
      Review By STEVEN OXMAN

      There's no questioning the commercial appeal of this show. It skates along an elegant surface while acknowledging the deeper waters below.

      [ CST ]  Bickering, shtick and pith BY HEDY WEISS

      Veteran actors at home in TV writers' play about family transitions

      [ NYT ]  In a One-Man Show, the Essence of Dr. King By NAOMI SIEGEL

      "The Man in Room 306" challenges the audience to confront viscerally one of the most tragic moments in our country's history: the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

      [ TB ]  The Man in Room 306 and Rounding Third
      New Jersey Reviews by Bob Rendell

      [ NYT ]  Tomorrow's Hopes Tinged With Regret By ANITA GATES

      In the Westport Country Playhouse's wry new production of "Time of My Life," the play opens with a guest who is about to be sick and then things get uglier - in a civilized British way.

      [ LAT ]  Like marriage, musical revival has two sides By Daryl H. Miller

      Following 50 years of family life, 'I Do! I Do!' has periods of dullness but also offers humor and promise.

      [ INQ ]  A muscular take on 'Piano Lesson' By Wendy Rosenfield

      [ PRESS ]  SPLIT DECISION By Leonard Jacobs

      Democracy in America turns de Tocqueville topsy-turvy

      [ TB ]  The Scene
      Connecticut Review by Fred Sokol

      [ CU ]  Great Expectations

      This musical has the advantage of not only hitting all the plot points but providing back story on Miss Haversham's lover not revealed in any other production. It also illuminates psychological underpinnings undreamt of by Dickens but part of what made his work so memorable.

      [ BS ]  Lainie Kazan - Reviewed by DAVID FINKLE

      What do you do when a singer gets two-thirds of the way through a set and then mentions dealing with a little flu problem? You cut the performer some slack.

      [ SUN ]  Maggart Makes Her Own Meaning By WILL FRIEDWALD

      News:

      [ P ]  Tour of Duty: Lincoln Center Theater's South Pacific Will Likely Take to the Road

      [ V ]  'Wicked' storms through Florida

      Road Grosses

      [ P ]  Belton and Miller Set for Carousel at Long Wharf

      [ TM ]  Full Cast, Creative Team Set for Long Wharf's Carousel

      [ P ]  Byrne and DePaiva Spend Other People's Money at the Engeman

      [ TM ]  Martha Byrne, James DePaiva, et al. Set for Engeman's Other People's Money

      [ TM ]  Olympia Dukakis and Louis Zorich to Star in The Other Side of the Island

      [ TM ]  Raymond Bokhour to Return to Broadway's Chicago on April 28

      [ B ]  It's a Chicago Homecoming for Raymond Bokhour

      [ TM ]  Andreas, Irving, Merrill, Powell, et al. to Pay Tribute to Kitty Carlisle Hart at Feinstein's

      [ TM ]  Make Me A Song CD Will Be Released on April 29

      [ TM ]  Full Casting Announced for Pasadena Playhouse's Of Mice and Men

      [ P ]  Oscar Nominations to Be Announced in January 2009

      [ P ]  Arkansas Rep Has Les Miz, Tommy and More Lined Up for 2008-09

      [ P ]  Christie Is The Unexpected Guest for Alley's Summer Chills Series

      [ P ]  Tony Winner Cooper Stars in Swamp Dwellers Reading with Cathey and Jones

      [ P ]  Tony Administration Committee Schedules Final Meeting of the 2007-2008 Theatre Season

      [ P ]  Look Mom, I'm Swell!, Solo Show by Philly's Braithwaite, Returns to Arden April 24

      [ TM ]  Full Cast, Creative Team Set for Jollyship the Whiz-Bang

      [ P ]  Listener of Junk City Named Weston's New Musical Award Winner

      [ P ]  LaMaMa to Present Four Days for Darfur Fundraiser April 27-30

      [ P ]  Alers, Dowling, Green, Murphy, Rodriguez and Stovall Set for Liberty Reading

      [ P ]  Eccentricities Cast Reads Tennessee Williams at Barnes and Noble April 15

      [ NYT ]  Corrections: For the Record

      [ TM ]  Edward Scissorhands to Launch International Tour

      [ CT ]  'Hizzoner' headed to Little Italy: Richard I meets Frank Sinatra by Chris Jones

      [ P ]  McGowan to Join Cast of West End Cabaret

      [ P ]  Talk Show Watch: Julie Andrews on "Craig Ferguson" and "Rachael Ray"

      [ P ]  Today In Theatre History: APRIL 14

      [ P ]  Palminteri, Trujillo and August Cast Present 2008 Touring Broadway Awards April 14

      [ P ]  Spamalot's Dean Stars in Joe Bean Reading April 14

      [ P ]  Gay Men's Chorus Gala Features Callaway, McCartney and McNight April 14

      [ P ]  Leslie Jordan's My Trip Down the Pink Carpet Plays New World Stages April 14

      [ P ]  Daisey Ponders How Theater Failed America at Joe's Pub Beginning April 14

      [ P ]  Class in Session: Rudetsky Presents Broadway 101, with Groff, McArdle and Murney, April 14

      [ P ]  Adding Machine Troupers Sing for Cast Album April 14

      [ P ]  Wicked's Cates Hosts April 14 New Voices Concert

      [ P ]  Today In Theatre History: APRIL 13

      [ P ]  Thurgood, Starring Laurence Fishburne, Begins Broadway Run April 12

      [ P ]  Old Globe's Menagerie, with Emmy Winner Winningham, Begins April 12

      [ P ]  French Kiss: Linney and Daniels Spar in Broadway Return of Liaisons April 12

      [ CST ]  Mary Poppins,' 'Xanadu' herald 2009 Broadway in Chicago Season BY HEDY WEISS

      [ CT ]  Broadway in Chicago's 2009 season: Palminteri, 'Chorus Line,' 'Xanadu' by Chris Jones

      [ TM ]  Mario Lopez Set to Become Chorus Line's Zach on April 15

      [ P ]  Gelbart & Wright's Better Late Extended at Northlight

      [ TM ]  Bell, Butz, Ebersole to Announce Drama League Award Nominations

      [ B ]  Butz, Ebersole & Bell to Announce Drama League Nominees

      [ TM ]  Lee Tergesen Joins Cameron, et al. in Second Stage's Good Boys and True

      [ TM ]  Sir Derek Jacobi to be Honored at DC's Helen Hayes Awards

      [ TM ]  Boris Kodjoe to Temporarily Play Cat's Brick Starting April 15

    • Posted by Tim Dunleavy at 4:42 PM | Item Link


        • Today's Peter Filichia:

        [ TM ]  Oh, Happy Theatergoers

        You know what expression you don't much hear any more? "The Fabulous Invalid." It was a term often used in the early part of the last century to describe theater as an ailing endangered species—please take you medicine, dear stage—but something that always seemed to survive, no matter what. And if we could pick one musical to typify the fabulous invalid, wouldn't it have to be Candide?

        [ NS-L ]  Jolly Roger, thanks to May

        She's still at it, and today's theatergoers are going to be mighty glad she is. Almost a half-century ago, Elaine May was spoofing telephone calls. Now, at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, May shows she's kept up with the technological times in the world premiere of her winning comedy, Roger Is Dead.

        Today's news:

        [ P ]  The New Century, With Lavin, Houdyshell and Bartlett, Opens Off-Broadway April 14

        [ P ]  South Pacific Company Records CD April 14; Recording Due in May

        [ P ]  Listening Is Waiting: Passing Strange Records Live Cast Album at the Belasco April 14

        [ P ]  Butz, Ebersole and Bell to Announce Drama League Award Nominations

        [ P ]  Class in Session: Rudetsky Presents Broadway 101, with Groff, McArdle and Murney, April 14

        [ P ]  Karen Akers Will Move On to the Algonquin, May 13–June 14

        [ P ]  Tergesen Completes Cast of Off-Broadway's Good Boys and True

        [ P ]  NEO4 Concert to Feature Arden, Champlin, Noll, Osnes, Sapp and Steggert

        [ P ]  Gone with the Wind Cancels April 15 Preview; Director Nunn at Work

        [ P ]  Armstrong, Burden, Maceyak and Perlow Will Join Williamson for Pure Heaven

        [ P ]  Rent Tony Winner Heredia to Star in Avarice Reading

        [ P ]  Four Special Helen Hayes Recipients Announced, Including Jacobi and Taffety Punk Theatre

        [ P ]  Peter Hall's Bath Season to Feature James, Ibsen, Nichols and Bennett

        [ P ]  On the Record, by Steven Suskin

        Jim Dale and Glenn Close in Busker Alley and a Newly-Recorded Vernon Duke

        Today's features:

        [ NYer ]  A Thing Called Hope: The Timely Return of South Pacific, by John Lahr

        By the time South Pacific closed its run on Broadway, after five years and nineteen hundred and twenty-five performances, it had done its work in the world. But the show's defining impact was not financial; it was subliminal.

        [ NYT ]  Dramatic Power Couple: Theater Is Their Castle, by Charles McGrath

        The director Rupert Goold and his wife, the actress Kate Fleetwood, are working together in the Broadway production of Macbeth.

        [ NYT ]  Broadway's Cookie, Un-Sugarcoated

        Faith Prince is returning to Broadway in A Catered Affair, a risky show even by the standards of an insanely risky industry.

        [ NYT ]  A First-Timer Makes Rhett and Scarlett Sing, by Donna and David Kornhaber

        Margaret Martin is, to say the least, a highly unlikely choice to write the book, lyrics and music for a major West End musical version of Gone With the Wind.

        [ NYT ]  Give Their Attitude to Broadway, by Zachary Pincus-Roth

        The writers of the score for the musical Cry-Baby have gone from Fountains of Wayne and The Daily Show to a whole new stage.

        [ NYT ]  Examining the Economics of Off Off Broadway, by Campbell Robertson

        This week the New York Innovative Theater Foundation released what is intended to be the first of several studies of Off Off Broadway economics.

        [ NYT ]  The Playboy Was a Spy, by Stephen Koch

        "Celebrity was wonderful cover," Noël Coward said near the end of his life. "My disguise would be my own reputation as a bit of an idiot ... a merry playboy." In 1973, a month before he died, the epitome of flippant British sophistication decided to permit himself a few clipped words about one last secret.

        [ P ]  Hey, Old Friend: Glory Days Creators Write What They Know, by Kenneth Jones

        When Nick Blaemire and James Gardiner were infants, La Cage aux Folles, Sunday in the Park With George, and Big River were also coming into the world. No one would foresee that within 23 years, all three musicals would enjoy Broadway revivals and that young Blaemire and Gardiner—who had been pals since their high school years in Maryland—would be musical theatre writers with a Broadway show of their own.

        [ P ]  Onstage & Backstage, by Seth Rudetsky

        "Bravas" for Kristin and Matthew

        [ NYer ]  A Roundabout Route to A Catered Affair, by Wendy Weisman

        In 2004, composer John Bucchino received a fan letter from an unexpected source: the performer and polymath Harvey Fierstein. Mr. Bucchino, flattered by the attention, suggested they meet. Little did he know that his new fan already had lofty plans in mind.

        Today's reviews:

        [ V ]  Mark Twain's Blues, by Steven Suskin

        The final chapters of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn have long sparked controversy among Twain scholars, who concluded that the author, facing writer's block, tacked on a contrived ending that put a damper on what is nevertheless considered the first great American novel. That thesis is the starting point for Walt Stepp's Mark Twain's Blues, which has transferred Off Broadway after a limited engagement in February at Altered Stages.

        [ V ]  My Fair Lady, reviewed by Bob Verini

        While most productions of My Fair Lady are awash in class, the 2001 National Theater of Great Britain revival overflows with class consciousness. Original helmer Trevor Nunn unearths, within Lerner and Loewe's timeless tuner of transformation, a pertinent social critique harking back to Shaw's Pygmalion original. Part of an ongoing U.S. tour that so far has bypassed Gotham, production is a more character-driven, deeply felt My Fair Lady than most (and more so than the 1964 film). But at the price of a certain heaviness, material's essential joie de vivre is offset by a cold center.

        [ NYM ]  Nostalgia Is What It Used to Be, by Jeremy McCarter

        On a newly experimental Broadway, the naïvely optimistic South Pacific harks back to a different age.

      • Posted by Matthew Murray at 1:08 PM | Item Link


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