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Monday, November 23, 2009

    [ B ]  Mark Rylance and Rachel Weisz Top Winners at Evening Standard Awards

    [ TM ]  Mark Rylance, Rachel Weisz, et al. Win Evening Standard Awards

    [ P ]  Jerusalem Named Best Play in London Evening Standard Theatre Awards; Special Award to Ian McKellen

    [ P ]  Broadway Grosses: Nov. 6-22

    [ NYT ]  ArtsBeat
    Audience and Box Office Drops at 'God of Carnage' as New Cast Takes Over By PATRICK HEALY

    [ TM ]  Michael Feinstein and Dame Edna's All About Me To Begin Performances February 19 at the Golden Theatre

    [ P ]  Feinstein and Everage's All About Me to Bow at the Golden

    [ B ]  All About Me, Starring Michael Feinstein and Dame Edna, Finds a Theater

    [ NYT ]  Refugees From a Flop, Broadway Bound Again By PATRICK HEALY

    Within a week, the actors Jessica Hecht and Santino Fontana went from closing "Brighton Beach Memoirs" to landing parts in "A View From the Bridge."

    [ B ]  Santino Fontana and Jessica Hecht Hop from Brighton Beach Memoirs to A View from the Bridge

    [ P ]  Cristofer, Fontana, Hecht, Stoll Join Broadway's View From the Bridge

    [ P ]  Waiting for Godot to Return to the West End; Rees Will Wait With McKellen

    [ B ]  Burn the Floor Announces Final Extension, with Mary Murphy, Edyta Sliwinska and Alec Mazo Joining the Cast

    [ TM ]  Mary Murphy, Edyta Sliwinska, Alec Mazo To Join Broadway's Burn the Floor on January 12

    [ P ]  Burn the Floor Extends to February 2010; New Guest Stars Announced

    [ NYT ]  ArtsBeat
    Blame the Academy: Marc Shaiman Is Oscars' Musical Director By DAVE ITZKOFF

    On Monday, he spoke about his plans for the Oscars show (which will be broadcast on March 7), and explained why he hopes to be "the Adam Lambert of the Academy Awards."

    [ TM ]  Marc Shaiman To Be Music Director for 82nd Academy Awards

    [ P ]  Tony Winner Marc Shaiman Will Be Academy Awards Music Director

    [ B ]  Cirque du Soleil's Big Top Production Ovo Lands in New York on April 9

    [ TM ]  Cirque du Soleil's Ovo To Begin New York Engagement April 9

    [ TM ]  Elizabeth Marvel Set for Polly Stenham's That Face at Manhattan Theatre Club

    [ P ]  Benson Will Direct Marvel in MTC's That Face in 2010

    [ TM ]  Adam James to Join Hugh Dancy, Andrea Riseborough, Ben Whishaw in MCC's The Pride

    [ P ]  Adam James Joins MCC's The Pride, With Dancy, Risenborough, Whishaw

    [ B ]  Anna Deavere Smith's Let Me Down Easy Extends Again

    [ TM ]  Anna Deavere Smith's Let Me Down Easy Extends Until January 3

    [ TM ]  Brent Barrett Extends Chicago Run Through March

    [ TM ]  Soho Rep. Announces Casting for Young Jean Lee's LEAR

    [ P ]  Fugard's The Train Driver Will Receive South African Premiere in 2010

    [ P ]  Playblog: 007 and Wolverine Give Shirts Off Their Backs, Raise More Than $1 Million for BC/EFA

    [ P ]  Playblog: After "Nine," Marshall Sets Sail with "Pirates"

    [ P ]  Playblog: Boyle's "I Dreamed A Dream" Breaks Amazon Record

    "Dreamgirls":

    [ V ]  Composer, theater go way back By GORDON COX

    Krieger has a history with the Apollo

    [ WABC ]  "Dreamgirls" debuts at the Apollo

    [ P ]  PLAYBILL ON OPENING NIGHT: Dreamgirls - Of Dreams and Dreamettes

    [ TM ]  Dreamgirls
    Reviewed by: Brian Scott Lipton

    Moya Angela gives a star-making performance as Effie White in Robert Longbottom's enjoyable revival of the hit Broadway musical.

    [ EW ]  Dreamgirls
    Reviewed by Tanner Stransky (B+)

    [ TONY ]  Dreamgirls
    Review by Adam Feldman

    The weaknesses melt away under the heat of the show's standout songs, especially as performed by Moya Angela and the extraordinary Chester Gregory.

    [ TB ]  Dreamgirls
    Review by Matthew Murray

    Admittedly, Robert Longbottom's new mounting of the show, which is playing at the Apollo through December 12 before embarking on a national tour, could be a bit better. But this is still a rip-roaring way to kick off the holiday season without seeing an actual Christmas show.

    [ YN ]  'Dreamgirls' returns to its Apollo Theater roots By MICHAEL KUCHWARA, AP Drama Critic

    "Dreamgirls" has come home with its glitter, glitz and gusto mostly intact.

    [ OOB ]  Dreamgirls - Review by Matt Windman

    In spite of some issues with acting, "Dreamgirls" is still a lot of fun and a great musical.

    [ NJNR ]  Okay 'Dreamgirls' visits the Apollo Theater BY MICHAEL SOMMERS

    Hot visuals and energetic staging bolster some so-so performances

    "Bonnie & Clyde":

    [ SDUT ]  Road to Broadway a rough ride By James Hebert

    Many local shows make arduous trek

    [ SDUT ]  The big score: 'Bonnie and Clyde' By James Hebert

    Frank Wildhorn broadens his trademark sound for La Jolla Playhouse's true-crime musical

    [ SDUT ]  He puts the 'multi' in multitasker By James Hebert

    Charlie Reuter covers it all, from the orchestra pit to the stage

    [ DMT ]  'Bonnie & Clyde' now a musical at the LJ Playhouse By Diana Saenger

    [ SD ]  Review: "Bonnie & Clyde" at the La Jolla Playhouse By Welton Jones

    It's hard not to respect this show and the professionalism it shows. But it's impossible to take it very seriously as anything more than tabloid dabbling. That may be sufficient.

    "In the Next Room":

    [ NY ]  Up-and-Comer: Laura Benanti By Boris Kachka

    [ TNO ]  PROGRESS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PRODUCT by MATT WINDMAN

    Sarah Ruhl's first Broadway play is raw, fascinating and madly entertaining.

    [ TE ]  In the Next Room or the vibrator play - Review by OSCAR E. MOORE

    To coin a phrase, it's pleasurable, but fleeting. Soon after the initial feeling of well being you discover that something is still wanting.

    [ NYer ]  Good Vibrations by John Lahr

    Sarah Ruhl and "Finian's Rainbow" score.

    [ DCTS ]  Ruhl's In the Next Room and Love Child

    Richard Seff takes a look at Sarah Ruhl's In the Next Room (or the vibrator play) and finds much to like with the 2 actor 22 character Love Child.

    Other Reviews:

    [ TB ]  Zero Hour
    Review by Matthew Murray

    Timing, as they say, is everything, and Zero Hour doesn't have it.

    [ CU ]  The Age of Iron

    Brian Kulick merges Shakespeare with Heywood at Classic Stage

    [ LAT ]  Culture Monster
    Review: 'Love's Labour's Lost' at the Broad Stage by Charles McNulty

    This scenically alluring touring production from England of "Love's Labour's Lost," which opened Friday at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica, put me in mind of an Elizabethan greeting card - or at least one of those gift shop facsimiles that bring on a sudden overpowering urge for tea and scones with jam.

    [ CU ]  Love's Labour's Lost

    In botched hands, Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost can be a labor indeed. Leave it to a proven company to make something very difficult look very easy

    [ CU ]  Three Mo' Divas

    It is a grand and glorious concert that should satisfy everyone who loves terrific singing and is able to feel the excitement that is stirred by this grand company.

    [ NYP ]  A hard-time epic begins on the right Foote By ELISABETH VINCENTELLI (***)

    [ BSR ]  Hope vs. fear in Florence by STEVE COHEN

    The Philadelphia Theatre Company's version of The Light in the Piazza is a unique accomplishment, adapting the look of New York's spacious Lincoln Center production to a smaller stage. It's a great re-interpretation of a gentle musical about fragile people.

    [ BSR ]  An emotional Renaissance by DAN ROTTENBERG

    This first-rate adaptation of Elizabeth Spencer's novella combines elements that are more original, sensitive, personal, even courageous than we're accustomed to find in musical theater. But The Light in the Piazza suffers from two serious flaws.

    [ NYT ]  Those Amorous Lyrics, Borrowed From the Birds By STEPHEN HOLDEN

    The singer Ann Hampton Callaway brought the house to its feet as the New York Pops orchestra celebrated the centennial of the songwriter Johnny Mercer.

    [ NYT ]  CRITICS' CHOICE: New CDs

    New releases from Rihanna, Kris Allen, Adam Lambert, Shakira, Susan Boyle and Leona Lewis.

    [ DN ]  Sweet tone aside, Susan Boyle's is not the voice of experience by Jim Farber (** 1/2)

    Gossip:

    [ DN ]  Gatecrasher: Jude Law, Sienna Miller get cozy in the lower East Side at The Box with friends

    [ NY ]  Tinsley Mortimer Caught on Film Canoodling With Constantine Maroulis

    News:

    [ P ]  Playblog: Disney on Broadway on TV

    [ TM ]  Alan Cumming, Cheyenne Jackson, Jane Krakowski, Cyndi Lauper, et al. Set for Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

    [ P ]  Playblog: Cheyenne Plays to Win

    [ TM ]  Jane Krakowski, Barry Manilow, Shakira, et al. Set for Christmas in Rockefeller Center Special

    [ TM ]  Leslie Caron, Michael Feinstein, Cheyenne Jackson, Twyla Tharp, et al. Set for December Barnes & Noble Events

    [ P ]  Jackson, Feinstein, Caron, Egan and More to Make Barnes and Noble Appearances

    [ P ]  Huber and Dvorsky to Hear The Sound of Music in Houston

    [ TM ]  Daniel Reichard to Offer Gettin' on the Good List Benefit Concerts

    [ P ]  Gwon, James, Zbornik, Burgess and More Set for Friends With Benefits

    [ P ]  Playblog: Spring Awakening YouTube Campaign Gets Nommed

    [ P ]  Vocal Quartet The Tonics to Reunite in February 2010

    [ P ]  Liz Callaway Will Welcome the New Year at the Metropolitan

    [ P ]  Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding Extended Again in Toronto

    [ P ]  A Christmas Story Will Return to Cleveland Play House

    [ P ]  Anna Deavere Smith's Let Me Down Easy Extends to January 2010

    [ P ]  Pedi to Offer a Holly Jolly Christmas Folly! at the Beechman in December

    [ P ]  Shepard Will Star in "Tough Trade" Pilot for Epix

    [ P ]  Linda Marlowe Brings Carol Ann Duffy's The World's Wife to London Stage

    [ TM ]  ABC Daytime Benefit for Broadway Cares Set for March 21

    [ LAT ]  Memorial celebration to be held for late comedy writer Larry Gelbart

    [ P ]  James, Keenan-Bolger, Pasquale, Kennedy and More Will Help Dre.dance Celebrate Fifth Anniversary

    [ P ]  Robin Williams Reveals Weapons of Self-Destruction at NYC's Town Hall Nov. 23

    [ P ]  Osnes and Sands Are Shooting Stars of Bonnie & Clyde, the Musical, Opening in CA

    [ P ]  Sweet Charity Begins Performances at London's Menier Chocolate Factory Nov. 21

    [ P ]  A Daughter's A Daughter, Penned by Agatha Christie Under an Alias, Will Get West End Premiere

    [ P ]  Lady with All the Answers Extends Off-Broadway Run

  • Posted by Tim Dunleavy at 7:20 PM | Item Link


      • This morning's Peter Filichia:

      [ TM ]  The Plays That Changed Their Lives

      Bless Howard Sherman and Ben Hodges. They're responsibly for a stirringly marvelous book called The Play That Changed My Life, which is subtitled America's Foremost Playwrights on the Plays That Influenced Them. (Applause, 179 pp, $18.99).

      This morning's news:

      [ P ]  Afrobeat Musical Fela! Opens On Broadway Nov. 23

      [ P ]  Broderick and Moreno Stargaze for Lonergan's Messenger, Opening Off-Broadway Nov. 23

      [ P ]  Bock and Harnick Receive Hammerstein Award Nov. 23; Cook, Kuhn, Kudisch and More Will Sing

      [ P ]  Robin Williams Reveals Weapons of Self-Destruction at NYC's Town Hall Nov. 23

      [ P ]  O'Donnell's Extravaganza, with Blonsky, Creel, Doolittle, Glover, Lewis, Plays the Palace

      [ P ]  Lights, Camera, Aitken! Director Puts a Hollywood Spin on As You Like It in DC; LaChiusa Adds Music

      [ P ]  London Evening Standard Theatre Awards Handed Out Nov. 23; Jerusalem, Enron, and August Among Nominees

      This morning's features:

      [ NYT ]  Photos from the revival at the Apollo Theater

      [ P ]  Today in Theatre History

      This morning's reviews of Dreamgirls:

      [ NYT ]  Hopeful Divas Back Where It All Began, by Ben Brantley

      Robert Longbottom's revival of Dreamgirls is a bluntly drawn, pastels-saturated production.

      [ NYP ]  Dreams are made on such stuff, by Elisabeth Vincentelli

      And I am telling you: You are going. Granted, this revival of Dreamgirls didn't bode well. A touring production hatched in South Korea, it feels spare not by design but by necessity. William Ivey Long designed hundreds of costumes, but the wigs look kinda cheap, the orchestra is too small and the basic set consists of five floor-to-ceiling rotating panels that double as LED screens. Warning bells also accompanied the name of director-choreographer Robert Longbottom, the man who just mangled Bye Bye Birdie. And yet, this "Dreamgirls" is incredibly entertaining, even when the seams are showing.

      [ DN ]  A Supreme Dream at the Apollo Theater, by Joe Dziemianowicz

      It's showtime at the Apollo for Dreamgirls. The new touring version of the Broadway classic launched yesterday in Harlem, and although the show could use more scenic pizazz, it's lively and packed with talent.

      [ ND ]  Dreamgirls takes a turn at Harlem's Apollo, by Linda Winer

      How smart to kick off a new touring revival of Dreamgirls with a few weeks at the Apollo Theater. Of course, both the 1981 show and the 2006 movie begin with a talent contest at the legendary Harlem landmark, which for 75 years has been introducing newcomers and showcasing stars through the ups and downs of West 125th Street. With a gifted company of virtual unknowns, the musical plays with and within the wonderfully restored theater as if both were forever young.

      Oops, sorry Newsday, but the movie doesn't start at the Apollo Theater. That was changed for the film. (And, I would say, not for the better.)

      [ BLOOM ]  Apollo Dreamgirls Sparkles With Sequins, Stars, by Jeremy Gerard

      In some of its key elements, this revival—first mounted in Korea and heading to Baltimore on a national tour after its five-week run here—is a rough facsimile of the original. But this Dreamgirls is a show with killer looks, music to spare, and a couple of new stars in its pocket.

      [ V ]  Reviewed by David Rooney

      There's bad news and good about the much-anticipated revival of Dreamgirls, kicking off, like the action of the show itself, on the storied stage of Harlem's Apollo Theater before a national tour. Cultists of the 1981 musical about an African-American girl group's rise to success might have been hoping for a Broadway-caliber production that would demand a midtown New York return. In most ways that count, this staging falls short of that wish. But as a road property, it's top-tier, packaged to travel and stuffed with vocal talent that does justice to Henry Krieger's sensational songs and helps compensate for stiff acting and a shortage of emotional clout.

      [ BS ]  Reviewed by David Sheward

      This national tour production of the 1981 hit girl-group musical is far from a knockoff of the original and is a dream come true.

      [ HR ]  Reviewed by Frank Scheck

      Any staging of the musical Dreamgirls has a lot of history to contend with. Anyone who saw the now legendary original 1981 production so brilliantly directed by Michael Bennett will never forget it, and the 2006 movie version was no slouch either. The current revival, playing a limited run at the Apollo Theater before beginning a national tour and a possible return to Broadway, is unlikely to erase anyone's memories. But it generally gets the job done, and anyone approaching the show without too much baggage is likely to have a fine time.

      This morning's reviews of Zero Hour:

      [ V ]  Reviewed by Sam Thielman

      "Everything is less than zero," sang Elvis Costello in 1977, and if anyone would have wholeheartedly agreed, it was Zero Mostel. Jim Brochu paints a remarkably sympathetic portrait of the famously egomaniacal performer in his solo show Zero Hour, about the life and times of a guy who survived everything from the blacklist to a disagreement with an out-of-control bus and still managed to thrive. Writer-performer Brochu, who's been doing the show for years, nicely mimics Mostel's blustery style and tosses off an assortment of the actor's best Borscht-belt gags into the bargain.

      [ BS ]  Reviewed by Erik Haagensen

      Jim Brochu not only creates an astonishing physical resemblance to Zero Mostel, capturing his distinctive body language and vocal patterns, Brochu goes deep under the skin to reveal the man's complicated psyche and conflicted soul.

      [ TM ]  Reviewed by David Finkle

      Jim Brochu gives a remarkably accurate performance as actor Zero Mostel in this entertaining solo show.

      [ CU ]  Reviewed by Simon Saltzman

      Zero Hour is an informed, absorbing, highly entertaining one-person play written by and also starring Jim Brochu. It happily serves not only as a showcase for the actor but also as a delectably insightful homage to the great comic/dramatic actor Zero Mostel.

      This morning's reviews of The Age of Iron:

      [ BS ]  Reviewed by Adam R. Perlman

      When did Classic Stage Company get into the bloated, mindboggling miniseries business?

      [ TM ]  Reviewed by Andy Propst

      Classic Stage Company's melding of Troilus and Cressida and The Iron Age boasts beautifully conceived performances and a top-notch physical production.

      [ CU ]  Reviewed by Deirdre Donovan

      Brian Kulick's The Age of Iron at Classic Stage is not for purists. Blending Thomas Heywood's Iron Age with Shakespeare's satirical Troilus and Cressida, Kulick retells the epic story of the Trojan War with a new twist. Kulick's concept panders its theatrical wares with a sharp-eyed intelligence and some fine acting, though the concept fails on several dramatic levels.

      This morning's other reviews:

      [ NYT ]  Camels, Claus, Nativity and Oh, Those Rockettes, by Daniel M. Gold

      If it's a promotional cliché to say that The Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular is part of New York's holiday season tradition, it's also a fact.

      [ CU ]  In the Next Room or the vibrator play, reviewed by Elyse Sommer

      Thomas Edison lit up the world. And Sarah Ruhl, whose reputation as a playwright of great imagination has been gilded with the stardust of prestigious awards and productions, has harnessed a by-product of the age of electricity that Edison launched, to light up the stage with a fresh variation of the drawing room comedy.

      [ CU ]  A Civil War Christmas: An American Musical Celebration, reviewed by Lawrence Switzky

      Paula Vogel's A Civil War Christmas, the holiday offering at the Huntington Theater, is a grandly, even madly ambitious, event. On Christmas Eve, 1864, we career from the battlefields of northern Virginia (full of African-American soldiers) to Mary Todd Lincoln hunting down a Bavarian-style Christmas tree, to a little girl lost in the snow while fleeing imaginary slave-catchers. This is a noble step towards the creation of a new genre in American theater, a hybrid of British pantomime, a church pageant, and a Dickens novel with a multicultural spin.

      [ CU ]  A Moon To Dance By, reviewed by Simon Saltzman

      I don't know what exactly brought The Merry Widow to mind as I was watching Thom Thomas's immensely entertaining A Moon To Dance By, which had its premiere last February at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. But I can attest to with assurance that Franz Lehar's adored heroine doesn't hold a candle to Thomas's, whom Jane Alexander is giving a sensually ripe portrayal.

      [ V ]  Show Boat at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia, reviewed by Paul Harris

      Signature Theater specializes in right-sizing hefty musicals for today's budgets, as with Les Miserables last season and earlier with Rodgers and Hammerstein's Allegro. Its latest undertaking is Hammerstein and Kern's 1927 staple Show Boat, reduced from 48-plus performers to a manageable 25 and staged on a modest set without a paddlewheel in sight. While the resulting production offers an appealing display of the musical's timeless melodies, it sorely misses the colorful trappings and can't hide an antiquated book that will appear ever so distant to 21st-century auds.

      I'm not sure I agree with Mr. Harris's comments about the demerits of the show's book. It's not what most of us would consider a tightly integrated libretto for today, true, but it's astonishingly forward-thinking for 1927, and I would argue that it presses strongly for social and racial equality even if it doesn't use a megaphone to shout that message time and time again. Of course, I would also say the same thing about The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which takes place during at least some of about the same time period; I think it's possible—and usually even preferable—to make statements subtly, letting people discover them on their own rather than shoving them in their faces. For me, that's what Show Boat has always done. I haven't seen this production, so I can't say how well it does or doesn't work, but I think anyone who thinks that Show Boat is in any way racially insensitive doesn't really know or care about the show at all.

    • Posted by Matthew Murray at 6:04 AM | Item Link


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