Scarlett Johansson made her Broadway debut in Arthur Miller’s “A View From The Bridge” and Victor Garber returned to Broadway after an absence of a dozen years in Noel Coward’s “Present Laughter” this week in New York Theater. A couple of British hits, both about painters, are moving to Broadway, and “The 39 Steps” is following in the steps of “Avenue Q.” Theatergoing Twitterers give a nasty goodbye to “Bye, Bye Birdie” — and Bye, Bye Birdie gives a nasty goodbye back. The $20 ticket makes a comeback Off-Broadway — and we learn the secret for seeing Broadway on the cheap.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Should Martin Luther King Be Humanized? My review of The Man In Room 306: Martin Luther King, Jr. had dreams of becoming a baseball player or an opera singer and nightmares that involved dead pigeons. He smoked cigarettes, drank whiskey and for a time carried a gun. Before his marriage to Coretta Scott he dated a white woman with thoughts of matrimony; afterwards he had extramarital affairs. He was a practical joker and liked to laugh. He changed the world.
Some of this I knew already; some of it sounds imagined; all of it is in
“The Man in Room 306,”…more
Today in Broadway history: The original “Ragtime” opened in 1998. It ran two years, 834 performances. The recent revival of “Ragtime” ran for 65 performances.
I asked the anonymous but ubiquitous BroadwayGirlNYC: How do rush tickets work? Does it depend on the show?
She replied: Here’s a great breakdown of rush policies on Broadway by show.
It’s from Playbill.com, which promises to upate the information regularly. Each show has a different policy. Here is an example:
“Wicked
Lottery Rush: Each day, two hours prior to show time (11:30 AM for 2 PM matinees; 12:30 PM for 3 PM matinees; 4:30 PM for 7 PM performances; 5:30 PM for 8 PM performances), people who present themselves at the Gershwin Theatre box office will have their names placed in a hat. Thirty minutes later, names will be drawn for 28 front-row seats at $26.50 each. This lottery is available only in-person at the box office, with a limit of 2 tickets per person, cash only. Photo-ID. ”
Now, when others are recuperating from the holiday season, is a good time to try for rush tickets.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Thanks to the popularity of “Fela!” on Broadway, all 45 of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s albums will be re-released as CDs, DVDs, even vinyl, in a roll-out starting February 26th.
New York Frigid Festival “an open and uncensored theater festival” begins Feb. 24th downtown.
Youtube video about 1st day of rehearsals for “The Miracle Worker”-- most impressive for its closed captioning
“The Miracle Worker” is about Helen Keller, but shouldn’t every promotional Youtube video have closed captioning? Why neglect the deaf community?
Closed captioning is for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, but for anybody who simply wants to follow every word (It is also for people who are watching in the office.)
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Playwright Theresa Rebeck has been hired to write the scripts for Showtime TV series about a Broadway musical, Steven Spielberg producer
“Red” with Alfred Molina as Mark Rothko -- he painted those hazy horizontal lines of color -- is coming to Broadway this season, say Riedel.
Jennifer (@IAmJennBee, a theater fan) says: I want to support good/important shows, but can’t justify one week’s grocery money on it. Need a happy medium.
Alli Houseworth (@allihouseworth, TKTS audience development coordinator) replies: I understand. Let me know if you ever need help finding affordable tix. Meanwhile keep talking about great shows! That’s support too
Veanne Cox (Tony Kushner’s Caroline, or Change) to star in Craig Wright’s”Blind,” re-telling of Oedipus, Rattlestick 224 Waverly February 17th to March 21st.
The Public Theater just announced its Emerging Writers Group 2010. “Now in its third season, Emerging Writers Group is an annual program that targets playwrights at the earliest stages of their careers”: Emerging Writers are Augusto Amador, Nikole Beckwith, Sukari Jones, Aaron Levy, Laura Marks, Anna Moench, Dominique Morisseau, Jerome Parker, and Stella Ragsdale
Miscast 2010, MCC Theater gala on March 1, features Raul Esparza, Sutton Foster, Cheyenne Jackson etc. doing songs from roles not right for them
Lee Hall, Tony-winner for “Billy Elliott,” to have another Broadway show in Sept, “The Pitmen Painters,” a UK hit, about miners who painted.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Following in the footsteps of Avenue Q, the ‘39 Steps’ will move Off-Broadway to New World Stages in March.
Open auditions for Hair today!
Linda Buchwald (@PataphysicalSci, theater blogger) At 8 a.m. the line went from front of Public down Lafayette to E. 4th, went up E. 4, then looped back around
The “national arts index” — a gauge of audience attendance, arts giving, etc. — lowest in 11 years.
Kids Night on Broadway, Feb 2, 3 and 7
20at20 returns! Off-Broadway tickets for $20, January 25th to February 7 (if you go to the box office 20 minutes before the show starts))
Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers, written by Geoffrey Cowan and Leroy Aaron, will premiere at New York Theater Workshop February 24th.
My review of Present Laughter: Celebrity Sex In A More Elegant Age
Two years before Noel Coward wrote “Present Laughter” in 1939, Dale Carnegie first published his formula for winning friends and influencing people: Never criticize, condemn nor complain.
So however dissatisfying I found the Broadway revival of “Present Laughter” that has now opened at the American Airlines Theater, I will say upfront in my best attempt at a winning manner that it has a sumptuous Art Deco set, gorgeous costumes and an attractive cast.
Actually, Coward built much of his spectacularly varied career — actor, singer, the author of some 50 produced plays, 20 movies, 300 songs — by ignoring Carnegie’s three-c proscription, but adding a c of his own…always charm….more
Friday, January 22, 2010
My look at playwright Anthony Pennino, who wrote a play about the A train during a single trip on the A train. Pennino is prolific playwright and also professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology at Hoboken, helping techies find their “inner artist.”
From Showboat To Cabaret To Wicked: ‘Broadway By The Year’ Tenth Anniversary Town Hall Concerts
Katie Houk (@katiehouk, “I live and work in agriculture and I love Broadway”): Do you recommend seeing Memphis? ive been on the fence about seeing it for a while now
BroadwayGirlNYC: I’ve seen it twice and really like it!:
Jonathan Mandell (@newyorktheater, that’s me): Depends on your taste. Here’s my review of Memphis.
BroadwayGirlNYC: Do I think Memphis is the best show ever on Broadway? No. But to ask me “Is it worth seeing?” the answer is a resounding yes.
Flubs, head injuries and dropped lines on Broadway now make headlines - thanks to the changing nature of previews (ticket prices are often the same before and after a show opens), and a change in the way people communicate, i.e. “Whispers about a show in previews, once limited to a handful of theater gossips, now can reach a global audience from a cell phone at intermission or a late-night post on a theater blog.” Wall Street Journal
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Guess how old Chita Rivera turns today — star of West Side Story, Bye Bye Birdie, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Chicago. 77!
Arthur Miller’s “After The Fall” about his life with Marilyn Monroe, opened today in 1964 at the ANTA Washington Square Theater.
The 10-time Tony Award-winning Billy Elliot the Musical will celebrate its 500th performance on Broadway today.
Sunday, January 24
BroadwayMusical: Today’s your last chance to see Bye Bye Birdie on Broadway. Anyone get a chance to see it? Was it as bad as the critics said it was?
Jena Tesse Fox (@jenatesse, theater journalist): No, it was worse.
Robert Berg (@robwillb, “geek and gleek”): It was one of the single worst productions I’ve ever seen on stage, let alone Broadway.
Ronald Livingston (@ronjon327): Didn’t see Bye Bye Birdie before it closed. Sad about it. Oh well. Moving on…
(Most of the people sad about its closing seem to be those who didn’t see it. But not all:)
Leah (@Leahsalo, “aspiring actress and singer”): Dear theatre snobs who couldn’t bring themselves to enjoy Bye Bye Birdie, Learn to live a little! Love, Leah..
Can’t focus on studying for my stupid history midterm because I’m too depressed about Bye Bye Birdie. Break a leg to all of you Birdies!
Marissa Russo (@marissaleigh2): In closing night speech John Stamos (@JohnStamos, star of “Bye, Bye Birdie”) said “I don’t give a flying f*** about any of those reviews!” Audience was hysterical
My review of the revival of Arthur Miller’s “A View From The Bridge”
When Scarlett Johansson first appears on the stage of the Cort Theater in what is her Broadway debut, coiffed in an awkward-looking hairstyle (her blond hair turned dark brown) and dressed in form-fitting attire that over-emphasizes her curves, Arthur Miller’s “A View From The Bridge” makes instant sense. We see her character, the 17-year-old Catherine, the way her Uncle Eddie sees her, the way Miller reportedly first saw Marilyn Monroe – as an innocent girl abruptly turned voluptuous young woman, not yet entirely aware of her own allure. If her sweater and skirt are too tight on her, making her almost embarrassingly seductive, it might just be because she has grown out so fast that her schoolgirl clothes no longer fit her.
It is the siren call of Catherine’s beauty that drives what Miller intended as a twentieth century American update of an ancient Greek tragedy, the story of a man who loves his niece in the wrong way, and it is the lure of Scarlett Johansson on the stage that makes “A View From The Bridge” worth seeing.
She is not the only reason…more
Other critics on “A View From The Bridge”: Everybody praises this production and the performances of Liev Schreiber and Scarlett Johansson in her Broadway debut and most of Jessica Hecht: New York Times; New York Post; Variety; Bloomberg News; New York Magazine; Associated Press; USA Today; BackStage; The Hollywood Reporter
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Jonathan Mandell
Jonathan Mandell, who tweets as New York Theater, is a native New Yorker and third-generation journalist with diverse experience on newspapers, magazines and websites.He has ...
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More on these topics:
A View From The Bridge, Alfred Molina, Birdie, Bye, Noel Coward, Present Laughter, Scarlett Johansson, Victor Garber
