The 2010-2011 Broadway season starts this week – or at 
least the first performance of the first show of the season. Much about the Emmy Awards spelled theater this year, and all of the Fringe Awards. This week in New York theater, there was still time for a Twitter conversation with a different theater celebrity every day — performer, composer, playwright, producer. If many conversations on Twitter seem to be from a Quentin Tarantino movie, mine were less violent and far shorter.
Monday, August 23, 2010
The Merchant of Venice will begin performances Tuesday, October 19 and open Sunday night November 7 at 6:45 PM at The Broadhurst Theater
The first national tour of West Side Story starts in Detroit on September 30th
Angels in America so influenced playwright Christopher Shinn (@chris_shinn) that the scene of Louis and Belize debating race and democracy is, one way or another he says, in every one of his plays
Following Matt Doyle
Jonathan Mandell: I’m sure Matt Doyle @MattfDoyle is a great fellow, but why is Twitter so insistent day after day that I follow him?
Matt Doyle (@MattfDoyle, Broadway performer) BAHAHA amazing. Love it.
Sean Grady (@actorseangrady, actor/singer/dancer): It’s a fad, better get with it 
Lane Beauchamp (@lane1008, “Broadway and television junkie)
Wait… you get Matt Doyle…and I get Seth Rudetsky. Something’s not fair. LOL
Liz Woolf (@lizwoolf , theater fan) Check out Matt Doyle for lots of @mattfdoyle‘s performances.
Jonathan Mandell: Ok it turns out @mattfdoyle is a wonderful performer who’s been in Spring Awakening and Bye,Bye Birdie and on Gossip Girl. So I’m following
Kelly Cameron (@broadwaybabyto, Canadian-based theater journalist):Are you just realizing this about Matt Doyle now? Loved him in Spring Awakening
Jonathan Mandell: Ok, ok, we all have our lapses.
James Sims (@SimsJames, theater journalist): Has Gossip Girl become the TV casting equivalent of Law & Order for young Broadway actors?
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
David Cromer, who directed and played the Stage Manager of Our Town at Barrow Street Theater, returns tonight for final 3 weeks, through Sept 12
Remember how Katie Finneran’s performance in “Promises Promises” was the one thing everybody liked, even those who did not like the musical otherwise? She’s pregnant, leaving the show in seven weeks.
Sondheim on Sondheim ended its Broadway run in June but will be revived in London’s West End in October.
Ticketmaster announces several changes – telling you upfront how much the tix will cost(w/service fee); 3-day return
Encore Magazine phrases this differently: Ticketmaster launches a blog, Ticketology, explaining how they’re ripping you off
Jason Zinoman rips into Fringe Festival in the NY Times calling it ” needlessly “bland and poorly organized.” However, it becomes clear as you read through Zinoman’s piece that he chose the wrong shows this year (And he hated being barred from entry to a show because he was late).
Isaac Butler of the Parabasis blog also asks: Do we need Fringe when there’s “more low/no budget theater than anyone could hope to take in”?
Anthony Rapp (@albinokid, original star of “Rent” by Jonathan Larson): The Jonathan Larson papers are open to anyone upon request at the Library of Congress in DC. Amazing insight into his process
Jordan Roth And The Cursed Music Man
Jonathan Mandell: Broadway producer Jordan Roth is now on Twitter. I’ve been meaning to ask you. I read your comment in your profile in New York Magazine about The Music Man. (“If you have a show that speaks to a certain audience, then you need marketing to let them know that. But you can’t trick an audience—or not for long. What I believe in is product. Don’t waste your time trying to figure out how to get a young audience to see The Music Man. If you want a young audience, don’t fucking do The Music Man.”) I’ve been meaning to ask you: What have you got against The Music Man?
Jordan Roth (@Jordan_Roth, president of Jujamcyn Theaters): Hi. Nothing against Music Man. My point is to attract new audiences we have to make new work, not just new ways to sell the old.
Jonathan Mandell: Ok. Are you saying both are necessary? (You did after all produce Finian’s Rainbow-wonderful production, in my opinion,but certainly old)
Jordan Roth: Yes, both. Honor the legacy and deliver it forward.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Sister Act, a musical based on the 1992 Whoopi Goldberg film, definitely coming to Broadway in March 2011, opening April, directed by Jerry Zaks. Not yet cast
Faith Prince,Tony-winning veteran of 11 Broadway shows (and Ugly Betty regular),to play Mrs.Wilkinson in the second national tour of Billy Elliot beginning October in North Carolina
Bernadette Peters will star in the revival of Sondheim’s ‘Follies’ at Kennedy Center in Spring 2011
Tanya Koivusalo (@teekaay, film and theater fan):Trip to Washington?
Edward Albee prefers the “younger and/or more intelligent” Off-Bway audiences; laments ticket prices are no longer $2
Vanessa Redgrave, who is about to appear on Broadway again in a revival of “Driving Miss Daisy,” may be THE greatest living stage actress, says Michael Reidel of the New York Post; she’s certainly the most eccentric of the greats
Most of these tales of her eccentricity are humorous.
But some people surely feel qualms about Vanessa Redgrave playing a Jewish character given her “Zionist hoodlum” rant while accepting Oscar for “Julia”
Tate Geborkoff (@tageborkoff, theater fan, writer, fashionista):
That was 1978. People need to get over it.
Derek Bertelsen (@derek_bertelsen, director and writer):
If Mel Gibson were playing a Jew I can see the issue there. Can’t we just let her act though? She is brilliant..enough said!
Joe McGaha (@bourbonroad, screenwriter): I remember that. Did she ever recant?
Jonathan Mandell: A few years later Redgrave played Auschwitz survivor Fania Fenelon in “Playing For Time,” a memorable, shocking performance.
Harvey Fierstein on Fire
Harvey Fierstein (@HarveyFierstein, actor in Hairspray, Fiddler on the Roof etc, playwright of Torch Song Trilogy, La Cage Aux Folles) [Ken Mehlman, George Bush’s 2004 campaign manager, who has come out as gay] made millions hurting us, destroying lives, spreading hatred and prejudice in the name of America. He should rot in his own bile. To escape persecution, a Jew hid among the Germans and worked as a Nazi guard. After the war, to escape persecution, he called himself a Jew…hat’s to be done with this man? He is to be tried as the war criminal he was…
Jonathan Mandell: Your analogy doesn’t really work for me since the Jew would surely have died had he made a different choice.
Harvey Fierstein: Many Jews fought. Many gays fight. Cowards hide.
Jonathan Mandell: Yes, but perhaps unintentionally the analogy gives Mr. Mehlman too much credit. He was not faced with life or death.
Harvey Fierstein: You are RIGHT
Thursday, August 26, 2010
My article on Getting A First Job in The Theater:
Betty Buckley’s first theater job was playing Dainty June in “Gypsy.” Chris Van Patten’s first paid theater job was as stage manager of a community theater – this summer – after performing there for free for several summers and seeing they needed someone. Lisa Jane Persky was hired for her first role for the stage, playing the “World’s Most Perfect Teenager,” because the playwright, H.M. Koutoukas, lived in her building and saw her that way.
All three offer advice for those who are seeking their first theater job:
“Keep the faith,” Betty Buckley says.
“Treat people well,” says Chris Van Patten.
Lisa Jane Persky: “1.Tell parents not to take you back under any circumstances 2.Sell car. 3.Watch “All About Eve” nine times. 4. Stay sober 5. Love it.”
Full story, including links to job sites
Kevin Spacey to star in title role of Richard III for final season of The Bridge Project the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Harvey Theater in February, 2012
Kelsey Grammer will be host of Broadway on Broadway September 12, which offers snippets of both old & new Broadway shows eg Elf, Rain, Priscilla
The MTA will allow its tenant 3-Legged Dog, a theater company at 80 Greenwich St. since 2002, to stay put. They have agreed to pay off a $300,000 debt over three years.
3Legged Dog will present Lawrence Wright’s The Human Scale, about the crisis in Gaza, October 2 – 31.
Jeremy Sisto, insane but lovable brother in Six Feet Under(also Law and Order), will play an air traffic controller in MTC’s “Spirit Control.”
Today is the 90th anniversary of the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote in the United States. It’s Women’s Equality Day.
Are women playwrights victims of discrimination? This article, talking about the under-representation of women playwrights, assumes so
Liz Sager (@landwarsinasia, dramaturgy MFA student Stony Brook): Female and minority playwrights are underrepresented, water is wet, news at eleven.
Mariah MacCarthy (@MariahMacCarthy, playwright, feminist): Um…yes. Yes we are. QUESTION ANSWERED. DEBATE OVER
The cast of The 39 Steps will be at Two Boots, Hell’s Kitchen today for unveiling of official 39 Steps pizza slice (Mystery meat and shoe leather?)
The Mystery of Jason Robert Brown
Jonathan Mandell: Why was your concert canceled? When WILL you be in NYC next?
Jason Robert Brown (@MrJasonRBrown, Broadway composer of 13, Parade, Urban Cowboy): Enigmas! Mysteries! Riddles! Answers soon…
Friday, August 27, 2010
Director Trevor Nunn (A Little Night Music) to teach at Oxford for the year starting in October as Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theater – ironic, since they’re feuding over Mackintosh’s new revival of “Les Miserables.”
Puppets reign! Stage version of Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” with puppets won Best of Edinburgh Fringe, thus will come to NYC’s Flea Theater in January.
A Broadway Hit
What IS a Broadway hit – a show that makes a profit, or that runs a long time, or is critically praised – and who cares?
David Wilson (@david2587, student): A “hit” to me is a personal thing. It is whatever you enjoy seeing time and time again. Nothing more, nothing less.
Jason Capili (@TheNYGalavant, theater fan): All depends on the vantage point: The investor = $; Theater aficionados = cathartic experience; tourist = NYC entertainment
Jonathan Mandell: Can anybody possibly claim that David Mamet’s “Race” was a Broadway hit, even though it recouped its expenses and ran for nine months?
Steve Loucks (@SteveOnBroadway, theater blogger): From a pure ledger point of view, yes. From the fact they kept it open playing to half-empty houses, no.
Tony Adams (@halcyontony, artistic director, Halcyon Theater, Chicago): It’s a pretty low bar when just recouping makes news.
Howard Sherman (@HESherman, executive director, American Theatre Wing): Typically only one out of every five Broadway shows recoups, so it’s always news, sad to say, when one does.
Jonathan Mandell: Is there any phrase that means a show was good? A “hit” clearly doesn’t necessarily mean that. (Did it ever?)
Diana DeGarmo Finding Theater
Jonathan Mandell: Do you remember the first work of theater you saw that you liked, and what was the first that you performed in?
Diana DeGarmo(@DianaDeGarmo, American Idol contestant, recent star of “Hair”): Country music came first then pop and theater found me and now I get to kinda do it all!
Jonathan Mandell: Do you remember the first work of theater you saw that you liked, and what was the first that you performed in?
(@dianadnews, “official twitter for Diana DeGarmo’s DreamTeam”): Diana has said in an interview that “Chicago” was one of the first shows she saw. And she appeared in local productions of “Annie” and “Joseph” as a kid back in Atlanta.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Reeve Carney, Spider-man/Diplomat
Jonathan Mandell: What has been your biggest surprise in Spider-man?
Reeve Carney (@reevecarney, star of Spider-man: Turn Off The Dark, rock band member): Hmm… My biggest surprise? The level of quality in each and every one of the cast & crew. Not a bad apple in the bunch.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
First Horton Foote Prize for playwriting goes to Lynn Nottage’s “Ruined” (outstanding) and Will Eno’s “Middletown” (promising). Each playwright will get $15,000.
Today is the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.More people seem interested in it now: Treme, Spike Lee’s follow-up documentary to “When The Levees Broke”, “If God is Willing and da Creek Don’t Rise,” and two plays at the New York Fringe Festival (I reviewed both for Time Out New York) fringe plays
23 Feet in 12 Minutes: The Death and Rebirth of New Orleans
and The Hurricane Katrina Comedy Festival
Tony At The Emmys, And Other Theater Connections
Tony Award director Glenn Weiss and host Neil Patrick Harris with Emmy
The 62nd annual Primetime Emmy Awards occurred on Sunday night and there seemed a strong connection to theater.
Which TV show won the most Emmys ever, and what is its connection to theater?
Frasier, winner of 37 Emmys, featured cast with many Broadway credits: John Mahoney (2), David Hyde Pierce (6, including La Bete), Kelsey Grammer (4, including La Cage)
Kelsey Grammer is currently in La Cage; David Hyde Pierce will be in La Bete. Are they both from La La Land?
Hubert Hsu (@tapeworthy, theater blogger): Quick, get Bebe Neuwirth into a production of La Ronde and we’re set!
Many people up for Emmys tonight have extensive experience on the stage such as Alec Baldwin, Christine Baranski, Kristin Chenoweth, Glenn Close, Michael C Hall, Neil Patrick Harris, Lea Michele, Matthew Morrison, Elizabeth Moss, Jesse Tyler, etc.
The Emmy for best actress in a comedy series goes to Edie Falco for “Nurse Jackie.” Best-known for the Sopranos, Falco has appeared on Broadway three times: Side Man; Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; ‘night Mother
The Emmy for Outstanding Actress in a Drama series goes to Kyra Sedgewick for “The Closer.” Sedgwick, married to Kevin Bacon, has been on Broadway twice, in Ah Wilderness and Twelfth Night.
Jodi Schoenbrun Carter (@jodisc, theater general manager, blogger): Kyra also appeared off-Broadway. I did Craig Lucas’s Stranger with her. She is an amazing stage actress and wonderful person.
The Emmy for lead actor in a miniseries or movie goes to Al Pacino, “You Don’t Know Jack.” He’ll be on Broadway this season with Merchant of Venice.
The 2010 Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy goes to Jane Lynch of “Glee.”
Howard Sherman: At the Emmys, Jane Lynch just thanked her parents for raising her on musical theater. THEATER, not TV. Yeah!
The 2010 Emmy for writing in a variety, music or comedy program goes to the 63rd Annual Tony Awards. The Tonys won an Emmy last week too, the so-called craft awards.
Serg Rodriguez (@Splurge24, theater vlogger): That Tony Awards segment was as bad as the awards themselves. I can’t believe they won. This year’s Tony awards were AWFUL.
Tyler Martins (@mrtylermartins, theater fan): It’s important to note the Tony Award win at the Emmys was for the 63rd Annual (2009), not the 64th (2010).
Serg Rodriguez: Oh, the Neil Patrick-Harris year! Ok then, I’m alright with that.
Jonathan Lee(@jonplee, sports and theater blogger): The writing was surprisingly good (i.e. Nathan Lane/Bebe Neuwirth presenting). The direction and production weren’t that great.
Alex Jensen(@Jensen11us, writer, director): Ok folks the 2009 Tonys were just as bad as 2010… The sound problems? My God! No No No
The Tony Awards (@TheTonyAwards): We’d like to thank all of our Twitter people & the Academy!
It’s instructive that many who died were stars of both stage & screen Patricia Neal, Edward Woodward, Dixie Carter, Lynn Redgrave, Lena Horne etc
Fringe Awards
Overall excellence in production of a play:
-The Hurricane Katrina Comedy Festival
-Momentum
-Pig Pen Presents The Nightmare Story
-The Twentieth-Century Way
Audience favorite: Viva Los Bastarditos
Overall excellence in production of a musical:
- Jurrasic Parq
-Bunked!
The following shows will be presented as part of the FringeNYC Encore Series September 9th through the 26th at the Lucille Lortel Theater, The Players Theater or Soho Playhouse.
Lucille Lortel:
Hurricane Katrina Comedy Festival
Lost and Found
Made in Taiwan
Bunked
Just In Time
Pope!
Jurrasic Parq
When Last We Flew
The Secretaries
Soho Playhouse:
Amsterdam Abortion Survivor
Faye Lanes Beauty Shop Stories
Players Theater:
Getting Even With Shakespeare,
How My Mother Died of Cancer, and Other Bedtime Stories
South Pathetic
PigPen Presents: The Nightmare Story
Over and Over
The 20th-Century Way
Running
Hearts Full of Blood
Saving Throw Versus Love
The rest of the awards:
Best performer awards:
Tyler Moss (Terror SuperHighway),
Geraldine Librandi (Lost and Found),
Jared Houseman (Art of Attack),
Rory Lipede (When Last We Flew),
Deanna Pacelli (23 Feet in 12 Minutes: The Death and Rebirth of New Orleans),
Jake Ahlquist (Richard 3)
Marina Squerciati (Just in Time: The Judy Holiday Story).
Best ensemble awards: the casts of Dear Harvey, The Secretaries, The Timing of the Day, and Veritas.
Playwriting awards:
Harrison David Rivers (When Last We Flew)
Stephen W. Baldwin ( My Name Is Ruth)
Matt Saldarelli (Getting Even with Shakespeare)
James Asmus (Hearts Full of Blood).
Music and lyrics:
Justin Moran & Christopher Pappas (Pope: The Musical)
Jeff Bienstock (The Morning After/The Night Before)
David Chesky (The Pig, the Farmer and the Artist.
Solo shows awards:
Faye Lane’s Beauty Shop Stories
Miss Magnolia Beaumont Goes to Provincetown
Driving the Saudis
Viva La Evolucion!
Scared Skinny.
Directing awards:
Lucy Cashion (AK-47 Singalong)
Kym Gomes(By Hands Unknown)
Josh Liveright (Alternative Methods)
Divya Palat (A Personal War: Stories of the Mumbai Terror Attacks)
Lillian Meredith(Hamlettes)
James Presson (Richard 3).
Dance awards:
Trinayan Dance Theater(Swaha: Rituals of Union)
Claire Porter/Portables (Namely, Muscles).
Unique Theatrical Event:
Daddy Day
Cloud to Ground
For more information when it becomes available, check out the Fringe Encores Series website.
The Week in New York Theater Tweets is posted every week, usually on Mondays, selected and edited from Jonathan Mandell’s Twitter feed. For up-to-the-minute theater news, views and reviews follow New York Theater.
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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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