4/5/09

New York Times

Celebroadway!
A theater critic of the Times offers a brisk trot through the celeb-centric plays that have opened on Broadway so far this spring, noting the highlights and offering thumbnail assessments.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/theater/05ishe.html?ref=arts

Songs to Mock and to Love
“Rock of Ages,” an unrepentant jukebox musical with a lot of baggage and a charmed history, is opening on Broadway.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/theater/05dave.html?ref=theater

For a Veteran Thespian, a Welcome Return to Regional Theater
Mark Lamos has been appointed the new artistic director of the Westport Country Playhouse.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/nyregion/connecticut/05lamosct.html?ref=connecticut

Hartford Courant

Long Wharf Theatre Avoids The Literal In ‘Old Man And The Sea’
A theatrical adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s meditative novella “The Old Man and the Sea” might strike some as not being the most obvious source material for the stage
http://www.courant.com/entertainment/stage/hc-curtain0405.artapr05,0,6197439.story

Frank’s Wild Lunch

E.M. Lewis
…is a rockstar! Congrats to Moving Arts as well. It’s great to see L.A. theater on the national map, especially a world premiere by a local playwright! Hooray for EM and MA!
http://frankswildlunch.blogspot.com/2009/04/em-lewis.html

Off-Off Blogway

9 Questions for Susan Bernfield (New Georges)
Angela’s Mixtape by Eisa Davis begins performances at the Ohio Theater on Monday April 6th. The show is a co-production between New Georges and The Hip-Hop Theater Festival, so we took the opportunity to send 9 Questions to New Georges Artistic Director, Susan Bernfield and she was kind enough to take the time to send us these terrific, thoughtful answers:
http://ooblogway.blogspot.com/2009/04/9-questions-for-susan-bernfield-new.html

off-stage right

Recession and post-recession Marketing
With all the talk about discounting, buying patterns, and subscriptions, I started to think about the trends we are setting (yes, I said WE are setting).
http://www.off-stage-right.com/2009/04/recession-and-post-recession-marketing.html

Washington Post

For Redgrave, The Show Must Go On
At a difficult time, Lynn Redgrave is going ahead with plans to appear at Folger Theatre in her brand-new one-woman memory play about her actress mother
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/02/AR2009040204295.html

Chicagoist

Check Your ‘Y’ Chromosome at the Door
We’ve come a long way since the days when women couldn’t vote or had to stay at home, but that doesn’t mean that we’ve come all the way. Theater has always been a pivotal instrument of social change, and the Goodman is using its instrument to celebrate and discuss women’s position in the theater …
http://feeds.gothamistllc.com/click.phdo?i=a8f67d9f09ffa1a71bd26f25dec9843f

St. Paul Pioneer Press

Papatola: Everybody’s a rock-musical producer
The Culture in Context columnist asks which artists or albums are crying to be made into stage musicals. The responses range from the serious to the silly.
http://www.twincities.com/stage/ci_12057267

Stage Right Blog: Checking in from Louisville
Checking in this morning from Louisville, where I’m attending the Humana Festival of New American Plays at the Actors Theatre of Louisville. I’ve been coming down here for maybe 10 or 15 years off and on, and the annual Visitors Weekend has, in the past, been an opportunity for people like me to engage in Old Home Week.
http://www.twincities.com/stage/ci_12072061

Los Angeles Times

’80s Sunset Strip meets ’09 Broadway
With “Rock of Ages,” a coterie of L.A. creative types came up with a snarkily…
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-ca-rock-of-ages5-2009apr05,0,7349369.story

San Francisco Chronicle

A Feast Of Coward
Ten years after Noël Coward’s centenary, the Bay Area celebrates him as if he’s just been discovered.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/03/PKNQ16LO78.DTL&type=performance

Chad Jones’ Theater Dogs Blog

One-man `Lord of the Rings’ zips in, out
…For two performances only, Ross performs The One-Man Lord of the Rings, in its first Bay Area appearance, at 8 p.m. April 10 and 11 at San Francisco’s Zeum Theater, under the auspices of American Conservatory Theater. TJ Dawe directs…..
http://www.theaterdogs.net/2009/04/04/one-man-lord-of-the-rings-zips-in-out/

San Diego Union-Tribune

For some theaters, tough times are a time to ‘Rock’
Here’s what it’s come to, at this meltdown-minded moment in history: Karl Marx’s political-economic tract “Das Kapital,” turned into a play. And not just a play: a Broadway-meets-Vegas musical. Before you begin dreaming up snappy lyrics to rhyme with “bourgeoisie,” though, there’s one other thing: The show is happening in China.
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/apr/05/lz1a05hebert183953-some-theaters-tough-times-are-t/?uniontrib

Playhouse taps Moxie for resident theater spot
Moxie Theatre – known for gutsy productions with a feminist vision – has been named the La Jolla Playhouse’s Resident Theatre Company for the 2009-10 season. Five-year-old Moxie will present an as yet unnamed production at the Playhouse’s Studio Theatre this summer.
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/apr/05/lz1a05turner183955-playhouse-taps-moxie-resident-t/?uniontrib

The Observer

James Bulger play condemned by victim support groups
A play about the death of James Bulger opening in London has been condemned by victim support groups
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/05/james-bulger-theatre-monsters

Quirky theatre
Drama has left the stage – these shows use unconventional and exciting spaces
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/apr/05/quirky-theatre-unconventional-spaces

The Independent

Rules of engagement: Can you pack the bloody history of Afghanistan into a dozen half-hour plays?
The IoS foreign editor, a veteran of Helmand, goes on his next tough assignment: rehearsals at the Tricycle Theatre
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/rules-of-engagement-can-you-pack-the-bloody-history-of-afghanistan-into-a-dozen-halfhour-plays-1660890.html

Go to American Theater Web