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Stars of Stage and Screen: Review of The Bretts—The Complete Collection DVD box set
The Bretts: The Complete Collection (2011, Acorn Media) My father imagined himself in the tradition of the great old British actor/managers of yore—he was English, and for decades he ran summer stock theaters where he regularly directed, acted and consulted on everything from design to promotion. That actor/manager model seems ancient now, at least in … Continue reading
Meet Palestine’s Freedom Theatre, for free, 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at Yale
Always worthwhile when a scrappy political theater visits the Yale campus. On Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 5, the Yale School of Drama welcomes The Freedom Theatre from Palestine. The five-year-old company runs a youth theater and cultural center at the Jenin Refugee Camp in the north part of the West Bank, grew out of a project, … Continue reading
Only Six Nights Until Twelfth Night
I won’t always be posting video ads for shows, but this short promo for Westport Country Playhouse’s forthcoming production of Twelfth Night is rather process-oriented, and I’m always fascinated by how director Mark Lamos does his Shakespeare. He’s got a magical ability to get ensemble casts to uniformly grasp the bard’s meter and scansion so … Continue reading
Re: Boundaries
No Boundaries: A Series of Global Performances knows what’s bound to happen this season. The series’ 2011-12 slate was announced last week. It represents a rare and longrunning collaboration between the undergraduate Yale Theater Studies program’s World Performance Project and the Yale School of Drama graduate program. No Boundaries presents three visiting theater or dance … Continue reading
Satire is What Closes on Saturday Night Live
What does “Live from New York” mean to you? It means that Saturday Night Live can be the most theater-conscious mainstream comedy show on TV. You can imagine the SNL writers staring out their Rockefeller Center windows waiting for inspiration to strike, glimpsing Times Square, then rushing to the typewriters. The list is extensive. Highlights: … Continue reading
The Hole Amount
Starting with their season-opening production of Romeo & Juliet on the Bayou, Hole in the Wall Theater in New Britain has changed the generous “donation only” policy instituted at the theater’s birth in the early 1970s. An explanation can be found on the Hole in the Wall website, here. http://www.hitw.org/ But isn’t it already obvious? … Continue reading
Welcome to Bad City!
Did another Play in a Day project this afternoon—Gogol’s The Inspector General, with a cast of ten, half of whom were under 7 years old. I’ve already posted the chaotic results on the NHTJ Play in a Day page, here.
Five Key Songs from Broadway Musicals Which Were Left Out of the Movie Versions of Those Musicals
Send in your own suggestions. We’re just getting started. 1. “Free” from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. About half the songs from the stage musical didn’t make it into Richard Lester’s film version, but this is the most maddening omission. Zero Mostel says the word, then seems about to sing … Continue reading
Who’s in the Header Photo?
It’s me and Tori Amos. Well, wouldn’t YOU look stunned? She really is that radiant. It’s like she was dipped in the same luminous stuff that makes up Saturn’s rings. She was in the parking lot behind the old Palace Theater on College Street, loading in for a show there sometime in the early ’90s. … Continue reading
Get Over Yourself
I’m Over All That and Other Confessions By Shirley MacLaine (Atria Books, 2011) This is a dumb, lightweight book in which whimsical old Shirley shares things she’s gotten over. And some things she hasn’t. Duly noted, the chapter heading on page 199 reads: I Will Never Get Over the Thrill of Live Performing. MacLaine rhapsodizes … Continue reading