David Clarke News

During the pandemic, Daniel Mitura wrote and took part in the filming of his latest short film, LAUNCH AT PARADISE. The new science-fiction short explores the costs of creating a unified perspective for all humankind that has the potential to end racism, violence, and insurrection. We sat down with Mitura, his cast, and a producer for an inside look at the soon-to-be-released film.

Ghostlight Records released UNKNOWN SOLDIER (Original Cast Recording), one of composer Michael Friedman’s last scores, on Friday, September 24, 2021. Every lush and elegiac note and melody has been pristinely preserved with this truly gorgeous and evocative album.

Seeing the film with other critics and fans, every one seemed to be searching for an answer to the same question: Is the film really as bad as the first wave of reviews indicated? The silver lining: it’s not the worst stage to screen film adaptation I’ve sat through. However, DEAR EVAN HANSEN is definitely not a great movie.

The live performance of “Come From Away' was filmed at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre this past May in New York City, where the Broadway production is staged, for an audience that included 9/11 survivors and front-line workers; and, employed over 200 people including members of the Broadway crew, staff and creative teams.

On September 10, 2021, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of September 11, 2001, Apple TV+ is debuting a stunning stage capture of Broadway’s COME FROM AWAY. Filmed live at Broadway’s Gerald Schoenfeld Theater in May 2021, the film is both a celebration of humanity’s penchant for kindness in the face of adversity and Broadway’s attempt to make a post-pandemic related lockdown return to vibrancy.

Earlier this month, Ben Platt dropped REVERIE, his second studio album. The irresistible pop project includes the highly lauded and much played singles “Happy to Be Sad” and “Imagine” while further cementing Platt as a legitimate pop musician.

Getting to experience the energy that new arrangements and new voices brings to the beloved material is a delight from beginning to end. Even if the movie’s reduced tracklist feels more like a “highlights” album, the record clips along with mirth and will easily have listeners dancing and singing along.

Laura Bell Bundy has returned to us with the poignant album WOMEN OF TOMORROW, which keenly mixes the vintage aural soundscapes of The Andrew Sisters, Doris Day, Peggy Lee, and classic MGM movie musicals with many of the contemporary issues facing women, including equal pay, the psychological aspects of motherhood, unrealistic beauty standards, ownership over women's bodies, and more.

It’s been a long road since March 2020, but the world is healing and Mandie Rapoza’s performance art piece, FRAGMENTS, A LIVE AUDIO STORY, is a welcomed and much needed breath of fresh air in a world where in-person art has been almost completely dormant.

AMOUR: transports audiences to Paris’ iconic and beautiful Montmartre neighborhood. Complete with scenic elements, costumes, and props, this production isn’t just a Zoom performance with backdrops added in. The digital experience evokes—to the best of its ability—a live performance on a Broadway stage with a cast of Broadway veterans.

The 52nd Street Project is presenting an evening of two new one-act plays in a livestreamed performance by its Teen Ensemble. ME & U., THE TEEN ENSEMBLE ONE-ACTS. This one-night-only performance event features a pair of original one-acts, featuring Teen Ensemble members Darby, Lakshmi, Nicole, Lauren & Magalis.

YES, VIRGINIA is a heartwarming and hilarious holiday comedy about two older women navigating the perils of aging in suburban Detroit. The acclaimed dramedy is crafted in the vein of Stan Zimmerman’s writing for 'The Golden Girls'. To get the inside scoop about the upcoming digital production of YES, VIRGINIA, we chatted with Zimmerman about creating the play and working with Mindy Sterling and Arnetia Walker to bring this production to life.

Just in time for Halloween 2020, Nick Cearley and Lauren Molina independently released THE ROCKY HORROR SKIVVIES SHOW: THE ALBUM. Following COVID safety protocols, they gathered their friends and colleagues together to produce one of the most entertaining cast albums ever recorded.

WILD MOUNTAIN THYME, a film you’ve likely not heard of, is truly one of 2020’s most beautifully lyrical and heartwarming romances. Adapted from John Patrick Shanely’s 2014 hit Broadway play OUTSIDE MULLINGAR, the film is both a love letter to Ireland and fairy tale romance, featuring enchanting performances from Emily Blunt, Jamie Dornan, Christopher Walken, Dearbhla Molloy, and Jon Hamm.

The Center for Performing Arts at Rhinebeck presents The Covid Confessions, a new play written and directed by Louisa Vilardi. The Covid Confessions is a full length play made up of monologues that encapsulate our lives during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic and provide us with a snapshot into people's lives.

I approached Ryan Murphy’s film adaptation of THE PROM, expertly crafted for the stage by writers Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin and composer Matthew Sklar, with a lot of trepidation. Fortunately, most of my fears were misplaced and the final product is a joyous, technicolor celebration of living authentically that tugs all the right heartstrings while tickling every funny bone.

The feel good Broadway musical, adapted for the screen, will arrive on December 11th. Find out what the critics had to say about the Ryan Murphy-helmed film, starring Meryl Streep, James Corden, Nicole Kidman, Keegan-Michael Key, Kerry Washington, Ariana DeBose, Andrew Rannells, and Jo Ellen Pellman, below!

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson is heralded for progressing and helping to develop contemporary black theater, tackling a wide array of important themes from the black American experience while also allowing white America to truly see black Americans. The expertly crafted 2020 film adaptation of Wilson’s MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM brings this masterpiece and these still relevant themes to stunning and visceral life.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is coming! Netflix will release the film adaptation of August Wilson's play on December 18th. Viola Davis and the late Chadwick Boseman star.

The BROADWAY WORLD AWARDS looks at the shows that fans love that are not your grandmother's cabaret show.