Roundabout Theatre Company - Page 16

Immerse yourself in the world of Cabaret with our recommended reading, watching and listening lists! WHAT TO READ

Veteran actor Jim Dale has a long history with Roundabout Theatre Company. Starting with one of Roundabout's earliest successes, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, Jim Dale has performed in five Roundabout productions over the last 30 years. In his brand new solo show, Just Jim Daleunder the direction of Tony winner Richard Maltby, Jr. (Fosse, Ain't Misbehavin'), Dale shares his passion for the stage as he recounts a lifetime of irresistible showbiz tales. We look back at some of his great roles at Roundabout below.

Studio 54 was known for two things before Roundabout purchased this historic theatre: being a famous club and being a cursed theatre, with shows sometimes opening and closing in the same night. However, Roundabout turned Studio 54's luck around with successful productions likeSunday in the Park with George, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and, of course, Cabaret.

The end of World War I in 1918 brought radical change to a defeated, disillusioned Germany. The entire population had experienced hunger, death, and violence. In October of that year, as the Americans brought renewed vigor to the fighting on the Western front, a largely communist revolt against the Kaiser and the war spread across Germany. Top military leaders showed no confidence in the monarchy. In early November, the Kaiser abdicated, and a leading socialist party declared a republic, thus bringing the Weimar Republic to power. The November 11 armistice was signed soon after. The war with the world had ended, but Germany's internal war was just beginning.

Jim Dale's career as an actor grew out of his success as a music hall performer and musician. He put those music hall skills as a wit, singer, musician, and physical comedian to work in performances of William Shakespeare's many clowns and fools.

In Just Jim Dale, the British Music Hall is featured as both a family business (Jim Dale's grandmother ran a theatrical boarding house adjoining a local music hall) and as a major influence on Dale's career. Music hall entertainment evolved out of musical performances given at local taverns. These 'taproom concerts' were initially a background diversion, secondary to the eating, drinking, and debauchery common to early 19th century pubs. As the concerts gained popularity, pub owners took note, and by the mid-1830s, taverns often had entire 'song and supper rooms' devoted to the entertainment. In 1843, the Theatre Regulations Act differentiated music halls from the 'theatre proper' (theatres that housed ballet and opera performances). While smoking and drinking were banned in the theatre proper, they were allowed to continue in music hall entertainment, thus cementing the music hall's popularity as a hangout for working class audiences.

Roundabout mourns the loss of our dear friend, Eli Wallach, who passed away on June 24th at the age of 98. Eli was known to many for his huge breadth of film work, taking on character roles of all kinds over the course of his 60-year career. He was deservedly awarded an honorary Oscar for those performances in 2010. But Eli's first love was the theatre, and he returned to it over and over again in the midst of his success on screen. He was an early favorite of playwright Tennessee Williams, appearing in the original productions of both The Rose Tattoo and Camino Real. Eli was frequently paired on stage with his wife, Anne Jackson. They would play together in everything from Eugene Ionesco's Rhinoceros to Jean Ahouilh's Waltz of the Toreadors, becoming a leading couple of the American theatre. We were lucky to have Eli join the Roundabout in 1992 with his performance in Arthur Miller's The Price at the Criterion Center on Broadway.

On April 9, more than 625 students from seven high schools and five middle schools across all five boroughs of New York City attended the all-student matinee of Violet. For many students,Violet was their first Broadway show. In the two weeks before the student matinee, Roundabout Teaching Artists visited classrooms to lead pre-show workshops that prepared students for the historical context of the musical and the production's artistic conventions. On the morning of the show, 50 freshman from FDR High School engaged in a workshop at the American Airlines Theatre, fulfilling the roles of actors, designers and marketing staff. The students researched, designed and performed two excerpts from Violet in just two hours.

Cabaret has made an indelible impact on musical theatre and inspired some of the greatest theatrical artists of the last century to imprint the work with their unique style. The undeniable power of this musical lies in the universal question it poses: why do we again and again allow destructive powers to take control of society?

Ted Sod, Education Dramaturg, talked to Mark York about his history with Jim Dale and his role in the creation of this production.

The organization myFace recently reached out to us to share a personal response to the musical Violet by journalist and blogger Jeryl Brunner.

It is my great pleasure to announce that the eighth season of Roundabout Underground will launch with Little Children Dream of God, written by Jeff Augustin and directed by Giovanna Sardelli. The world premiere production will open in February of 2015 at the Black Box Theatre. I am also pleased to announce that Jeff is Roundabout's first Playwright-in-Residence, a position generously supported by the Tow Foundation.

Henry Haun recently published this article about Jim Dale in Playbill Magazine. They've been kind enough to let us reproduce it in full below:

In Violet, it's September 4, 1964 when Violet Karl boards a bus in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, bound for Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her journey will take her across the American South during the cultural revolution of the 1960s. By 1970, civil rights, Vietnam, women's liberation, and rock and roll youth culture will have reshaped society.

Richard Maltby, Jr. discussed his role in the creation of Just Jim Dale with Education Dramaturg, Ted Sod.

Never have I presented a more aptly-titled show than Just Jim Dale, beginning previews this week at the Laura Pels Theatre. Yes, it's just Jim up there on stage, alone but for a pianist and a stool. But if you think that 'just' signifies something small, then you don't know Jim Dale at all.

Education Dramaturg, Ted Sod, sat down with Jim Dale to talk about his career and the formation of his solo show.

It is my great pleasure to announce that we will be producing the musical On the Twentieth Century, with book and lyrics by Betty Comden & Adolph Green, score by Cy Coleman, and directed by Scott Ellis. Kristin Chenoweth and Peter Gallagher will star in this production, opening in the spring of 2015 at the American Airlines Theatre.

In honor of the late Nicholas Martin and his accomplished stage career, we take a look back at his directorial work with us through the years.