Wow. I had to go to Youtube to check that out. Shuffle Along. A huge hit for 1921 Broadway. Launched the careers of Josephine Baker and Paul Robeson, among others. Any more Audra on Broadway, can’t miss it.
Jerome Kern always adds a touch of class. In 1914 he wrote "They Didn't Believe Me" for the musical The Girl From Utah. Over a hundred years later it is still a popular standard. An iTunes search turns up 94 covers of the song, from Tony Bennett, Mel Torme, Sammy Davis to Lena Horne, Dinah Washington and even the great MoTown Marvin Gaye.
Kern wrote "Look for the Silver Lining," which was popularized in the 1920 musical Sally but was written an
I have to confess that I didn’t know quite a few of her songs. This was partly due to my ignorance and partly because, as Audra explained at the beginning, her approach to this concert was to sing songs that she had never sung before, and many were from not well known sources.
Audra opened with “I Am What I Am” and “It Might As Well Be Spring.” She reached back into the early sixties for two songs. “What Did I Have That I Don’t Have,” I b
It was my first time for hearing Audar live in concert. In fact, I had only seen her live once before in Porgy and Bess. My expectations were high, and they were met.
I'm a big fan of Kelli O'Hara and Kristin Chenoweth, and have seen each in concert several times. As wonderful as these women are, Audra is perhaps a step higher. There is a color and warmth to her voice that can't be taught. She is at complete ease singing and interacting with the audience; she
There are some not terrible seats left in the rear half of the orchestra for Audra McDonald's Tuesday night performance at the New York Philharmonic Gala.
There's a solo in row V for $159, a couple in row BB and five contiguous seats in row CC for $139.
Carousel a period piece? Maybe, or maybe it is that eternal story of a couple so wrong for each other who give in to their physical attraction and suffer the consequences. Rhett and Scarlett. Stanley and Stella. Claudius and Gertrude. Othello and Desdemona? Not sure why Desdemona fell for Othello. But it was fatal.
Seriously, a modern director might throw out the whole heavenly ending and find another way to redeem Billy. It would offend some purists, but almost that much viol
Isherwood thinks that 21st century ears may be offended by "A Hymn to Him?"
This is a musical comedy, the song is comic, and it is not women being lampooned, but Higgins himself.
I think that even the Neanderthals of the mid-20th century did not take the song as being full of sound arguments in favor of the superiority of the male sex.
Did you think that Hammerstein's portrayal of the arrogant superiority felt by the British over the Siamese at that point in history was inaccurate?
Was not the Second Act opener "Western People Funny" like a big wink to the audience from Hammerstein telling them that he knew whose culture was really the more foolish?
I don’t want to leave the wrong impression. I loved the show, was relieved that Lauren Ambrose was fully up to the role, and thought the ending was fine.
The ending left enough ambiguity so that each can speculate on the future of the characters.
If you are curious about the fate of the characters after the final curtain has come down, the Epilogue is an interesting read, although it may disappoint you.
“Not necessarily, as I think we all know by now that that's how Shaw chose to end hisversion.If anyone in here doesn&#
When Congress passed the new federal copyright law in 1976, superseding the laws in all the states, they did not include protection of stage directions or stagecraft among the list of protected content. However that list was non-exclusive. No federal judge has held that stage directions are entitled to copyright protection, but from several non-binding comments in court cases, it is thought that stage directions are protected as part of the licensing of a play. And the playwright or publisher
It's a good thing that London is still diligently covering New York theater. With the departure of Linda Winer from Newsday, I think the Times is the only local newspaper left with a full time theater critic. We are asked to accept criticism of our theater from tawdry publications such as Entertainment Tonight and Hollywood Reporter.
Let me deliver Eliza from any imputations of prostitution. In Shaw's play, in the final scene between Eliza and HIggins, she tells him: <
I was of course joking, but given that Sher's South Pacific ran for 996 performances while Sher's The King and I, despite equally glowing reviews, ran for 538, I will be very interested in the popularity of MFL.
I'm not very knowledgeable about the economics of the musical theater, but despite the organizations that produce musicals always looking for donations and holding fundraising galas, and despite sky-high ticket prices, only 20 percent of musicals recoup? Yet they sit on their most valuable asset, recordings of their most successful shows.
Wait a year after the show closes before releasing the DVD if necessary, but then aren't all sales just gravy?
TKAI was a wonderful production but I thought the casting of Ken Watanabe was problematic. His lack of command of the english language was an issue and there just wasn't much spark between him and Kelli O'Hara. I saw a later cast with Marin Mazzie and Daniel Dae Kim and that performance did have the wit and spark that O'Hara/Watanabe lacked, but alas Kim has TV committments and Mazzie I believe had some health issues. A shame.
I just assumed that King and I would be broadcast live during the last week of its run. The broadcast of South Pacific had gone so well, with all of the original cast except for Mathew Morrison. Alan Alda had been the perfect host.
With the little bit more that I know now about the economics of Broadway musicals, my guess is just that with the large cast and large orchestra, coupled with a disappointing box office compared to South Pacific, the show was just burning through too much mo
If anyone in here doesn&#
