Profile for MikeInTheDistrict

I'm confused by this. From the article:

With no endgame to this crisis in sight, last week I had to follow through with the awful, distressing downsizing of my organisation to ensure my company’s survival. In early May I warned Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden and the Government that this would be necessary unless we received financial help. Despite the recent announcement of

I don't regard current audiences with as much contempt or movies like Watchmen, the Nolan Dark Knight trilogy or the Marvel Universe films with as much disdain as you seem to. The ALW Phantom has always been a spectacle, despite its human elements. Leroux's novel was essentially well-written pulp fiction. It has more in common with those superhero movies than horror movies or musicals of the 90s. There's a reason the Yeston/Kopit Phantom ne

I agree with everyone who said it should just have been made by someone other than Schumacher, regardless of when it was made. Phantom4ever in another thread mentioned that the film boosted dipping ticket sales for the Broadway production and kept that production alive, so there's that.

I don't know if the 90s style of filmmaking, especially large period pieces like this that had some elements that could easily become hokey with the wrong tonal balance, would have suited th

Thanks, Phantom4ever, for the Les Miz info. I hadn't realized it had been doing so poorly toward the end of its run. I saw the tour in D.C. around that same time and it was sold out that night. I just assumed it was doing as well in New York. I also didn't know Phantom was slated to close before the film came out. I'm thankful it didn't because I didn't get to see it until several years later. There is so much detail and thought put into that production, I really would hat

How were Les Miz's grosses before Mackintosh closed the original Broadway production? I wouldn't put it past him to just close the production, wait a few years, and then open a cheap, lackluster revival, as he did with Les Miz in 2006, which reused the old sets from the third national tour and reduced the orchestra by about ten musicians. And then again in 2009 with the "25th anniversary tour" with projections and no turntable that became the model for all

Though this is confirmation of what we already had presumed, this is is heartbreaking. My heart hurts for her young son especially, losing his mother at that tender and vulnerable age. And Naya herself was so young and had so much life ahead of her.

So, the founders of Black Lives Matter, the organization (rather than the general movement), do apparently identify with Marxism. Some people are understandably wary of that. We have lived in a society in which politicians and others have convinced Americans that the world is a scary and dangerous place. The "War on Drugs" and "War on Crime" have been raging for decades, as have "Zero Tolerance" policies, minimum sentencing requirements, etc. Violent crime has de

I think in the case of Sondheim, his lyrics do tend to be so urbane, in terms of the concepts/ideas, metaphors, and wordplay he utilizes and the vocabulary he utilizes, that, in his hands, perfect rhyme does often come across as intelligence, or at least, sharp wit. "A Little Priest" is a good example: Lovett and Todd are not highborn or educated, but each rhyme that ripples out of their mouths is like a tiny intellectual epiphany. Somehow, he manages to make it seem sponta

BrodyFosse123 said: "And... Lea Michele is still at it:

Lea Michele Deletes Her Twitter Account After Naya Rivera’s Disappearance"

I don't see anything wrong with what she did? She just deactivated her Twitter account. Knowing Twitter, she was probably getting an onslaught of ugly tweets misdirecting their feelings about

GavestonPS said: "Oddly enough, my college advisor told me the exact OPPOSITE of the advice attributed to Pat Pattison above. My advisor told me to take out some of the perfect rhymes and put in imperfect rhymes instead in order to LOWER the tension of everyone singing with such precise diction.

If what Pattison is reported to have said is true, why bother with slant rhymes? Why not use identities (as Hammerstein did in his work with Rodgers) or simply not rhyme at all?

I took an online songwriting course from Berkley College of Music taught by Pat Pattison several years ago. In the part of the course on songwriting, he made the point that imperfect rhymes can add an element of lyrical "tension" or an "unresolved" quality that may actually be an effective technique to use when its appropriate to the situation of the song. It's a parallel to a lack of harmonic or melodic resolution in the music: it can be appropriate ifyou want to conv

I'm inclined not to judge. Despite the seemingly high death toll, that lake is a popular recreational spot, and witnesses who saw Rivera with her son earlier that day say there were other pontoons out on the water and even a jetskiier. Another example is Lake Havasu in AZ, at which 13 people have died, but remains an extremely popular recreational spot.

Any number of things might have happened. Even young, seemingly healthy people can have seizures, heart attacks, heat strokes

Michael Bennett said: "Mike, forgive me, in my original post I rather condensed a lot of ideas for simplicity sake. My blanket argument is that I'm seeing a lot of reactionary responses (including at the regional and even community theatre level) about a renewed pledge for diversity, anti-racism, increasedethnic programming on their stages etc, but almost none of these vows for change are taking into account the ticket buying audiences, who at the end of the day ultimately fuel t

Michael Bennett said: "As a theatre director, I'd like to add thatthere is a lot of kumbaya going on right now about raising the profile of diversity and anti-racism in the theatre, but scarcely no talk about the role of the audience, and what efforts are going to be made to inspire audiences that stories of POC are universal and worth their continued interest.The commercial theatre exists principally to make money. It isalways going to be geared towards what is perceived to

JGPR2 said: "I did not mention Amber Riley by name but I kind of figured you knew she was included in the women of color that I said in the opening sentence "bashed" Lea Michele in her tweet. Did you really want me to mention Mark Salling (Puck) who was arrested for child pornography and sadly committed suicide? So the others I missed (Jayma Mays, Jennna Ushkowitz, Jessalyn Gilsig), did they ever publicly say they had issues with Lea Michele? Once again, I am not saying she

uncageg said: "JGPR2 said: "Let me get this straight. She posts on twitter something that 99.9% of the country agrees with (might be a few wack jobs out there that don't) and she gets bashed about things from years ago. If nobody had said anything about it, this tweet would have been basically ignored and not a story. In no way IMO did the tweet come off as Lea was some kind of social justice warrior. It was nothing more or less than anybody might have tweeted.

JGPR2 said: "Jordan - I will excuse the behavior at age 11, she was a child. I will blame her Mom who I would think had to accompany her while she was in "Ragtime". As an adult, she is responsible for her actions. Cory fell in love with her and Jonathan Groff like you said has been a good friend for years. I believe Darren Criss did a tour with her a couple of years ago and she attended his wedding. She seems to get along with Matthew Morrison and has performed with him sev