CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD to Play Studio 54 This Spring
CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD to Play Studio 54 This Spring
Cfried
Broadway Star Joined: 9/15/16
#1CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD to Play Studio 54 This Spring
Posted: 8/15/17 at 1:07pm
https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/CHILDREN-OF-A-LESSER-GOD-to-Open-on-Broadway-This-Spring-20170815-facebook
Producer Hal Luftig announced today that Mark Medoff's landmark play, Children of a Lesser God, will return to Broadway this spring for the first time since its Tony Award-winning premiere production. Starring Joshua Jackson and introducing Lauren Ridloff, both making their Broadway debuts, and directed by Tony Award-winner Kenny Leon, Children of a Lesser God will begin performances at Studio 54 (254 West 54th Street) on Thursday, March 22nd. Opening night is set for Wednesday, April 11, 2018.
BroadwayConcierge
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/24/15
#2CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD to Play Studio 54 This Spring
Posted: 8/15/17 at 1:23pm
I can't exactly see this one becoming a hit...
neonlightsxo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/29/08
#3CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD to Play Studio 54 This Spring
Posted: 8/15/17 at 1:30pm
Well now that's one less slot for Roundabout to fill in their non-existent Broadway season.
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#4CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD to Play Studio 54 This Spring
Posted: 8/15/17 at 1:43pm
This is one of my favorite plays. I have a former student work on this earlier this summer, she thought it was phenomenal.
I'll purchase tix.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
Theater'sBestFriend
Featured Actor Joined: 3/5/13
#5CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD to Play Studio 54 This Spring
Posted: 8/15/17 at 2:15pm
Did your student say what she liked about it?
#6CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD to Play Studio 54 This Spring
Posted: 8/15/17 at 2:22pm
I saw the production at BSC. It's superb: well acted, expertly directed, feels very relevant. Lauren Roloff is giving a star-is-born kind of performance. You can't take your eyes off her.
For the record, Roundabout is co-producing, and this will be part of their subscription season.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
SharksVsJets
Stand-by Joined: 4/22/17
#7CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD to Play Studio 54 This Spring
Posted: 8/15/17 at 2:30pm
I loved this back in 1980. I have no ideas if the issues are still the same.
wonkit
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/30/08
#8CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD to Play Studio 54 This Spring
Posted: 8/15/17 at 2:39pm
Joshua Jackson should be a draw.
#9CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD to Play Studio 54 This Spring
Posted: 8/15/17 at 2:52pm
wonkit said: "Joshua Jackson should be a draw.
I'm not so sure. I think he's great but he's not an A-lister. The title might be a draw, though.
A little swash, a bit of buckle - you'll love it more than bread.
#10CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD to Play Studio 54 This Spring
Posted: 8/15/17 at 2:54pm
I had pretty mixed feelings about the film, but I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays onstage, especially with the strong word-of-mouth for the production. I'm wondering, though, if this will end up being next season's "Six Degrees of Separation." i.e "play from a few decades ago, with an arguably more famous film adaptation, gets a somewhat unneeded revival starring mid-level celebrities." And we know how that went. Still, I'll keep an open mind!
As a sidenote - will Lauren Ridloff be the first POC with a disability to play a leading role on Broadway? I know that's a lot of qualifiers, but it's still an interesting thing to take note of if it is true.
#11CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD to Play Studio 54 This Spring
Posted: 8/15/17 at 2:58pm
Would telling me where the title of this story comes from, result in a spoiler?
http://puccinischronicles.wordpress.com
wonkit
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/30/08
#12CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD to Play Studio 54 This Spring
Posted: 8/15/17 at 2:59pm
little_sally - you're right. He's not an A-lister, and it is risky to make your debut in a small-cast straight play, but he is known to TV fans from DAWSON'S CREEK (a century ago?) and THE AFFAIR.
#13CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD to Play Studio 54 This Spring
Posted: 8/15/17 at 3:03pm
As a sidenote - will Lauren Ridloff be the first POC with a disability to play a leading role on Broadway? I know that's a lot of qualifiers, but it's still an interesting thing to take note of if it is true.
Treshelle Edmond, a deaf woman of color, appeared in the Spring Awakening revival.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#14CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD to Play Studio 54 This Spring
Posted: 8/15/17 at 3:15pm
AC126748 said: "Treshelle Edmond, a deaf woman of color, appeared in the Spring Awakening revival."
Yes, but in a LEADING role, I said. (not to dismiss Ms. Edmond's accomplishments)
#15CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD to Play Studio 54 This Spring
Posted: 8/15/17 at 3:17pm
Oh sorry, I completely missed that detail. In that respect, I don't know, but probably. The list of performers with disabilities who've made it to Broadway is quite smaller, and the list of performers of color with disabilities is smaller.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#16CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD to Play Studio 54 This Spring
Posted: 8/15/17 at 3:29pm
Joshua Jackson was a lead in Fringe. Fringe has a RABID fan base. I don't think that makes him a major name and I'm not sure if that even makes him a minor draw... but I couldn't let the thread go on any longer without mentioning Fringe.
Jesus saves. I spend.
#17CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD to Play Studio 54 This Spring
Posted: 8/15/17 at 3:33pm
AC126748 said: "For the record, Roundabout is co-producing, and this will be part of their subscription season."
If Roundabout is co-producing, then the production probably shouldn't be as concerned with turning a profit.
Theater'sBestFriend
Featured Actor Joined: 3/5/13
#18CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD to Play Studio 54 This Spring
Posted: 8/15/17 at 4:15pm
Would telling me where the title of this story comes from, result in a spoiler?
From a line in a Tennyson poem. The play involves deaf and hearing people, and uses signed and spoken language. It deals with difference and resulting (mis)perceptions of otherness, disability, and inferiority.
perfectliar
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/1/04
#19CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD to Play Studio 54 This Spring
Posted: 8/15/17 at 4:17pm
Ado Annie D'Ysquith said: "Would telling me where the title of this story comes from, result in a spoiler?"
I don't really think spoilers are a thing for material that is nearly 40 years old, but no... it's adapted from a line from Tennyson's "Idylls of the King," where King Arthur sees failures and betrayals all around him and questions his belief in God.
Edit: Theater'sBestFriend beat me to it.
RippedMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/05
#20CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD to Play Studio 54 This Spring
Posted: 8/15/17 at 4:20pm
If Knightly didn't make her show a hit, I can't imagine Joshua Jackson will.
#21CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD to Play Studio 54 This Spring
Posted: 8/15/17 at 4:41pm
RippedMan said: "If Knightly didn't make her show a hit, I can't imagine Joshua Jackson will.
That's exactly what I thought.
A little swash, a bit of buckle - you'll love it more than bread.
SomethingPeculiar
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/15/14
#22CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD to Play Studio 54 This Spring
Posted: 8/15/17 at 4:41pm
Not to jump the gun here, but this feels like a similar situation to the recent revivals of SIX DEGREES and THE HEIDI CHRONICLES: plays of the 80s with familiar names attached but the producers are overestimating the drawing power of the names.
(M. BUTTERFLY could end up in this category also, unless it gets rapturous reviews -- Clive Owen in OLD TIMES ran 10 weeks and wasn't exactly a sold-out hit for the Roundabout.)
#23CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD to Play Studio 54 This Spring
Posted: 8/15/17 at 4:51pm
SomethingPeculiar said: "Not to jump the gun here, but this feels like a similar situation to the recent revivals of SIX DEGREES"
I said the same thing above!
wonkit
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/30/08
#24CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD to Play Studio 54 This Spring
Posted: 8/15/17 at 4:55pm
Clive Owen couldn't make OLD TIMES a hit because it was an awful production of a difficult play. No actor can work that kind of miracle.
10086sunset
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/8/16
#25CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD to Play Studio 54 This Spring
Posted: 8/15/17 at 4:57pm
neonlightsxo said: "Well now that's one less slot for Roundabout to fill in their non-existent Broadway season"
Hits the nail on the head.
Seriously, what are they doing over there? Are they still two shows short?