As any Broadway theater-goer knows, jukebox bio-musicals are surprisingly difficult to pull off well. Stringing together hit songs in a way that serves a story, while also dealing with all the real-life egos involved, often involves sacrificing musical or dramatic integrity. It's even more surprising, then, that one of the best recent bio-musicals isn't even a Broadway show: it's Rocketman, the musical movie about the early life and career of Sir Elton John. By giving itself permission to be a musical first, the movie's soundtrack manages to capture the iconic musician's sound without giving up on a satisfying dramatic arc.
Casting is today announced for Fanny & Alexander at The Old Vic. Legendary filmmaker Ingmar Bergman's masterpiece Fanny and Alexander is adapted for the stage by BAFTA award-winning writer Stephen Beresford and directed by Old Vic Associate Director Max Webster, opening on 1 March 2018 with previews from 21 February 2018. The cast includes Penelope Wilton, Thomas Arnold, Lolita Chakrabarti, Kevin Doyle, Karina Fernandez, Annie Firbank, Matt Gavan, Tim Lewis, Gary MacKay, Gloria Obianyo, Vivian Oparah, Michael Pennington, Hannah James Scott, Jonathan Slinger, Catherine Walker and Sargon Yelda.
Theatre Artists Studio has set the table for a healthy, satisfying, and inspiring feast of plays in its 2015 NEW SUMMER SHORTS which runs through June 28th. The play's the thing in a festival of short works written and directed my members of the co-op. At ten minutes a pop, each of the eight productions in this year's showcase catches the audience's conscience, at one level or another. As mirrors of human foibles and affects, their themes resonate with the familiarity of an old mistake, eliciting a knowing smile or a reluctant frown.
