Character Man - 2014 - Off-Off-Broadway Articles Page 18

Originally banned in Britain, Wilde's outrageously provocative Salomé comes to Southwark Playhouse after an original run at Greenwich Theatre in 2019. This immersive new version sits the audience at Herod's banqueting table on his birthday, but the lavish affair with innocuous cake and party hats soon descends from garish to gore.

​Director Caitlin Lopez, the Associate Artistic Director of Ophelia's Jump Productions (OJP) who also serves as Improv Director for the company elaborates, 'Twelfth Night tells the story of Viola who has washed up on the shores of the vibrant and uninhibited Illyria after a shipwreck. In this modern queer fairytale, she and a cast of colorful characters all must discover what it means to truly love and embrace their heart's desires.' I decided to speak with Caitlin about both her directing and appearing in the production, as well as her background with the history of OJP.  ​

Hadley Fraser some while ago established himself as one of the most protean actors around: a talent equally at home both in big-name musicals (Les Mis, Young Frankenstein) and Shakespeare (playing Aufidius to Tom Hiddleston’s Coriolanus and Polixenes in The Winter’s Tale, alongside Kenneth Branagh and Judi Dench). Now, with theatre in the capital kickstarting anew, Fraser is due to open Aug 11 at the Noel Coward Theatre in 2: 22 – A Ghost Story, which is that modern-day rarity – a stage thriller.

Following auditions by more than 300 hopeful artists in Brisbane and around the country (via video calls), the full cast of this September's Queensland premiere season of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was unveiled today coinciding with World Chocolate Day (7 July).

Theatre 40 will be presenting a staged reading of Gary Kaskel’s ANOTHER GIN GAME starring Ed Asner and Ruta Lee with Donté Ashon Green July 18, 2021. I have the delightful pleasure of talking to Ed, not only on ANOTHER GIN GAME, but on highlights of his incredibly long-lasting acting career. When I tried to thank him for all the previous times he’s graciously posed for my camera and chatted with me at various charity events, he playfully deflected with, “But I’m a son of a bitch now!”

Taking place 7-8 July, the Engine Room Film Festival will showcase emerging and established filmmakers from the South West, celebrating local talent on the main stage of Salisbury Playhouse.  

Desert in, created by Darrah and collaborators, is a groundbreaking, eight-part operatic mini-series full of colorful and mysterious characters who populate a supernatural story of love, loss and the price of memories we struggle to keep.

The Wallis inaugurates their new pop-up performance space on the Promenade Terrace for live audiences with the world premiere of Tom Dugan’s TEVYE IN NEW YORK! June 23, 2021. Tom co-directs (with Michael Vale) his one-man show on the well-known musical theatre lead character of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. Tom managed to find time amongst his many, many writing projects to answer a few of my enquiries.

On Wednesday 10 June 2020, the scholar James Nwoye Adichie died in Nigeria. Three months later, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the acclaimed author of Half a Yellow Sun and Americanah, published a beautiful tribute to the father she loved 'so much, so fiercely, so tenderly', a poignant meditation on the meaning, impact and nature of grief, in the New Yorker. Out of that essay grew a book, published in May 2021.

Kicking it all off is the brand-new Plaza Players Series with Tony-Nominated writer and composer Joe Iconis (Be More Chill, Love in Hate Nation) joined by Lauren Marcus (Be More Chill, Love in Hate Nation) and other special guests.

Happy June, and happy pride month! I have made a list of some musicals with queer representation to celebrate!

June marks the official start of Pride Month! This year, BroadwayWorld is celebrating pride with a series focused on some of our favorite LGBTQ-themed musicals, plays, characters, and songs!

Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts will present a brand-new season filled with concerts and performances for a wide range of tastes from eclectic to traditional, from Grammy-winning artists in jazz, American roots, classical and global music to Broadway greats and more.

Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Rhinebeck Writers Retreat will host nine weeklong in-person residencies for 23 musical theatre writers of nine new musicals between June 27 and August 29.  Writers include Tony-nominee Beth Malone, Emily Saliers of Indigo Girls; Jonathan Larson winners Avi Amon, Sara Cooper, Ty Defoe, and Anna Jacobs and more.

The Cantonese production of Le Père opened at the Hong Kong City Hall Theatre on Thursday 20th May. The play was originally scheduled to play in July & August 2020, but due to the pandemic, the play sadly had to cancel right after the set had been completed.

After a 15-month shutdown due to the COVID-19 epidemic, proprietors Steve Baruch, Richard Frankel, and Tom Viertel have announced that “Broadway’s Supper Club” Feinstein’s/54 Below will reopen its iconic red door for live performances on June 17, 2021. 

Howard University has announced the appointment of Phylicia Rashad as dean of the recently reestablished College of Fine Arts, effective July 1, 2021. In this role, she will report to Provost Anthony K. Wutoh. An alumna of Howard University, Rashad graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s in fine arts.

 FilmAfrica also includes a stunning program of shorts films: Jojolo (Lebert Bethune, 1966), In the Heart of Vivianne Gauthier (Marie-Claude Fournier, 2017), Tezen (Shirley Bruno, 2016), The Prophetess (Sylvie Weber, 2018), Razana (Haminiaina Ratovoarivony, 2018), and Al-Sit (Suzannah Mirghani, 2020).

A special solo show has been turned into a special film and Benjamin Rauhala has a lot to say about it... and many other things, as well.

Amas Musical Theatre today announced the recipients of the third Eric H. Weinberger Award for Emerging Librettists. Gabe Caruso and Sangwoo ‘Simon’ Lee, 2020 graduates of the NYU Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program, were selected for their full-length musical SETTLE DOWN: A New Hip Hop Musical.

Next month the British Museum will open the first major exhibition in the UK on Nero, one of the most notorious ancient Roman emperors.

1st Stage has announced its brand-new series called the Masters' Class, beginning May 15 and spanning an inspiring array of new topics in theatre and performance.

Historian, author, visual artist, and MacDowell Board Chair Nell Painter will lead the second in a series of free virtual discussions about the arts and creativity on Thursday, May 6, at 7 p.m. ET with memoirist and theatre artist P. Carl and novelists Michael Chabon and Chang-rae Lee. 

Friedrichstadt-Palast Berlin to present the brand-new ARISE Grand Show from August, advance ticket sales have now begun.

The team behind the operatic miniseries 'desert in,” now in production for a June 2021 debut on Boston Lyric Opera’s streaming service, announced today an award-winning roster of composers and performers working on the project.