If I Were You - 1938 - Broadway Articles Page 3

This week I saw productions of two decades-old musicals, each written by one of theatre's great composer/lyricists, which, in their original productions, ran a combined total of nine performances on Broadway.

Theater J has announced Theater J’s 32nd season, which includes five plays and a bonus return engagement of a musical masterpiece.

What a conundrum for an artist. Is it more effective to deliver art to an audience by any means necessary or to have the 'vehicle' for displaying it match the work itself? For example, when it comes to the theatre, can a whisper ever truly be a whisper? Such is the dilemma for any theatre since 1938 producing Thornton Wilder's OUR TOWN.

The Lantern’s first collaboration with nationally prominent director and playwright Steve H. Broadnax III, this world premiere play with music shows the dramatic confrontation between the great American blues musician Robert Johnson and the Devil from whom, legend has it, Johnson received his extraordinary talent.

Returning to lead the cast are Shereen Ahmed as Eliza Doolittle, Laird Mackintosh as Professor Henry Higgins, Leslie Alexander as Mrs. Higgins, Adam Grupper as Alfred P. Doolittle, Kevin Pariseau as Colonel Pickering, Gayton Scott as Mrs. Pearce, and Sam Simahk as Freddy Eynsford-Hill.

Though there are not may hills in the Argenta District, North Little Rock was definitely filled with the SOUND OF MUSIC this weekend, as the cast brought the Von Trapp family story to life at the Argenta Community Theater, 405 Main St, North Little Rock. This is the first partnership with Wildwood Park for the Arts, and I hope there will be many more, because this show is so good. Seriously, I will try to verbalize how great everyone is, but honestly, you need to go see it for yourself.

Lantern Theater Company announced today that its world premiere digital production of Me and the Devil, the Lantern's first collaboration with nationally prominent director and playwright Steve H. Broadnax III, will extend its streaming run through Sunday, November 21, 2021, to meet audience demand.

La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts Producing Artistic Director BT McNicholl will welcome you home to a very special return season of truly exhilarating events at the newly renovated theatre! Won’t it be amazing to once again laugh together at the unmistakable comedy of the one-and-only JAY LENO and the always hilarious MARGARET CHO?

With a mix of music old and new and a script written by Linnie Reedman, THE STRANGE AFFAIR OF HERSCHEL GRYNSPAN brings to life a story that has hitherto been confined to the backwaters of history. On the 7th of November 1938 a desperate 17-year-old Jewish refugee walked into the German Embassy in Paris and shot a German diplomat.

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center has announced an exciting 2021-22 season of intimate concerts, live and with an in-person audience, in the Rose Studio: New Milestones, Rose Studio Concerts and The Art of the Recital, as well as a new season of its popular lecture series Inside Chamber Music and more.

San Francisco Opera announced today repertory, casting and reopening plans for its 99th season. Commencing with a performance of Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca on Saturday, August 21, the 2021–22 Season marks the inauguration of Eun Sun Kim’s tenure as Caroline H. Hume Music Director and a reemergence of opera at the War Memorial Opera House.

How a director envisions a production makes all the difference in its prestation to an audience, starting with casting and continuing through rehearsals and all technical aspects of the show. I spoke with Branda Lock on bringing her vivid imagination and directing skills to George Bernard Show’s PYGMALION, filled with unique Lock-inspired changes to the casting which promise to shed new light on this classic tale of class struggles in Shaw’s time.

Mint Theater Company will kick off its Silver Lining Streaming Series today with the on-demand streaming of the HD recording of Days To Come by Lillian Hellman (The Little Foxes, Watch on the Rhine, Toys in the Attic, The Children's Hour), directed by J.R. Sullivan, beginning January 4th and continuing through February 21st. 

Spread the word, Upper Eastsiders -- all six seasons of “Gossip Girl” are coming to HBO Max on January 1st.

Mint Theater Company Artistic Director Jonathan Bank today announced the line-up for Mint’s popular Streaming Series for 2021, featuring HD recordings of past productions: Days To Come by Lillian Hellman, directed by J.R. Sullivan (will begin airing January 4th and continue through February 21st); plus much more!

The best gift isn’t under the Christmas tree, it’s on HBO Max! Celebrate Christmas Day with Wonder Woman 1984, starring Gal Gadot, when it flies onto the platform the same day it hits theaters around the country.

As those lines were read by the “stranger” during the first Zoom rehearsal for The War of the Worlds, director Matt Ripa, M.F.A. 2008, looked into his computer screen at his student actors. “You could see the hint of familiarity come across their faces,” he recalls. “It hit home.”

If you were planning the first in-person performance in the Kennedy Center in six months, a kind of historic cultural awakening after the darkness of the pandemic lockdown, you couldn't go wrong with a double bill of Renée Fleming and Vanessa Williams.

Pasadena Playhouse announces Fall Programming for PlayhouseLive, a first-of-its-kind nonprofit streaming platform to showcase theatrical productions to a national and international audience, launching online September 30. With the continuation of the Playhouse's efforts as the State Theater of California, PlayhouseLive productions will offer a broad range of voices and perspectives while ensuring that access to the programming will remain accessible to the widest possible audience.

An entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable evening.

BWW Reviewer Peter Nason chooses the greatest theatrical works (non-musical) from 1920-2020; see if your favorites made the list!

Theater suffered a huge loss this week when the playwright Terrence McNally died at 81, of complications of our current plague, the coronavirus. It was a sad irony since many of McNally's plays dealt with the effects of a previous plague, AIDS, in the 1980s.

How do we make a list of the 101 greatest show tunes from the past 100 years? Well, we did the near-impossible task.  Check out our full list here! 

Charleston Light Opera Guild is kicking off 2020 with their highly anticipated production of the classic The Sound of Music, set to debut on January 17th at The Clay Center in the Maier Performance Hall.

The 2019 theatrical season has afforded me the opportunity to see several fantastic plays and musicals, unfortunately, Ken Ludwig's SHERWOOD THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD does not rank among them. Yes, if you like slapstick, old jokes, and sword fights then it does provide a nice evening of entertainment and several moments of raucous humor. SHERWOOD THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, starring Hal Linden, at the New Theatre Restaurant runs through February 2, 2020.