#Lincoln Center Theater

[goodoldcharley]

[itsagentromanoff]

Robert Downey Jr. is headed to Broadway in McNeal

[tobys-walrus-crew]

FINALLY!!! First look production photos of Toby Stephens in Corruption Play at @LCTheater !

📸 T. Charles Erickson

[shakespearenews]

Christopher Lloyd and Christopher Walken in the stage production Macbeth at Lincoln Center

[shippingdragons]

Break a leg Corruption Company! This play gives me life, it’s just such good theatre!

[lottievanclaire]

MY FAIR LADY (2018) Photoshoot with Lauren Ambrose and Harry Hadden-Paton

[tikitania]

I’m in NYC for work, so of course I got a ticket to see NYCB! Rubies; Dig the Say & In Creases by Justin Peck; & Underneath, There is Light by Amy Hall Garner — a new work for this season.

Rubies! It was my first time seeing this live. I have yet to see Jewels in its entirely and it’s on my bucket list, but I was so thankful so have seen this with Emma von Enck, Joseph Gordon, and Emily Kikta.

Also, Tiler Peck and Roman Mejia in Dig the Say! Just incredible!

A few photos from curtain calls, and a shot of the chandelier because it’s exquisite! 💎

[bluemoonperegrine]

"Another End" makes its North American debut at the Lincoln Center in Washington DC at the end of this month. If I were a two- or three-hour drive away I'd get tickets. Not going for another overnight trip for this movie, tho.

Click through to see new stills from the movie. It looks gorgeous, if somber.

Hat tip to gaelgarciabdaily on Insta for the heads up.

[mybreastsachewithrage]

[droughtofapathy]

"Welcome to the Theatre": Diary of a Broadway Baby

Corruption

March 16, 2024 | Off-Broadway | Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater | Matinee | Play | Original | 2H 40M

Oh, it's long, but it's worth it. Based on the real events in 2011 Britain, this play depicts the phone-hacking scandal that turned UK politics and journalism upside down. Now, obviously because it's based on a memoir written by some of the people who uncovered the Murdoch media scandal, it's very clear who's on the right side (even if the play does a good job making even its protagonists pretty dickish). I'm a big fan of a large ensemble show where actors play multiple roles, weaving in and out of characters like chameleons. Act two picks up the pace from a slower act one, and tensions are fraught. I'm glad there's still room for smart, serious, somewhat tedious dramas.

Verdict: A Lovely Night

A Note on Ratings

[frontmezzjunkies]

"The Gardens of Anuncia" Blooms in the Memory Light of LCT

#frontmezzjunkies reviews: @LCTheater's #TheGardensOfAnuncia a new #Musical by #MichaelJohnLaChiusa directed and co-choreographed by #GracielaDaniele w/ #PriscillaLopez #KalynWest #MaryTesta #EdenEspinosa (#FranciscaMuñoz) #AndréaBurns #GardensLCT

Priscilla Lopez (center) with (from l-r in the background) Andréa Burns, Mary Testa, and Eden Espinosa in LCT’s The Gardens of Anuncia. Photo by Julieta Cervantes. The Off-Broadway Theatre Review: Lincoln Center Theater’s The Gardens of Anuncia By Ross Appealing and pretty in its fragrant blooming, Lincoln Center Theater‘s The Gardens of Anuncia charms as a memory musical that is also a…

[caroleditosti]

'The Gardens of Anuncia' Theater Review

'The Gardens of Anuncia' is an evocative, stylized musical inspired by the childhood of Graciela Daniele.

(L to R): Priscilla Lopez, Kalyn West in The Gardens of Anuncia (Julieta Cervantes) In order to deal with the past, sometimes memories must be altered to beautify the ugliness of their reality. This is one of the themes in Michael John LaChiusa’s musical, The Gardens of Anuncia, directed and choreographed by Graciella Daniele. The Gardens of Anuncia is currently running at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi…

[fictionadventurer]

Interesting thing about Lincoln.

As a person and a politician, he was defined by his way with words. He was a lawyer, which involves speaking in courtrooms and appealing to audiences. He rose to national prominence because of how well he did in a series of public debates. He wrote speeches that have lasted through the ages because of their concise yet vivid phrasing.

He understood the world through the lens of storytelling. He had anecdotes for every situation, and constantly used them to provide metaphors explaining his stances or his strategy or his view of an issue.

As president during a Civil War, a huge part of his job was crafting the narrative explaining what they were fighting for. The Gettysburg Address reframed the national narrative so the founding moment of the country wasn't the ratification of the Constitution--as the South claimed--but the Declaration of Independence that listed the ideals that all the states should be held to. Of course, the South was doing the same thing, so that the conflict was not only a battle of muskets and cannons--it was a war of stories.

And he was killed by an actor.

In a theater.

He was struck down by an opposing storyteller in a palace of artifice. An actress made a point of cradling his dying head in her lap so she could have a part in the drama. He lived by stories and died as the center of one, in a place made for telling such stories.

It's poetic and tragic and so shockingly fitting that the war of stories claimed him as its central victim.

[tobys-walrus-crew]

We have the first rehearsal photos for Corruption at @ LCTheater!!! Yesterday Lincoln Center Theater began rehearsals. The play is written by J.T. Rogers and directed by Bartlett Sher and will begin previews on Thursday, February 15! Tickets go on sale on Friday!

Photos: Chasi Annexy

[shakespearenews]

The generations of Shakespeareans that became the way they are because of Clueless-era Paul Rudd's purple speedo-clad Orsino.

[shippingdragons]

Toby Stephens Returns to the New York Stage to Investigate the Media In ‘Corruption’

Stephens talks about playing Tom Watson, the member of Parliament who pursued the investigation of the UK phone hacking scandal. “We’re still living in the aftermath of all the stuff that came out," he says.

By Harry Haun • 03/25/24 4:55pm

Toby Stephens as Tom Watson in Corruption at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. T Charles Erickson

“I love doing what I do on stage,” declares Toby Stephens, more joyfully than boastfully. Call it a (very) early calling. The gifted offspring of genuine theatrical royalty (Sir Robert Stephens and Dame Maggie Smith), he plies the family trade with distinction on two continents. He can’t help it.

When Broadway first saw Stephens, he was drawing double duty in the 1999 revival of Jean Anouilh’s Ring Round the Moon, playing patrician twins who turn into romantic rivals. A quarter of a century later he has finally returned to New York in Corruption, where he is one of just two actors in a company of 13 who does not play multiple roles.

Stephens portrays Tom Watson, a British Parliament member who helped squeeze a death rattle out of Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World for hacking the phones of thousands of celebrities. Playwright J.T. Rogers adapted Watson and journalist Martin Hickman’s 2012 book Dial M for Murdoch: News Corporation and The Corruption of Britain into Corruption, currently getting a world-premiere staging from Bartlett Sher at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, the site of the duo’s previous Tony winner, 2016’s Oslo.

In the 25 years between his New York stage sojourns Stephens has been busy doing his thing “in an industry that’s becoming more and more precarious,” he tells Observer. That’s meant keeping “a variety going,” trading movie roles like the Bond villain Gustav Graves in Die Another Day with a turn as Hamlet with the Royal Shakespeare Company. “I still try to balance theater with making money. That’s what it comes down to—finding that balance.”

What was the lure that brought Stephens back to New York? “A number of things,” he begins. “Firstly, I worked with Bart and J.T. on Oslo in London and enjoyed the experience. Secondly, Corruption is a new piece. Really interesting new writing is quite rare these days. Lots of revivals are done, but I really want to work on something new.” And then there’s focus of Corruption: the media, privacy, and truth itself. “It’s an important subject because we’re still living in the aftermath of all the stuff that came out. It’s still on-going.”

It’s not been an easy play to bring off. “There’s a point in rehearsals and previews where you suddenly feel like ‘Oh, I’m in control of this. It’s not in control of me,’” he says. “What I hate is when you aren’t quite in control of the material. It’s just beyond your fingertips.” The challenge of Corruption was its complexity. “The play is freighted with information, and you have to get that across and make it all seem naturalistic and real. You must leave the audience believing this narrative.”

Adding to the complexity, the show changed throughout previews, a process Stephens calls “terrifying,” though, “that’s how J.T. and Bart work,” he adds. Some of the changes were subtle, others were major. “By the time we reached the first night, it was a very different piece than what we started with. The skeleton was there, but the way we told the story was different. They tightened it up, cut things, rearranged things, even put new scenes in.” Still, there was enough time to work with the material that by opening night Stephens had found the control he was looking for. “I had fun because I knew it was cemented and this would be the piece we’re doing.”

How deeply did Stephens delve into the character of the man he was playing? “Not very,” the actor admits. “I know of him because I’m aware politically in the U.K. I read the newspaper and follow current affairs. I’ve watched him through the years. In terms of research, I believe the play is the play. That’s my main touchstone. I have to trust J.T. has done thorough research, which he has.”

Tom Watson, Toby Stephens, playwright J.T. Rogers, and director Bartlett Sher on opening of Corruption. Tricia Baron

In fact, Stephens opted not to read the book the play is based on. “I find doing loads of research—beyond what the material is— isn’t helpful. All that does is confuse and muddy what you’re doing,” he says. “My business is to do the play I’m given and make my character dramatic and nuanced enough for audiences to deal with.”

So for Stephens, the research is the script, though he does admit one addition to get Watson’s accent right. “He’s got an accent that’s quite broad when he’s talking as himself, but when he’s in Parliament or talking officially, it’s slightly subtler,” he says. To nail that, he watched “a lot of videos—but up to a point. I don’t want to do an impersonation.”

Tom Watson was a surprise guest at Corruption’s opening. “Thank God, I didn’t know that he was present,” Stephens sighs. “Afterwards, Tom said, ‘If this play was done in London, it would be a lightning rod.’ I think he’s right about that. It’s still very fresh in people’s memory. There’s still legal action against newspapers for hacking.” Though Watson had read the play before seeing it, Stephens thinks he was slightly stunned by the whole thing. “Actually seeing it, seeing somebody else playing you, is a completely different thing. You’ve got someone who has lived the real story, and you’re doing a simplified version of that. But I think that he was very, very impressed by the show. ”