#the Lunt Fontanne is NOT ready for me

[forevermore1389]

[little-lovett]

won lotto for tomorrow’s matinee! delaney westfall as lovett, nik christopher as sweeney, joe locke as toby. a dream 🥹🥹 so many happy tears today

[outoftowninac]

OUTWARD BOUND

1923

Outward Bound is a play in three acts written by Sutton Vane.

The Story: A group of seven passengers meet in the lounge of an ocean liner at sea. Each eventually discovers that they are dead, and that they have to face judgment to determine whether they go to Heaven or Hell.

"I have put into ‘Outward Bound' my ideas of what happens to us directly after we die. I believe that when a person dies he or she is not aware of the fact. You and I might both be dead at that moment but we may not have time to discover that we are dead. For stage purposes, I have given my people tobacco, whiskey, books, and everyday clothes. They had not in the opening act found out that they are deaf and they Imagine things as they knew them and were accustomed to them. Gradually - it is impossible to say when because time in whatever comes beyond that life is doubtless not what we knew as time - I think those who die come to realize that they are dead.” ~ Sutton Vane

The play was originally produced in London on September 27, 1923. Vane could not find a producer for such an adventurous show, so he staged it himself, painting his own backdrops and building his own sets. The play proved to be a huge success, becoming the hit of the 1923 London season. 

Producer William Harris Jr. purchased the American rights before the play even opened in the West End. 

The America cast included Leslie Howard and Alfred Lunt. A year earlier, Lunt had honeymooned in Atlantic City with his bride, Lynn Fontanne. Lunt had proposed while on a day off from performing in Atlantic City, so honeymooning there was natural. 

The American premiere of Outward Bound took place at the Apollo Theatre in Atlantic City New Jersey. 

The surreal play found a hostile audience in Atlantic City during the Christmas holidays. The New York Times reported that there was hissing! 

“Not that I am blaming the good folk of Atlantic City. No. One can understand the annoyance of people who expect a jolly crook play and suddenly discover they have been inveigled into viewing one man’s conception of the judgement day and life in the hereafter.” ~ Leslie Howard in the New York Times, May 1924

In Washington DC the cast worked hard on the script to be ready for the Broadway première. 

“Rehearsal for purpose of rehashing play. Various authors, wives and retinues arrive. Great fun altering play. Which version do we play tonight? Do we know we’re dead or alive?”  ~ Leslie Howard, January 2, 1924

Directed by Robert Milton, the Broadway production premiered January 7, 1924, at the Ritz Theatre, running for 144 performances.

“Utterly futile rehearsal at 12 a.m. — for which little Leslie one hour late. Dinner with Alfred Lunt. Opening of ‘Outward Bound’ at Ritz Theatre. Much heart-pounding and jumping of nerves. Get through pretty well. Audience reduced to jelly.” ~ Leslie Howard, January 7, 1924

There were London revivals in 1926, 1928, 1940, and 2012.

In December 1938, the play was revived on Broadway at the Playhouse Theatre running for 255 performances. This production was directed by Otto Preminger, and featured Laurette Taylor, Helen Chandler, and Vincent Price.

Vane wrote a novelization of his play, Outward Bound: A Novel, published in 1929.

A film adaptation titled Outward Bound (1930) was produced by Warner Bros. The studio engaged Robert Milton, director of the Broadway production, to direct the motion picture. Dudley Digges, Beryl Mercer and Lyonel Watts reprised their Broadway roles; Leslie Howard, who had played Henry in the stage production, starred in the role that had been played by Alfred Lunt.

The film was remade as Between Two Worlds (1944), with some changes reflecting World War II. 

There were television versions in 1949, 1952, 1955, and 1956. 

Outward Bound is referenced by Ronald Harwood in his 1980 play The Dresser, as well as the 1983 film: 

NORMAN: Sixteen years. I wish I could remember the name of the girl who got me into all this. We’d been together in ‘Outward Bound’, the Number Three tour, helped with wardrobe I did, understudied Scrubby, the steward. That’s all aboard a ship, you know. Lovely first act. “We’re all dead, aren’t we?” And I say, “Yes, Sir, we’re all dead. Quite dead.” And he says, “How long have you been – you been – oh you know?” “Me, Sir? Oh, I was lost young.” And he says, “Where – where are we sailing for?” And I say, “Heaven, Sir. And hell, too. It’s the same place, you see.” Lovely. Anyway.

[classicmollywood]

A Brief Biography on Montgomery Clift

Montgomery Clift’s 100th birth anniversary is October 17th,2020. There are probably a great deal of bios on Monty, but I felt like it was only fair to start my celebration of him with a brief biography. I plan to talk about his individual films in later posts which is why his filmography isn’t super descriptive, but don’t worry, I will get to these later on. I believe knowing the Clift off-screen will help us understand his art better... or maybe that’s just me. Either way, stick with me and you will learn all you need to know about the one and only Montgomery Clift. 

Photo via Top Hollywood Actresses and Actors

Edward Montgomery Clift was born on October 17th, 1920 in Omaha, Nebraska. His parents were William Brooks Clift, a Wall Street Stockbroker, and Ethel Anderson Clift aka Sunny, who was a stay at home mom. He had an older brother named Brooks, and a twin sister named Roberta aka Ethel. The three of them would have an upbringing that is best described as unique, due to the fact that their mother would take them and their private tutors on travels across the world. It is safe to say that in Clift’s earlier years, his family was well off. The children got to go places and enjoy experiences that some people can only dream about.

Monty and his twin sister, Roberta aka Ethel, via The Hollywood Scrapbook

However, after the stock market crash, the Clift family lifestyle changed. The nomadic life of the Clifts was abruptly put to a halt. They had less money and had to root themselves in one place. During this unfortunate rooting, after living what some might call a normal life, Monty caught the acting bug at age 13. He joined a local youth theatrical club, which helped Sunny realize her son had natural talent thus resulting in her encouragement for him to pursue an acting career. His professional theatrical debut was in 1935, in the play Fly Away Home. He was only 14. Monty got to hone his craft with help from some of the best on Broadway, working with famous names such as Fredric March, Tallulah Bankhead, Lynn Fontanne, Alla Nazimova and Alfred Lunt. He credits them, and not the Actor’s Studio, for helping him become a great actor. Their guidance and his training paid off - he had his first leading role on stage at the age of 17. 

Monty with Alla Nazimova in a still for the Broadway Play “The Mother” circa 1939 via Martin Turnball

 By the time he was 18, Hollywood started calling, but he wasn’t interested. In 1938, he was offered the lead role in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - but turned it down. This would not be the only role he would turn down though. Monty seemed to have a set of standards that if complied with, would bring him to Hollywood. If his checklist demands weren’t met - he wasn’t interested because he wanted to be free. 

Monty with Tallulah Bankhead and cast for a Playbill for the Plymouth Theatre via Amazon

The main reason Clift turned down roles for movies is because he didn’t want to sign a contract, which would cause him to be loyal to one studio. He wanted to take roles that he thought were the best and even went as far as turning down 14 films in one year. Some of his most famous declines are Mrs. Miniver, East of Eden, and On the Waterfront. Monty turned down these roles because they just didn’t feel right for his Hollywood debut. However, there is one film he turned down that probably wasn’t 100 percent his idea. Clift was in a relationship with Libby Holman, who was a much older actress, when the script for Sunset Boulevard came his way. It has been said that the storyline, of an aging actress having an affair with a younger man, was a bit too close for comfort for Holman, and that’s why he turned down the role. Who knows if that is true, but that decision helped William Holden finally become the star he felt destined to be, all thanks to Monty. 

Clift with Libby Holman via Pinterest

Once Clift finally got a studio to agree with his terms of script and director approval, the ability to work at rival studios, and the ability to be a creative collaborator, he went to Hollywood, at the age of 28. His first film was 1948’s Red River, even though The Search was released first. 

Clift with child actor Ivan Jandl via Worthpoint

When Monty started making films, his acting style, along with James Dean and Marlon Brando, helped recreate the leading man. The new leading man wasn’t afraid to mumble, show a range of emotions, and have a focus on their beauty. The world was ready for Clift and his new leading man, and after Red River and The Search, most of his films were hits. He got four Oscar nominations for acting but unfortunately never won a statue. 

The tabloids were obsessed with him. He lived modestly in New York and rarely talked about his personal life. Monty was some sort of enigma that kept the press wanting more - especially when it came to his love life. They wanted to know who Monty was dating but he would never share those details. 

A magazine clipping about Clift via Making Montgomery Clift’s Twitter

Before we dive into the subject of his sexuality, I want you to watch a clip from a rare interview from the early 60s with Hy Gardner. Gardner asks Monty about his link to some of his female co stars, and I think it is interesting to hear him talk about this. (Clip section with question about co-stars starts at about 5:12)

Monty doesn’t say his sexual preferences in this clip. He seems to be going every way he can around the question without giving an explicit answer .But keep in mind, this is probably more about his privacy than being worried people will find out his true sexuality. How do I know this?

Because after watching the documentary film, Making Montgomery Clift, I learned how his sexuality and personal life was twisted and contorted into a Hollywood melodrama and of course, this was done after he wasn’t here to defend himself. It was just so easy to make him a tortured gay man because wasn’t that what every closeted gay man in the mid twentieth century was supposed to be? 

But that wasn’t Monty. His brother, Brooks Clift, is quoted saying that Clift’s sexuality “never seemed to bother him at all”. Clift’s companion Lorenzo James, said that he “wasn’t closeted at all and he wasn’t affected by his sexuality.” Clift had issues in his life, but his sexuality wasn’t one of them. He was a private guy who didn’t like giving interviews, so the press had a field day when they found out something he hid from the public, but not necessarily everyone in his life. Thus began the tragic gay man myth surrounding Monty.

The assumption that he was a tragic gay man may stem from the fact that he was moody and had drug and alcohol abuse. Yet, the Hollywood gossip columns and his own biographers portrayed his sexuality as something destructive in his life as opposed to being a part of him. 

Monty did have substance abuse issues, and it was assumed that this all started after his 1956 car accident, which he was constantly in pain from for the rest of his life. However, Clift’s brother blames the film Freud and the lawsuit between Clift, John Huston, and the producers as the reason Monty went into a downward spiral. Brooks explains that after this lawsuit, Monty couldn’t work and that depressed him, thus causing his substance dependency. 

Montgomery Clift died of a heart attack on July 23, 1966 at the age of 45. There are rumors that Clift was murdered, but the fact is, his heart just gave out

[newyorktheater]

Paul McCartney has announced that, at the age of 77, he is writing his first musical – a stage adaptation of Frank Capra’s 1946 movie “It’s a Wonderful Life,” a holiday evergreen in which Jimmy Stewart plays a man disappointed with his life who gets to see what the world would be like had he never been born. While McCartney didn’t say where or when the musical would be produced, it’s reasonable to assume that it might wind up on Broadway. This seems especially true since the show’s producer is Bill Kenright and McCartney’s main collaborator is Lee Hall. Kenright is the Tony-winning producer of more than a dozen shows on Broadway, including the innovative original musical “Passing Strange.” Hall, who will write the book and be McCartney’s co-lyricist for “It’s A Wonderful Life” is the Tony-winning book writer and lyricist of “Billy Elliot,” as well as the screenwriter for the original movie. He also wrote the Broadway plays “The Pitmen Painters” in 2010 and “Network,” which finished its run last month (as well as the screenplay for “Rocketman.”) Meanwhile, “Yesterday,” a current movie, purports to show us what the world would be like if the Beatles had never existed. The premise presents promise: A world-wide 12-minute electrical storm has blacked out memory of the band or their songs for all but a handful of people, including a young singer-songwriter, Singer-songwriter Jack Malik (Himesh Patel), who pretends the songs are his own. There are a handful of good jokes, most of which were revealed in the trailer

But “Yesterday” quickly turns into a routine romantic comedy with a clichéd, not completely coherent and somewhat hypocritical message about the perils of fame. It becomes clear what this movie is really about when you learn that the producers paid $10 million for 17 songs from the Beatles catalogue. The unalloyed joy that might come from hearing such a lovely and familiar soundtrack in a movie house, even just of covers, soured for me during a late exploitative scene in which Jack visits a still-living John Lennon (portrayed by a Lennon lookalike), residing simply, singly and anonymously in a seaside cottage. After that, “Yesterday” felt insufferable.

John Lennon of The Beatles is shown circa 1969

George Harrison 1970

Luke Roberts as Ringo Starr

Paul McCartney 2019

  The approach of this mediocre movie is analogous to the three shows that are most commonly associated with the Beatles on Broadway. All three were tribute concerts by musicians with a waxy resemblance to the original Fab Four: “Beatlemania,” which ran for more than 1,000 performances starting in 1977; “Rain,” which ran for 300 performances starting in 2010, and threatened to return briefly this year but was canceled; and “Let It Be,” which ran for 46 performances in 2013. The producers of “Rain” sued “Let It Be,” hilariously, for copyright infringement. “Rain” threatened to return this week as part of the “Residence on Broadway” series at the Lunt-Fontanne, but was canceled. There was also a show “Lennon,” which lasted for six weeks in 2005. The problem with these tribute shows, as I wrote in my nearly identifical reviews of Rain and Let It BE, is that they lacked all three qualities in which the Beatles’ appeal resided — energy, wit, and originality. We live in an era on Broadway where bio jukebox musicals about singers and/or songwriters have become a standard genre, and pop composers as varied as Elton John, Cyndi Lauper, Sara Bareilles and Anais Mitchell have created Broadway hits with original scores. Isn’t it at the very least odd, and disappointing, that the members of the most revered rock n roll band of the 20th century – the authors of such storytelling songs as Eleanor Rigby, Norwegian Wood, Rocky Raccoon, the entire Sergeant Pepper album – have been presented on Broadway like Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum with audio? It didn’t have to be this way. The evidence is in the ways, other than tribute shows, that members of the Beatles have been represented on Broadway. George Harrison’s songs have appeared in six Broadway shows, starting in 1970 with “Paul Sills Story Theater,” a collection of Grimm fairy tales re-created as folk-rock fables, which featured Harrison’s song “Here Comes The Sun” At the age of 28 (while he was still a Beatle), John Lennon wrote a brief sketch for Kenneth Tynan’s erotic revue “Oh! Calcutta!” The show was a huge hit. It opened in 1969, ran for three years, and then was revived in 1976 and ran for another 13 years. Lennon’s contribution is entitled “Four in Hand” and it is about – ready for this – four men masturbating together. They use “a telepathic thought transmitter” to project what they’re fantasizing about on the screen. Newcomer George (!) fantasizes about the Lone Ranger, which irritates the other three. Cheeky and homoerotic, the sketch reveals a characteristic irreverence that some fans – and the entertainment entrepreneur who cater to them – seem to have lost sight of. Maybe 50 years later,  Paul McCartney will bring to Broadway some of the originality, tunefulness and wit that is the right way to associate the Beatles with Broadway.

The Beatles on Broadway. From John Lennon at age 28….to Paul McCartney at 78? Paul McCartney has announced that, at the age of 77, he is writing his first musical – a stage adaptation of Frank Capra’s 1946 movie “It’s a Wonderful Life,” a holiday evergreen in which Jimmy Stewart plays a man disappointed with his life who gets to see what the world would be like had he never been born.

[itstartedwithyes]

  Written and captured by Fiander Foto

If you’d like to get a glimpse of a “dream proposal”, look no further! Two Broadway actors, young and in love, get engaged on a beach in Bermuda! I’ve dubbed it “Broadway on Bermuda a Surprise Proposal”; cute, right?

Josh Paul Young – who played the role of “Judas” in Jesus Christ Superstar; a role which he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical – first got in touch with me last October and inquired about a Proposal Photo Package. We picked the date for the shoot and the location: Jobson’s Cove! Josh came up with a detailed plan for him to pop the question to his girlfriend, the every so talented actress and singer, Emily Padgett. As an actress, Emily is often asked to model for photographers. Josh’s plan consisted of me pretending to be the cousin of a mutual friend of Emily’s. This friend told Emily that her “cousin” (myself) wanted to take photos of her while she and Josh were as on vacation in Bermuda at Jobson’s Cove. To ensure Emily would agree to the plan, the “modeling gig” paid $500; how could she say no? Before we linked up, I told Josh my secret “hand signals” to let him know I was ready to capture him popping the question! It didn’t dawn on me until I was driving to Jobson’s Cove that Josh’s backstory seemed more like a script! In order for me to save face and pull this off, I would need to harness my own acting skills, which were last put the test in 7th Grade when I played Auntie Em in the Wizard of Oz! I took a few photos of Emily solo and when she was least expecting it, gave the signal to Josh to join her by the water’s edge for his big moment! Emily’s reaction was priceless! As he got down on one knee to present the ring, Emily gasped and jumped up and down with excitement. Emily shed a few tears as Josh put the ring on her finger. From there, we started with the next “chapter” of the photo shoot: Engagement Photos! It’s always an amazing feeling to photograph a proposal and then also have time for an Engagement Session

Josh’s plan consisted of me pretending to be the cousin of a mutual friend of Emily’s. This friend told Emily that her “cousin” (myself) wanted to take photos of her while she and Josh were as on vacation in Bermuda at Jobson’s Cove. To ensure Emily would agree to the plan, the “modeling gig” paid $500; how could she say no? Before we linked up, I told Josh my secret “hand signals” to let him know I was ready to capture him popping the question! It didn’t dawn on me until I was driving to Jobson’s Cove that Josh’s backstory seemed more like a script! In order for me to save face and pull this off, I would need to harness my own acting skills, which were last put the test in 7th Grade when I played Auntie Em in the Wizard of Oz! I took a few photos of Emily solo and when she was least expecting it, gave the signal to Josh to join her by the water’s edge for his big moment!

Emily’s reaction was priceless! As he got down on one knee to present the ring, Emily gasped and jumped up and down with excitement. Emily shed a few tears as Josh put the ring on her finger. From there, we started with the next “chapter” of the photo shoot: Engagement Photos! It’s always an amazing feeling to photograph a proposal and then also have time for an Engagement Session

From there, we started with the next “chapter” of the photo shoot: Engagement Photos! It’s always an amazing feeling to photograph a proposal and then also have time for an Engagement Session afterwards. While we explored the different paths, beaches and inlets, Emily said the two of them had met through their  manager! How romantic! As the sun began to

As the sun began to set , a gorgeous glow of light appeared and the water appeared more teal than usual. We made our way to the next beach. Before their trip to Bermuda, Josh had told me he was acting in a play at the Shakespeare Theatre in my hometown of Washington D.C. We compared notes on the “ins-and-outs of living in the City and it was interesting to hear about their time in D.C. The two have since moved back up to New York City and Emily will soon be “gearing up” for her next Broadway Role as Mrs. Buckett in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which opens March 28th at Lunt-Fontanne Theatre! Josh and Emily were brave souls on this cold winter day in January! Contrary to popular belief, the water does get cold in Bermuda although this did not stop Josh and Emily from getting in the water! As we walked back towards the parking lot, we passed Jobson’s Cove again. I said, “Do you guys want to re-enact the proposal? Eh? Eh?” Josh and Emily immediately took their spots, got into “character”, and nailed their own rendition of their proposal; an amazing performance; two thumbs up!At the end of the shoot, I gave the two a ride back to Newstead, where they were staying. After their stay at the hotel, they were going to board a cruise ship where Josh would be performing his one-man show for the next few nights. I was thankful to help Josh capture this special moment in their lives and had a blast working with the two of them! Please join me in congratulating the two of them as they start their new lives together!

Contrary to popular belief, the water does get cold in Bermuda although this did not stop Josh and Emily from getting in the water! As we walked back towards the parking lot, we passed Jobson’s Cove again. I said, “Do you guys want to re-enact the proposal? Eh? Eh?” Josh and Emily immediately took their spots, got into “character”, and nailed their own rendition of their proposal; an amazing performance; two thumbs up!At the end of the shoot, I gave the two a ride back to Newstead, where they were staying. After their stay at the hotel, they were going to board a cruise ship where Josh would be performing his one-man show for the next few nights. I was thankful to help Josh capture this special moment in their lives and had a blast working with the two of them! Please join me in congratulating the two of them as they start their new lives together!

Photographer:  Fiander Foto // Location: Jobson’s Cove

  Broadway on Bermuda a Surprise Proposal Written and captured by Fiander Foto If you’d like to get a glimpse of a “dream proposal”, look no further!

[newyorktheater]

What is a play – and what is its purpose? These questions come to mind after reading the 15 plays commissioned by T the New York Times Style Magazine in America 2024, a multimedia anthology of scripts an videotaped performances in answer to the question: What will the U.S. be like in five years?  The plays come from some of the leading playwrights of the nation, including Jackie Sibblies Drury, who yesterday won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play, “Fairview.”

Her play for T is entitled “Various Pre-Apocalyptic Post-Coital Scenes”  The script is accompanied by a video of a staged reading of the play by Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Roslyn Ruff and Hannah Cabell.

Her T play, and those by Adam Rapp and Celine Song will be read at the Brooklyn Academy of Music next Monday, April 22nd, followed by a discussion with the three playwrights. This thus avoids one of the questions that T inspired: Is something a play that’s intended only to be read?

  Terrence McNally contributed “Muses of Fire,” his conversation in the clouds during the 2024 Presidential inauguration with six dead great American playwrights (“Life is wasted on the living,” the imagined Thornton Wilder says.) They are portrayed in a video accompanying the script by six well-regarded actors —  Eugene O’Neill (Nathan Lane), Thornton Wilder (David Hyde Pierce), Lorraine Hansberry (Kerry Washington), Tennessee Williams (Richard Thomas), Arthur Miller (John Lithgow) and Edward Albee (Frederick Weller.) (McNally portrayed himself.)

“Theater stopped telling the truth when it started charging for admission. After the Greeks, it was selling something. Everybody was a salesman,” Edward Albee says in McNally’s play. “You got that part right, Artie.”

Ironically, the photographs of the playwrights and actors are captioned with descriptions of the clothes they’re wearing and how much they cost — one of the two aspects of this otherwise extraordinary project that go beyond odd (to annoying?) The other is the introduction by Hanya Yanagihara offering a definition of literature that leaves out a lot of really good theater. “…there is a crucial difference between journalism and literature: If the former concerns itself with What is, the latter is interested in What if. That instinct — the artistic compulsion to stretch the possibilities of the moment to their most outlandish, terrifying extremes — can often illuminate the current era. Literature, be it in the form of a play or poem or novel, is often at its most captivating when it is at its most exaggerated, when it articulates our collective fears or concerns.”

The Week in New York Theater Reviews

Norma Jeane Baker of Troy

I might go a great distance to watch Ben Whishaw strip off his suit and turn into Helen of Troy and Marilyn Monroe before our eyes. But I only had to travel to 30thStreet and 10thAvenue, in between the High Line and Hudson Yards, to the Griffin Theater on the sixth floor of The Shed, a new $500 million performing arts center .

As it turns out, though, it was the creative team that went far — too far. “Norma Jeane Baker of Troy,”  which is half sung and half spoken by both Whishaw and Renee Fleming, combines the myth of Helen of Troy with the story of Marilyn Monroe (birth name: Norma Jeane.)  This inaugural piece at the Griffin reflects the mission of The Shed, as articulated by its artistic director Alex Poots, to commission original works that “take creative risks and push artistic boundaries.” The show, with a starry cast and impeccable avant-garde credentials, is an intriguing and erudite experiment on multiple levels. On too many of those levels, however, it just didn’t work for me.

Oklahoma

I’m grateful for having first seen Daniel Fish’s dark, hip and homey production of “Oklahoma!” at St. Ann’s Warehouse last year, because I can see how much improved it is now that it has transferred to Broadway. They kept what I liked about it, and got rid of much of what I found most annoying.

The Week in Theater Awards

Playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury –

Fairview by Jackie Sibblies Drury Wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama

Congratulations to @jackiesdrury for winning the #PulitzerPrize for her stunning play Fairview! And thank you to the @PulitzerPrizes for naming me a finalist along with the brilliant Clare Barron, who also grew up in my hometown of Wenatchee, WA (pop. 34,000)!

— Heidi Schreck (@heidibschreck) April 15, 2019

Ann Reinking & Ben Vereen will serve as hosts to the Chita Rivera Awards on May 19 at the NYU Skirball Center

New York Theater Awards 2019 – Guide and Calendar

The Week in New York Theater News

  Terrence McNally

Paula Vogel

Chay Yew

MJ Kaufman

Pride Plays at Rattlestick Theater,  co-produced by actor Michael Urie, will feature staged readings to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, June 20 – June 24. Plays included (so far): Blueprints to Freedom by Michael Benjamin Washington; Last Summer at Bluefish Cove by Jane Chambers; Some Men by Terrence McNally; On this Morning by Caroline Prugh; As Is by William Hoffman; Eat and You Belong to Us by MJ Kaufman; Room Enough by Daaimah Mubashshir; Nora Highland by Ryan Spahn;Le Switch by Philip Dawkins; Mariquitas by Eduardo Machado; Bike Race by Eri Nox; The Last Sunday in June by Jonathan Tolins; The Baltimore Waltz by Paula Vogel; A Language of Their Own by Chay Yew

.@TinaBroadway, starring @AdrienneWarren, will open at Broadway’s Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on November 7, 2019, shortly before the 80th birthday of the dynamo entertainer Tina Turner born Anna Mae Bullock in Nutbush, Tennesseehttps://t.co/sdL09HUqOO

— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) April 11, 2019

Laurie Metcalf,

Eddie Izzard

Russell Tovey

Patsy Ferran

Laurie Metcalf and Eddie Izzard will star in the fifth Broadway production of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, opening April 9, 2020. Russell Tovey and Patsy Ferran will co-star.

Signature Theater 2019-2020 Season:

Fires in the Mirror By Anna Deavere Smith Directed by SaheemAli October 22 – November 24, 2019 A revival of Smith’s extraordinary documentary mosaic of the people involved in the Crown Heights riots in the summer of 1991 in the aftermath of the deaths of an African-American boy and a young Orthodox Jewish scholar.

The Young Man from Atlanta By Horton Foote Directed by Michael Wilson November 5 – December 8, 2019 A revival of the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama of an aging couple still reeling from the death of their only child, whose friend visits them with the truth they don’t want to acknowledge.

Cambodian Rock Band**A New York Premiere** By Lauren Yee Directed by ChayYew February 4 – March 8, 2020 The story of a Khmer Rouge survivor returning back to Cambodia for the first time in thirty years as his daughter prepares to help prosecute one of Cambodia’s most infamous war criminals. It is infused with a live band playing contemporary Dengue Fever hits and classic Cambodian oldies

The Hot Wing King By Katori Hall Directed by Steve H. Broadnax III February 11 – March 15, 2020 Ready, set, fry! It’s time for the annual Hot Wang Festival in Memphis, Tennessee, and Cordell Crutchfield knows he has the wings that’ll make him king.When Dwayne takes in his troubled nephew however, it becomes a recipe for disaster

Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 By Anna Deavere Smith Directed by TaibiMagar April 28 – May 31, 2020 The Smith treatment of the Los Angeles riots after the Rodney King police brutality verdict.

Confederates  By DominiqueMorisseau Directed by Kamilah Forbes May 12 – June 14, 2020 Sarah, a savvy slave turned Union spy, and Sandra, a brilliant professor in a modern-day private university, are facing similar struggles, even though they live over a century apart.

92Y’s Reel Pieces series will present a conversation with Tony and Oscar winner Glenda Jackson April 29 at 7:30 PM.”

Jayne Houdyshell with a canine at Broadway Barks

The 21st annual Broadway Barks, the pet adoption event co-founded by Tony winner Bernadette Peters and the late Emmy winner Mary Tyler Moore, will be held July 13.

Billy Crystal is working with composer Jason Brown and lyricist Amanda Green on a musical version of his film Mr. Saturday Night, according to Variety.  The 1992 film focused on Buddy Young Jr., the self-destructive, washed-up (or never-was) comedian estranged from his family, which began as a sketch on Saturday Night Live. Crystal age from his 20s to his 70s in the film. “It’s a great character and now I don’t need the makeup!” said Crystal, who turned 70 in March.

Oh, and we’ve BEEN rehearsing…#InTheHeightsMovie pic.twitter.com/ogA0QzWdKs

— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) April 11, 2019

    How adult actors pull off playing children onstage

The bigger challenge is pulling off realism, creating the illusion that the adults onstage are plausible as the much-younger characters — a feat accomplished by two of Broadway’s biggest hits, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” and “To Kill a Mockingbird.” “Mockingbird” features Celia Keenan-Bolger, 41, as Scout; Will Pullen, 28, as Jem; and Gideon Glick, 30, as Dill. Potter has a new cast that took over March 20, with Nicholas Podany, 22, as Albus Potter; Bubba Weiler, 25, as Scorpius Malfoy; and Nadia Brown, 24, as Rose Granger-Weasley — all ages 11 to about 15 during the course of the two-part play. (The original Rose was played by Susan Heyward, 36.)

The distance between an audience and actors in a theater helps. Podany also doesn’t want to “play a kid,” saying instead he tries to “stop being an adult.” “It’s a small shift in semantics but a big shift in my mind-set,” he said. Kids experience everything so vividly while adults “make a choice not to feel things so intensely.”

Rest in Peace

I’m shocked and saddened by the death of Broadway veteran Eric LaJuan Summers, at age 36, from cancer. In 2013, when he had six roles in @MotownMusical , I called him the best male dancer on Broadway.https://t.co/bT6Pn7GRub

— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) April 10, 2019

RIP Georgia Engel, 70, best known for portraying sweet Georgette on the Mary Tyler Moore Show. She began her career on the stage (she was in the original Broadway production of Hello Dolly), and returned Off-Broadway (in @AnnieNBaker‘s John) pic.twitter.com/Khd85nSIce

— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) April 16, 2019

Engel obituary

Alan Wasser, a veteran Broadway general manager, dies at age 70

A memorial for late actor and director Alvin Epstein, who made his mark as a premiere interpreter of Samuel Beckett’s plays, will be held at the Irish Repertory Theatre on April 29 at 3 PM

Pulitzer Honors Fairview. Pride Plays. Plays on Paper. Tina on Broadway. #Stageworthy News of the Week What is a play – and what is its purpose? These questions come to mind after reading the 15 plays commissioned by T the New York Times Style Magazine in…