Whether or not the climate activists who interrupted a critics’ preview of Broadway’s An Enemy of the People last week persuasively made their “water’s coming for us all” message isn’t for me to say, but I will note that the disruption spoke very well for this production.
Amy Herzog’s adaptation of Ibsen’s 1882 classic about a Norwegian town doctor deemed “an enemy of the people” for his truth-telling about an environmental health hazard is smart, sharp and relevant. The science vs. commerce debate is uncannily current, as Herzog thoughtfully makes clear. Ibsen created an archetypal situation here — I’d be willing to bet a trip to the beach that Peter Benchley was more than a little familiar with Enemy when he created that spineless, shark-denying mayor of Jaws, and if the activists at last week’s show hadn’t already seen a performance of this production,...
Amy Herzog’s adaptation of Ibsen’s 1882 classic about a Norwegian town doctor deemed “an enemy of the people” for his truth-telling about an environmental health hazard is smart, sharp and relevant. The science vs. commerce debate is uncannily current, as Herzog thoughtfully makes clear. Ibsen created an archetypal situation here — I’d be willing to bet a trip to the beach that Peter Benchley was more than a little familiar with Enemy when he created that spineless, shark-denying mayor of Jaws, and if the activists at last week’s show hadn’t already seen a performance of this production,...
- 3/19/2024
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
“Just think,” Sir Lancelot (Taran Killam) muses as he celebrates his gay wedding at the end of Monty Python’s Spamalot. “In a thousand-and-eighteen years time, this will still be controversial.” Killam puts special emphasis on the “eighteen,” an addition to the script that nods to the supposed ways in which Spamalot remains relevant nearly two decades after the Tony-winning musical adaptation of Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam’s 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail tore up the 2004-2005 Broadway season.
The construction of the joke suggests that not much has changed—either for good or ill—in the past decades. That’s hardly true, because when Hank Azaria delivered the punchline in 2005, gay marriage wouldn’t be legalized in New York State for another six years. It’s surprising how much of Spamalot’s humor, especially the gay jokes, now feels rooted in an earlier time. Even peppered...
The construction of the joke suggests that not much has changed—either for good or ill—in the past decades. That’s hardly true, because when Hank Azaria delivered the punchline in 2005, gay marriage wouldn’t be legalized in New York State for another six years. It’s surprising how much of Spamalot’s humor, especially the gay jokes, now feels rooted in an earlier time. Even peppered...
- 11/17/2023
- by Dan Rubins
- Slant Magazine
Illinoise, a theatrical adaptation of Sufjan Stevens’ career-breakthrough 2005 concept album Illinois, will make its New York City premiere in March at Manhattan’s Park Avenue Armory, the arts venue announced today.
A dance-music-theater hybrid, Illinoise will include music and lyrics by Stevens, based on his album, and will be directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Justin Peck with a story by Peck and Pulitzer-winning playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury (Fairview).
The show, which will feature Timo Andres’ new arrangements of the entire Stevens album, will run from March 2-23, 2024, at the Upper East Side venue.
In its announcement today, the Armory described Stevens’ album as a “wildly inventive portrayal of the state’s people, landscapes, and history, complete with UFOs, zombies, and predatory wasps.”
“This musically ambitious work, which weaves together cinematic orchestral anthems, jazz riffs, and other musical influences to explore wide-ranging...
A dance-music-theater hybrid, Illinoise will include music and lyrics by Stevens, based on his album, and will be directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Justin Peck with a story by Peck and Pulitzer-winning playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury (Fairview).
The show, which will feature Timo Andres’ new arrangements of the entire Stevens album, will run from March 2-23, 2024, at the Upper East Side venue.
In its announcement today, the Armory described Stevens’ album as a “wildly inventive portrayal of the state’s people, landscapes, and history, complete with UFOs, zombies, and predatory wasps.”
“This musically ambitious work, which weaves together cinematic orchestral anthems, jazz riffs, and other musical influences to explore wide-ranging...
- 11/16/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Update: Lauren Pazienza, the event planner who fatally shoved the 87-year-old Broadway vocal coach Barbara Gustern to the ground in a random 2022 attack, was officially sentenced to eight and a half years in prison Friday.
Pazienza had pleaded guilty to manslaughter in August in a plea deal for eight years in prison. The six months was added on Friday by Manhattan state Supreme Court Judge Felicia Mennin, who, according to reports, said she was unconvinced that the 28-year-old Pazienza had taken responsibility for her actions.
Previous, August 23: Lauren Pazienza, who deliberately and randomly shoved 87-year-old Broadway vocal coach Barbara Gustern to the ground on a Manhattan sidewalk in 2022 causing the elderly woman’s death, changed her plea from not guilty to guilty and will be sentenced to eight years in state prison.
The plea deal was announced today by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr.
“Lauren Pazienza aggressively...
Pazienza had pleaded guilty to manslaughter in August in a plea deal for eight years in prison. The six months was added on Friday by Manhattan state Supreme Court Judge Felicia Mennin, who, according to reports, said she was unconvinced that the 28-year-old Pazienza had taken responsibility for her actions.
Previous, August 23: Lauren Pazienza, who deliberately and randomly shoved 87-year-old Broadway vocal coach Barbara Gustern to the ground on a Manhattan sidewalk in 2022 causing the elderly woman’s death, changed her plea from not guilty to guilty and will be sentenced to eight years in state prison.
The plea deal was announced today by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr.
“Lauren Pazienza aggressively...
- 10/2/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
The top honorees at the 2023 Laurence Olivier Awards were plays that focused on cultures outside of London. “My Neighbour Totoro,” which is based on the beloved Japanese film of the same name from Studio Ghibli, won six trophies, the most of the night, including Best New Comedy, Director, and four craft categories. A revival of the American classic “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams claimed three: Best Play Revival and for lead Paul Mescal and featured player Anjana Vasan. Meanwhile, the British-based “Prima Facie,” which is set to bow on Broadway this month and will thus compete at the Tony Awards, took home two prizes for Best Play and for star Jodie Comer.
The only other productions to win more than one trophy were all musicals. “Standing at the Sky’s Edge” won two of the top prizes: Best Musical and Best Original Score or New Orchestrations. “Tammy Faye,...
The only other productions to win more than one trophy were all musicals. “Standing at the Sky’s Edge” won two of the top prizes: Best Musical and Best Original Score or New Orchestrations. “Tammy Faye,...
- 4/3/2023
- by David Buchanan
- Gold Derby
Two new works based on existing material dominated the nominations for the 2023 Olivier Awards, the top theatre honor in Britain. “My Neighbour Totoro” and “Standing at the Sky’s Edge” lead the play and musical fields with nine and eight bids apiece. The former is a stage adaptation of the Studio Ghibli film of the same name, brought to life in a visually stunning production featuring impressive puppetry by Basil Twist. “Standing at the Sky’s Edge” uses songs from the Richard Hawley album and new material to tell the story of three families in a Sheffield housing complex.
Revivals had strong showings, too. Director Daniel Fish’s remounting of “Rodger & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!” and the Paul Mescal-led “A Streetcar Named Desire” netted seven and six nominations, respectively. This production of “Oklahoma!” previously played Broadway and received eight Tony Award nominations, including wins for Best Revival and Featured Actress...
Revivals had strong showings, too. Director Daniel Fish’s remounting of “Rodger & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!” and the Paul Mescal-led “A Streetcar Named Desire” netted seven and six nominations, respectively. This production of “Oklahoma!” previously played Broadway and received eight Tony Award nominations, including wins for Best Revival and Featured Actress...
- 3/1/2023
- by David Buchanan
- Gold Derby
Near the start of the Roundabout Theatre Company’s Broadway revival of the musical 1776, a cast made entirely of actors who identify as female, transgender and nonbinary, with multiple representations of race and ethnicity, step into the gold-buckled shoes, literally, of the men who would come to be called the founding fathers. We can only imagine how things might turn out differently, both for the musical and in some alternate real-life universe.
In some ways, not much changes. Members of the Continental Congress still bicker, fight and ever so slowly hash out the details of what will become the Declaration of Independence. Slavery will remain enshrined in both the document and the new nation, and the musical’s rousing Sherman Edwards score is as vibrant and pleasing as ever.
What’s different, of course, are the voices singing those songs and hashing those historical details, and in that, at least,...
In some ways, not much changes. Members of the Continental Congress still bicker, fight and ever so slowly hash out the details of what will become the Declaration of Independence. Slavery will remain enshrined in both the document and the new nation, and the musical’s rousing Sherman Edwards score is as vibrant and pleasing as ever.
What’s different, of course, are the voices singing those songs and hashing those historical details, and in that, at least,...
- 10/7/2022
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
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