ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

THEATRE

A New Theatre Festival That Doesn’t Look Like Anything Else

 “When communities are allowed to craft their own narrative, that narrative is more complex. We are not imposing on or colonizing them with a form of performance that isn’t indigenous or locally grown to their space.” - American Theatre

With Cell-Phone Cameras Everywhere, Will Stage Actors Refuse To Do Nude Scenes?

Says one publicist, "Ten years ago, I don't think the first thing out of my mouth (to a client) would have been: 'Are you OK knowing that there is a decent chance that this will ... be out there on social media?'" - The New York Times

After Twelve Years, Old Vic Bristol Has A New Leader

“For Bristol Old Vic to appoint a highly talented Black Latinx woman as artistic director provides a real opportunity to effect real change in how we express the multiplicity of British identities, experiences and histories.” - The Guardian

How Did “The Karate Kid” Turn Into A Musical?

"Robert Mark Kamen was through with The Karate Kid, his semi-autobiographical 1984 martial arts film that spawned a string of movies, an animated program and the hit Netflix series Cobra Kai, until he saw Hadestown in 2019."  And so ... - The New York Times

How They Lifted A Historic Times Square Theatre Thirty Feet

The theater, which weighs 14 million pounds, is a protected landmark, meaning the structure, from the stage to the balcony, had to be moved without suffering as much as a crack in the delicate plasterwork adorning ceilings, arches and box seats. - The New York Times

“Tony! (The Tony Blair Rock Opera)” — Yep, That’s The Title

"Blair is played by the comedian Charlie Baker. Saddam Hussein, with moustache and cigar, is given a Groucho Marx makeover. (Playwright Harry) Hill describes the show's Cherie Blair as 'a cross between Lily Savage and Lili Marleen – seductive, but coarse'. And 'we have a woman playing Osama bin Laden'." - The Guardian

Hitting The Right Notes In History Musicals

If history musicals don't succeed this season, it won't be for sheer effort, or numbers. The doubt is always there: Hamilton made it, but can anything else? - The New York Times

The Standing Ovation At The Tonys Luncheon Was For A Waiter

"The whole room just lost it. ... To see her coming full circle, from a little girl watching him serve, and he had worked this luncheon for years, to having his daughter be a nominee was just one of those once-in-a-lifetime moments." - The New York Times

Only At Disney World Could Live-Action Role-Playing Become This Elaborate

"For more than a decade, Imagineers — Disney designers and researchers — have been looking into LARPs and interactive theatre, and running 'playtests' in the (theme) parks." On the Galactic Starcruiser, the current state of the art, Disney World gives Star Wars fans an immersive LARP experience two nights long. - The New Yorker

A New Festival To Showcase A Midcareer Playwright New York Ought To See More Of

Volt, an annual project whose first featured writer is Karen Hartman, is meant to spotlight, as founder Val Day put it, "somebody who (is) more widely produced in the regions, who (has) a fairly large canon of work which deserved to have eyes on it in New York." - The New York Times

More Inflammatory Opinions From David Mamet (About Theater, Not Just Politics)

"What play did you ever see that's changed your life? That's not the purpose of theatre." "Acting has nothing in the world to do with feelings. Zero. ... What I'm looking for in an actor is the knowledge and courage to stand still and say the stupid fucking words." - American Theatre

A Musical For Us Whose Brains Are Fried By Spending Too Much Time On The Interwebs

"Welcome to Octet, the Dave Malloy musical that acutely captures a life lived Too Online. Making its West Coast premiere ... through May 29, the production doubles as a support group for self-identified internet addicts, disclosing their demons in haunting eight-part harmonies." - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)

Want To Know What’s Wrong With Broadway? Producer Emanuel Azenberg Will Tell You

We’ve chased away an audience. The theater owners hate the unions, the unions hate the producers and the producers hate the theater owner. None of them get their way and they all take it out on the customer. - New York Theatre

How A 1972 Production Of Godspell Changed The Comedy World Forever

Gilda Radner, Eugene Levy, Martin Short, Victor Garber, Jayne Eastwood, Andrea Martin, and Paul Shaffer all walked into a theatre. This is a (rollicking) oral history of the experience. "Jesus starts his narration, and we look up and Andrea has a dinner roll in her mouth." - Washington Post

One Of India’s Bravest Playwrights Takes On Her Touchiest Subject Yet: The Man Who Murdered Gandhi

Anuparna Chandrasekhar has wriiten about a sex tape going viral in conservative India to the notorious 2012 gang rape on a bus in Delhi.  Her latest, The Father and the Assassin, examines the journey of Nathuram Godse from boy-raised-as-a-girl to Gandhi-admiring journalist to Hindu nationalist assassin. - The Guardian

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