[Advertisement]

[Advertisement]

[Advertisement]

Friday, July 18, 2008

    This Morning's Ellis Nassour:

    [ STARS ]  Blockbuster Movie Weekend with Mamma Mia! and The Dark Knight; Town Hall's Alive with the Sound of Music; Kyra Sedgwick's Back in More Ways Than One; More

  • Posted by Tim Dunleavy at 9:00 AM | Item Link


      • [ NYP ]  IRONS EVER 'SO GOOD' By MICHAEL RIEDEL
      TOP JOB IN BRIT POL DRAMA

      [ AH ]  Access Exclusive: Fergie Cast In Rob Marshall's 'Nine'

      [ PEOPLE ]  Jeff Probst to Kristin Chenoweth: I'm Not Engaged By Cynthia Wang

      [ AA ]  What Angela Kneeds by Army Archerd

      "Don't worry, Paul has a plane," Joanne Woodward told Angela Lansbury, whom the Westport Country Playhouse wants to honor at its annual gala on Sept. 15.

      This Morning's Peter Filichia:

      [ TM ]  Peter Filichia's Diary: Life Is All Right in America

      [ NJ ]  Role is a feather in actor's (Yankee) cap

      Features:

      [ P ]  DIVA TALK: Chatting with In the Heights' Karen Olivo Plus News of Akers, Colella and Callaway

      [ LAT ]  Peters writes a new role for herself By Charles McNulty

      She has earned seven Tony nominations and a rapt fan base. Rebounding from tragedy, she writes a children's book and zips around to perform in concert.

      [ WSJ ]  An African Giant's Last Dance By CAROL HYMOWITZ

      Q&A with choreographer Bill T. Jones, whose musical "Fela!" is about Nigerian Afro-beat musician and political activist Fela Anikulapo Kuti, who died of AIDS-related illnesses in 1997.

      [ NYT ]  In the Berkshires, Some Heavy Hitters, Some Smaller Sluggers By ANNETTE GRANT

      Marquee-name playwrights, directors and actors lend an air of glamour, fill the houses and help keep the bills paid at the main stages at these Massachusetts festivals.

      [ DN ]  'Forbidden Broadway' revue takes cue from reality TV BY JOE DZIEMIANOWICZ

      [ TV ]  Twilight romance By JERRY TALLMER

      Jamie Farr interview.
      Thanks to kieran on All That Chat for the link.

      [ PEOPLE ]  Katie Holmes Reveals Suri Loves Annie By Monique Jessen and Liza Hamm

      [ FOX ]  FOX411: Katie Holmes Seeks Career Suicide By Roger Friedman

      "[title of show]":

      [ TONY ]  [quirky downtown theater actor] By Adam Feldman

      Susan Blackwell makes a name for herself in [title of show].

      [ NYT ]  Puttin' on the Put-On, With Tunes By CHARLES ISHERWOOD

      "[title of show]" is genial, unpretentious and far funnier than many of the more expensively manufactured musicals that make it to Broadway these days.

      [ DN ]  '[title of show]': The little musical that could by Joe Dziemianowicz (****)

      [ BR ]  Review: [title of show] BY ROBERT FELDBERG

      "[title of show]," which opened Thursday night at the Lyceum Theatre, may be small - that's the point, actually - but it produces some of the best laughs on Broadway.

      [ SUN ]  The Mega-Meta-Micro-Musical By ERIC GRODE

      If you see only one mega-meta-micro-musical this year, make it "[title of show]."

      [ JN ]  [title] fills in the blanks By Jacques le Sourd

      Somehow, though, these boys' all-too-familiar quest for fame and fortune manages never to sink into cliche.
      It's fresh, smart and funny.
      And those virtues are timeless.

      [ AP ]  Two musical obsessives follow their dream to B'way By MICHAEL KUCHWARA

      The production remains as appealing as ever, a slyly funny yet surprisingly sweet-tempered look at following your dreams and remaining true to yourself as you suffer - and suffer - the pangs of artistic creation.

      [ INQ ]  Making a show about making a show By Howard Shapiro

      The more these sincere, talented folks sing about the tough world they'll die to conquer, the more universal they become. You don't have to make theater to identify with {title of show}, you just have to want something meaningful.

      [ BS ]  [title of show] - Reviewed by DAVID SHEWARD

      "[title of show]" is a delightful 90 minutes, fueled by the passion, wit, and wackiness of its creators.

      [ CU ]  [title of show]

      What started off as a cutsey little self-referential festival entry became a sassy, cult-like Off Broadway musical that has plopped down, with no added flash and trash, onto the Great White Way.

      [ NJ ]  A musical with songs and words you'll remember by Michael Sommers

      Insider or otherwise, expect a sharp, entertaining look at the agonies and ecstasies of making theater today.

      [ TM ]  [title of show]
      Reviewed by: Brian Scott Lipton

      This Broadway musical about the making of a musical has plenty of heart, passion, wit -- and a terrific cast of four.

      [ AMNY ]  [title of show]: Love it or hate it By Matt Windman (***)

      [ NYP ]  THIS BROADWAY MUSICAL REALLY [EXPLETIVE] By CLIVE BARNES (1/2 *)

      [ BN ]  '[title]' Sinks; Durang Says 'Boo' to Holy Church: John Simon

      [ ND ]  Review: [Title of Show] BY LINDA WINER

      How I wish I could love the show. I wish I didn't feel that I was being manipulated by long-struggling talented people on a guilt trip. Most of all, considering the risk, I wish the offbeat and low-budget show belonged on Broadway - not incidentally, at the same ticket price as the magnificent and massive "South Pacific."

      [ V ]  [title of show]
      Review By MARILYN STASIO

      But stripped of satirical edge for its heavy Broadway date, the backstage show by Hunter Bell (book) and Jeff Bowen (score) is revealed in all its narcissism, flaunting its shallow aesthetic values and taking unseemly pride in its inflated ambitions.

      [ TB ]  [title of show]
      Review by Matthew Murray

      What was once a rigorously original meditation on artistic inspiration is now (to quote from the show) a "toothless, gutless, and crotchless" backstage drama with an unusually peppy setup.

      [ WSJ ]  Songs of Themselves By TERRY TEACHOUT

      "[title of show]" comes across as a flyweight exercise in narcissism interspersed with fleeting moments of genuineness.

      Plus "The Light in the Piazza" and "Oklahoma!"

      [ HC ]  A Feast For Stage Insiders By MALCOLM JOHNSON

      Others Might Want To See Something Else

      [ B ]  WORD OF MOUTH REVIEW: Ellen, Georgette & Tom Figure Out [title of show]

      "Mamma Mia!":

      [ B ]  FRESH FACE: Carrie Manolakos Is Mamma Mia!'s Blushing Bride-to-Be

      [ NY ]  The 'Mamma Mia!' Cast Disagrees on Just How Comfy Colin Firth Was in Those Outfits

      [ NYP ]  ABBA-DABBA DO! By LOU LUMENICK (***)
      THE SWEDE SMELL OF SUCCESS

      [ NYT ]  Does Your Mother Know You Sing Abba Tunes? By A. O. SCOTT

      You can have a perfectly nice time watching this spirited adaptation of the popular stage musical and, once the hangover wears off, acknowledge just how bad it is.

      [ CST ]  Dancing Queens By Roger Ebert (**)

      I saw the stage version of "Mamma Mia!" in London, where for all I know, it is now entering the second century of its run, and I was underwhelmed. The film version has the advantage of possessing Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Amanda Seyfried, Colin Firth and Julie Walters, but their assets are stretched fairly thin. And there are the wall-to-wall songs by ABBA, if you like that sort of thing. I don't, not much, with a few exceptions.

      [ DN ]  ABBA musical 'Mamma Mia!' slips on some Greece by Elizabeth Weitzman (** 1/2)

      [ LAT ]  REVIEW: 'Mamma Mia' By Kenneth Turan

      More like: Oh, no! The stage-to-screen adaptation is loaded with excess. But, hey, Meryl Streep comes off well.

      [ TIME ]  Take a Chance on Mia? By RICHARD CORLISS

      [ BN ]  Streep Dances, Brosnan Sings in Hummable 'Mamma': Rick Warner

      [ NJ ]  Mamma Mia! How dreadful! by Stephen Whitty

      [ P ]  "Mamma Mia!," It's Arrived: New Movie Musical Opens in U.S. July 18

      "Eh Joe" - Reviews:

      [ NYP ]  HAUNTING LIAM'S DEAD-ON By FRANK SCHECK (*** 1/2)

      [ BS ]  Gate/Beckett: Eh Joe - Reviewed by LEONARD JACOBS

      Who is this hermitic, tormented man on stage? It's Liam Neeson, of course, wearing a forlorn yet mysteriously blank-faced look.

      [ V ]  Eh Joe
      Review By MARILYN STASIO

      "Space Chimps" (with Kristin Chenoweth) - Reviews:

      [ CST ]  Three apes in a worm hole By Roger Ebert (***)

      "Space Chimps" is delightful from beginning to end: A goofy space opera that sends three U.S. chimptronauts rocketing to a galaxy, as they say, far, far away.

      [ NYT ]  Plucky Apes Help to Save the Planet of the Humans By NEIL GENZLINGER

      Journalism is all about having the courage to write the truth even if it will get you mocked by your relatives and co-workers, so here goes: "Space Chimps" is hilarious.

      [ DN ]  'Space Chimps' nothing to go ape for by Joe Neumaier (*)

      Midtown International Theatre Festival - Reviews:

      [ BS ]  Kidnapping Laura Linney - Reviewed by MARK PEIKERT

      Philip Mutz's play is exactly the type of fluffy fun one always hopes to find in festivals but so rarely does.

      [ BS ]  The Red Paintball - Reviewed by PAUL MENARD

      By juggling so many stereotypes without any real intelligence or insight, the crew behind "The Red Paintball" sadly seems to have shot itself in the foot.

      Fresh Fruit Festival - Review:

      [ BS ]  Theater Boys - Reviewed by MARC MILLER

      Bare skin is the name of the game when it comes to gay-themed plays. Chip Deffaa riffs on this maxim of maximum exposure in "Theater Boys," his attempt at a cheeky musical comedy.

      Ice Factory 2008 - Review:

      [ BS ]  Traces/fades - Reviewed by ANDY PROPST

      Lenora Champagne crams "Traces/fades" with enough material to fill two or three plays. It's little wonder, then, that given the piece's running time - just 60 minutes - much of the work feels only partially realized.

      Other Reviews:

      [ V ]  Zorro
      Review By DAVID BENEDICT

      Although tremendous flamenco stomping to music by the Gipsy Kings is the loudest part of the experience, it's a close call between that and the sound of a show falling between two stools.

      [ BN ]  Zorro Undone by Bossy Lover, Bad Flamenco in London
      Review by Warwick Thompson

      [ V ]  There Reigns Love
      Review By RICHARD OUZOUNIAN

      Ever since an afternoon in 1979 when he performed all 154 of Shakespeare's sonnets from the stage of the Olivier Theater in London, Simon Callow has taken an almost obsessive interest in these poetical works from the Bard of Avon. Now, in "There Reigns Love," he has rethought them in a more theatrical light. The final result, although still in need of some polishing, makes for high drama indeed.

      [ BG ]  Making a mockery out of situation By Louise Kennedy

      "The Book Club Play" is a play about a film mockumentary about people who love books. The form it most resembles, however, is TV sketch comedy - and not particularly sharp TV sketch comedy, at that.

      [ ND ]  Review: 'Beauty and the Beast' BY STEVE PARKS

      "Beauty and the Beast," Disney's first Broadway hit musical, gets the full Broadway-scale treatment on Long Island by Gateway Playhouse. In the process, artistic director Robin Joy Allan may have discovered a new star.

      [ ND ]  Review: '1968: Rock the World' BY STEVE PARKS

      [ CU ]  The Marriage of Bette and Boo

      Like the best absurdist playwrights, Durang fills his socio-political themes with jokes and levity. It's best if you let him explain it all for you.

      News:

      [ NYT ]  Corrections

      [ INQ ]  Boyd Theater moves closer to historical designation By Ashwin Verghese

      [ CT ]  'Hizzoner' cancelled for summer, Giuntoli in hospital by Chris Jones

      [ TM ]  John Ventimiglia to Join Cast of Stitching, Which Extends Through August 2

      [ TM ]  Anthony Rapp's Without You Set for Special Engagement at City Theatre

      [ NYT ]  Theater Listings

      Selective listings from theater critics of The New York Times.

      [ P ]  Today in Theatre History: JULY 18

      [ P ]  Alabama Shakespeare's West Side Story Begins to Rumble July 18

      [ P ]  Aubrey O'Day Is Hairspray's New Amber Beginning July 18

      [ P ]  Runolfsson, Noll, Buntrock and More Join Julie Andrews at the Hollywood Bowl July 18-19

      [ P ]  Free As You Like It, with Ireland, Weller and Davenport, Begins Boston Run

      [ P ]  Fellner, Marshall, Morris and Renfroe Read notes to MariAnne July 18-20 at the Powerhouse

      [ P ]  Tickets for 2008 NY International Fringe Festival Go On Sale July 18

      [ TM ]  Noll, Paice, Skinner, et al. Set for Signature's Ace

    • Posted by Tim Dunleavy at 8:53 AM | Item Link


    • « July 17, 2008 | Front Page | Archives | July 19, 2008 »

[Advertisement]

[Advertisement]