Coming Up This Week in Theatre - 2/4/2012

BroadwayWorld.com's Upcoming Events calendar for the week - updated on 242012.

Set in hotel room, 'Green Eyes' takes intimate look at relationship by Jenna Scherer

It's all close quarters once you step into the Ames Hotel on Court Street. A tiny lobby gives way to a tinier elevator....

Open Letter From Steve Galluccio to Richard Rose on the Michael Healey Controversy by The Charlebois Post

The Tarragon's decision is both unfortunate and dangerousThis week The Tarragon Theatre decided to cancel an upcoming production of Michael Healey's play, Proud. (Read details in this G…

Theresa Rebeck On The Hiring Practices of Television by Art

In an interview with The Eye, a blog of the Columbia Spectator, playwright Theresa Rebeck talks about trying to hire a qualified woman to work on her new television show Smash:Working on thi…

Why black British actors are heading for the US by Vanessa Thorpe

The UK's black stars are succeeding at the American box office – but are they working there because some parts offered in the UK are off limits, while others play to stereotypes?When Resid…

Meet the new acting dynasties

Overqualified and under-employed – that is the lot of most young actors. But not if mummy or daddy is already treading the boards. Meet the new generation of me-toos following their parent…

She Stoops to Conquer, NT Olivier, London The House of Bernarda Alba, Almeida, London The Changeling, Young Vic, Maria, London

Location, location, location. Marlow, a young city buck out in the sticks, has lost his bearings in Oliver Goldsmith's 18th-century comedy She Stoops to Conquer. Sporting fancy breeches and …

The Dream/ Song of the Earth, Royal Opera House, London Without Warning, Old Vic Tunnels, London

If anyone had set out on Wednesday night feeling short-changed by the absence of Sergei Polunin – scheduled to dance his first Oberon at Covent Garden but now in self-imposed exile – the…

Heads Up: Shakespeare with Wainwright

What are we talking about? A Shakespeare-inspired evening at the Barbican, featuring the UK premiere of singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright's musical setting of five Shakespeare sonnets.

Acting dynasties: There's no business like family business

Overqualified and under-employed – that is the lot of most young actors. But not if mummy or daddy is already treading the boards. Meet the new generation of me-toos following their parent…

Men deal with guilt and forgiveness in Mustard Seed's 'Playland'

Whether you look at it as history or allegory, Athol Fugard's drama "Playland" is all about junctions, times and places where things are going to change.

'A microcosm of now' in 'Crashing the Party'

The family comedy "Crashing the Party" by Josh Tobiessen practically sprinted from script to stage in just two years.

Dance spotlight: Black Label Movement

Stage spotlight: 'Ballad of the Pale Fisherman'

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Mike Daisey Bait. by CultureFuture

From a description of why an app was banned from the iPhone store: They claim the app uses their location services in an unauthorised manner. A much more efficient manner than the one they …

A Walking Tour of Signature Theatre Company's New Complex, With Artistic Director James Houghton by Robert Simonson

"This is one of my favorite spots," said James Houghton, standing at the confluence of a few corridors and doors in the sprawling new Pershing Square Signature Center on West 42nd …

"Look Back in Anger" Looks the Wrong Way by Jan Simpson

The trouble with seeing the revival of a groundbreaking play is that the ground has already been broken—and has probably been well trod. Trying to recapture the impact of the thing is like…

"Clybourne Park" and "A Raw Space" in Philly by Tim Dunleavy

"Clybourne Park" is a play that starts with an intriguing premise and proceeds to explore that premise with insight, compassion and startling humor ... "A Raw Space" is a tedious, obvious m…

Inside the Roundabout Archives Day 10- PAJAMA GAME by BroadwayWorld

Roundabout Theatre Company recently announced the theatre organizations permanent archives, which document the companys illustrious 46-year production history. The archives are a resource fo…

Christine Ebersole: The End of the World As We Know It Cabaret by Sandi Durell

Reviewed by: Sandi Durell Now this might not be a very uplifting title for a show; especially from the musically extraordinary Christine Ebersole. But it becomes evidently clear, early on, t…

Withering Glance: Goodbye, Mr. Ballet, and other teachers

Rick Nelson and Claude Peck dispense unasked-for advice about clothing, etiquette, culture, relationships, grooming and more.

Italian ballerina sacked in anorexia row by Tom Kington

Mariafrancesca Garritano fired from Milan's La Scala after claiming student dancers were put under pressure to lose weight Continue reading...

"Necessary Sacrifices" Ford's Theatre Premiere by Susan Berlin

"Necessary Sacrifices" ... is less theatrical than educational in nature, but it benefits from the impassioned performances of David Selby as Abraham Lincoln and Craig Wallace as Frederick D…

Susan Brings the Sexy to Carnegie Hall by Sarah B. Roberts

Save for the peekaboo slit in the bodice of her dress, Susan Graham was dressed like a virginal angel for the first half of her Carnegie Hall concert on Wednesday night.   F…

Fuse Concert Review: Two Memorable Productions of Charming Ravel Operas by Arts Fuse Editor

Aside from the intrinsic entertainment value of these operas, they show Ravel in quite a different light than we are used to from his chamber and other orchestral music.

Skrowaczewski, Halen, SLSO give satisfying performance

New music is unquestionably an essential part of any orchestra's seasonal equation. Sometimes, though, it's satisfying to enjoy a program of classics, to compare familiar performances of wel…

Open Letter From Brad Fraser to Richard Rose regarding the Michael Healey controversy by The Charlebois Post

This is not a minor incidentThis week The Tarragon Theatre decided to cancel an upcoming production of Michael Healey's play, Proud. (Read details in this Globe and Mail story.) In response,…

Garland's fall beautifully portrayed in Guthrie play

Actor Tracie Bennett finds the manic and shattered manners of Judy Garland near her life's end.

Chicago Theater Review: BACHELORETTE (Profiles Theatre) by Dan Zeff

WOMEN BEHAVING BADLY Attend the Profiles Theatre production of Leslye Headland’s Bachelorette and meet Gena, Katie, and Regan – three foul-mouthed, pot smoking, cocaine sniffing, pill po…

PHAMALy actor Regan Linton works her magic in San Diego by John Moorespecial To The Denver Post

San Diego theater audiences are learning what fans of Denver's local handicapped theater company hve known for years: Regan Linton has a way of wrenching people out of their comfort zones.

Weekend Agenda: Bored Waiting for Newsies Edition by Lucky and The Mick

You know what opened on Broadway this week? NOTHING. This is what we’re talking about while we eagerly await rehearsal photos of Jeremy Jordan. Where he’s hopefully showing his a…

PRAGMATIC: Lost Edits by CultureFuture

It's a big question for archivists what to do with the lost edits of a work, especially of that work was collaboratively made. One of my favorite songs is Here Comes The Sun. Turns out, I'v…

The gay play time warp by Thomas Garvey

I just sat through another "gay play" this week, which was a little dispiriting.  Actually it was a closeted gay play, in which women subbed for the gay men, just as they did fifty year…

Chicago Theater Review: TIME STANDS STILL (The Steppenwolf Upstairs Theatre) by Dan Zeff

PHOTO REALISM Time Stands Still has only four characters and a single set, but it covers an immense amount of dramatic ground, exploring personal matters of love and commitment while address…

Theater Hall of Fame inducts 8 with reminiscence and laughter

'Rock of Ages' manages to make '80s work at the Fox

For those who lived through the 1980s, working up too much warm nostalgia for the era  especially its music, which tended toward anthemic, but aggressively silly and videocentric hair metal…

Regional Theater Review: A BEHANDING IN SPOKANE (Cygnet Theatre in San Diego) by Tony Frankel

THE SHOW ABOUT THE HAND THAT GIVES YOU THE FINGER I get a thrill when I think of the tourists who are milling about Old Town in San Diego. Exhausted from tchotchke shopping and sugary treats…

Spotlight On...Libby Woodbridge by Michael Block

Name: Libby Woodbridge
Hometown: Born in NYC. Grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts.Education: BFA from Boston UniversitySelect Credits: Yosemite (Ruby, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater); Jerus…

BWW Interviews: No Day But Today for RENT's Brandon Victor Dixon by Naomi Serviss

Brandon Victor Dixon had a feeling that one day he would join the ensemble of the iconoclastic musical RENT. He was only 15 years old when the play debuted in 1996, but Dixon, who plays Tom …

STAGE TUBE: On This Day 2/4- YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN by Stage Tube

Today in 1999, You're A Good an Charlie Brown opened at the Ambassador Theatre, where it ran for 149 performances. A 1967 musical comedy with music and lyrics by Clark Gesner, the show is ba…

Is It OK to Tweet During a Show? CTG's Twitter Experiment Raises the Question

Tweets from @CTGLA as part of the org's "Tweet Seats" event during Clybourne Park and A Raisin in the Sun​The cellular device is a wonderful technology. But that wonder is tempered eve…

PRAGMATIC: Opacity by CultureFuture

From Isaac: I was wrong.  It isn’t that he’s a bad actor, it’s that he’s an opaque one. Whether by choice or by specificity of talents, Brad Pitt is not going to reveal himself…

Blog: Critical Condition, February 4, 2012 by The Charlebois Post

February 4, 2012Love From Afarby Gaëtan L. CharleboisI am confined to quarters. My SO (significant other) has just had surgery, is immobilized and I am not only nursemaid but also cook, hou…

Regional Theater Review: DIVIDING THE ESTATE (Old Globe Theatre in San Diego) by Tony Frankel

THE FEATS OF THE FOOTES America is preoccupied with an unstable economy, tax increases, oil profiteering, cash deficiencies, and the plummeting worth of real estate. Yet history does indeed …

Obituary: Ben Gazzara / Brought intensity to stage, screen

Ben Gazzara, an intense actor whose long career included playing Brick in the original "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" on Broadway, roles in influential films by John Cassavetes and work with severa…

Why Read Terry Schreiber’s New Book by NYTE Small Press

Terry has been a director and teacher for more than 40 years! The book is filled with anecdotes about people you will recognize Terry has directed on Broadway, Off Broadway, regionally, and …

STAGE TUBE: Jennifer Holliday in DREAMGIRLS Through the Years by Stage Tube

As BroadwayWorld reported earlier today, DREAMGIRLS' original Effie White, Jennifer Holliday, will return to the role for which she won a 1982 Tony Award this summer at the Muny in St. Louis…

Shakespeare’s First Acts series: Love’s Labour’s Lost by TheatreVOICE

Shakespeare's First Acts: Love's Labour's Lost. Barrie Rutter, artistic director of Northern Broadsides, talks about some of the challenges and the pleasures of the first act of Love's Labou…

Announcing The LIT Independent Theater Fund by Martin Denton

This is from John Clancy, executive director of the League of Independent Theater. (Note: I serve on the Board of LIT.) For over sixty years, Off-Off Broadway (now known as Independent Theat…

Angus, Thongs and Even More (on stage!) Snogging by Catherine Noonan

Louise Rennison talks theatre, slang and really big knickers as her infamous teenage novel comes to the West Yorkshire Playhouse stage.

"As You Like It" Pittsburgh Public Theater by Ann Miner

This is a luminous production of one of Shakespeare's lighter comedies. The chosen setting of the play, circa 1907, is revealed quickly through impeccable costumes by Gabriel Berry, as stark…

BWW Interviews LEGALLY BLONDE's Bailey Hanks! by Linda Hodges

Bailey Hanks is blonde. She's Beautiful. And she's here in the bay area reprising her role Elle Woods in the hit musical comedy Legally Blonde, the Musical Hanks talked with BWW's Linda H…

Jennifer Holliday Will Return to DREAMGIRLS, Playing Effie at the Muny by BroadwayWorld

Before Jennifer Hudson gave Effie White life on the big screen, Jennifer Holliday was playing her on the Broadway stage. This summer, Holliday will return to DREAMGIRLS, playing the role at …

Eudaemonics in an age of decline by George Hunka

To describe myself as a pessimist and an elitist is, today, an act of radical repudiation and risks misunderstanding and even hostility from those who, first, accept mere potted definitions …

BROADWAY RECALL: Gentlemen Don't Prefer Eponine by Michael Dale

The week's big casting news includes Megan Hilty in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes for Encores and Samantha Barks in the screen version of Les Miserables.

Fuse Book Review: The Precarious Existence of Symphony Orchestras by Arts Fuse Editor

This is a book for anyone interested not just in the economic state of the symphony orchestra, but in the overall financial health of the arts in the United States.

Popular character actor Ben Gazzara dies in NY by Cristian Salazar

NEW YORK (AP) -- Ben Gazzara, whose powerful dramatic performances brought an intensity to a variety of roles and made him a memorable presence in such iconic productions over the decade…

Director Wenders uses 3-D to explore dance in 'Pina'

Recently, 3-D has begun to shake off its reputation for gimmickry and be taken seriously as a means of cinematic expression by esteemed filmmakers from Martin Scorsese ("Hugo") to Werner Her…

GODSPELL on Broadway is mostly God-awful by Oscar E Moore

Step right up folks and see this side show circus called GODSPELL starring Jesus (a not very convincing Hunter Parish) walking on water, doing a cartwheel and strutting with straw hat and ca…

Photo Coverage: GODSPELL Celebrates 100 Performances! by Linda Lenzi

Last night, the Broadway revival of GODSPELL celebrated 100 performances. View photos from the celebration below

Review: A Raw Space at curtainup.com/Philadelphia by Kathryn Osenlund

I'm sad to report that Jon Marans' new play at Bristol Riverside Theatre disappoints.

Jennifer Holliday Will Star in Muny Production of Dreamgirls by Andrew Gans

Grammy Award winner Jennifer Holliday will reprise her Tony-winning performance as Effie White in The Muny's July staging of Henry Krieger and Tom Eyen's Dreamgirls. The production …

The First Smash by Peter Filichia

As if you haven't heard, it's a fictional account of people trying to do a musical about Marilyn Monroe. It's not to be confused with the two musicals that dealt with the screen legend in 19…

Stars of Vaudevile # 435: Walter Catlett by Trav S.D.

Today is birthday of familiar Hollywood character actor Walter Catlett (1889-1960). He began to appear in operettas as a child (with a brief detour into pugilism) and graduated to a flourish…

THE SCREENING ROOM: Our Favorite Jennifer Holliday Moments by Adam Hetrick

Original Dreamgirls star Jennifer Holliday picked up a Tony Award for creating the role of Effie White on Broadway in 1981. It was just announced that she will return to the role for the Mun…

Feature: Tonight's the Night for Maurice Hines by Zachary Stewart

The versatile performer discusses directing the biographical musical Josephine Tonight at MetroStage.

Stars of Vaudeville #434: Fay Marbe by Trav S.D.

Fay Marbe (born this day in 1899) was a Jazz Age siren who reportedly had “Society” origins. Discovered while dancing at a charity event, she was cast in the Broadway show Oh, Bo…

BWW's On This Day - February 4, 2012

Here are the Broadway, Off-Broadway and West End shows which opened on February 4 along with all of the upcoming show openings, closings and special events

Sound & Fury talk about their latest show, Going Dark by TheatreVOICE

Interview: Mark Espiner and Dan Jones, two of the three co-directors of the pioneering company Sound & Fury talk about their follow-up to their hit show "Kursk" - a new piece about astr…

‘Brothers & Sisters’ Matthew Rhys Gets Starring Gig in Off-Broadway ‘Look Back in Anger’ by David Rogers

Former “Brothers and Sisters” star Matthew Rhys is starring in the new Off-Broadway revival of “Look Back in Anger,” which opened February 2 at the Laura Pels Theatre. The Roundabout…

Chicago Theater Review: LEGALLY BLONDE (The Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire) by Dan Zeff

THE SILLY BLONDE MUSICAL THAT ACTUALLY WORKS Local musical productions will have problems hiring skilled and energetic young performers for the next couple of months. The Chicagoland talent …

JKTS INTERACTIVE: HOT and HOTTER: Round 2: Dueling Geek Boys by JK

Think of it as February/March/April/May Madness!  Just like in the sports world, the quest for Broadway's most uniquely attractive guy will be done through a series of "games" in a brac…

Success and Failure from “HOW TO SUCCEED” by David Dow Bentley III

In many ways the show begins in the elegantly decorated entryway of New York’s Al Hirschfeld Theatre. It seems a fitting tribute to the renowned artist and theatre caricaturist for whom th…

Regional Theater Review: LONESOME TRAVELER (Laguna Playhouse in Orange County) by Tony Frankel

EXCELLENCE VS. HOKUM With Lonesome Traveler, a compendium of the golden years of American folk music, writer/director James O’Neil has developed a long-winded and incoherent revue that is …

'Smash' offers song and dance, plus a dash of Marilyn Monroe

The big-ticket item for NBC in 2012 is - drumroll, please - show tunes. Seriously. They won't let me make this stuff up.

Holliday to reprise 'Dreamgirls' role at Muny

Signature role of Effie White made the actress a star.

Godspell on Broadway is mostly God awful by Oscar E. Moore

Slapstick Holy Lessons in how we should treat each other. Love and peace and kindness are illustrated in song after song after repetitious song.

Left to their own unnerving devices by Chris Jones

'Punk Rock' captures tension between peers Capable ensembles of early-career actors aren't uncommon in Chicago's huge, non-Equity theater scene — increasingly the preferred theatrical…

Lauren Yarger by League of Professional Theatre Women

Theater Writer/Producer Granby, Connecticut USA A Marriage Made in Heaven Being a critic allows for a perfect marriage of two of my passions: theater and writing. Both passions have known ea…

Theatre for Thought, February 4, 2012 by The Charlebois Post

Londa Larmond, Arlene Duncan(Photographer: Joanna Akyol)CAROLINE CHANGES THE THEATREjoel fishbaneEarly last year, a panel of experts sat down for New York Magazine and debated whic…

New Cyberinterview: Brendan Connelly, Brooke O'Harra: YOU, MY MOTHER

Brendan Connelly and Brooke O'Harra are co-founders of the Two-Headed Calf, formerly known as The Theatre of a Two-Headed Calf. They met while attending college in New Orleans, where the com…

STAGE PORTRAIT: Tony and Academy Award Winner Kevin Spacey in Richard III by Playbill Staff

Acclaimed illustrator Ken Fallin's drawings of the greatest stars and scenes of the theatrical world are a recurring part of Playbill.com.

THE WEEK AHEAD, Feb. 4-10: Merrily Rolls Along to NYC and Venus in Fur Returns; "Smash" Premieres on NBC by Blake Ross

Playbill.com's weekly planner reminds you that "Smash" brings Broadway to the tube… Venus in Fur goes commercial… there is a Merrily return to New York City&helli…

Music Is, the "Lost" Broadway Musical by Richard Adler, Will Holt and George Abbott, Revived for Feb. 4-5 Concerts by Kenneth Jones

Music Is, the short-lived 1976 Broadway musical based on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, is getting its first revival in a concert version produced by the theatre school at Western Carolina…

CHART TOPPERS: Most-Read Playbill.com Stories, Week of Jan. 22–28 by Judy Samelson

Here are the most-read Playbill.com stories for the week of Jan. 22–28, 2012, from information compiled by Playbill.com.

Singin' in the Rain Begins Performances at West End's Palace Theatre Feb. 4 by Mark Shenton

Jonathan Church's production of Singin' in the Rain, based on the celebrated 1952 MGM film of the same name, begins performances at the West End's Palace Theatre Feb. 4, prior to…

Prime Time Broadway: The Story Behind TV's "Smash" by Adam Hetrick

Top players from Broadway, movies and TV are exploring the drama of making a musical in the new drama series "Smash."

The Cost of the Erection, With "All My Children" Star Michael E. Knight, Begins West Coast Run Feb. 4 by Michael Gioia

Stage and screen actors Michael E. Knight ("All My Children") and Robin Riker ("The Bold and the Beautiful") star in Blank Theatre's production of Jon Marans' The…

Richard Montoya and Culture Clash Return to La Jolla Playhouse With American Night, Opening Feb. 4 by Kenneth Jones

American Night: The Ballad of Juan José, Richard Montoya's new work about a U.S. citizenship test and echoes from American history, opens at La Jolla Playhouse Feb. 4 following pr…

Two River's Jitney, With Tony Winner Chuck Cooper, Anthony Chisholm, J. Bernard Calloway, Opens Feb. 4 by Michael Gioia

Two River Theater Company, under the leadership of artistic director John Dias and managing director Michael Hurst, presents August Wilson's Jitney, which officially opens Feb. 4 followi…

Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre lineup includes 'Giselle,' 'Moulin Rouge'

A dance company's season lineup is like a good recipe. It's got to be just the right blend of tried and true favorites, something sweet and something spicy with a dash of surprise. Pittsburg…