#the only Company By Stephen Sondheim understander ever i think..... | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

aengusnatureking · 4 years

Text

NEW YORK - Raúl Esparza learned to sing when he was a little boy in Miami, sitting on his grandmother's lap as she taught him all the old songs from Cuba. Now he's all grown up, starring in Cabaret and holding the theater world in the palm of his hand. Who could have known, all those years ago, that the music of a homeland he has never seen would stoke the creative fire that has taken him all the way to Broadway stardom? 'It feels incredibly fast,' says Esparza, 31, whose performance as the Emcee in Cabaret has put its own dark spin on a role made famous by Joel Grey and Alan Cumming. 'I haven't been [in New York] very long, so it's a blessing. But there's also a kind of numbness. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. Good things happen, and I go, `That's nice.' ' Among those good things: his rousing turn as Riff Raff in the wild Broadway revival of The Rocky Horror Show; the lead in the Off-Broadway production of Jonathan Larson's Tick, Tick...Boom!; doing Cabaret opposite Brooke Shields, then Gina Gershon, and now Molly Ringwald; and cocktails with Stephen Sondheim to discuss his starring role in Sondheim's Sunday at the Park With George this summer at the Kennedy Center. Numb? Maybe. But Esparza is also aware of how fortunate he is. 'Every day on the way to the theater, I walk through Shubert Alley [near Times Square] to remind myself of where I am,' he says. ``Some people work their whole lives and don't make it to Broadway.' Esparza has, mainly through years of hard work honing a talent that has now won him a place at the center of America's theater universe. And those who know about such things are sure he's the real deal. 'Once or twice a year, Broadway [gets] a new home-grown star, who for their fame is not depending on television or film, but on the theater,' says Sam Mendes, director of Cabaret and the film American Beauty. ``Raúl is the genuine article, and his performance as the Emcee gives full vent to a talent we will see a lot more of in the future.' Todd Haimes of New York's Roundabout Theatre Company, who cast Esparza as a replacement Emcee in Cabaret, is even more effusive. 'I think Raúl is one of the most extraordinary young talents I've ever seen,' he says. ``He's got a great voice, and he's a great actor. It's hard to define star quality, but you know it when you see it. Raúl is going to be a big star.' A LONG ROAD But like any 'overnight' success, he's been working toward this moment for years. Esparza's talent first surfaced at Miami's Belén Jesuit Preparatory School, where he staged play after play -- in English and Spanish -- and funneled the profits to charity. He made his professional debut 13 years ago, just out of high school, in the world premiere of Luis Santeiro's Mixed Blessings at Miami's Coconut Grove Playhouse. The only child of Cuban exiles, Esparza was born in Wilmington, Del., where his mother María Elena met his father Raúl on a blind date. His mother, now a Miami travel agent, concedes her son got lots of attention but says it didn't ruin him. 'When you have an only child, you devote yourself to that child to the extent that it makes you ache,' she says. ``He was very pampered, but he has given us back the same love. Because he has been brought up with love and not a lot of grief, he's always had a tender nature. There's not a mean streak in him.' Beatriz Jiménez, his Spanish teacher and mentor at Belén, remembers Esparza's creativity and drive. 'I met Raúl when he was in the seventh grade, about 12 years old, and even at that age, you already knew,' Jiménez says. ``I've taught for 30 years, and he is the most outstanding person and student I've met. He emanates an energy, a love of learning. He can direct, write, sing, act. He's wonderfully fluent in both Spanish and English, and he has a tremendous understanding of both cultures. We didn't have a performing arts program at Belén, but he helped create one.' Esparza founded a club called ALPHA -- the letters signify acting, literature, photography, history and art -- and under its auspices did numerous plays. His leadership won him the 1988 Silver Knight Award in drama, and he and a fellow student took national honors in the Catholic Forensic League competition for their scene from the play Amadeus. He didn't do as well with the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts competition, where one judge suggested he didn't have a future as an actor. 'When Raúl told me he'd decided to go into acting, I told him it was a tough road,' Jiménez recalls. ``How do you know how to keep going or when to quit? You have to listen to yourself.' Esparza did that, beginning at Florida International University, then earning his degree from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 1991. From there he moved to Chicago, where he built a reputation at the city's top-tier theaters, acting in such high-visibility productions as Slaughterhouse-Five at Steppenwolf and Cry, the Beloved Country at the Goodman. Things were going so well, in fact, Esparza and his wife Michele, his high school sweetheart, imagined building a life in Chicago -- despite the fact that Esparza found his ethnicity perceived differently there. 'As soon as I left Miami, I realized what being in a Hispanic minority is,' he says. ``In Miami, being Cuban is the center of your power. The parts that movie and TV people want to see me for are Latin things. Then I get there and they don't think I'm Latin enough.' Yet it was a major Hispanic role in theater that eventually led him to move to New York -- and to Broadway. He won the role of Che Guevara in a major touring revival of Evita, and though his decision to play the revolutionary didn't thrill his exile family (his paternal grandfather had known Guevara in Cuba), the raves he won as he traveled the country in 1998-99 did. The show didn't play South Florida, so his family and his former teacher traveled to the Fox Theatre in Atlanta to see him. 'That was a difficult role for him, especially coming from a Cuban exile background,' Jiménez says. ``He did so much research, and he created a very three-dimensional Che. He was conniving, fiery, passionate, intense, very dark.' And convincing. Says Esparza's mother María Elena: 'We took my mother-in-law and father-in-law to Atlanta to see him. My mother-in-law said, `I want Che out of there. I want my grandson back.' ' `STAR PERSONALITY' Harold Prince, the original director of Evita, saw Esparza's portrayal at a run-through and a performance and agrees that he's destined for big things. 'He has real star quality and huge energy. He's smart and quick and funny,' observes Prince. ``Then I saw him in Tick, Tick...Boom! and didn't realize at first he was the same boy. He's got star personality.' Che led Esparza to an audition for Rocky Horror, which got him the Riff Raff role and put him on New York's fast track. He left that show to create the part of Jonathan in Tick, Tick ...Boom!, and his next show was to have been a major Roundabout revival of Sondheim's 1991 musical Assassins. Then came Sept. 11. 'I had a feeling similar to the one I had after Hurricane Andrew, when just seeing Bryan Norcross on TV would make me break into tears,' Esparza recalls. ``I didn't want to do the show. I could smell the burning. It felt pointless. ``The stage manager and I worked every day volunteering. But I met people from all walks of life who said Tick, Tick ... Boom! -- which is about continuing after you realize it's not going to be easy, and that what you choose to be in life is up to you -- had inspired them.' After the disaster, Assassins (which contains lyrics about a character wanting to fly a plane into the White House) was scrubbed. So the Roundabout's Haimes shuttled Esparza into Cabaret, where he has become the show's most dynamic Emcee since the Tony-winning Cumming, giving a performance that is one part Marlene Dietrich, another part unhinged victim of evil. He'll leave Cabaret at the end of April and go into rehearsals for Sunday in the Park With George, part of the Kennedy Center's $10 million, six-show, summer-long Sondheim Celebration (he's also cast in the festival's production of Merrily We Roll Along). Eric Schaeffer, artistic director of the festival, cast Esparza in Sunday in the Park in the dual roles of artist Georges Seurat and a contemporary artist named George, roles originated on Broadway in 1984 by Mandy Patinkin. It's a huge part, but one Schaeffer says he knew right away that Esparza could handle. 'Georges has to have an intensity, but deep within he has a troubled soul,' Schaeffer says. ``Raúl sang Finishing the Hat, and he got the creative drive of the artist and the sadness within it. The contemporary George is the trickiest, and once again he captured the spirit, the frustration, the soul-searching. 'It doesn't happen that often in an audition that you say, `That's the person.' That you get chills by the end.' HEARTACHES Offstage, Esparza's life has been rougher since his move to New York. His wife decided to move back to Miami and her extended family rather than relocating to New York. Yet though they are separated, Esparza says, ``We speak every day. She's the light of my life. We grew up together. Lived side by side. We're going through a process of getting to know each other again. ``Every good and bad thing that happens, I want to share with her.' Another loss has been more permanent. While he was playing Riff Raff in Rocky Horror, his parents brought his maternal grandmother, America García-Pell, to see her grandson on Broadway. It was her 93rd birthday, Dec. 22, 2000. A few days later, the extended family gathered in Wilmington, Esparza's birthplace, to celebrate Christmas. 'I fell asleep on her lap, as she was stroking my head,' Esparza says. 'When I woke up, she said, `You haven't done that since you were a child. I could die tomorrow a happy woman.' ' The next day, García-Pell had a stroke. She passed away Jan. 18, but Esparza spent many of those last days by her side, leaning in close to her ear, softly singing her favorite Cuban songs. And now every time he steps onstage, a part of her is with him. 'After my grandfather died, she would put drops of his Guerlain cologne in a handkerchief and carry it with her,' Esparza says. ``Now I wear it onstage in Cabaret.'

7 notes · View notes

aarontveit · 7 years

Text

alright, I said I would type it out when it arrived, so here you go!! (i apologize for any typos, i’m dyslexic!!)

Aaron Tveit’s Interview/Article. THE X MAGAZINE: Issue #001, October 2017

Aaron Tveit is the man everyone wants to be -- or to have. His fervent fans, a sweet but somewhat frightening breed, refer to themselves as “Tveitertots,” and listicles chronicling reasons to love him abound. There are even gifs about his hair. But perhaps the most striking thing about Tveit’s appeal is his own indifference to the attention. Upon arriving at the lakefront cottage in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where the actor stayed while starring in Company at Barrington Stage, an exuberant labradoodle rushes to greet us. “This is Miles,” Tveit grins, and his easy appeal radiates.

Most of Tveit’s sentences begin with some iteration of: I’m very lucky. It’s his refrain. “I’m in this tiny percentage of people that jumps out of bed in the morning to go to work because I absolutely love what I get to do for a living,” he says. “I always remind myself of that -- especially in this crazy f--ing world that we’re living in right now.”

People who court Tveit’s degree of success usually declare that they’re special, but Tveit repeatedly insists that he’s just like everyone else. Anointed with titles like “Broadway Wonder Boy” and “Broadway’s Favourite Boyfriend,” the actor patiently dismantles myths of perfection, instead emphasizing his gratitude. “I’m just a regular guy,” he says. He loves fantasy novels, had a crush on Alicia Silverstone as a preteen, and listens to 90s rap when he needs to cheer himself up. Tveit’s friends from home keep him grounded -- they travel far to see him perform and support him at every turn. “But they’re also the first to say: ‘Hmmm, we don’t know if you’ll make it,’” Tveit says with a laugh, “which is the best thing I could ask for.”

It’s natural to imagine Tveit starring in a series of wholesome vignettes. He loves his parents and visits them often, and recently built a fence around their property for Miles. He’s allergic to dairy, a believer in ghosts, a bit of a nerd. He is a student of the world, equipped with a kind of caffeinated curiosity that never crashes. “I had a teacher once say that curiosity is the best quality you could ever have as an actor, and that really resonated,” he says.

In Stephen Sondheim’s Company, Tveit starred as Bobby -- the last bachelor in a pathologically matrimonial group of friends -- and he is quick to acknowledge his likeness to the character. Approaching his 34th birthday, Tveit remains a bachelor while most of his friends are married with kids. “My buddy came to see the show -- I was the best man in his wedding recently -- and he said, ‘Oh. So it’s just your life.’” But there are deeper similarities between Tveit and Bobby too. Despite his career choice, Tveit is an unwilling recipient of offstage attention, a reluctant receptacle for desire. He is the observed observer, reflecting the psychologies of those around him while remaining somewhat indecipherable, a blank-canvas quality that separates good actors from great ones. Like Bobby, Tveit is a host of quiet contradictions: He is present but elusive, open but guarded, social but withholding, expressive but hard to read.

In the past, actors have played Bobby as a brooding, bitter character, but Tveit chose a different interpretation. “My version of Bobby is an optimist,” he says. “He’s actually the only true romantic in the show.” Tveit references several lines and scenes that support his thesis statement. “He can’t fathom why anyone would get married without love.” While the other couples encourage Bobby to settle, Bobby holds out for something more. “I relate to him in that way. I’m an optimistic, happy person -- and I’m a romantic. I believe that when you know, you know.”

When pressed on what he means by the word “romantic,” he elaborates with ease, traveling a well-worn neuronal path through the topic. “Deep down, I believe we’re all going to meet these great loves of our lives,” he says. “The verdict’s out whether it’s one person or many people -- but we have the chance to open ourselves up, and I relish that opportunity.” Tveit upholds an ideal of marriage, which he believes Bobby shares. “If and when I get married,” says Tveit, “I want it to be once.” His parents have been together for nearly forty years, and Tveit describes their relationship with aspirational reverence. He summarizes the flimsy reasons that Bobby’s friends present him to buckle into a lifelong commitment -- “Because you have to, because it’s time, because you need to settle down, because that’s what real life is” -- bu neither Bobby nor Tveit cares for this sterile social contract. They care about love. Love in the particular. Love with claws and freckles and a fear of crosswalks. Love in dorky pajamas. Love with allergies. “I hope to be married one day and I hope that I’m going to meet someone that makes me feel...that way,” he says.

It’s hard to tell whether Tveit is an introvert or an extrovert, so it’s no surprise that he identifies as a “weird combination of both.” Around friends, he’s silly, unfiltered -- but around strangers, he’s cautious. “Someone once told me that I had Norwegian reserve,” he says. “When I meet people for the first time, I sit back a little. If I’m psychoanalyzing myself, I guess I’d say I like to understand people before I interact with them. I don’t know if it’s a guarding mechanism -- I’ve always been that way.”

This guarded nature might explain why he’s so hesitant to share on social media. Self-promotion has never been easier, and public figures have never been more pressured to capitalize on it, but Tveit finds most digital approaches pernicious. He did finally concede to Instagram and Twitter, but he mostly uses these platforms to promote projects. (Not even Miles has made it onto Instagram.) Nowadays, most young performers work to groom their brand, to generate an impression of intimacy between themselves and their followers. Tveit isn’t one to sneer, but he finds the platform-as-diary approach silly at best. “At the end of the day, I just don’t see why anyone would be interested in what I do outside my work. I see posts like that and I just think, who cares?”

What you’ll find on his social media is Tveit the acor. What you won’t find on his social media (or anywhere else online) is Tveit the person, and perhaps that’s why he still possess a kind of purity. Mostly, Tveit’s social media proves that he is a man who works -- hard and often. “I’m a person who’s never, ever satisfied,” he says, “and I have a really hard time resting. I don’t vacation well because I don’t, like, sit down very well. Those are tough qualities sometimes in my personal life, but as an actor I think they serve me really well.”

Tveit says the performers and creative professionals he’s worked with over the years have provided “shining examples.” “You look at these people who have this insane level of success, and then you meet them and they’re the nicest people in the world,” he says. “Hugh Jackman is someone I really, really look up to in that way. I mean, when we did Les Mis, he had the hardest job of anyone these, and he was the nicest person in the room. He knew everyone’s name, was never late -- led by such an ultimate example. I said to myself, ‘That’s the guy I want to be like.’”

Regarding the digital drool that appears when you Google his name, Tveit maintains a healthy, bemused detachment. “You have to let it go in one ear and out the other,” he says. He’s happy whenever people respond positively to his work, even if “that’s how they happen to be manifesting it.” Despite the feverish adoration, Tveit believes that his carefully preserved privacy has another advantage: It’s secured him respectful fans. “I’m very lucky,” he says. “I haven’t really had any kind of strange, uncomfortable, weird encounters. Fans have been nothing but wonderful and supportive for me.” I ask him how he feels about the term “Tveitertots.” “I think it’s absolutely hilarious,” he laughs. “That in itself -- like, how could you take that too seriously? It’s so wonderful and silly and fun.”

But is it frustrating for his personal life? “People often say I’m not what they expected,” he answers. “But for me, it’s been a positive thing. Usually, they say I’m nicer than they thought,” he laughs. “Less serious, more ridiculous.”

As an actor accumulates celebrity, the role that’s toughest to maintain is that of the unadorned self: the regular guy who loves his labradoodle and his family, orders a turkey sandwich and recites the post-industrial history of Pittsfield. Despite the roles and the awards, the voice and the dancing, the YouTube views and Spotify plays, the 246K Instagram followers and the marriage proposals in the comments, Tveit is just a regular guy. And maybe that’s what makes him most exceptional.

#the x magazine #aaron tveit #/#//#///#p: aaron tveit #i can't believe i had my magazine for all of .2 seconds and then typed up this monstrosity

63 notes · View notes

henriettalisa-blog · 5 years

Text

Golibrody is a bloody revenge

Tim Burton has followed his http://www.sitedownrightnow.com/search/vipmovies.to style with https://www.4shared.com/u/taByRNnN/oewweep.html credible consistency for over a quarter https://www.scoop.it/u/mel-franklin/ a century, and his imagination seems to be endless in increasingly varied projects. After a great "Rotting Bride" for another goal, he took on the screening https://www.fyple.com/company/cinema-movies-online-ykpk157/ the musical Stephen Sondheim. The title hero (Johnny Depp) is not necessarily the end of the shrouded true legend of a London hairdresser of the nineteenth century who returns with unfairly imposed by corrupt judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) banishment to his wife and daughter. When the light goes out, the wife poisoned herself and the daughter under lock and key holds the judge, Sweeney Todd raises bloody revenge ... Technically the movie is flawless - gloomy, dirty, dark colors bath in London in the form of Dariusz Wolski makes a big impression (with a brilliant scene a camera that goes through London's streets). The good atmosphere is enhanced by good music. For a musical, "Sweeney Todd" is a rather unusual work that will not please everyone - most songs here give the impression of being talked and not really sung. Mixed feelings can also awaken the performance of songs (although some crushing criticism is, I think, exaggerated). It is true that the actors only sing correctly (and rather unevenly), but during the screening they are https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x78vg5p (except the dreadful song "I Feel You, Johanna"). Personally, nothing has to sing actors do not have, and do not understand objections - Yes, Depp does not have a mesmerizing vocal abilities, but really quite effectively handles itself with song, like the rest of the characters. Actively, "Demonic Golibroda" shines - Johnny Depp again shows that he is good to work with Burton. Helena Bonham-Carter does not give way to him, and Alan Rickman shines in the background. In addition, we have two icing on the cake in the form of episodes Timothy Spall and Sacha Baron Cohen. All the disadvantages of the movie are lost due to an interesting story performed by Burton's reliable hand (visible even in the only colorful movie scene - "By the Sea"). But if someone does not like his style, it is doubtful that thanks to "demonic notorious hairdresser" to convince him, although the climate here differs somewhat from most of his works. "Sweeney Todd" is interesting, technically good and well-played musical. Nothing is actually a new quality in the genre, but Burton hardly ever goes below a certain level, as his new movie emphatically confirmed. .

0 notes

ismael37olson · 6 years

Text

"New Line Theatre is Saving the Musical."

New Line will soon start our 28th season. And I'm feeling more optimistic right now than I have in a long time. We have some long overdue good fiscal news...! Believe me, this has never been an easy journey. I knew that when I started the company in 1991, but knowing it doesn't make it any easier. Throughout most of our history, we've generally stayed on an even keel fiscally -- one season might end in the hole a few hundred dollars, or less often, a few thousand, but the next season would always compensate. Only once were we in real fiscal trouble, after we had to close an already badly selling run early, due to a death in the New Line family. But the Regional Arts Commission stepped in with a loan, and within a year, we had corrected the imbalance and repaid the loan. That was the only time, until a couple years ago. Suddenly, for various reasons, we lost two big donors, a foundation grant, and then we were hit with the indignity of getting zero-funded by the Regional Arts Commission (under new management) after twenty-seven years of funding. More than fifty local organizations were similarly cut off by RAC for the coming season. So since 2016, we have been struggling mightily and we've completely retooled our budget, reducing it by about a third. But still we soldier on, and all this time we've have had amazing support, incredible loyalty, and venders with the patience of Job. And now, I'm extremely happy to report that our 2017-2018 season ended with a surplus for the first time in three years, and two-thirds of our debt has been erased. If the season ahead sells half as well as we expect, we'll soon retire the rest of our debt. I would be remiss if I didn't point out at this time that donations made before our fiscal year ends on August 31, can make that surplus even bigger and put us in an even better position as the new season begins! (hint, hint)

I make that pitch because New Line needs to replace that funding we lost. So we need to step up our fundraising efforts, and we hope all our supporters and fans will help us with these increased efforts. Ticket sales cover only about 40-45% of our budget. The rest is grants and donations. (Here's a post of mine that explains why nonprofits work this way.) You can make a donation right now by clicking here. You're welcome. And let me make a pitch to my readers who don't live in St. Louis about why you should still support New Line. For much of our history, New Line has been the only company in the country producing only alternative musical theatre. Today, we're thrilled that small companies around the country now frequently do the kind of work New Line does. But New Line is still unique in our ability to bring back to life shows that were ill-served and left for dead in New York, and to bring national attention to weird, lesser known, but brilliant shows, like Night of the Living Dead and Bukowsical. Our art form, the American musical theatre, is in a new Golden Age, and New Line is one of the forces moving us forward. But don't just take my word for it... Broadway composer-lyricist-bookwriter Kyle Jarrow says:

I love New Line Theatre. Not just because they did a great production of one of my plays -- not just because Scott Miller is one of the most thoughtful, passionate and engaged artistic directors I’ve ever interacted with -- but because New Line Theatre is saving the Musical. The musical is one of the most iconic American popular art forms. And yet, it’s struggling to stay relevant. As I see it, this is the result of a number of factors: ticket prices rising, the average age of theatergoers rising, as well as the commercial pressures that bring more and more unnecessary film adaptations to Broadway. For the next generation of audience, for whom theater is competing with film and television and video game systems, it’s not surprising that musicals often don’t feel like a very good investment of time and money. But it doesn’t have to be this way. A great piece of musical theater can have incredible power. Music has the ability to drill straight into our emotional cores, to elevate drama in a profound way. New Line Theatre understands this. From my discussions with Scott, it’s clear that his company approaches musicals as drama -- committed to digging deep to excavate the best in the works his company chooses to produce. In every production, they work to prove why the musical form is important. They demonstrate why this form deserves to live on, and why it deserves to evolve with the times. I don’t know of any other theater that does the kind of programming that New Line does. They take chances on new, cutting-edge works. They revisit quality shows that flopped on Broadway but deserve another look. And they do game-changing reinterpretations of classics. It’s a varied, exciting mission, and I’m honored to have been included in it. I very much hope to be again. New Line deserves your fullest support. What they’re doing is truly important.

Broadway composer-lyricist Amanda Green says:

I have had the honor and pleasure of having two of my shows produced at New Line Theater: High Fidelity (twice!) and Hands on a Hardbody. New Line was the first theater to produce High Fidelity after its brief run on Broadway. I went with trepidation. I came away floored by the intelligence, scrappy fun, big heart, talent of the actors and acumen of the production. It was a reclaiming to me of the show I wrote and loved, produced in the right spirit. Led by Scott Miller, New Line proves you can do a lot with a little. In a way, this production was more satisfyingly right to me than the Broadway production – and got to the heart and humor of the story. I knew as soon as I walked into New Line’s production of Hands on a Hardbody in 2015, that once again, Scott ‘got’ the material and it was in excellent hands. Entertaining, funny, deeply moving, performed in an intimate space, with a supremely talented cast. Scott’s masterful understanding of the show, and ability to draw the audience in, made for another transformative experience. I know I’m not alone in being a Broadway professional who holds New Line Theater in high regard: Ann Harada (Avenue Q), Stephen Sondheim (!) and a host of others count themselves vocal fans and supporters. I am not only a grateful author, I am a donor to New Line Theater. I believe in Scott Miller’s vision, in the talent, ability, and dedication of this community of actors, designers and audience members he has created. This is what theater is all about: bringing bold new work, undiscovered overlooked work to the community – with intelligence passion and heart Transforming both those who produce it and their audience.. New Line Theater deserves to have a long healthy life in St. Louis.

Broadway producer Jennifer Ashley Tepper (author of the Untold Stories of Broadway series), says, “New Line Theatre is an essential maker of musicals. Their work over the years in bringing worthwhile, lesser known shows to life for the St. Louis community is commendable. I recently saw New Line's production of Yeast Nation and was wholly impressed by the top-notch work of every artist involved. New Line has made it a priority to present challenging, thought-provoking musicals rather than prioritizing shows that happened to be the biggest commercial hits. In that, they are unique among theatre companies. Their integrity and their follow-through over many seasons of great work are extraordinary.” Broadway actor Ann Harada says, "Their success proves that there's an audience for musicals that might be just a little bit outside the mainstream. Even though everything in life is only for now, I hope these guys are now and forever."

John Waters -- yes, that John Waters -- called us “the coolest theatre in town.” He says, "New Line Theatre can make it work. They know how to make a show biz dollar holler. St. Louis, you're lucky to have this gang. Theatre-goers, put your money where you mouth is!" American Theatre magazine wrote, in a glowing profile of our company, "You might say Scott Miller's in the business of changing people's minds: about shows they thought they hated, about subjects they didn't think could be sung about, about the musical form itself. The key to Miller's success may be that-for all the ego necessarily involved in running a theatre and writing several books and blog posts expounding your point of view-what has guided him above all is his willingness to have his own mind changed, even occasionally blown." Our own Riverfront Times did a wonderful profile of New Line, writing, "New Line has won a national reputation not just for launching new productions, but for saving shows that have been savaged on Broadway." We New Liners have been ridiculously blessed over the years to have the kind of support we enjoy from our community. My friends running theatres in other cities are very jealous. But we have to do better in our fundraising efforts to keep our company healthy, and we hope you'll all help us. Think about making a donation before the end of August -- it would help us immensely. And don't forget, season tickets are still on sale through Sept. 3. You don't want to miss this season -- The Zombies of Penzance, La Cage aux Folles, and Be More Chill...! Thank you, St. Louis, for being such an amazing place to make cool musical theatre! Long Live the Musical! Scott from The Bad Boy of Musical Theatre http://newlinetheatre.blogspot.com/2018/08/new-line-theatre-is-saving-musical.html

0 notes