#American repertory theater

[artsyfartsypaige]

Guess who saw the A.R.T production of Gatsby the other night?!?!?! It was truly an amazing show (I legit cried during it) and I would love to bring up some of the highlights. In a few scenes, my only thought was “the tumblr is gonna love this”. It was a phone free show so I don’t have photos of the stage or actors but I’m happy with discuss.

1) The stage was made of metal car parts, glittery string curtain and two black marble staircases. It was kinda split between Gatsby’s world and the Valley of Ashes.

2) The actor for Nick, Ben Levi Ross, was probably the funniest actor in the show. He had great line delivery. He was also super short and literally everyone towered over him.

3) on everyone’s costumes, there was a coating of dirt/rust at the bottom. It was such a cool little detail.

4) Nick has a small panic attack when fireworks go off at the party and this is how him and Gatsby meet. They sit together on the bottom of the stairs and it legit felt like a rom com meet cute.

5) yes, Nick makes out with McKee. He spends every party scene from that point on flirting with some guy or making out with a member of the ensemble.

6) I’m not totally sure if Gatsby is still a bootlegger in this version but they show him killing a man so he’s definitely involved in some sketchy business.

7) Wolfsheim signs a song called “Look like heaven but feel like hell” which was my favorite. It’s him explaining Gatsby’s fake origins to Nick. Gatsby gets to do a full dance number and quick change into his pink suit.

8) They added some backstory to Myrtle and Wilson that they lost a daughter in the Spanish flu. It was a sad but sweet detail as to why they’re the way they are.

9) In the tea party scene, Nick pushes Gatsby back onto stage after he runs out in a panic.

10) Gatsby doesn’t die in the pool, Wilson shoots him on the staircase.

11) Gatsby’s father is indigenous which is LOVED! I’ve always imagined Gatsby to be indigenous and so seeing that others had the interpretation was amazing.

12) overall beautiful music. A lot of raw emotion and a wide range. Wolfsheim’s song and “The Damage you do” by Tom and Daisy were my favorites.

Let me know if have any questions about anything!!! I really want to discuss the show!! Here’s the book I brought signed by the cast!!!

[irisbleufic]

I’m going to write up my thoughts on Gatsby tomorrow while I’m on the bus to Hartford for the Beetlejuice performance.

(The fact we finally have a definitively fantastic adaptation of this book means everything to me, though. It beats all the films, everything.)

[hopecel]

DUDE.

[shakespearenews]

Shakespeare at A.R.T.

[shelley-sackett]

A.R.T.’s Innovative “Romeo and Juliet” Elevates and Grounds Shakespeare’s Masterpiece

Emilia Suárez (Juliet) and Rudy Pankow (Romeo) in A.R.T.’s  Romeo and Juliet.Photo Credits: Nile Scott Studios and Maggie Hall By Shelley A. Sackett Diane Paulus, Artistic Director at American Repertory Theater, has raised the bar on production values so often, we’ve come to expect the unexpected from her. From 1776 to Pippin to Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Gloria: A Life, Jagged Little Pill,…

[merrilymp3]

one of you better be booting the a.r.t. production of romeo and juliet i am so obsessed with it...

[o-the-mts]

Theater Review: Romeo and Juliet at American Repertory Theater

Romeo and Juliet By William Shakespeare Directed by Diane Paulus Movement Director and Choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui I’ve read Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet multiple times and seen it adapted as films and even a ballet, but I’ve never before seen it as a stage production.  The production at American Repertory Theater in Cambridge is staged with modern-day costumes and music making it a bit…

[bosguy]

Theater tickets make for a great Christmas gift

Need to buy Christmas gifts for someone who has everything? Give the gift of a night out at one of Boston's local theater companies. There is a stellar line up of shows you can see in January.

It can be difficult to buy a Christmas gift for someone who you feel already has everything they need or can buy whatever they may want or need. That is why Sergio and I more often than not, give the gift of a shared experience. A fun suggestion for that hard-to-buy friend or special someone would be to purchase tickets to a local show from one of Boston’s area production companies. Below I’ve…

[m-aremagnum]

Florence Welch at the opening night of Gatsby: An American Myth at the American Repertory Theater (05/06/24)

[theholmwoodfoundation]

THE HOLMWOOD FOUNDATION PILOT EPISODE CAST/CREW - PART ONE

REBECCA ROOT - MADDIE TOWNSEND/MINA HARKER

Rebecca trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. Theatre credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Shakespeare’s Globe, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time for the National Theatre (UK and Ireland tour); Rathmines Road for Fishamble at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin; Trans Scripts at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts; The Bear / The Proposal at the Young Vic; and Hamlet at the Gielgud Theatre and Athens International Festival. TV, Film and Video Game credits include Monsieur Spade, This Is Christmas, Irvine Welsh’s Crime, Hogwarts Legacy, Horizon Forbidden West, Heartstopper, Annika, The Rising, Sex Education, The Gallery, The Queen’s Gambit, Finding Alice, Creation Stories, Last Christmas, The Sisters Brothers, Colette, The Danish Girl, Flack, The Romanoffs, Moominvalley, Hank Zipzer, Boy Meets Girl, Doctors, Casualty, The Detectives, and Keeping Up Appearances.  Radio credits include Clare In The Community, Life Lines, The Hotel, and 1977 for BBC Radio 4. Guest appearances include Woman’s Hour, Front Row, Loose Ends, Saturday Live, and A Good Read.  She plays Tania Bell in the award-winning Doctor Who: Stranded audio dramas. Rebecca has also recorded numerous documentary narrations, audiobooks, and voice-overs. Rebecca is also a voice and speech coach, holding the MA in Voice Studies from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

SEAN CARLSEN - JEREMY LARKIN/ JONATHAN HARKER

Born in South Wales, Seán trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. He has worked extensively in audio drama, television, theatre and film.  Seán is perhaps best known to Doctor Who fans as Narvin in the Doctor Who audio series Gallifrey and has appeared on TV in Doctor Who - The Christmas Invasion and Torchwood. Recent TV credits include Mudtown (BBCiplayer/S4C), Dal y Mellt (Netflix), His Dark Materials (BBC1), All Creatures Great and Small (Channel 5), A Mother's Love (Channel 4) and Series 5 of Stella (Sky1).  Films include supporting leads in Boudica - Rise of the Warrior Queen, cult horror The Cleansing,  the lead in Forgotten Journeys and John Sheedy’s forthcoming film ‘Never Never Never’

SAM CLEMENS - ARTHUR JONES

Samuel Clemens trained at the Drama Centre London and is an award-winning director with over twenty years’ experience. Samuel has recently written and directed his debut feature film ‘The Waterhouse’ with Take The Shot Films & Featuristic Films and represented by Raven Banner Entertainment, which is due for release this coming year.  In addition, he has directed fourteen short films, winning awards all over the world including shorts ‘Surgery (multi-award winning), A Bad Day To Propose (Straight 8 winner 2021), Say No & Dress Rehearsal’. Samuel also directs critically acclaimed number one UK stage tours and fringe shows (Rose Theatre Kingston, Swansea Grand, Eastbourne, Yvonne Arnaud, Waterloo East Theatre) and commercials include clients JD Sports, Shell and Space NK. Samuel is also a regular producer and director for Big Finish Productions & Anderson Entertainment. He has cast, directed, produced and post supervised numerous productions of ‘Doctor Who – (BBC), The Avengers (Studio Canal), Thunderbirds, Stingray (Anderson Entertainment), Callan, Missy, Gallifrey’& Shilling & Sixpence Investigate’ and many more. Samuel has directed world class talent such as, Sir Roger Moore, Ben Miles, Tom Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Alex Kingston, Frank Skinner, Rita Ora, Rosie Huntingdon-Whiteley, Rufus Hound, David Warner, Celia Imrie, Samuel West, Youssef Kerkour, Sophie Aldred, Ian McNiece, Colin Baker, Olivia Poulet, Stephen Wight, Jade Anouka, Mimi Ndwendi, Michelle Gomez, Peter Davidson, Paul O’Grady and many more. Samuel is one of the founding members and directors at Take The Shot Films Ltd and is Head of Artistic Creation and Direction. Lastly, Samuel is a regular tutor at The London Film Academy, The Giles Foreman Centre for Acting & The Rose Youth Theatre and is a member of The Directors Guild UK. As for upcoming projects, Sam is currently in pre-production on his next feature film “On The Edge of Darkness”, which is based on his dad’s stage play “Strictly Murder”.

ATTILA PUSKAS - DRACULA

Attila Puskás is a native Hungarian Voice Actor born in Transylvania – Romania, so Romanian is in his bag of tricks too, but most of his work is done in English, in a Transatlantic Eastern European Accent, but is quite capable of Hungarian, Romanian and International Eastern European accents, plus Standard American. His voice range is Adult to Middle Aged (30-40+) due to his deep voice. Vocal styles can range from authoritive, brooding to calming and reassuring and much more. He’s most experienced in character work, like Animations and Games, but his skills encompass Commercials to Narration as well. He’s received training through classes and workshops, pushing him to the next level to achieve higher standards. Now on a journey to perfect these skills and put them to good use!

PART TWO: HERE

PART THREE: HERE

[irisbleufic]

Have you heard much about the Broadway Gatsby show (or maybe even seen it)? I have an opportunity to see a show this summer, deciding if it should be Gatsby, and I feel like you're the top authority on "is this Gataby thing worth it" :)

So, here’s where and how Gatsby stage adaptations are having a WILD year:

There are two different Gatsby musicals that have, or are about to, premiere.

1) The one that has already premiered and been running performances is titled The Great Gatsby—A New Broadway Musical. The creative team behind it is Marc Bruni, Dominique Kelley, Kait Carrigan, Jason Howland, and Nathan Tysen. This one has not gotten terribly spectacular reviews in spite of a strong core cast. I have not seen it and do not plan to, because…

2) …second one, which has literally just begun preview performances at American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, MA, is GATSBY: An American Myth, and I am seeing it on Saturday. This is the one by Florence Welch, Thomas Bartlett, Martyna Majok, Sonya Tayeh, and Rachel Chavkin. I haven’t been able to find reviews yet because it’s literally in the process of premiering, but as soon as I see it Saturday, I’ll be writing an in-depth review. I’m both ecstatic and terrified.

I guess what I’m saying is, one has already been around for a bit and there are many reviews available out there that don’t excite me, whereas the involvement of Welch and Chavkin alone on the other production has set my expectations high. I’m also seeing the touring company of Beetlejuice again on Sunday, so I’m likely to be an entire holy terror babbling about musicals this weekend. Watch this space!

[cartermagazine]

Today In History

Alvin Ailey was born on January 5, 1931, in Rogers, Texas. His experiences of life in the rural South would later inspire some of his most memorable works.

Ailey was introduced to dance in Los Angeles by performances of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and the Katherine Dunham Dance Company, and his formal dance training began with an introduction to Lester Horton’s classes by his friend Carmen de Lavallade.

In 1958, he founded Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater to carry out his vision of a company dedicated to enriching the American modern dance heritage and preserving the uniqueness of the African-American cultural experience. He established the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center (now The Ailey School) in 1969 and formed the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble (now Ailey II) in 1974.

Mr. Ailey was a pioneer of programs promoting arts in education, particularly those benefiting underserved African American communities.

CARTER™ Magazine

[shakespearenews]

https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/article/cal-shakes-funding-19623822.php

Still, they said, when they’re offered further roles in the future, they intend to first ask, “Hey, is this show funded?”

If the GoFundMe and the one-week deadline felt extreme, Worsley said, “​​We feel like we've been as transparent as we can be.” In the midst of the campaign, he published a blog post breaking down a show budget (with more than half going to show-specific payroll) as well as a monthly budget of $212,500 for the part of the year when the theater isn’t producing; Cal Shakes has 20 full-time employees, and half of them work in the scene shop, which builds sets for shows at Center Repertory Company, Berkeley Playhouse, Shotgun Players and American Conservatory Theater.

[bestmusicalworldcup]

Casting has been announced for the Florence Welch musical Gatsby, not to be confused with The Great Gatsby, which is currently running on Broadway starring Jeremy Jordan and Eva Noblezada.

Leading the cast is Isaac Powell as Jay Gatsby, Charlotte MacInnes as Daisy, Ben Levi Ross as Nick, Cory Jeacoma as Tom, Eleri Ward as Jordan, Solea Pfeiffer as Myrtle, Matthew Amira as Wilson, and Adam Grupper as Wolfsheim.

The ensemble will feature Nick Bailey, Kailey Boyle, Runako Campbell, Jada Clark, Joshua Grosso, Alex Haquia, Gabriel Hyman, Matt Kizer, Lorenzo Pagano, Chris Ralph, Christopher M. Ramirez, Shea Renne, Aliza Russell, Shota Sekiguchi, and Maya Sistruck. Sam Simahk will be the standby for Jay Gatsby, with swings Cameron Burke, Jacob Burns, Mia DeWeese, Paige Krumbach, and Justin Gregory Lopez rounding out the company.

Gatsby features a book by Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok and a score by Florence Welch and Thomas Barlett. Previews will begin at the American Repertory Theatre's Loeb Drama Center on May 23 ahead of a June 5 opening night. Performances end on July 21. Rachel Chavkin directs.

[o-the-mts]

Theater Review: Gatsby: An American Myth

Gatsby: An American Myth Based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald Music by Florence Welch and Thomas Bartlett Lyrics by Florence Welch Book by Martyna Majok Performance at Loeb Drama Theater, Cambridge, MA – July 31, 2024, 7:30 PM Music Supervision by Kimberly Grigsby Choreographed by Sonya Tayeh Directed by Rachel Chavkin Cast Jay Gatsby … Isaac Cole Powell Daisy Buchanan  … Charlotte…

[bosguy]

Boston theater companies fall productions

Boston theater companies will begin their 2023/23 theater season in the coming weeks and they have an amazing line-up of shows / musicals for you to enjoy. Check out the fall line-up and make plans to see one of these shows. #bosarts

At the close of each summer, I like to promote local theater comanies and their upcoming fall productions to remind people of the vibrant (and underrated) theater community here in Boston. I hope this post will encourage you to support Boston’s local theater community. One advantage of supporting these theater companies is that ticket prices are more affordable than the national touring companies…