#Laura Jellinek

[thediaryofatheatrekid]

The most shocking Tony nominations in your opinion?

Beetlejuice (Best Musical)

Ephraim Sykes- Ain’t Too Proud as Paul Williams (Best Featured Actor in a Musical)

Jeremy Pope- Ain’t Too Proud as Eddie Kendricks (Best Featured Actor in a Musical)

Anthony King & Scott Brown- Beetlejuice (Best Book)

Eddie Perfect- Beetlejuice (Best Score)

Laura Jellinek- Oklahoma! (Best Scenic Design of a Musical)

Paul Tazewell- Ain’t Too Proud (Best Costume Design of a Musical)

George C. Wolfe- Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus (Best Direction of a Play)

Des McAnuff- Ain’t Too Proud (Best Direction of a Musical)

[thetangential]

Reimagined “Oklahoma!” Hints America Is Not O.K.

Director Daniel Fish’s radically reimagined production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! was originally workshopped in 2015; after a Tony-winning Broadway run, a national tour officially opened last night in Minneapolis, where it’s playing through Sunday. 2015 feels like a billion years ago, but that eon has only increased the resonance and relevance of a show that dramatizes the deadly consequences of aggrieved, entitled masculinity in a nation full of firearms.

While Thursday’s crowd at the Orpheum Theatre rose to cheers — and, in some cases, to their feet — for boisterous numbers like the exuberant actor Sis’s lusty rendition of “I Cain’t Say No,” the audience was also clearly challenged by the production’s deliberately disorienting zigs and zags. (The crowd’s demographics were predictable for a touring Broadway classic: in their masks, half the men could have passed for Governor Tim Walz.)

With a quick-step flow that disrupts expectations for stagy applause invitations, the production alternately presents itself as a modestly refreshed revival, a campy singalong, and a subversive reinvention. The final scene lands firmly on the latter note, with a rendition of “Oklahoma” bleaker than one might have imagined at the opening of Act II, let alone before stepping into the theater.

It’s a pointed challenge to the many culturally complacent productions that have come before, but it also has the effect of shaking the dust off one of the most influential works of American art ever created, reclaiming Oklahoma! as a product of the modernist era. The dream ballet, for example, becomes a showcase for solo dancer Gabrielle Hamilton, who dramatizes the pained undercurrents of a community where men just cain’t stop fighting over women.

The show’s top note is a spicy one, apparent from the outset as Curly (Sean Grandillo) turns his silly song about a surrey into a slow-burning seduction that’ll singe your chaps. Before that, though, he unfurls the iconic “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'” with blithe, unhurried polish as the rest of the cast lounges dispassionately at tables laden with cans of cheap beer. It may be a beautiful mornin’ for the cock of the walk, the show implies, but a sense of menacing malaise is also afoot.

The production’s most fascinating aspect is the nimbleness with which Fish flips the script — which, in a literal sense, remains unaltered from the original text. Not every classic musical could take this kind of stress test; a recent revival of Paint Your Wagon, for example, tossed the original book entirely to recast the songs in a more palatable context. In the case of Oklahoma!, though, the script by Oscar Hammerstein II shines all the more when cast in a new light. Fish and his diverse cast surface an itchy, randy energy that’s refreshingly sex-positive. Ado Annie cain’t say no…nor does she need or want to.

This interpretation even finds a current of lust between farm girl Laurey (Sasha Hutchings) and hired hand Jud, played by Christopher Bannow as a stringy-haired, unshaven, eerily calm outsider who’s visibly ready to ensure that any and all of the “intentionally staggering” number of guns that appear onstage in the first act go off in the second. He’s not the only one bringing a gun to town, though, and the show’s most challenging choice is to implicate happy hero Curly as complicit in the community’s culture of toxic bravado.

That all makes the show sound like a heavy slab of message, but in fact it may well be the most entertaining Oklahoma! you’ll ever see. The cast fill Laura Jellinek’s brightly wood-paneled, banner-festooned set with effusive energy that’s all the more involving for being cast in an ironic light. The show’s music is performed by an onstage Americana ensemble, giving the timeless songs a gratifyingly period-specific flavor while cautiously guarding against the encroachment of nostalgia.

Not everything works, and that’s fine. When it comes to a technique involving a blackout and closely-miked dialogue, a little bit would have gone a long way; instead, we get a lot. On Thursday the cast seemed to be still finding the show’s rhythm — and, perhaps, adapting to the strange energy of a nervously vaxxed live audience. If they didn’t nail every beat, though, the beats were there. The difference in this production is that, for perhaps the first time in the long history of this well-worn musical, we can also hear the off-beats.

– Jay Gabler

Photo by Matt Murphy for MurphyMade, courtesy Hennepin Theatre Trust.

[musicals-and-more]

2019 Tony Nominations!!!

I am so excited to watch James Cordon host the 73rd Annual Tony Awards on June 9th!!!

BEST MUSICAL

Ain't Too Proud

Beetlejuice

Hadestown

The Prom

Tootsie

BEST PLAY

Choir Boy

The Ferryman

Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus

Ink

What the Constitution Means to Me

BEST PLAY REVIVAL

Arthur Miller’s All My Sons

The Boys in the Band

Burn This

Torch Song

The Waverly Gallery

BEST MUSICAL REVIVAL

Kiss Me, Kate

Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma!

BEST ACTOR (PLAY )

Jeff Daniels, To Kill a Mockingbird

Paddy Considine, The Ferryman

Bryan Cranston, Network

Adam Driver, Burn This

Jeremy Pope, Choir Boy

BEST ACTRESS (PLAY)

Annette Bening, Arthur Miller’s All My Sons

Laura Donnelly, The Ferryman

Elaine May, The Waverly Gallery

Janet McTeer, Bernhardt/Hamlet

Laurie Metcalf, Hillary and Clinton

Heidi Schreck, What the Constitution Means to Me

BEST ACTRESS (MUSICAL)

Stephanie J. Block, The Cher Show

Caitlin Kinnunen, The Prom

Beth Leavel, The Prom

Eva Noblezada, Hadestown

Kelli O'Hara, Kiss Me, Kate

BEST ACTOR (MUSICAL)

Brooks Ashmanskas, The Prom

Derrick Baskin, Ain't Too Proud

Alex Brightman, Beetlejuice

Damon Daunno, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma!

Santino Fontana, Tootsie

Best Book of a Musical

Ain't Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations

Dominique Morisseau

Beetlejuice

Scott Brown & Anthony King

Hadestown

Anaïs Mitchell

The Prom

Bob Martin & Chad Beguelin

Tootsie

Robert Horn

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre

Be More Chill

Music & Lyrics: Joe Iconis

Beetlejuice

Music & Lyrics: Eddie Perfect

Hadestown

Music & Lyrics: Anaïs Mitchell

The Prom

Music: Matthew Sklar

Lyrics: Chad Beguelin

To Kill a Mockingbird

Music: Adam Guettel

Tootsie

Music & Lyrics: David Yazbek

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play

Paddy Considine, The Ferryman

Bryan Cranston, Network

Jeff Daniels, To Kill a Mockingbird

Adam Driver, Burn This

Jeremy Pope, Choir Boy

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play

Annette Bening, Arthur Miller's All My Sons

Laura Donnelly, The Ferryman

Elaine May, The Waverly Gallery

Janet McTeer, Bernhardt/Hamlet

Laurie Metcalf, Hillary and Clinton

Heidi Schreck, What the Constitution Means to Me

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical

Brooks Ashmanskas, The Prom

Derrick Baskin, Ain't Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations

Alex Brightman, Beetlejuice

Damon Daunno, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma!

Santino Fontana, Tootsie

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical

Stephanie J. Block, The Cher Show

Caitlin Kinnunen, The Prom

Beth Leavel, The Prom

Eva Noblezada, Hadestown

Kelli O'Hara, Kiss Me, Kate

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play

Bertie Carvel, Ink

Robin De Jesús, The Boys in the Band

Gideon Glick, To Kill a Mockingbird

Brandon Uranowitz, Burn This

Benjamin Walker, Arthur Miller's All My Sons

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play

Fionnula Flanagan, The Ferryman

Celia Keenan-Bolger, To Kill a Mockingbird

Kristine Nielsen, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus

Julie White, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus

Ruth Wilson, King Lear

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical

André De Shields, Hadestown

Andy Grotelueschen, Tootsie

Patrick Page, Hadestown

Jeremy Pope, Ain't Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations

Ephraim Sykes, Ain't Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical

Lilli Cooper, Tootsie

Amber Gray, Hadestown

Sarah Stiles, Tootsie

Ali Stroker, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma!

Mary Testa, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma!

Best Scenic Design of a Play

Miriam Buether, To Kill a Mockingbird

Bunny Christie, Ink

Rob Howell, The Ferryman

Santo Loquasto, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus

Jan Versweyveld, Network

Best Scenic Design of a Musical

Robert Brill and Peter Nigrini, Ain't Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations

Peter England, King Kong

Rachel Hauck, Hadestown

Laura Jellinek, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma!

David Korins, Beetlejuice

Best Costume Design of a Play

Rob Howell, The Ferryman

Toni-Leslie James, Bernhardt/Hamlet

Clint Ramos, Torch Song

Ann Roth, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus

Ann Roth, To Kill a Mockingbird

Best Costume Design of a Musical

Michael Krass, Hadestown

William Ivey Long, Beetlejuice

William Ivey Long, Tootsie

Bob Mackie, The Cher Show

Paul Tazewell, Ain't Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations

Best Lighting Design of a Play

Neil Austin, Ink

Jules Fisher + Peggy Eisenhauer, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus

Peter Mumford, The Ferryman

Jennifer Tipton, To Kill a Mockingbird

Jan Versweyveld and Tal Yarden, Network

Best Lighting Design of a Musical

Kevin Adams, The Cher Show

Howell Binkley, Ain't Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations

Bradley King, Hadestown

Peter Mumford, King Kong

Kenneth Posner and Peter Nigrini, Beetlejuice

Best Sound Design of a Play

Adam Cork, Ink

Scott Lehrer, To Kill a Mockingbird

Fitz Patton, Choir Boy

Nick Powell, The Ferryman

Eric Sleichim, Network

Best Sound Design of a Musical

Peter Hylenski, Beetlejuice

Peter Hylenski, King Kong

Steve Canyon Kennedy, Ain't Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations

Drew Levy, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma!

Nevin Steinberg and Jessica Paz, Hadestown

Best Direction of a Play

Rupert Goold, Ink

Sam Mendes, The Ferryman

Bartlett Sher, To Kill a Mockingbird

Ivo van Hove, Network

George C. Wolfe, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus

Best Direction of a Musical

Rachel Chavkin, Hadestown

Scott Ellis, Tootsie

Daniel Fish, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma!

Des McAnuff, Ain't Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations

Casey Nicholaw, The Prom

Best Choreography

Camille A. Brown, Choir Boy

Warren Carlyle, Kiss Me, Kate

Denis Jones, Tootsie

David Neumann, Hadestown

Sergio Trujillo, Ain't Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations

Best Orchestrations

Michael Chorney and Todd Sickafoose, Hadestown

Simon Hale, Tootsie

Larry Hochman, Kiss Me, Kate

Daniel Kluger, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma!

Harold Wheeler, Ain't Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations

Special Tony Awards for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre Rosemary Harris

Terrence McNally

Harold Wheeler

Special Tony Awards

Marin Mazzie

Sonny Tilders and Creature Technology Company

Jason Michael Webb

Regional Theatre Tony Award

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley

Palo Alto, CA

Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award

Judith Light

Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre

Broadway Inspirational Voices – Michael McElroy, Founder

Peter Entin

FDNY Engine 54, Ladder 4, Battalion 9

Joseph Blakely Forbes

Congratulations to all the nominees and especially to Hadestown leading with 14 nominations!!!

[popculturebrain]

Best Musical Ain’t Too Proud—The Life and Times of The Temptations Beetlejuice Hadestown The Prom Tootsie

Best Play Choir Boy by Tarell Alvin McCraney The Ferryman by Jez Butterworth Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus by Taylor Mac Ink by James Graham What the Constitution Means to Me by Heidi Schreck

Best Revival of a Musical Kiss Me, Kate Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!

Best Revival of a Play Arthur Miller’s All My Sons The Boys in the Band by Mart Crowley Burn This Torch Song by Harvey Fierstein The Waverly Gallery by Kenneth Lonergan

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical Brooks Ashmanskas, The Prom Derrick Baskin, Ain’t Too Proud Alex Brightman, Beetlejuice Damon Daunno, Oklahoma! Santino Fontana, Tootsie

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical Stephanie J. Block, The Cher Show Caitlin Kinnunen, The Prom Beth Leavel, The Prom Eva Noblezada, Hadestown Kelli O’Hara, Kiss Me, Kate

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play Paddy Considine, The Ferryman Bryan Cranston, Network Jeff Daniels, To Kill a Mockingbird Adam Driver, Burn This Jeremy Pope, Choir Boy

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play Annette Bening, Arthur Miller's All My Sons Laura Donnelly, The Ferryman Elaine May, The Waverly Gallery Janet McTeer, Bernhardt/Hamlet Laurie Metcalf, Hillary and Clinton Heidi Schreck, What the Constitution Means to Me

Best Book of a Musical Ain’t Too Proud, Dominique Morisseau Beetlejuice, Scott Brown and Anthony King Hadestown, Anaïs Mitchell The Prom, Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin Tootsie, Robert Horn

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre Be More Chill, Joe Iconis Beetlejuice, Eddie Perfect Hadestown, Anaïs Mitchell The Prom, Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin To Kill a Mockingbird, Adam Guettel Tootsie, David Yazbek

Best Direction of a Musical Rachel Chavkin, Hadestown Scott Ellis, Tootsie Daniel Fish, Oklahoma! Des McAnuff, Ain’t Too Proud Casey Nicholaw, The Prom

Best Direction of a Play Rupert Goold, Ink Sam Mendes, The Ferryman Bartlett Sher, To Kill a Mockingbird Ivo van Hove, Network George C. Wolfe, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical Andre De Shields, Hadestown Andy Grotelueschen, Tootsie Patrick Page, Hadestown Jeremy Pope, Ain’t Too Proud Ephraim Sykes, Ain’t Too Proud

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical Lilli Cooper, Tootsie Amber Gray, Hadestown Sarah Stiles, Tootsie Ali Stroker, Oklahoma! Mary Testa, Oklahoma!

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play Bertie Carvel, Ink Robin De Jesús, The Boys in the Band Gideon Glick, To Kill a Mockingbird Brandon Uranowitz, Burn This Benjamin Walker, Arthur Miller's All My Sons

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play Fionnula Flanagan, The Ferryman Celia Keenan-Bolger, To Kill a Mockingbird Kristine Nielsen, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus Julie White, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus Ruth Wilson, King Lear

Best Choreography Camille A. Brown, Choir Boy Warren Carlyle, Kiss Me, Kate Denis Jones, Tootsie David Neumann, Hadestown Sergio Trujillo, Ain't Too Proud

Best Orchestrations Michael Chorney and Todd Sickafoose, Hadestown Larry Hochman, Kiss Me, Kate Daniel Kluger, Oklahoma! Simon Hale, Tootsie Harold Wheeler, Ain’t Too Proud

Best Scenic Design of a Musical Robert Brill and Peter Nigrini, Ain’t Too Proud Peter England, King Kong Rachel Hauck, Hadestown Laura Jellinek, Oklahoma! David Korins, Beetlejuice

Best Scenic Design of a Play Miriam Buether, To Kill a Mockingbird Bunny Christie, Ink Rob Howell, The Ferryman Santo Loquasto, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus Jan Versweyveld, Network

Best Costume Design of a Musical Michael Krass, Hadestown William Ivey Long, Beetlejuice William Ivey Long, Tootsie Bob Mackie, The Cher Show Paul Tazewell, Ain’t Too Proud

Best Costume Design of a Play Rob Howell, The Ferryman Toni-Leslie James, Bernhardt/Hamlet Clint Ramos, Torch Song Ann Roth, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus Ann Roth, To Kill a Mockingbird

Best Sound Design of a Musical Peter Hylenski, Beetlejuice Peter Hylenski, King Kong Steve Canyon Kennedy, Ain’t Too Proud Drew Levy, Oklahoma! Nevin Steinberg and Jessica Paz, Hadestown

Best Sound Design of a Play Adam Cork, Ink Scott Lehrer, To Kill a Mockingbird Fitz Patton, Choir Boy Nick Powell, The Ferryman Eric Sleichim, Network

Best Lighting Design of a Musical Kevin Adams, The Cher Show Howell Binkley, Ain’t Too Proud Bradley King, Hadestown Peter Mumford, King Kong Kenneth Posner and Peter Nigrini, Beetlejuice

Best Lighting Design of a Play Neil Austin, Ink Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus Peter Mumford, The Ferryman Jennifer Tipton, To Kill a Mockingbird Jan Versweyveld and Tal Yarden, Network

[larryland]

by Barbara Waldinger

Frankie Addams, a lonely, twelve-year-old girl whose brother Jarvis and his fiancée Janice are about to get married, has decided (uninvited) to join the couple on their honeymoon and move in with them:  “I love them so much,” they are “the we of me.”  Despite the fact that Frankie has undertaken to change her name to F. Jasmine to coordinate with theirs, she will inevitably be left behind, threatening to die rather than to live on in this stiflingly small Southern town.

This is the setting of Carson McCullers’ play, The Member of the Wedding, produced by the Williamstown Theatre Festival—the only revival in a 2018 season filled with premieres.  Director Gaye Taylor Upchurch and her cast approach this 1950 classic as they would a new play:  by asking rigorous questions in rehearsal and taking nothing for granted.   Adapted by McCullers from her 1946 novel, the production ran for just over 500 performances on Broadway, starring Ethel Waters, Julie Harris and seven-year-old Brandon deWilde, all of whom reprised their roles for a 1952 film adaptation.  McCullers, who grew up in Georgia and was ill for much of her short life (she died at age 50), achieved fame for her debut novel, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, which was also filmed.

The Member of the Wedding is not plot-driven, but instead focuses on the time period, the place, and its three major characters.  The time is 1945:  Frankie’s brother Jarvis is a soldier serving in Alaska, while newspaper articles announce the dropping of the atom bomb.  Racial issues abound:  the American military was segregated, Jim Crow laws were in effect in the south, and there was an upsurge of lynchings.  Many of the victims were black soldiers returning from the war.

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At Williamstown, the excellent design team provides visual representation of the location and time:  the lovely set (designed by Laura Jellinek) consists of the small period kitchen and large yard of the Addams house in an unnamed town, complete with an arbor and curtains where Frankie (Tavi Gevinson), an amateur playwright, invents and performs her own plays, along with her younger cousin, John Henry West (Logan Schuyler Smith).  Clint Ramos’s splendid costumes figure prominently in the production, contextualizing it, but they also reveal character by illustrating the wild get-ups used by Frankie and John Henry in their play-acting as well as the over-the-top orange ruffled gown Frankie purchases for her brother’s wedding.  The beautifully atmospheric lighting (by Isabella Byrd) suggesting long summer days and evening shadows, is complemented by the perpetual neighborhood noises supplied by Bray Poor, whose original music includes a piano being tuned, trumpets blaring, and a haunting piano finale as the curtain falls.

The three characters whose lives and longings fill this play are Frankie, John Henry, and Berenice Sadie Brown (Roslyn Ruff), nominally the Addams’ cook but so much more. Today we would call Frankie “gender fluid,” with her masculine name and clothing (features she shares with McCullers herself), and her blond crew-cut.  One of the opening lines of the novel defines Frankie:  “She belongs to no club and was a member of nothing in the world.” So in the play.  Her one friend moved away, the girls’ club next door rejects her application to join, and now she throws herself headlong into a doomed attempt to be a member of the upcoming wedding of her brother (Tom Peckinka) to his pretty fiancée Janice (Louisa Jacobson).  The family history is bleak:  her mother died giving birth to Frankie, and her father (James Waterston), a racist who spends nearly all his time in his jewelry store, doesn’t really know or care to know his daughter.  Only Berenice understands and comforts her.   She is a true mother to both Frankie and young John Henry, whose mother (Liv Rooth) lives next door but is rarely seen.

John Henry is blithely unclear about his identity:  sporting blond curls, he loves to dress up in female clothing, play with dolls, and wishes that each child could be half boy and half girl.  Smith is adorable, as he runs, jumps and cartwheels across the stage, blowing bubbles and hiding under the kitchen table, curling up in Berenice’s arms, seeking to be loved.  Frankie, whose adolescent rebelliousness and self-destructive behavior makes her harder to love, is fully inhabited by Gevinson as she careens from one crisis to another, suffering from panic attacks, and desperately needing Berenice’s steadying hand.

Ruff’s Berenice is also lonely—having lost her beloved first husband Ludie to pneumonia, she proceeded to remarry three more times, each husband seeming to resemble “pieces of Ludie” but always “the wrong pieces.”  She hates to be alone, but isn’t in love with her boyfriend T. T. Williams (Leon Addison Brown) and spends much time and emotion worrying about her volatile foster brother, Honey Camden Brown (Will Cobbs).  Ruff gives a beautifully understated performance, never afraid to tell the children her honest opinion, sharing her feelings without regard to their youth, humming through difficult moments, and visibly trying to protect her charges from life’s blows.

The first act belongs to Frankie, as she rages against her existence in this “empty ugly house,” which can get tiresome and repetitious, despite Gevinson’s mastery of her character.  But the second act, dominated by Berenice, contains the payoff. Movingly and meticulously directed by Upchurch and flawlessly performed, this act fully justifies a revival of The Member of the Wedding.

THE MEMBER OF THE WEDDING runs from August 5—19.  Tickets may be purchased online at wtfestival.org or call 413-458-3253.

Williamstown Theatre Festival presents THE MEMBER OF THE WEDDING by Carson McCullers.  Directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch.  Cast:  Roslyn Ruff (Berenice Sadie Brown), Tavi Gevinson (Frankie Addams), Logan Schuyler Smith (John Henry West), Tom Pecinka (Jarvis), Louisa Jacobson (Janice), James Waterston (Mr. Addams), Liv Rooth (Mrs. West), Vinie Burrows (Sis Laura), Leon Addison Brown (T. T. Williams), Will Cobbs (Honey Camden Brown), Ben Ahlers (Barney MacKean), Delilah Napier (Helen Fletcher), Sarah Haga (Doris).

Scenic Design:  Laura Jellinek; Costume Design:  Clint Ramos; Lighting Design:  Isabella Byrd; Original Music and Sound Design:  Bray Poor; Hair and Wig Design:  Leah Loukas; Dialect Coach:  Charlotte Fleck; Production Stage Manager:  Lindsey Turteltaub.

Running Time:  Two hours 30 minutes including intermission.  Williamstown Theatre Festival, Mainstage, 1000 Main Street, Williamstown, MA., from August 5; closing August 19.

REVIEW: “The Member of the Wedding” at the Williamstown Theatre Festival by Barbara Waldinger Frankie Addams, a lonely, twelve-year-old girl whose brother Jarvis and his fiancée Janice are about to get married, has decided (uninvited) to join the couple on their honeymoon and move in with them:  “I love them so much,” they are “the we of me.”  Despite the fact that Frankie has undertaken to change her name to F.

[briefnytw]

(New York Theatre Workshop)

Scenic designer Laura Jellinek discusses what the team learned after their run at Yale Repertory and how it informed the design and process.

[frontmezzjunkies]

Brian Lee Huynh, Erik Lochtefeld. Photo by Joan Marcus.

The Light Years: Sparks Fly and Than (Almost) Nothing

By Ross

With a grand gesture, we are invited to step back into another time. It’s a grand beginning courtesy of The Debate Society and Playwrights Horizons, centered around a flash and a bang. As developed and directed by Oliver Butler, we focus our eyes on the charming spectacular, a play called The Light Years, written by the team of Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen. In turn, a soft light reveals a flamboyant impresario named Steele MacKaye (a fun and theatrical Rocco Sisto). He informs us of his dream, and how he has taken the steps towards trying to create something exciting and experimental. Steele, as we later are (secondarily) requested to refer to him by, has the strong willed audacity to attempt to build a 12,000 set spectacular theater for Chicago’s World Fair in 1893. He reminds me of a less-sexualized, more gentlemanly circus ringmaster from the Baz Luhrmann’s fantastical Moulin Rouge. It is this quality, his desire to create something never seen before, that the creators of this unique and intricate play inhabit in their souls. This play carries a lot of the same vision and child-like fun, but sadly the light loses some focus and drive as we move deeper into the shadows of its lovely sad tale.

Rocco Sisto, Erik Lochtefeld. Photo by Joan Marcus.

We meet this exuberant fellow, the could-be lost cousin to Moulin Rouge‘s Harold Zidler in the quietest of fashion (by candle light) but quickly jump to an earlier moment at the beginning to this venture, when he has more spring in his step and certainty of the future. Sharing his enthusiasm and quest for invention, is his loyal electrician, Hillary, played with an utterly charming boyishness and sense of purpose by Erik Lochtefeld (Misery), and his trusted assistant, Hong Sling (a warm, funny, and very appealing Brian Lee Huynh). We are then given the joyous introduction to his loving and lovely wife, Adeline, played with exacting charm by the very sweet Aya Cash (PH’s The Pain and the Itch). They are the most charming of couples that I have seen on stage in a long time.  A bit too good to be true, but the kind and adoring words they exchange are warming to behold, and we are instantly smitten by the two, just as Steele is.

Aya Cash, Rocco Sisto, Erik Lochtefeld. Photo by Joan Marcus.

In a surprising twist, the play travels forward and than back again to different moments in time. Guided by one of the inventions, the “Silent Unfolding Announcer” (SUA) that tell us when and where we are, we encounter another family at a soon-to-be-revealed symbolic 40 year timeframe later, disconnected but connected to that special and loving electrician. There is a frustrated composer/father, Lou (Ken Barnett), his stressed but loving wife, Ruth, who is surprisingly similar in appearance to the electrician’s wife (but not surprisingly played with a wondrous precision by Cash), and their son, Charlie (a wide-eyed Graydon Peter Yosowitz). This family is a bit more complex than the earlier couple, but they are a part of this kind love story that spans decades and is sweet in its simplicity. It’s also wrapped in cornball charm but also sadly, with an ever expanding sense of pointlessness. The emotionality of these people to each other is etched in real live and engagement, even at the worst of moments, but the over all impact leaves us scratching our communal heads. Bos and Thureen (co-writers of Amazon’s Mozart in the Jungle and HBO’s High Maintenance) do an impressive job giving us clever loving dialogue and some wonderful engaging characters, but the big picture is a little harder to see.

Aya Cash, Ken Barnett, Graydon Peter Yosowitz. Photo by Joan Marcus.

The production zings and swings us around time and place with a child-like wonder and excitement. The design team (scenic design by Laura Jellinek, costume design by three-time Tony Award nominee Michael Krass, lighting design by Obie Award winner Russell H. Champa, sound design by Lee Kinney and original music by Daniel Kluger) are as inventive and thrilled to challenge the norms of space and form as the ringleader of this venture, Steele MacKaye. But I was hoping that the light would shine a bit more brightly on an over arching raison d’être, other than a gentle love story wrapped in a tribute to a man’s indomitable spirit of invention. The Spectatorium which Steele wants to create sounds magnificent so we keep waiting for astounding, only to get quaint and sweet instead. It’s a lot of sound and fury, signifying, well not nothing, but something not enough.

The Light Years Playwrights Horizons February 17, 2017 – April 02, 2017 Mainstage Theater Written by Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen Developed and Directed by Oliver Butler Made by The Debate Society FEATURING Ken Barnett — Lou Aya Cash — Adeline/Ruth Brian Lee Huynh — Hong Sling Erik Lochtefeld — Hillary Rocco Sisto — Steele MacKaye Graydon Peter Yosowitz — Charlie Scenic Design: Laura Jellinek Costume Design : Michael Krass Lighting Design: Russell H. Champa Sound Design: Lee Kinney Original Music : Daniel Kluger Production Stage Manager: Ryan Gohsman

The Light Years Playwrights Horizons February 17, 2017 – April 02, 2017 Mainstage Theater Written by Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen Developed and Directed by Oliver Butler Made by The Debate Society FEATURING Ken Barnett — Lou Aya Cash — Adeline/Ruth Brian Lee Huynh — Hong Sling Erik Lochtefeld — Hillary Rocco Sisto — Steele MacKaye Graydon Peter Yosowitz — Charlie Scenic Design: Laura Jellinek Costume Design : Michael Krass Lighting Design: Russell H. Champa Sound Design: Lee Kinney Original Music : Daniel Kluger Production Stage Manager: Ryan Gohsman

The Light Years Playwrights Horizons February 17, 2017 – April 02, 2017 Mainstage Theater Written by Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen Developed and Directed by Oliver Butler Made by The Debate Society FEATURING Ken Barnett — Lou Aya Cash — Adeline/Ruth Brian Lee Huynh — Hong Sling Erik Lochtefeld — Hillary Rocco Sisto — Steele MacKaye Graydon Peter Yosowitz — Charlie Scenic Design: Laura Jellinek Costume Design : Michael Krass Lighting Design: Russell H. Champa Sound Design: Lee Kinney Original Music : Daniel Kluger Production Stage Manager: Ryan Gohsman

#frontmezzjunkies reviewed: @debatesociety 's #LightYearsPH @PHnyc w/ @maybeAyaCash The Light Years: Sparks Fly and Than (Almost) Nothing By Ross With a grand gesture, we are invited to step back into another time.

[there-is-no-barrier-between-us]

congratulations to oklahoma! on TWELVE drama desk nominations:

outstanding revival of a musical outstanding actor (damon daunno) outstanding actress (rebecca naomi jones) outstanding featured actor (patrick vaill) outstanding featured actress (ali stroker and mary testa) outstanding director (daniel fish) outstanding orchestrations (daniel kluger) outstanding set design (laura jellinek) outstanding lighting design (scott zielinski) outstanding projection design (joshua thorson) outstanding sound design (drew levy)

[broadwaybaberoni]

Tony Award Nominations 2019 (By Show)

Musicals

Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations (12)

Best Musical

Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical (Derrick Baskin)

Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical (Jeremy Pope)

Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical (Ephraim Sykes)

Best Book of a Musical (Dominique Morisseau)

Best Choreography (Sergio Trujillo)

Best Orchestrations (Harold Wheeler)

Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Robert Brill and Peter Nigrini)

Best Costume Designs of a Musical (Paul Tazewell)

Best Sound Design of a Musical (Steve Canyon Kennedy)

Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Howell Binkley)

Best Direction of a Musical (Des McAnuff)

Be More Chill (1)

Best Original Score (Music & Lyrics by Joe Iconis)

Beetlejuice (8)

Best Musical

Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical (Alex Brightman)

Best Book of a Musical (Scott Brown & Anthony King)

Best Original Score (Music & Lyrics by Eddie Perfect)

Best Scenic Design of a Musical (David Korins)

Best Costume Designs of a Musical (William Ivey Long)

Best Sound Design of a Musical (Peter Hylenski)

Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Kenneth Posner and Peter Nigrini)

The Cher Show (3)

Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical (Stephanie J. Block)

Best Costume Designs of a Musical (Bob Mackie)

Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Kevin Adams)

Hadestown (14)

Best Musical

Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical (Eva Noblezada)

Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical (André De Shields)

Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical (Patrick Page)

Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical (Amber Gray)

Best Book of a Musical (Anaïs Mitchell)

Best Original Score (Music & Lyrics by Anaïs Mitchell)

Best Choreography (David Neumann)

Best Orchestrations (Michael Chorney and Todd Sickafoose)

Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Rachel Hauck)

Best Costume Designs of a Musical (Michael Krass)

Best Sound Design of a Musical (Nevin Steinberg and Jessica Paz)

Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Bradley King)

Best Direction of a Musical (Rachel Chavkin)

King Kong (3)

Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Peter England)

Best Sound Design of a Musical (Peter Hylenski)

Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Peter Mumford)

Kiss Me, Kate (4)

Best Revival of a Musical

Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical (Kelli O’Hara)

Best Choreography (Warren Carlyle)

Best Orchestrations (Larry Hochman)

Rogers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! (8)

Best Revival of a Musical

Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical  (Damon Daunno)

Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical (Ali Stroker)

Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical (Mary Testa)

Best Orchestrations (Daniel Kluger)

Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Laura Jellinek)

Best Sound Design of a Musical (Drew Levy)

Best Direction of a Musical (Daniel Fish)

The Prom (7)

Best Musical

Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical (Brooks Ashmanskas)

Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical (Caitlin Kinnunen)

Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical (Beth Leavel)

Best Book of a Musical (Bob Martin & Chad Beguelin)

Best Original Score (Music by Matthew Sklar, Lyrics by Chad Beguelin)

Best Direction of a Musical (Casey Nicholaw)

Tootsie (11)

Best Musical

Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical (Santino Fontana)

Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical (Andy Grotelueschen)

Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical (Lilli Cooper)

Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical (Sarah Stiles)

Best Book of a Musical (Robert Horn)

Best Original Score (Music & Lyrics by David Yazbeck)

Best Choreography (Dennis Jones)

Best Orchestrations (Simon Hale)

Best Costume Designs of a Musical (William Ivey Long)

Best Direction of a Musical (Scott Ellis)

 Plays

Arthur Millers All My Sons (3)

Best Revival of a Play

Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Play (Annette Bening)

Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Play (Benjamin Walker)

Bernadette/Hamlet (2)

Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Play (Janet McTeer)

Best Costume Designs of a Play (Toni-Leslie James)

The Boys in the Band (2)

Best Revival of a Play

Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Play (Robin de Jesús)

Burn This (3)

Best Revival of a Play

Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play (Adam Driver)

Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Play (Brandon Uranowitz)

Choir Boy (4)

Best Play

Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play (Jeremy Pope)

Best Choreography (Camille A. Brown)

Best Sound Design of a Play (Fitz Patton)

The Ferryman (9)

Best Play

Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play (Paddy Considine)

Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Play (Laura Donnelly)

Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Play (Fionnula Flanagan)

Best Scenic Design of a Play (Bob Howell)

Best Costume Designs of a Play (Rob Howell)

Best Sound Design of a Play (Nick Powell)

Best Lighting Design of a Play (Peter Mumford)

Best Direction of a Play (Sam Mendes)

Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus (7)

Best Play

Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Play (Kristine Nielsen)

Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Play (Julie White)

Best Scenic Design of a Play (Santo Loquasto)

Best Costume Designs of a Play (Ann Roth)

Best Lighting Design of a Play (Jules Fisher + Peggy Eisenhauer)

Best Direction of a Play (George C. Wolfe)

Hillary and Clinton (1)

Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Play (Laurie Metcalf)

Ink (6)

Best Play

Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Play (Bertie Carvel)

Best Scenic Design of a Play (Bunny Christie)

Best Sound Design of a Play (Adam Cork)

Best Lighting Design of a Play (Neil Austin)

Best Direction of a Play (Rupert Goold)

To Kill a Mockingbird (9)

Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play (Jeff Daniels)

Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Play (Gideon Glick)

Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Play (Celia Keenan-Bolger)

Best Original Score (Music by Adam Guettel)

Best Scenic Design of a Play (Miriam Buether)

Best Costume Designs of a Play (Ann Roth)

Best Sound Design of a Play (Scott Lehrer)

Best Lighting Design of a Play (Jennifer Tipton)

Best Direction of a Play (Bartlett Sher)

King Lear (1)

Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Play (Ruth Wilson)

Network (5)

Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play (Bryan Cranston)

Best Scenic Design of a Play (Jan Versweyveld)

Best Sound Design of a Play (Eric Sleichim)

Best Lighting Design of a Play (Jan Versweyveld and Tal Yarden)

Best Direction of a Play (Ivo Van Hove)

Torch Song (2)

Best Revival of a Play

Best Costume Designs of a Play (Clint Ramos)

The Waverly Gallery (2)

Best Revival of a Play

Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Play (Elaine May)

What the Constitution Means to Me (2)

Best Play

Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Play (Heidi Schreck)

[springawakenings]

 Tony Award Predictions vs Nominations - 93 out of 129

Best Musical Ain’t Too Proud Be More Chill Hadestown The Prom Tootsie

Best Play Choir Boy The Ferryman Ink To Kill a Mockingbird What the Constitution Means to Me

Best Revival of a Musical Kiss Me, Kate Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!

Best Revival of a Play All My Sons The Boys in the Band Burn This Torch Song The Waverly Gallery

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical Brooks Ashmanskas Reeve Carney Will Chase Damon Daunno Santino Fontana

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical Stephanie J. Block Rebecca Naomi Jones Beth Leavel, The Prom Eva Noblezada, Hadestown Kelli O’Hara, Kiss Me, Kate

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play Bryan Cranston Jeff Daniels Nathan Lane Michael Urie Jeremy Pope

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play Annette Bening Glenda Jackson Elaine May Laurie Metcalf Heidi Schreck

Best Book of a Musical Ain’t Too Proud Beetlejuice Hadestown The Prom Tootsie

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre Be More Chill Beetlejuice Hadestown The Prom Tootsie

Best Direction of a Musical Rachel Chavkin Scott Ellis Daniel Fish Des McAnuff Casey Nicholaw

Best Direction of a Play Rupert Goold Sam Mendes Bartlett Sher Ivo van Hove Oliver Butler

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical Andre De Shields Patrick Page George Salazar Ephraim Sykes Patrick Vaill

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical Amber Gray Leslie Kritzer Sarah Stiles Ali Stroker Bonnie Milligan

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play Bertie Carvel John Clay III Gideon Glick Tom Glynn-Carney Benjamin Walker

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play Celia Keenan Bolger Mercedes Ruehl LaTanya Richardson Jackson Fionnula Flanagan Joan Allen

Best Choreography Camille A. Brown Warren Carlyle Christopher Gattelli David Neumann Casey Nicholaw

Best Orchestrations Michael Chorney and Todd Sickafoose, Hadestown Simon Hale, Tootsie Larry Hochman and John Clancy, The Prom Daniel Kluger, Oklahoma! Daryl Waters, The Cher Show

Best Scenic Design of a Musical Rachel Hauck, Hadestown Scott Pask, The Prom David Korins, Beetlejuice Laura Jellinek, Oklahoma! David Rockwell, Tootsie

Best Scenic Design of a Play Bunny Christie, Ink Rob Howell, The Ferryman Miriam Buether, To Kill a Mockingbird Jan Versweyveld, Network Beowulf Boritt, Bernhardt/Hamlet

Best Costume Design of a Musical Bob Mackie, The Cher Show Michael Krass, Hadestown William Ivey Long, Beetlejuice William Ivey Long, Tootsie Jeff Mahshle, Kiss Me, Kate

Best Costume Design of a Play Toni-Leslie James, Bernhardt/Hamlet Rob Howell, The Ferryman Ann Roth, King Lear Ann Roth, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus Ann Roth, To Kill a Mockingbird

Best Sound Design of a Musical Nevin Steinberg and Jessca Paz, Hadestown Drew Levy, Oklahoma! Peter Hylenski, King Kong Nevin Steinberg, The Cher Show Brian Ronan, Tootsie

Best Sound Design of a Play Fitz Patton, Choir Boy Nick Powell, The Ferryman Eric Sleichim, Network Scott Lehrer, To Kill a Mockingbird John Gromada, All My Sons

Best Lighting Design of a Musical Bradley King, Hadestown Tyler Micoleau, Be More Chill Peter Mumford, King Kong Kenneth Posner and Peter Nigrini, Beetlejuice Scott Zielinski, Oklahoma!

Best Lighting Design of a Play Neil Austin, Ink Peter Mumford, The Ferryman Peter Kaczorowski, Choir Boy Jennifer Tipton, To Kill a Mockingbird Natasha Katz, Burn This

[amateur-theater-critic-blog]

Do You Feel Anger?

Do You Feel Anger is an absurdist dark comedy play that revolves around an empathy therapist attempting to help a workplace, with charming figures like Nice Guy™, guy with the emotional capacity of a teaspoon, and a woman so used to their terrible behavior it’s sad. While beautiful and hilarious, it was disturbing and thought provoking

Do You Feel Anger is powerful and distinctly uncomfortable. The quintessential female experience I would never wish on anyone and yet nearly all have to go through at some point. It felt like a train-wreck from start to finish that I knew I couldn’t look away from or avoid. At some point the jokes only pulled nervous laughter from me. It asks the question “how do we change others without fundamentally changing ourselves at the same time?” And the play doesn’t leave any easy answers.

While the premise is beautiful and the style and idea nearly carry everything the whole way through, the play doesn’t have any plot. It’s just the life of a woman trying to do her job in a sexist environment, with some strange subplot about trying to connect with her mother on the side and yet losing her. So, without a plot it felt like a comedy skit that dragged on for too long. At one point I actually checked my watch for the time because I needed to know if it was close to the end.

The lighting is interesting. There are very abrupt lighting shifts between scenes, turning on all the white lights and then turning them off - nearly no fade, which, first time it happened, burned my eyes a bit. It worked for the vibe of the play, but it still happened, especially helping make the last part of the play, when there is a lot of play with the lighting, feel much more jarring. It’s very crisp, minimal lighting, perfectly suited for what is meant to be a work environment.

Sound is used pretty minimally as well, but when it’s there, it’s gorgeous. My favorite part of the sound design was when a bird was supposed to fly from house right to house left, and while there was no physical bird, you could hear the wings flapping from one side of speakers to the other, which I found gorgeous.

The acting is amazing. Playing Eva is Megan Hill from Eddie and Dave, and she is wonderful. All the other actors, as well, play their role fantastically and are used to their full potential by the director, Margot Bordelon. In the end, I feel like they were limited by the original play script more than anything. If there were a more overarching plot - more than the hints we get from the mother’s phone calls and slips in the character lines, it would be a much stronger production.

This is the kind of play I would see once, but would like to see more of.

Rating: 3.5/5

Tickets Available Through April 20th

https://www.vineyardtheatre.org/do-you-feel-anger/

Trigger Warning: At some point there are strobing lights on the whole stage, as well as a lot of vulgarity.

Cast and Creative

Sofia’s Mom/Janie -- Jeanne Sakata

Sofia -- Tiffany Villarin

Eva -- Megan Hill

Jon -- Greg Keller

Jordan -- Ugo Chukwu

Howie -- Justin Long

Old Man -- Tom Aulino

Writer -- Mara Nelson-Greenberg

Director -- Margot Bordelon

Set Designer -- Laura Jellinek

Costume Designer -- Emilio Soa

Lighting Designer -- Marie Yokoyama

Sound Designer -- Palmer Hefferan

[recentanimenews]

GKIDS Films Announces BELLE English Dub Cast And Releases New Trailer

  GKIDS Films has formally announced the English dub cast for one of the most anticipated theatrical releases of the forthcoming year in famed director Mamoru Hosoda's latest project BELLE. To celebrate the reveal, the distributor and licensor has also released a new trailer featuring the dub, found beow the cast list. 

      Main Cast

Kylie McNeill as Suzu/Belle 

Chace Crawford  as Justin

Manny Jacinto as Shinobu 

Hunter Schafer as Ruka 

      Supporting Cast:

Dragon - Paul Castro Jr.

Gogo Doggo - David Chen

Hiro - Jessica DiCicco

Kamishin - Brandon Engman

Hatanaka - Martha Harms

Kita Jessica - Gee George

Yoshitani - Barbara Goodson

Angel - Bentley Griffin

Jellinek - Andrew Kishino

Nakai - Wendee Lee

Suzu's Father - Ben Lepley

Swan - Noelle McGrath

Suzu's Mother - Julie Nathanson

Fox - Aaron Phillips

Okumoto - Ellyn Stern

Reggsination - Frank Todaro

Kei and Tomo's Father - Kiff VandenHeuvel

Peggie Sue - Cristina Vee Valenzuela 

      Additional Voices

Tom Bromhead

John Bentley

Tiana Camacho

SungWon Cho

Courtney Chu

Larissa Gallagher

Heather Gonzalez

Xanthe Huynh

Anjali Kunapaneni

LilyPichu

Kyle McCarley

Julie Nathanson

Zeno Robinson

Stephanie Sheh

Michael Sinterniklaas

Rachel Slotky

Laura Stahl 

    GKIDS Films describes the film:

From the celebrated Oscar®-nominated director Mamoru Hosoda and Studio Chizu, creator of Mirai, Wolf Children, Summer Wars, and more, comes a fantastical, yet beautiful and contemporary thematic story of one girl’s growth in the age of social media. Suzu is a 17-year-old high school student living in a rural village with her father. For years, she has only been a shadow of herself. One day, she enters “U,” a virtual world of 5 billion members on the Internet. There, she is not Suzu anymore but Belle, a world-famous singer. She soon meets with a mysterious creature. Together, they embark on a journey of adventures, challenges and love, in their quest to become who they truly are.

  By: Humberto Saabedra

[tymuzikaly]

Dnes byly v New Yorku oznámeny nominace  73. ročníku Tony Awards

Podle očekávání se absolutním favoritem v muzikálové kategorii stal muzikál Hadestown s celkem 14(!) nominacemi, v těsném závěsu pak najdeme juke-box muzikál o skupině Temptations Ain’t Too Proud (12) a muzikálovou komedii Tootsie (11). U té si David Yazbek splnil neuvěřitelný bonus, kdy každý z jeho muzikálů získal nominaci na Tony Awads (a loni jich dokonce 5 získal!). Gratulujeme! Hodně nadějí si také dělá záhrobní duchařina, muzikálový Beetlejuice (8). Z revivalové kategorie letos nejspíš žádné velké překvapení nečekejte. Nominace získlaly jen dvě inscenace - Oklahoma! (8) a Kiss Me, Kate! (4).

Z činoherních inscenací se dávají největší šance nejúspěšnější britské hře posledního desetiletí, syrovému dramatu Jeze Butterwortha Ferryman (Převozník) a nové divadelní adaptaci známého románu spisovatelky Harper Leeové To Kill A Mockinbird (Jak zabít ptáčka) v režii vysoce ceněného Bartletta Shera. Černým koněm dramatické sekce se však může stát se 7 nominacemi rovněž hra Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus (Gary: Pokračování Tita Andronika). Nenechte se mýlit, je to komedie Taylora Maca, která se odehrává záhy po skončení historického příběhu Williama Shakespeara. Vězte, že i během bojů o moc na sklonku Římského impéria musí někdo odklízet mrtvoly.

Letošní ceremoniál se koná v ned��li 9. června v newyroském sále Radio City Music Hall. Jedním z tradičně nejočekávanjších jmen, bylo jméno hostitele večera. Tím nebude nikdo jiný, než v současnosti nejznámější britský komediální herec a také moderátor jedné z nejsledovanějších talk-show na světě, James Corden. Na ostře sledovaný výkon se TyMuzikály těší s obzvláštní radostí. 

Zde je plný seznam nominací:

Nejlepší muzikál

Ain’t Too Proud (The Life and Times of the Temptations)

Beetlejuice

Hadestown

The Prom

Tootsie

Nejlepší hra:

Choir Boy (Tarell Alvin McCraney)

The Ferryman (Jez Butterworth)

Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus (Taylor Mac)

Ink (James Graham)

What the Constitution Means to Me (Heidi Schreck)

Nejlepší muzikálový revival:

Kiss Me, Kate!

Oklahoma!

Nejlepší činoherní revival:

All My Sons (Arthur Miller)

The Boys in the Band (Mart Crowley)

Burn This

Torch Song (Harvey Fierstein)

The Waverly Gallery (Kenneth Lonergan)

Nejlepší herecký výkon v hlavní mužské roli (muzikál):

Brooks Ashmanskas (The Prom)

Derrick Baskin (Ain’t Too Proud)

Alex Brightman (Beetlejuice)

Damon Daunno (Oklahoma!)

Santino Fontana (Tootsie)

Nejlepší herecký výkon v hlavní ženské roli (muzikál):

Stephanie J. Block (The Cher Show)

Caitlin Kinnunen (The Prom)

Beth Leavel (The Prom)

Eva Noblezada (Hadestown)

Kelli O’Hara (Kiss Me, Kate!)

Nejlepší herecký výkon v hlavní mužské roli (činohra):

Paddy Considine (The Ferryman)

Bryan Cranston (Network)

Jeff Daniels (To Kill a Mockingbird)

Adam Driver (Burn This)

Jeremy Pope (Choir Boy)

Nejlepší herecký výkon v hlavní ženské roli (činohra):

Annette Bening (All My Sons)

Laura Donnelly (The Ferryman)

Elaine May (The Waverly Gallery)

Janet McTeer (Bernhardt/Hamlet)

Laurie Metcalf (Hillary and Clinton)

Heidi Schreck (What the Constitution Means to Me)

Nejlepší scénář/libreto (muzikál):

Dominique Morisseau (Ain’t Too Proud)

Scott Brown a Anthony King (Beetlejuice)

Anaïs Mitchell (Hadestown)

The Prom, Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin

Robert Horn (Tootsie)

Nejlepší původní hudebně-dramatické dílo:

Joe Iconis (Be More Chill)

Eddie Perfect (Beetlejuice)

Anaïs Mitchell (Hadestown)

Matthew Sklar a Chad Beguelin (The Prom)

Adam Guettel (To Kill a Mockingbird)

David Yazbek (Tootsie)

Nejlepší muzikálová režie: 

Rachel Chavkin (Hadestown)

Scott Ellis (Tootsie)

Daniel Fish (Oklahoma!)

Des McAnuff (Ain’t Too Proud)

Casey Nicholaw (The Prom)

Nejlepší činoherní režie:

Rupert Goold (Ink)

Sam Mendes (The Ferryman)

Bartlett Sher (To Kill a Mockingbird)

Ivo van Hove (Network)

George C. Wolfe (Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus)

Nejlepší herecký výkon ve vedlejší mužské roli (muzikál)

Andre De Shields (Hadestown)

Andy Grotelueschen (Tootsie)

Patrick Page (Hadestown)

Jeremy Pope (Ain’t Too Proud)

Ephraim Sykes (Ain’t Too Proud)

Nejlepší herecký výkon ve vedlejší ženské roli (muzikál)

Lilli Cooper (Tootsie)

Amber Gray (Hadestown)

Sarah Stiles (Tootsie)

Ali Stroker (Oklahoma!)

Mary Testa (Oklahoma!)

Nejlepší herecký výkon ve vedlejší mužské roli (činohra)

Bertie Carvel (Ink)

Robin De Jesús (The Boys in the Band)

Gideon Glick (To Kill a Mockingbird)

Brandon Uranowitz (Burn This)

Benjamin Walker (All My Sons)

Nejlepší herecký výkon ve vedlejší ženské roli (činohra)

Fionnula Flanagan (The Ferryman)

Celia Keenan-Bolger (To Kill a Mockingbird)

Kristine Nielsen (Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus)

Julie White (Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus)

Ruth Wilson (King Lear)

Nejlepší choreografie

Camille A. Brown (Choir Boy)

Warren Carlyle (Kiss Me, Kate!)

Denis Jones (Tootsie)

David Neumann (Hadestown)

Sergio Trujillo (Ain’t Too Proud)

Nejlepší orchestrace

Michael Chorney a Todd Sickafoose (Hadestown)

Larry Hochman (Kiss Me, Kate!)

Daniel Kluger (Oklahoma!)

Simon Hale (Tootsie)

Harold Wheeler (Ain’t Too Proud)

Nejlepší scénický návrh (muzikál)

Robert Brill a Peter Nigrini (Ain’t Too Proud)

Peter England (King Kong)

Rachel Hauck (Hadestown)

Laura Jellinek (Oklahoma!)

David Korins (Beetlejuice)

Nejlepší scénický návrh (činohra)

Miriam Buether  (To Kill a Mockingbird)

Bunny Christie (Ink)

Rob Howell (The Ferryman)

Santo Loquasto (Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus)

Jan Versweyveld (Network)

Nejlepší kostýmní návrh (muzikál)

Michael Krass (Hadestown)

William Ivey Long (Beetlejuice)

William Ivey Long (Tootsie)

Bob Mackie (The Cher Show)

Paul Tazewell (Ain’t Too Proud)

Nejlepší kostýmní návrh (činohra)

Rob Howell (The Ferryman)

Toni-Leslie James (Bernhardt/Hamlet)

Clint Ramos (Torch Song)

Ann Roth (Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus)

Ann Roth (To Kill a Mockingbird)

Nejlepší sound design (muzikál)

Peter Hylenski (Beetlejuice)

Peter Hylenski (King Kong)

Steve Canyon Kennedy (Ain’t Too Proud)

Drew Levy (Oklahoma!)

Nevin Steinberg a Jessica Paz (Hadestown)

Nejlepší sound design (činohra)

Adam Cork (Ink)

Scott Lehrer (To Kill a Mockingbird)

Fitz Patton (Choir Boy)

Nick Powell (The Ferryman)

Eric Sleichim (Network)

Nejlepší light design (muzikál)

Kevin Adams (The Cher Show)

Howell Binkley (Ain’t Too Proud)

Bradley King (Hadestown)

Peter Mumford (King Kong)

Kenneth Posner a Peter Nigrini (Beetlejuice)

Nejlepší light design (činohra)

Neil Austin (Ink)

Jules Fisher a Peggy Eisenhauer (Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus)

Peter Mumford (The Ferryman)

Jennifer Tipton (To Kill a Mockingbird)

Jan Versweyveld a Tal Yarden (Network)

Žebříček inscenací podle počtu nominací:

Hadestown - 14

Ain't Too Proud (The Life and Times of the Temptations) - 12

Tootsie - 11

The Ferryman - 9

To Kill a Mockingbird - 9

Beetlejuice - 8

Oklahoma! - 8

Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus - 7

The Prom - 7

Ink - 6

Network - 5

Choir Boy - 4

Kiss Me, Kate! - 4

Arthur Miller's All My Sons - 3

Burn This - 3

The Cher Show - 3

King Kong - 3

Bernhardt/Hamlet - 2

The Boys in the Band - 2

Torch Song - 2

The Waverly Gallery - 2

What the Constitution Means to Me - 2

Be More Chill - 1

Hillary and Clinton - 1

King Lear - 1

Převzato z playbill.com, Komentář k nominacím (c) Pf

Nominations (c) American Theatre Wing & Broadway League Association 2019

Foto a logotypy: Tony Awards, Spotco

[briefnytw]

(New York Theatre Workshop)

Mary Jane director Anne Kauffman discusses the first conversation she typically has with scenic designers when mounting a piece, specifically new work.

[frontmezzjunkies]

Everybody: Enough Said is Too Much, and Not Enough.

#frontmezzjunkies reviewed: #Everybody @Sigtheatre #SignatureTheatre

Everybody: Enough Said is Too Much, and Not Enough.

By Ross

Hey Everybody, I don’t quite know what to say about Everybody, the strange existential experiment that is going on over at the Signature Theatre. This is definitely one of those productions that anything I tell you, and I truly mean anything, will dampen the original and unique experience one will have sitting in that audience with Ever…

[writemarcus]

By Marcus Scott (THEATRE BLEEK)

Since its journey from workshops and residencies at Clubbed Thumb, Playwrights Horizons Theater School and Great Plains Theater Conference, "The Wolves," the first full-length drama by playwright Sarah DeLappe, has skyrocketed into an off-Broadway blitzkrieg that speaks to the bathos of after-Trump U.S.A.

Returning to the Duke on 42nd Street, after a previous limited run last summer materialized into a surge of in-demand ticket sales and word-of-mouth chatter. A tsar bomba of teen angst, emotional turbulence, and girl power explodes nightly with this coming-of-age drama about a coterie of indoor soccer players, plugged-in and world-weary in a globalized age of automation and perpetual warfare.

In a post alt-right panorama, it may be the most frightening and triggering off-Broadway play currently in production at the moment, capturing the zeitgeist while showcasing an incandescent depiction of the modern adolescent girl in our topsy-turvy world.

Produced by the Playwrights Realm and directed by Lila Neugebauer with all-female cast, "The Wolves" brings to mind the best strong women-centric films or plays that have become classics; while DeLappe may not have created a piece with iconic glib one-liners that theatergoers will quote for eons, the characters are so well established and so three-dimensional, that just when you've think you've had them pegged, they continue to surprise; that's because each one of these girls are lost and still coming to terms with themselves.

Beginning mid-conversation at the top of the show, the gaggle of girls does workout warm-up stretches on a vibrant green field of AstroTurf (designed by Laura Jellinek, who curved the tailpiece of the stage up and out of sight), and we learn that they are not without their own issues.

Rounded out by an impressive ensemble of nine young actresses, each of these nameless characters is working through their own predilections: Too-cool-for-school tomboy Jenna Dioguardi (#13) is the class clown. Sarah Mezzanotte (#2) is a conservative Christian good girl battling an eating disorder. Ribald mean-girl Brenna Coates (#7) is the fallen star whose only close friendship is with Samia Finnerty (#14), her designated sidekick and reluctant right-hand woman. Levelheaded Susannah Perkins (#11) invites boundary-pushing roundtables of wit and intellectual.

Happy-go-Lucky Midori Francis (#8) is the soft-spoken and fragile cockeyed optimist who can fall apart at any moment. New girl Tedra Millan (#46), an eccentric multilingual transplant from overseas, may live with her equally quirky single mother in a yurt, but what is even more alarming is her supernatural talent for indoor soccer.

Team captain Lauren Patten (#25) pontificates motivational proverbs while slowly coming to terms with her secret lesbianism through the growth of a relationship she cultivates off the field. And then there's the reserved and reticent Lizzy Jutila (#00), a talented overachiever but high-strung emotional cannonball of a goalie with her own private demons.

Each one is better than the last. Mia Barron, the sole adult in the show who makes an appearance in the final scene, completes the cast. DeLappe writes these characters with aplomb and illustrating an authentic tale of female camaraderie in its purest form that feels candid like every interaction is life-and-death.

It is also the type of show that will get praise for its feminism, which is slightly dangerous because it can create a negative conversation around the play and its leitmotifs, pigeonholing the narrative as an anomaly as opposed to highlighting its more intrinsic and introspective themes.

Throughout the play, DeLappe explores the perception of security. Not only does the playwright explore the topical conversations about women's rights to their bodies or double standards of the female expression, but she goes as far as to question the welfare the American people.

While much of the action happen as the girls warm up in between games and the implied antagonist is one of their unseen high school soccer-playing adversaries, the real threat against this close-knit team of nine ruthless teenage girl competitors may be the "real world" that they will inherit after they've graduated high school.

The conflict becomes less about their conflicts with one another but rather, the quivering terrain between suburban swing-state America and transcontinental global atrocities that, like it or not, create the perfect illusion of first world comfort, even when middle-of-nowhere U.S.A. is the hotbed of middle-class disenchantment. Spliced throughout the various scenes, the eponymous Wolves converse about Abu Ghraib human rights violations or Cambodian war criminals serving in the Khmer Rouge, and they quickly reprimand one another with factoids if an error is made.

While the play loses steam in its final scene, with the playwright choosing for a more sentimental and saccharine ending, the play is best when it creates really explores a more slice of life approach. With subjects that include evangelical snake-handing rituals, the clothing attire of rival teams, sanitary pads and menstrual cycles, Harry Potter or their alcoholic coach nursing his latest hangover, "The Wolves" is a great satire of the decade of discontent masked as a coming age story.

"The Wolves" ran through December 24 at Duke on 42nd Street Theater, 229 W. 42nd St. in New York. For tickets or information, call 646-223-3010 or visit http://www.dukeon42.org/