Teaching Will (Shakespeare, theatre arts)

REVIEWED BY: Marguerite Zelle

MY RECOMMENDATION: Yea, verily!

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Teaching Will, by Mel Ryane

WEB ADDRESS: http://www.teachingwill.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: As a volunteer, I created The Shakespeare Club, an after-school program for 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. Together we grapple with the Bard, life and each other. These are the tales.

MY REVIEW: I enjoyed this blog a great deal, and I heartily recommend it. If you're in to Shakespeare, in to theatre, or just trying to teach kids how to do anything, this blog will appeal.

The author is a professional writer, and her stories are funny, illuminating, and at times inspirational.

You'll learn about history, you'll learn about theatre, you'll learn about Shakespeare, you'll even learn about kids.

Subscribe!

Sample post:

MIA
What do you want?"

I get a blank, brown-eyed look for an answer.

"Really, I'll give you anything you want....What do you want?"

This can be a startling question coming out of the blue. Especially coming from an adult and you're a fifth-grader.

"Because here's what it looks like you don't want: It looks like you don't want to be in Shakespeare Club anymore. It looks like you don't want to play Oberon, and if that's the case, then you got it. Let's get you off the hook, my friend."

Dominick and I are sitting alone at the back of the auditorium during lunch. I'd located him on the field, crooked my finger,walked away, and he'd followed.

I ushered Dominick into a seat and planted myself across the row. In the distance we could hear squeals and shouts of kids roughhousing, but inside the cavernous hall it was quiet. I didn't say anything. For a while Dominick didn't say anything, then:

"What?" He shrugged his shoulders.

"Right. That's my question. What?"

"I'm sorry."

"For?"

"For skipping Shakespeare Club yesterday."

And that's when I offered him the world. Whatever you want, Dominick.

"It's just that I hit my head—"

"You know what?" I cut him off. "We're not even going there because I know you went to baseball practice."

Hmmm.

And I knew this after hearing from other kids that Dominick had left school, and after searching the grounds for him, and after writing his dad and finding out Dominick had convinced his caretaker to take him home, and after hearing Dominick ended up playing baseball....Well, he had two strikes with me.

"Are you mad at me, Dominick?"

"No."

He said this with a world-weary shake of his head. It was an adult reaction. His face looked so exhausted he could only be sharing the truth.

I knew then whatever was going on with Dominick had nothing to do with me, or playing Oberon, or Shakespeare Club.

"Okay, do you want to be in Shakespeare Club? Do you want to play Oberon?"

"Yes, I do....I do, Ms. Ryane."

"Then no more missing. I don't care if you're throwing up, cut and bleeding. No more missing because you're letting down your team and you're wasting my time. Do not mess with me, Dominick. Do not."

He gave me serious nod.

"I think you'll be great as Oberon, but you have to do the work. You have to show up. I don't want thirty percent of you, or sixty-five percent....I want one hundred and fifty percent of you, every week."

From the time he was a baby, Dominick was moved home to home, house to house, pretend-family to pretend-family over and over again in the foster-care system.

He and his little sister have been adopted and are now in a stable situation, but the family is about to relocate to another city and it looks like Dominick might be having a reaction. He wants to run.

I do too, some days, but we're going to stay put, me and Dominick. We're going to stay in the dream.

RECENT POSTS:
--Jolly Old King Nutbar
--447
--Bottom's Up: Sam
--M.I.A.
--Recess: Ah, the Cuts
--Literally? Literally.

_______________
Reviews published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
_______________________
Check out the following blogs:
Seaborn: Oceanography Blog
Star Trek Report: Space Sciences
Volcano Seven: Treasure and Treasure Hunters
Rush Limbaugh Report

The Playgoer (arts and entertainment, theatre)

REVIEWED BY: Marguerite Zelle

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: The Playgoer, by Garrett Eisler

WEB ADDRESS: http://playgoer.blogspot.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Theater critic Garrett Eisler weighs in on all things dramaturgical, Broadway and beyond. Includes links to theater news stories from all over the web and the world.

MY REVIEW: I love the theatre, and if you do too, this is the blog for you. (Theater = movie theaters, theatre = the stage. That's how I differentiate 'em!)

Truth to tell, I find the stage our most tragic art. An actor - or a whole company - can give the performance of their lives one night...and only a handful of people will see it...and will they be able to remember anything (except the emotion of pleasure) about it ten years later?

I've seen many plays in my life - the Guthrie Theater season of 1985 is a particular favorite... and I'd give almost anything to be able to see those productions again - but of course that's just not possible.

This blog has recently been focusing on theater awards - the Tonys and the Lortels, but there's plenty of theatre info and reviews here, so check it out.

Sample Review

Intiman Updates
Seattle Times critic Misha Berson follows up with the big picture on last week's surprise announcement of Seattle's Intiman Theatre suspending all operations.

Also, Artistic Director Kate Whoriskey (who was in the middle of her first season there) has officially resigned rather than wait out the uncertainty. Indeed, better than waiting around to be laid off after already having your paychecks stopped. Talk about adding insult to injury...

As an earlier commenter suggested, this may all have more to do with the local Seattle scene than the state of our nonprofit companies nationally. Still, I can't think of any other theatre as large (budget-wise) and as prominent (prestige-wise) going under in recent years. Can you?

RECENT POSTS:
--Tony Noms, 2010-2011
--2010-2011 Lortels (Off Broadway)
--Axeman Cometh
--The Archives of the Future
--Regional Awards Roundup: DC
--"Normal Heart:" Update
--Intiman Updates

_______________
Reviews published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
_______________________
Check out the following blogs:
Seaborn: Oceanography Blog
Star Trek Report: Space Sciences
Volcano Seven: Treasure and Treasure Hunters
Rush Limbaugh Report

Theatre Aficianado At Large (arts & entertainment)

REVIEWED BY: Marguerite Zelle

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Theatre Aficinado At Large, by Kevin Daly

WEB ADDRESS: http://www.theatreaficionado.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Just a place where I can rant and rave and be a total lunatic about theatre, film and anything artistic that strikes me as entertaining, interesting or important.

MY REVIEW: Anyone who is a theatre lover will enjoy this blog. It's much more than reviews of plays or musical theatre (though we get those too), it's also a stroll down memory lane to great productions of the past, something ony someone who has been there could write.

Daly knows whereof he speaks, he writes well, informatively and entertainingly, and I highly recommend this blog.

(Sometimes he shares videos of great performances - actors reprising their roles at the Tony awards, for example - which Kindle viewers can't see.)

Sample post

“1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,” A Concept

“The play is presented as a rehearsal and takes place on a bare stage against a neutral backdrop, with perhaps one or two masking legs on either side.

During the play the facade of the White House as it changes through the years appears in the dark behind the drop as if suspended in mid-air.

Whenever possible, the actors enter from and exit to rehearsal benches on either side of the stage.

The time of the rehearsal is the present.

The time of the play is 1792-1902.”

This is an excerpt from the first page of a 1975 draft of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, in which librettist and lyricist Alan Jay Lerner establishes his well-intentioned conceit for the show. It all sounds well and good but we know how it all turned out – an unfortunate footnote in Broadway history. One hundred years of the White House and race relations, with a passing resemblance to Upstairs/Downstairs presented as a musical comedy with music by Leonard Bernstein. Why am I fascinated? Because there is so much that is good, but no basic structure or clear understanding of the underlying concept. Lerner wanted to use the conceit of the musical play being a show constantly in rehearsal, but there was so much history going on that the concept muddied the presidential pageantry with what seemed like two or three musicals happening at the same time. Lerner wanted the actors to step out and comment on the nation’s racial situation during and between scenes, but it was a promising idea left unfulfilled.

The draft contains many lines and situations which we will be a part of the final musical product (either in Philadelphia or New York). The through line for the family of servants is in place, as well as most of the presidents. Interestingly enough, there was a lot more material for the First Lady in the first version, but the “Duet for One” was not yet conceived. That moment was part of a transition song for the President to sing in the second act while talking to his servant Lud. His lyrics about the Hayes election were incorporated into the future, but glossed over much of the overall presidential history.

Already there is trouble. How do you decide which presidents are the most important, especially in terms of racial America? And of course, what about the other troubles of the first hundred years of the White House? Washington appears at the top, skips Adams (leaving that scene for Abigail) into Jefferson without much in the way of lucid transition. It’s confusing just to read one scene go into the next, because the stage ideas are half-baked, musical numbers left unfulfilled – though there are some which were performed without any changes from this draft. Going into the presidents, their relationship with the wives and then also the household servants, there is little room for the theatrical metaphors, which get lost along the way and brought up in arbitrary moments. It was in this part of the gestation that a call should have been made regarding whether or not the concept was even necessary. There are passing references to Mrs. Adams, who is easily the most fleshed out of the Presidents or First Ladies, becoming a ghost (!) but again, the ideas aren’t fleshed out and lack specificity. For what it’s worth though, the dialogue in this draft is better than most of the horrid lines heard in the final Broadway version. Ultimately it becomes a Presidential revue masquerading as a serious musical play.

But for me it comes back to that score, with its brilliant use of American musical idioms and Leonard Bernstein’s variations on patriotic numbers to create his score (including citations from “Hail to the Chief,” “Yankee Doodle” and “To Anacreon in Heaven,” which was adapted for our National Anthem. The overture, which played on Broadway, is – I think – worthy of the concert stage. The result is an eclectic musical style, with marches, waltzes, cakewalk, calypso and even a minstrel show reflecting on or commenting on the relations between Black and White America. (The minstrel show was met with a chilling reception resulting in booing and walkouts, which is also why I’m curious to see The Scottsboro Boys). The enterprise is done in by the lofty ambitions of Lerner’s script, which was eviscerated by the time the show opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre.

I do wish that one of these days, someone might (to steal from Hugh Wheeler) find a coherent existence after so many years of muddle. The show failed, the score was swept under a rug without a cast album. But there are folks who wouldn’t let it be forgotten. Tapes of the show from its various incarnations exist in certain circles, and provide interesting insight into the show that just wasn’t there.

In 1997, A White House Cantata, a concert showcasing highlights from the score, was the final result of several attempts at revision. However, as I’ve stated before, I don’t feel that classical piece should be the final word. I do wonder if the Bernstein and Lerner estates would be interested in ever resuscitating the original piece for a complete studio album – with Broadway actors. In spite of the critical evisceration of ’76, what remains is the score and that is, in this case, the thing. A CD is available of A White House Cantata featuring Thomas Hampson and June Anderson. Conducted without feeling by Kent Nagano, the item is really for serious collectors only. It’s drained of anything close to color and life, mired in classical pretensions (particularly whenever Anderson tries to be funny).

In related news, some numbers from the score have been published for the very first time. “Take Care of This House” was, for many years, the only number available. The vocal selections which were printed by the Music of the Times Publishing Corp. were available for a short period of time and while incredibly rare, copies are available for perusal in the NYPL stacks. However, the mammoth soprano showcase, “Duet for One” was not included. It is now available for all those daring sopranos out there, published this summer as part of the new three book collection “Bernstein Theatre Songs” (in the high voice selections). If “Glitter and Be Gay” is florid coloratura, “Duet for One” calls for more incisive acting as the soprano involved must create two characters, alternating mezzo and soprano, oh and cap it off with a D above high C. It is one of the most satisfying numbers I have ever seen in performance.

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue will never be a great musical, and is likely to never be revived, etc., but it is a score of considerable merit and one which I think all serious musical theatre fans should know.

RECENT POSTS:
--“1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,” A Concept
--Tony’s Plate
--Jerry Orbach’s Broadway
--Bernadette Peters in “A Little Night Music”
--Reconsidering “Coco”

_______________________
Check out the following blogs:
Seaborn: Oceanography Blog
Star Trek Report: Space Sciences
Topical Murder and Dated Death

Broadway & Me (Arts & entertainment)

REVIEWED BY: Marguerite Zelle

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Broadway & Me, by Jan

WEB ADDRESS: http://www.broadwayandme.blogspot.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: I'm a theater lover. I am happiest when I am sitting in a theater. Or when I’m talking about theater. Or reading about theater. Or now blogging about it. If you’re checking this out, you're probably a theater lover too and I hope you’ll keep me company as I blog my way through this Broadway season.

MY REVIEW: The author posts at least twice a week - except this summer when she's averaging once a week.

I love this blog. I live several hours away from Broadway, and would love to be able to go see a Broadway show once a week...or even once a month... but the costs are just too prohibitive. Second best thing is to read this blog. If you've got the wherewithal to go see plays on Broadway, you'll want to read this blog.

Here's the author's bio: Jan, a lifelong theater lover, is the former Arts editor for TIME Magazine. She was also a contributing editor for the still-much-missed TheaterWeek magazine. She currently teaches arts reporting at the City University of New York’s Graduate School of Journalism and, of course, is married to the longtime pit musician K. The FTC also requires you to know that she is a member of the Advisory Committee of the American Theatre Wing, the Outer Critics Circle and the Independent Theater Bloggers Association. This means that, like professional critics, most of her theater tickets are comped but she promises that her comments in the reviews you read here are in no way compromised.

Highly recommended.

Sample post:

"Falling For Eve" Falls Short of Paradise

Fair warning: the remarks you’re about to read are going to sound sexist. So I apologize in advance. But last week I caught up with Falling for Eve, The York Theatre Company’s new musical retelling of the Adam and Eve story that is ending a three-week run at the Theatre at St. Peter’s on Aug. 8. A few minutes into the show, God (confusingly played in alternate scenes by male and female actors) creates Adam. And that's when Jose Llana appears, his back to the audience, but totally naked. “Yep,” I thought as he turned around and I ogled his perfect pecs, six-pack abs and come-hither thighs. “When God created man, this is definitely what he had in mind.”

And now that I’ve gone this far, let me be an equal opportunity offender: Krystal Joy Brown, who played Eve (she’s being replaced this week by Stephanie Umoh), is no slouch in the great body department either. On the way home, instead of humming the music, I tried to imagine what the casting sessions must have been like.

It’s not that the songs by Bret Simmons and David Howard are bad. I got a kick out of their list song "Good Things Are A-Comin,” which manages to squeeze the pop cultural history of the world from the Creation to the Obama Administration into three minutes. And some of their pop-flavored ballads are nice too. In fact, the entire show, as directed by Larry Raben, is sweet—in a freshman-class musical kind of way.

All six cast members (in addition to the original First Couple and the dual deities, two angels provide the comic relief) are enthusiastic, ethnically diverse in a way that you seldom see in a show that doesn’t center around race and several of them, particularly Brown, have great voices. Beowulf Boritt’s set is intentionally and amusingly tacky. And I’ve nothing but praise for Bobby Pearce’s costumes, even though that’s solely because he keeps Llana in a loincloth.

But Falling for Eve’s calling card is that its book is by Joe DiPietro who just won two fistfuls of Tonys for Memphis. This new book, based on a play written by the show’s lyricist, does come up with some original twists on how Paradise got lost. For instance—and there are spoilers at the end of this sentence—the snake is M.I.A. and Eve is a girl-power gal who can make her own decisions and pick her own fruit, while Adam is more of a slacker dude.

Still, the bottom line is that DiPietro once again has something to say about love, self-determination and the price one has to be willing to pay for them. But this time out he’s so eager to please that he ends up condescending to the audience with weak jokes that flaunt their anachronisms.


Falling for Eve is essentially a situation comedy and too little of the humor comes from the situation itself. The show dragged more often than it should have in 90 intermissionless minutes. Although I didn't so much mind since it gave me more time to gaze at Llana, whose heavenly physique is as close to paradise as this show gets.

RECENT POSTS:
--Still on Vacation Schedule... (Aug 7, 2010)
--"Falling For Eve" Falls Short of Paradise (Aug 4, 2010)
--So You Think You Can Dance Stumbles (July 31, 2010)
--Easing into a Vacation Schedule (July 28, 2010)
--The Irish..and How They Got That Way" is a Fitting Epitaph for the Late Frank McCourt (July 24, 2010)

_______________________
Check out the following blogs:
Seaborn: Oceanography Blog
Star Trek Report: Space Sciences
Topical Murder and Dated Death

London Theatre Blog (Theatre)

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: Yes

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: London Theatre Blog, by Andrew Eglinton

WEB ADDRESS: http://www.londontheatreblog.co.uk/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: London Theatre Blog provides high quality, up-to-date content on everything related to the London theatre scene. From show reviews and in-depth articles to interviews with practitioners and behind the scenes videos, this is the UK's premier site for theatre.

MY REVIEW: I love London theatre. This is a must read for anyone who likes theatre, or anyone travelling to London in the near future who wants to catch a play or two.

Check it out.

Sample post:

Journeys of Love
A feast for all the senses, Journeys of Love could prove to be Motiroti’s most outstanding show to date.
Motiroti is a unique British theatre company whose dazzling site-specific, multi-media productions are the stuff of legend. Their latest production, recently performed at Sadler’s Wells’ Lillian Baylis Studio, is an intimate affair which charts the personal journey of company artistic director, Ali Zaidi. Journeys of Love unfolds in a room filled with tables, a scene set for an evening meal.

Three actors walk on stage and take turns describing, and at key moments enacting, scenes from Ali Zaidi’s action-packed life. Behind the actors are three large video screens onto which images are projected throughout the evening. Images which at times comment on what has just been said or at others help to illustrate an important point. Such is the case of the beautiful stills taken from Zaidi’s father's films.

As a renowned director in India’s flourishing film industry, Zaidi’s father encouraged his son’s early love of cinema by getting him to appear in many of his films. This idyllic childhood was shattered though when Zaidi’s father took the family on a mysterious picnic – a picnic which only ended once the family had arrived in Pakistan. This was perhaps a journey that his father felt compelled to make as a Muslim living in India.

The play then jumps forward to show a teenage Zaidi, a boy constantly testing the limits of his family’s patience. Zaidi playfully describes his younger self as “the one with horns”, an expression used to describe a child who could be seen as presenting a challenge to his parents. The biggest challenge though, comes after emigrating to England and returning home with his male lover. One of the most moving moments in the piece comes when the young adult Ali addesses his uncomprehending father. The father is played by Zaidi himself and is shown only as an image projected on the wall. What makes this conversation so moving is that it not only highlights his father’s inability to completely understand his son but also his desire to continue to try to find a way through this seemingly impossible impasse. Throughout the evening delicious Indian delicacies are served, created from Zaidi’s own recipes.

The piece concludes with an account of a recent incident which took place in India when Zaidi returned for a brief visit. A taxi driver, unaware that Zaidi is Muslim, cheerfully recounts attacking Muslims in a recent upsurge of secrtarian violence. Once Zaidi reveals to the driver his religious persuasion, the man is stunned. When they arrive at his destination the driver refuses to take Zaidi’s tip, but instead gets out of the taxi and to Zaidi’s surprise embraces him. In many ways this single act ecapsulates the central theme of the play: the most important journey any of us can make is the the journey to love those around us.

A feast for all the senses, Journeys of Love could prove to be the company’s most outstanding show to date.

RECENT POSTS:
--Green and Pleasant Neverland
--Journeys of Love
--Borges and I
--The Extraordinary Cabaret of Dorian Gray
--Jack Pratchard

___________________
Ms. Cairo writes three blogs of her own:
Topical Murder and Dated Death
Winged Victory: Women in Aviation
Volcano Seven: Treasure and Treasure Hunters

The Secrets of Theatrical Space (theater)

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: Yes

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Don't bother!, Christopher Ryan Renni-Calliope

WEB ADDRESS: http://www.thesecretoftheatricalspace.dramaticimagination.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: An Acting Journal from New York City. Both an online "how to" acting book and resource for how to survive and thrive as a beginning actor in the city of a thousand lights and a thousand stories. It is my hope and goal that this blog will be well-written, up-to-date, informative, useful, and eye-opening in terms of how to "Act" both on the boards and on the streets of New York City.

MY REVIEW: I subscribed to this blog, to receive 4 posts, thelast one on Feb 11, 2010. But when I tracked down the actual URL, it's been posted in practically every day. I can only assume, therefore, that whatever feed the author chose to go to Kindle, it was the wrong feed.

But this is a great blog for the aspiring actor, or even the visitor to New York, and I highly recommend checking it out online.

RECENT POSTS: (from website)
--TV | Film | Theater Links for 05/03/2010
--How to Find the Perfect Monologue For Your Type
--Watch Stoke & Trans­for­ma­tion | Jill Bolte Tay­lor Part 1 of 12
--Watch Stoke & Trans­for­ma­tion | Jill Bolte Tay­lor Part 2 of 12
--Watch Stoke & Trans­for­ma­tion | Jill Bolte Tay­lor Part 3 of 12
--Watch Stoke & Trans­for­ma­tion | Jill Bolte Tay­lor Part 4 of 12
--Watch Stoke & Trans­for­ma­tion | Jill Bolte Tay­lor Part 5 of 12
--Watch Stoke & Trans­for­ma­tion | Jill Bolte Tay­lor Part 6 of 12
--Watch Stoke & Trans­for­ma­tion | Jill Bolte Tay­lor Part 7 of 12
--Watch Stoke & Trans­for­ma­tion | Jill Bolte Tay­lor Part 8 of 12
--Watch Stoke & Trans­for­ma­tion | Jill Bolte Tay­lor Part 9 of 12
--Watch Stoke & Trans­for­ma­tion | Jill Bolte Tay­lor Part 10 of 12
--Watch Stoke & Trans­for­ma­tion | Jill Bolte Tay­lor Part 11 of 12
--“One on One” Audition: 3rd Time’s the Charm
--Success at the Actor's Alliance

___________________
Ms. Cairo writes three blogs of her own:
Topical Murder and Dated Death
Winged Victory: Women in Aviation
Volcano Seven: Treasure and Treasure Hunters

An American Actress in London (Arts and Entertainment)

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: Visit on the web only

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: An American Actress in London, Kosha Engler

WEB ADDRESS: http://www.yankeeinlondon.net/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Written by American expat Kosha Engler, an actress and Anglophile who married an Englishman and moved to London in 2005. Having worked in film, television, theatre, radio and commercials in the US and the UK, she offers insight into life as an actor abroad.

MY REVIEW: I'd love to give this blog a thumbs up review, unfortunately she hasn't posted since January 17, 2010, when she got a role:

Just got the call on Friday - from February to June 2010 I'll be on a No 1 UK Tour of When Harry Met Sally aka 'I'll have what she's having.'

I'll be playing Marie - the Carrie Fisher role in the film - and understudying Sally. I'll be going on as Sally at least once on Friday 14th May at the Manchester Opera House.

So perhaps she'll start posting in the blog again in June! However, she does seem to update her Twitter account on a regular basis:

Played WHMS to 800 people tonight at Sunderland Empire Theatre. Amazing. 2 days ago
Tonight - show then Ghost Tour with cast. I hope it's scary. 6 days ago

I wish she'd talk about doing the show on a day-to-day basis, the interactions between the actors - are they remembering their lines, forgetting them, are the audiences "getting" the same jokes in the different theaters, etc, but I guess when you're acting in a play, probably twice a day except for Mondays, you don't have a lot of energy left over for writing.

Neverless, the archives are at her website - she's been blogging since 2006, so theater buffs, and aspiring actors, should check it out.

RECENT ARTICLES:
--When Harry Met Sally (January 17, 2010)
--Keeping track of auditions & contacts (December 28, 2009)
--Leave to Enter - TV Show (December 02, 2009)
--Accent Coaching for Actors (November 12, 2009)
___________________
Ms Cairo writes two blogs of her own:
You Fly Girl
Volcano Seven