Theatre

[ebk]

Just got tickets to see Hamilton!!!

 

In August.

 

But still

[Strider]

Just got tickets to see Hamilton!!!

 

In August.

 

But still

Brad Hamilton? Awesome...totally awesome! All right Hamilton!

 

[Patrycja]

^^ Cool! Have fun, ebk!

^ Nice new avatar, Strider. Almost perfect 

Seems like I picked a good production to skip. Al, oh Al, I love you, and hope this works out somehow ("I don't know, it's a mystery"), but it's not looking good. The NY Post's snarky theatre critic doesn't mince words, does he?

Al Pacino needs teleprompters for lines in terrible new Broadway play

By Michael Riedel October 29, 2015 | 7:17pm             

Photo: AP

True story: Two women walked out of a matinee of David Mamet’s “China Doll” at intermission. Said one to the other, in a strong Long Island accent: “Michael Riedel is going to have a f - - king field day with this one!”

Let me assure my public in Patchogue: “China Doll” is indeed, in keeping with the Mamet idiom, a f - - king disaster. And nobody knows that better than its star, Al Pacino.

Friends of the actor say they’ve never seen him so despondent. He sits in his dressing room after the show “totally lost,” one says. And sources say he’s getting no help from Mamet, who saw two dress rehearsals and the first preview and then vamoosed to California.

The Schoenfeld Theatre’s marquee for David Mamet’s “China Doll.”

Photo: Getty Images

“Al’s worked with David enough to know that you can’t change a word of his script,” a source says. “But David’s not there to do it.”

Apparently, director Pam MacKinnon isn’t able to help. When she tried giving Pacino a note, sources say he snarled: “I’m not your f - - king puppet, Pam!” Since then, she’s been spotted nervously pacing at the back of the theater.

“She can’t handle big stars,” says a backstage source who’s worked with MacKinnon before. “She folded when Glenn Close snapped at her in ‘A Delicate Balance.’ ”

I tried to reach producer Jeffrey Richards, but an assistant told me he was tied up in a rehearsal for “Fiddler on the Roof.”

I e-mailed MacKinnon for a comment but, as of press time, she’d yet to respond.

Pacino must shoulder some of the blame for what’s unfolding at the Schoenfeld, where the show opens on Nov. 19. Sources say he’s struggling with his lines, and several teleprompters are embedded in the set. Two are behind columns on either side of the stage; a third is behind a couch. Pacino also spends a lot of time starring at a laptop computer “reading his lines,” a source says.

The blocking is, to put it politely, bizarre. Sources say Pacino seldom looks at his co-star, Christopher Denham, because he’s too busy looking for his lines. Some of them, they say, are fed through the Bluetooth headset worn by Pacino’s character, a billionaire who’s just bought an airplane.

The other day, in an apparent departure from the script, Pacino said, “There’s static in this thing — I can’t hear.” He gave it to Denham, who walked offstage and returned with a new earpiece.

Preview audiences are having none of it. The exodus at intermission is practically a stampede, and sources say some have angrily demanded refunds.

Those who make it through the second act are treated to an ending involving a model plane Pacino uses to bash in someone’s head. The “metal” plane is made of cardboard, which becomes clear when it crumples like a coffee cup from a Greek diner. The audience roars with laughter.

Poor Denham has little to do but sit around and listen. Maybe they should play “The Godfather: Part II” on one of those teleprompters to remind him what a great actor Pacino once was.

http://nypost.com/2015/10/29/al-pacino-totally-lost-over-his-terrible-new-broadway-play/

 

What an asshole way to end the article. Like it's Pacino's fault that the play is bad. The lines issue was something that dogged the production of "Glengarry Glen Ross" but it worked out. There are still a couple of weeks until opening night. Riedel should consider himself lucky to get to watch so many greats, including Pacino, on stage work through the dark to the magic time and again. He's still putting himself out there, walking the tightrope without a safety net. Easy to be on the ground, a spectator, and saying, 'Oh look, you're quivering, you may not make it this time" even though he's got a career because others walk the line. Fucking douchebag.

 

 

An update: Mamet has deigned to fly back to NY 

Pacino’s not alone: Willis needs an earpiece to remember his lines too

Theatergoers racing through Shubert Alley to make curtain time, beware! If you’re not careful, you might trip over all those wires piping lines to actors with memory lapses.

As I reported last week, Al Pacino, star of David Mamet’s “Moose Murders” — I mean “China Doll”— is being fed dialogue through his Bluetooth earpiece, with cables running to the seven — yes, seven! — teleprompters on the set.

 

As for “China Doll,” I hear Mamet, who disappeared after the first preview, has returned to the Schoenfeld. But given the number of teleprompters on the set, maybe Pacino would be better served by a cable repairman than a playwright. 

http://nypost.com/2015/11/05/pacinos-not-alone-willis-needs-an-earpiece-to-remember-his-lines-too/

The article above discusses actors increasingly using ear pieces in theatre productions. I didn't realize this was so widespread and am not really sure how I feel about it. If actors are quite elderly, maybe ok, maybe not, but otherwise it just seems like the equivalent of lip-synching, doesn't it? 

[Patrycja]

Next year marks the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death (an eerily dramatic full circle since it fell on April 23 which is also the accepted day of his birth) and there some projects in the works to mark the occasion. 

First, please see this link http://www.shakespearelives.org/ and check out every tab within in. Do it now. It may change your life or the life of someone you love  (they really ought to change that damn pink background; it'll just incite violence. Dreadfully aggressive colour).

 

William Shakespeare: Anniversary project set for global stage

By Sean CoughlanEducation correspondent

29 October 2015

Shakespeare Lives will reach a global audience: Michelle O'Neill in Macbeth at the Guthrie Theater in the US.  (Photo: Michal Daniel)

The 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare next year will be marked by a major global cultural and educational project in 140 countries.

Culture Secretary John Whittingdale said the playwright was "one of our greatest literary exports".

The initiative will include working with young people without access to school in developing countries.

The British Council's Sir Ciaran Devane said the project would reflect Shakespeare's "global impact".

Speaking in the Houses of Parliament at the launch of Shakespeare Lives, Mr Whittingdale emphasised the playwright's cultural significance and international influence.

Globe to global

"Shakespeare is a major driver of tourism and also an important player in our export market. And the creative industries which he towers over are a huge part of our economy," said Mr Whittingdale.

"It is very hard to overstate the scale and scope of his reach."

"Full of sound and fury" - Sakha theatre production of Macbeth in Moscow (Photo: Sergey Petrov)

Partners in the 400th anniversary project include the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare's Globe and the BBC.

There will be performances, publications, films, broadcasts, online events and festivals.

Schools in the UK and around the world will be given resources and video clips, exploring themes such as "global citizenship".

'Soft power'

But there will also be an alliance with Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) to use the Shakespeare events to reach those young people who are excluded from education.

Despite a millennium pledge for universal primary education, there are about 58 million children who have no access to school - mostly in sub-Saharan Africa.

There are an estimated 250 million young people around the world who are unable to read or write.

Shakespeare was buried in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1616

"When millions of children cannot read, they become cut off from learning those lessons that literature can offer," said Philip Goodwin, VSO chief executive.

The exercise in cultural "soft power" will include events in the United States, Bangladesh, Malaysia, New Zealand, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates.

Sir Ciaran, British Council chief executive, said the playwright was "one of the most enduring examples of cultural impact and relations".

He said the "genius" of Shakespeare's language had given "people from all walks of life a platform for self-expression".

http://www.bbc.com/news/education-34667189

 

And look, lucky people of London, what'll be happening in your back yard. My heart is filled with joy that it's happening and pain that I can't be there to see it. I got a tour of the Globe before it opened officially way back when. They were putting on the finishing touches, but missed a spot on the bench I sat on. Splinter. Incredible feeling being in that space, sort of enclosed and enveloped yet open and communal. I will once day see a play in this theatre. Anyway, here's what they'll be up to:

 

A film for each play to mark 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death

Shakespeare’s Globe project to show 37 new 10-minute films on 37 screens laid out along Thames path between Westminster and London Bridge

Director Dominic Dromgoole, who is leaving Shakepeare’s Globe in April, says the 400th anniversary celebrations will be his ‘last great adventure’. Photograph: Eamonn McCabe for the Guardian

Shakespeare’s Globe theatre is to mark the 400th anniversary of the bard’s death by turning London’s South Bank into a huge pop-up cinema showing 37 new films – one for each of Shakespeare’s plays.

Some 2.5 miles (4km) of the Thames path between Westminster Bridge and London Bridge will be given over to 37 screens placed in order of when the play was written.

Although each film will only run for 10 minutes – repeated on a loop throughout 23 and 24 April – viewing the entire collection would take over six hours, not counting coffee breaks and walking from one screen to the next.

 

The new scenes will be filmed on location: Hamlet will be shot in Elsinore (Helsingør) in Denmark, Cleopatra in front of the Pyramids in Egypt, and Romeo and Juliet in Verona in Italy – though Shakespeare almost certainly never set foot in any of these countries, and may never have left England. The films will also feature archive material, animation, and shots from Stratford-upon-Avon, where Shakespeare was born in 1564 and died in 1616.

 

The outgoing director of Shakespeare’s Globe, Dominic Dromgoole, said the events planned for the St George’s Day weekend which traditionally marks both Shakespeare’s birth and death – as “the last great adventure of my time here at the Globe”.

 

The 37 films have not yet been cast, but Dromgoole is already eyeing potential locations, including Hampton Court Palace. He said the project was looking for “actors with great Shakespeare chops – fortunately we’re not short of them in England”.

 

The cast and crew of the ‘Globe to Globe’ touring production of Hamlet prepare for a show in the Zataari refugee camp on the Jordan-Syria border. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

 

Dromgoole conceded “some spurious connection” between Shakespeare and Stratford-upon-Avon, but insisted that London made him a playwright and was threaded through his life and work.

 

There may be problems, however, with a few of the potential filming sites. The forests of Arden and Windsor will prove no trouble, and locations for the Two Gentlemen of Verona and The Merchant of Venice are self-evident; but scholars still argue whether there ever was a “sea coast of Bohemia” – part of modern Czechoslovakia, which may have had a sliver of coastline centuries before Shakespeare’s day – where part of The Winter’s Tale is set.

 

Dromgoole said several actors in the frame for parts are already strongly arguing for sun-drenched Barbados to stand in for the island in The Tempest.

 

He described the London’s South Bank, the setting for the 400th anniversary project, as one of the greatest cultural walkways in the world,running not just past the Globe’s doorstep, but that of of a string of venues, including the Royal Festival Hall, the BFI, the National Theatre and Tate Modern.

 

Back in the Globe theatre itself, the record-breaking production of Hamlet will be returning from its completist world tour for four performances over the St George’s Day weekend. Hamlet still plans to visit every country in the world, although North Korea is still refusing to let the production in, and the company’s tour of some African countries was postponed to next spring due to the Ebola outbreak. 

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/nov/19/a-film-for-each-play-to-mark-400th-anniversary-of-shakespeares-death

 

 

[Strider]

^^ Cool! Have fun, ebk!

^ Nice new avatar, Strider. Almost perfect 

Seems like I picked a good production to skip. Al, oh Al, I love you, and hope this works out somehow ("I don't know, it's a mystery"), but it's not looking good. The NY Post's snarky theatre critic doesn't mince words, does he?

Al Pacino needs teleprompters for lines in terrible new Broadway play

By Michael Riedel October 29, 2015 | 7:17pm             

Photo: AP

True story: Two women walked out of a matinee of David Mamet’s “China Doll” at intermission. Said one to the other, in a strong Long Island accent: “Michael Riedel is going to have a f - - king field day with this one!”

Let me assure my public in Patchogue: “China Doll” is indeed, in keeping with the Mamet idiom, a f - - king disaster. And nobody knows that better than its star, Al Pacino.

Friends of the actor say they’ve never seen him so despondent. He sits in his dressing room after the show “totally lost,” one says. And sources say he’s getting no help from Mamet, who saw two dress rehearsals and the first preview and then vamoosed to California.

The Schoenfeld Theatre’s marquee for David Mamet’s “China Doll.”

Photo: Getty Images

“Al’s worked with David enough to know that you can’t change a word of his script,” a source says. “But David’s not there to do it.”

Apparently, director Pam MacKinnon isn’t able to help. When she tried giving Pacino a note, sources say he snarled: “I’m not your f - - king puppet, Pam!” Since then, she’s been spotted nervously pacing at the back of the theater.

“She can’t handle big stars,” says a backstage source who’s worked with MacKinnon before. “She folded when Glenn Close snapped at her in ‘A Delicate Balance.’ ”

I tried to reach producer Jeffrey Richards, but an assistant told me he was tied up in a rehearsal for “Fiddler on the Roof.”

I e-mailed MacKinnon for a comment but, as of press time, she’d yet to respond.

Pacino must shoulder some of the blame for what’s unfolding at the Schoenfeld, where the show opens on Nov. 19. Sources say he’s struggling with his lines, and several teleprompters are embedded in the set. Two are behind columns on either side of the stage; a third is behind a couch. Pacino also spends a lot of time starring at a laptop computer “reading his lines,” a source says.

The blocking is, to put it politely, bizarre. Sources say Pacino seldom looks at his co-star, Christopher Denham, because he’s too busy looking for his lines. Some of them, they say, are fed through the Bluetooth headset worn by Pacino’s character, a billionaire who’s just bought an airplane.

The other day, in an apparent departure from the script, Pacino said, “There’s static in this thing — I can’t hear.” He gave it to Denham, who walked offstage and returned with a new earpiece.

Preview audiences are having none of it. The exodus at intermission is practically a stampede, and sources say some have angrily demanded refunds.

Those who make it through the second act are treated to an ending involving a model plane Pacino uses to bash in someone’s head. The “metal” plane is made of cardboard, which becomes clear when it crumples like a coffee cup from a Greek diner. The audience roars with laughter.

Poor Denham has little to do but sit around and listen. Maybe they should play “The Godfather: Part II” on one of those teleprompters to remind him what a great actor Pacino once was.

http://nypost.com/2015/10/29/al-pacino-totally-lost-over-his-terrible-new-broadway-play/

 

What an asshole way to end the article. Like it's Pacino's fault that the play is bad. The lines issue was something that dogged the production of "Glengarry Glen Ross" but it worked out. There are still a couple of weeks until opening night. Riedel should consider himself lucky to get to watch so many greats, including Pacino, on stage work through the dark to the magic time and again. He's still putting himself out there, walking the tightrope without a safety net. Easy to be on the ground, a spectator, and saying, 'Oh look, you're quivering, you may not make it this time" even though he's got a career because others walk the line. Fucking douchebag.

 

 

An update: Mamet has deigned to fly back to NY 

Pacino’s not alone: Willis needs an earpiece to remember his lines too

 

http://nypost.com/2015/11/05/pacinos-not-alone-willis-needs-an-earpiece-to-remember-his-lines-too/

The article above discusses actors increasingly using ear pieces in theatre productions. I didn't realize this was so widespread and am not really sure how I feel about it. If actors are quite elderly, maybe ok, maybe not, but otherwise it just seems like the equivalent of lip-synching, doesn't it? 

I am not a regular reader of the NY Post, so I don't catch Michael Riedel's theatre reviews. Maybe he is a douchebag. I understand your point about critics throwing stones and all, but on the other hand, if people are storming out and demanding refunds, it is the critic's duty to report that news. With theatre being so expensive, I would want to know if actors knew their lines or were being fed lines through techno-gadgets before putting down money for tickets.

I am not really a Mamet fan...he is hit-and-miss a lot of the time. This has the smell of a big miss. I also have a policy of avoiding plays where the characters spend a lot of time looking at a laptop or wear bluetooth thingamajigs.

Hopefully, this is just a temporary setback for Al Pacino. I know he is getting up there in age, but the last time I saw him in person he was in full control of his faculties and riveting. So, I am sure he will bounce back.

[Patrycja]

I am not a regular reader of the NY Post, so I don't catch Michael Riedel's theatre reviews. Maybe he is a douchebag. I understand your point about critics throwing stones and all, but on the other hand, if people are storming out and demanding refunds, it is the critic's duty to report that news. With theatre being so expensive, I would want to know if actors knew their lines or were being fed lines through techno-gadgets before putting down money for tickets.

I am not really a Mamet fan...he is hit-and-miss a lot of the time. This has the smell of a big miss. I also have a policy of avoiding plays where the characters spend a lot of time looking at a laptop or wear bluetooth thingamajigs.

Hopefully, this is just a temporary setback for Al Pacino. I know he is getting up there in age, but the last time I saw him in person he was in full control of his faculties and riveting. So, I am sure he will bounce back.

Essentially I agree with everything you're saying, Strider, and even admit to being defensive because I love Pacino, so the emotion in my comments are coloured with that, but what I most objected to and what caused the 'D-bag' name calling was that he said Pacino hadn't had a good performance since Godfather II. I mean, like the guy or not, like the movie or play or not, that is simply not a factual statement, and a lazy and dismissive one for a critic to make.

So what followed was the anger for not only trapping this production in a low point (again, Glengarry Glen Ross was also dogged with bad previews, and they even moved opening night up a month - imagine my shock as I'd already made travel arrangements. Truth be told, it wasn't the sum of its parts by the time I saw it, but better than the doom and gloom previews said) but also for reducing Pacino to some has been, all the while wrapping it in a smug, catty, condescending tone.

I'd like to know if a production is good or one to stay away from, too (though with so many pay-what-you-can on Sundays options in TO, I love a surprise even more), but there's this 'bring out the knives' element here that is distasteful, particularly since it's one-sided. The play and critic is an integral relationship, but you don't shit where you eat. You can be honest - and should, which he wasn't! - without writing it the way he did. Then again, it's the NY Post, so this is more words wasted than ought to have been already. 

The bluetooth thing seems to be more prominent these days, though this is the first I've heard of it. Apparently many productions use this nowadays as a line feed fallback. Not crazy about it either...

[Patrycja]

Any Tom Stoppard fans? He's doing a livestream conversation on Monday, December 14, 2015 (times listed below) about his new play "The Hard Problem". One of the most wickedly smart people around. Check it out!

Livestreaming Playwright Tom Stoppard in Conversation with Cognitive Scientist David Chalmers about “The Hard Problem”—or Why a Subjective Inner Life Exists—The Wilma Theater, Philadelphia—Mon, Dec 14

Tom Stoppard. Photo by Amie Stamp.

 

The Wilma Theater in Philadelphia presents playwright Tom Stoppard and cognitive scientist David Chalmers in conversation about “the hard problem”—or why a subjective inner life exists—livestreaming on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Monday, December 14 at 4:30pm PST (Los Angeles) / 6:30pm CST (Chicago) / 7:30pm EST (New York). 

In Twitter, use #howlround to engage.

The Wilma Theater invites audience members to join us on Monday, December 14, 2015 for a conversation between Tony Award-winning playwright Tom Stoppard (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Rock ’n’ Roll) and philosopher and cognitive scientist David Chalmers, moderated by Elisabeth Camp, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University.

David Chalmers coined the phrase “the hard problem” to describe “the largest outstanding obstacle in our quest for a scientific understanding of the universe”: why a subjective inner life exists. In their first public appearance together, Stoppard and Chalmers will discuss whether science will ever truly crack “the hard problem.”  This is the driving concept behind Stoppard’s new play, The Hard Problem, which will run at the Wilma from January 6 through February 6, 2016. 

The Hard Problem—Tom Stoppard’s first new play since Rock ’n’ Roll introduces us to Hilary, a 22-year-old psychology student applying for a coveted position with the Krohl Institute for Brain Science.  As Hilary prays for strength to move beyond personal regrets, she passionately explores the blurred lines between science and psychology with her colleagues and her sometimes-lover Spike.  Ethics are called into question as they delve into “the hard problem” of consciousness versus gray matter, and debate whether altruism even exists.  Following a sold-out run at the National Theatre in London, the Wilma—“synonymous with Tom Stoppard in Philadelphia” (Metro)—is proud to be among the first to bring The Hard Problem to United States audiences. 

The Wilma Theater creates living, adventurous art. We engage artists and audiences in imaginative reflection on the complexities of contemporary life. We present bold, original, well-crafted productions that represent a range of voices, viewpoints, and styles.

 

About HowlRound TV
HowlRound TV is a global, commons-based peer produced, open access livestreaming and video archive project stewarded by HowlRound, a knowledge commons by and for the theatre, arts, and cultural community. The channel is at howlround.tv and is a free and shared resource for live events and performances relevant to the world's performing arts fields. Its mission is to break geographic isolation, promote resource sharing, and to develop our knowledge commons collectively. Follow and use hashtag #howlround in Twitter to participate in a community of peers revolutionizing the flow of information, knowledge, and access in our field. Our community uses the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). Become a producer and co-produce with us by contacting @HowlRoundTV on Twitter, emailing tv@howlround.com, or by calling Vijay Mathew at +(1) 917-686-3185. Host a watch party and let us know about it. Click here to see past programming.

http://howlround.com/livestreaming-playwright-tom-stoppard-in-conversation-with-cognitive-scientist-david-chalmers-about

 

[Charles J. White]

Treated the family to a wonderful performance of The Nutcracker last week 

[ebk]

Patrycja, thanks for the heads-up about the Stoppard event. I can't watch it live, but hopefully it will be archived.

 

And now, for something completely different  - Daddy Long Legs will be live-streaming the actual show tomorrow evening.  I will try to be home, because how often do I get to see "live" theatre for free!

http://www.daddylonglegsmusical.com/livestream/

[Patrycja]

Patrycja, thanks for the heads-up about the Stoppard event. I can't watch it live, but hopefully it will be archived.

 

And now, for something completely different  - Daddy Long Legs will be live-streaming the actual show tomorrow evening.  I will try to be home, because how often do I get to see "live" theatre for free!

http://www.daddylonglegsmusical.com/livestream/

Well, just about never if you combine it with from the comfort of your own home! Thanks for the info, ebk, I'll have a look tonight.

As for the Stoppard event, you're welcome , and if you go here 'Click here to see past programming' then you'll see this and all the other programs they've done. Enjoy!

[ebk]

Well, just about never if you combine it with from the comfort of your own home! Thanks for the info, ebk, I'll have a look tonight.

As for the Stoppard event, you're welcome , and if you go here 'Click here to see past programming' then you'll see this and all the other programs they've done. Enjoy!

Silly me - of course being on my couch with wine is fabulous!!  

 

It's intermission.  I'm totally charmed by this show.  Hope you're watching and enjoying, Patrycja!

[Patrycja]

Silly me - of course being on my couch with wine is fabulous!!  

 

It's intermission.  I'm totally charmed by this show.  Hope you're watching and enjoying, Patrycja!

My feed kept hanging and seeing as how I don't like musicals, I gave up rather quickly. I came back to the part when he made his admission, but neither beginning nor end really grabbed me. It could well have been a tight production, but there's something about musicals - it's not all talk, it's not all singing - that I can't get into, though I keep trying! The idea is a brilliant one, and having a real audience reaction in real time with a Q&A afterwards that involves the home audience as well is kind of revolutionary and interesting in terms of how theatre and acting  potentially change because of it. Anyway, thanks very much for the link

 

[Patrycja]

Dear lucky people of London, looks like your good fortune is continuing into 2016. August Wilson's excellent play Ma Rainey's Black Bottom will be staged at the National Theatre. It's actually a long run - January 26 - May 18, 2016 - so there's plenty of time for all to see it. Here's the write-up:

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Chicago, 1927. In a recording studio on the city’s South Side, a battle of wills is raging.

Ma Rainey, Mother of the Blues, uses every trick in the book to fight her record producers for control of her music. Hardened by years of ill-treatment and bad deals, she’s determined that ‘Black Bottom’, the song that bears her name, will be recorded her way.

But Levee, the band’s swaggering young trumpet player, plans to catapult the band into the jazz age. His ambition puts them all in danger.

Inspired by the real-life Blues legend and infused with her music, August Wilson’s play speaks powerfully of a struggle for self-determination against overwhelming odds.

Sharon D Clarke plays Ma Rainey.

 

BOOK YOUR TICKETS HERE: http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/ma-raineys-black-bottom?dates=all#tabpos

 

For those unfamiliar with Ma Rainey's formidable independent spirit and blues influence, here's a blog fleshing out the woman that history has perhaps veiled over time and that the play reveals:

 

Who was Ma Rainey?

‘They hear it come out, but they don’t know how it got there. They don’t understand that’s life’s way of talking. You don’t sing to feel better. You sing ‘cause that’s a way of understanding life.’
– Ma Rainey

Gertrude Malissa Nix Pridgett, the greatest blues singer you’ve never heard of, was born either in Alabama or Georgia, either in 1882 or 1886. She went on to become Ma Rainey, the Mother of the Blues: a singer, mentor, trailblazer and cultural icon – and the inspiration for the title character of August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, which opens in the Lyttelton on 26 January.

Ma Rainey’s date of birth is disputed: she claimed to have been born in 1886, though some census information suggests she may have been slightly older. We can forgive her any lies about her age: by the time she was in her early teens, she was already performing in talent shows in her hometown, Columbus, Georgia, going on to join the Rabbit Foot Minstrels with her husband, Will Rainey (known as ‘Pa’), in 1906. The word ‘minstrel’ may now bring to mind white men in black-face and racist stereotypes; however, in the early 20th century, it was common for black artists to perform as minstrels.

A plaque commemorating the Rabbit Foot Minstrels in Port Gibson, Mississippi. Photo by Him Nguyen

 

Ma Rainey and her husband went on to become Rainey and Rainey and then The Assassinators of the Blues, before Rainey forged a considerable career of her own. In 1923, just three years after Mamie Smith became the first black female musician to be recorded, Rainey signed to Paramount and laid down eight songs in Chicago, the setting for August Wilson’s play. Her recording career was to last just five years, but she was prolific, with almost 100 songs. She worked with Louis Armstrong, and created a powerful back-catalogue of her own, including Bo-weevill Blues, Moonshine Blues and, of course, Black Bottom.

As important as her music was her mentorship of younger artists and of one in particular: Bessie Smith. If Rainey was the mother of the blues, Smith was its empress. She remains, to this day, one of the most important female blues singers of all time, in no small part due to Rainey’s influence. One story even says that Rainey kidnapped Smith, forced her to join the Rabbit Foot Minstrels and taught her to sing the blues.

Singer and friend of Rainey, Bessie Smith, photographed in 1936 by Carl Van Vechten

The Bessie Smith story might not be true, but it says something about the courageous, trailblazing woman that Ma Rainey was. Her bisexuality was an open secret, and one that she did not shy away from in her lyrics. The following, from Prove It On Me Blues, refers to an event in 1925, when she was arrested for hosting a lesbian orgy with members of her chorus:

They say I do it, ain’t nobody caught me
Sure got to prove it on me;
Went out last night with a crowd of my friends,
They must’ve been women, 'cause I don’t like no men.

The sentiment, coming as it does from 1925, is undoubtedly bold. Coming from a black woman in the southern United States, it shows even more remarkable courage and daring.

All the above has made Ma Rainey the icon that she is today – she is even name-checked alongside Beethoven in Bob Dylan’s Tombstone Blues. She has been recognised in the Grammy Hall of Fame, on a US postage stamp and in HBO film Bessie, played by singer Mo’nique. 

On 26 January, she will come to the Lyttelton stage, played by Sharon D Clarke, in August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. In the play, she wrestles with her white producers for control of her music: a powerful, bold fight against incredibly difficult odds. Of Ma Rainey, we would expect nothing less. 

Click here to read more about the play, or here to buy tickets.

 

 

http://national-theatre.tumblr.com/post/136756904056/who-was-ma-rainey

I still find the whole minstrel performance bit awkward; modern sensibilities are hard to check out when reading about it, particularly knowing its history. Anyway, I hope it's a great production that does the play and Ma Rainey justice.

 

[Patrycja]

As tributes are pouring in for Alan Rickman (REALLY hate writing that), here are a couple of good ones that at least give a glimpse of the actor and the man. What a singular shining example on and off the stage:

Alan Rickman, giant of British screen and stage, dies at 69

'We are all so devastated': acting world pays tribute to Alan Rickman

 

And here is Playbill's final interview with him:

Looking Back at "Harry Potter" Star Alan Rickman's Final Interview with Playbill

It's terrible having to read all of these, but wonderful in a way. I feel so grateful that we have so much wonderful work of his to enjoy. His enormous talent was on full display in his range of roles. That and so many people benefited from who he was as a person that both will have a ripple effect for so many others. 

Rest in peace, Alan. And thank you. 

[slave to zep]

I'm going to see The Umbilical Brothers next weekend.  Taking both son's and hubby

[Patrycja]

p.s. ^ hope you all have fun, J  

Well, what to do but to go on. Here are a couple of shows that hopefully people get to see.

First, in London, there's a show that's getting a lot of excellent buzz currently at the Roundhouse:

MAIN SPACE

AKRAM KHAN COMPANY 

UNTIL THE LIONS

PRESENTED BY THE ROUNDHOUSE AND SADLER'S WELLS

Saturday 9 - Sunday 24 January

7.30pm

http://www.roundhouse.org.uk/whats-on/2016/until-the-lions/

I hope it tours here. I'd love to see and experience it.

 

Here's a good interview with Akram Khan that gives a bit of background for those unfamiliar with his incredible work and some details about this show:

Akram Khan: I’m terrified that my body will give in

The choreographer performed in Peter Brook’s legendary stage production of The Mahabharata as a child. As he prepares a new dance version of the Indian classical stories, he explains why he has put women centre stage

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/jan/08/akram-khan-until-the-lions-interview

 

Next, in New York, a one-night only show on Monday, January 25, 2016 at 7PM will be presented to honour Arthur Miller:

 

 

Arthur Miller - One Night - 100 Years Summary

To celebrate the legacy of Arthur Miller and support the Arthur Miller Foundation for Theater and Film Education in New York City public schools, this one-night-only Broadway benefit performance will feature readings from Miller’s seminal plays and personal works by a distinguished cast of actors and playwrights.

Arthur Miller - One Night - 100 Years Cast Members:

Ayad Akhtar, Alec Baldwin, Ellen Barkin, Bradley Cooper, Laurence Fishburne, Greta Gerwig, Jake Gyllenhaal, Katori Hall, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Tony Kushner, Peter Sarsgaard

Arthur Miller - One Night - 100 Years Creative Team

Author: Arthur Miller
Director: Gregory Mosher
Producer: Cindy Tolan & Damon Cardasis
Press Agent: 42 West

Arthur Miller - One Night - 100 Years Related Links

Arthur Miller Foundation for Theater & Film Education Official Website

 

You can purchase tickets here: https://www.telecharge.com/Broadway/Arthur-Miller-One-Night-100-Years/Ticket?&PerformanceDateTime=1/25/2016%207:00%20PM

 

[Patrycja]

ebk (and perhaps some others  ), not sure if you've heard of it, but this may be of interest to you. Thought I'd read that they'll be doing a streamed show as well, but have to double check on that:

PBS Plans Documentary on the Making of Hamilton

By Playbill Staff
18 Jan 2016 

The Broadway musical phenomenon Hamilton will be the subject of a feature-length documentary film to be broadcast on PBS this fall.
 

In announcing the project Jan. 18, PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger said the PBS filmmakers had been granted "intimate access" to creator and star Lin-Manuel Miranda and his colleagues during the two years leading up to the show's Broadway opening, Aug. 6, 2015.

The film, titled "Hamilton's America," will be broadcast as part of PBS' "Great Performances" series in fall 2016. No specific time or date was announced.

 

The cast of Hamilton (Photo by Joan Marcus)

"Hamilton's America" is produced by Academy Award and Emmy-winning producers RadicalMedia, the same company that created "In the Heights: Chasing Broadway Dreams" for PBS, a documentary about Miranda's previous musical, In the Heights. 

According to production notes, the new documentary combines interviews with experts and prominent personalities, new footage of the production in New York and cast-led expeditions to DC, Philadelphia and New York. "Audiences will sit with Miranda as he composes songs in Aaron Burr’s Manhattan bedroom. They’ll take a trip to Virginia with Chris Jackson – the African-American actor who portrays George Washington – and watch him place a wreath on Washington’s grave, as he discusses the difficulty of grappling with our founders’ legacy of slavery. Back in New York, Miranda and Leslie Odom, Jr. – who plays Aaron Burr – visit the Museum of American Finance to get their hands on some 19^th-century dueling pistols and stage a quick re-enactment."

Miranda released a statement saying, "On behalf of the entire Hamilton cast and creative team, many of whom are In The Heights alumni, we are overjoyed to be returning to PBS in partnership with RadicalMedia with this project. We invited filmmaker Alex Horwitz into 'the room where it happened' a few years ago, and he’s captured parts of this journey no one has seen. We can’t wait to share it, thanks to PBS.”

http://playbill.com/news/article/pbs-plans-documentary-on-the-making-of-hamilton-380445

 

[ebk]

Hi Patrycja.  Thanks for posting that.  I did know this was in the works and am looking forward to it.  I can't wait to see the show...in August.  Which seems so far away... 

[slave to zep]

Went to see The Umbilical Brothers show last night,  these two are so talented.  I laughed so much, I think I made it onto the video.....

 

 

 

 

[Kiwi_Zep_Fan87]

Looking forward to seeing Emil's Enemies, with my mom, next weekend!  

Emil’s Enemies

Emil’s Enemies is a play inspired by the actions of the German opposition to the Third Reich during World War II. That story of resistance is a story of extraordinary conviction and courage under impossible conditions and against incredible odds. It is also a story made even more exceptional by the participation of a Lutheran theologian and pastor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who, in spite of his pacifism, joined a conspiracy to assassinate Adolph Hitler and overthrow the Nazi regime.

Although the German resistance to National Socialism included dozens of men and women, both inside and outside of the military, three figures in German Military Intelligence were central to every attempt at a coup d’etat between 1938 and 1944: Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, General Hans Oster and Hans von Dohnanyi, plot leader and brother-in-law to Dietrich Bonhoeffer. All four were executed by the Nazis on April 9, 1945. Other members of the Bonhoeffer family were also executed for playing a part in the conspiracy. Bonhoeffer’s elder brother Klaus, and a second brother-in-law, Rudiger Schleicher, were executed on April 23, 1945. Seven days later Hitler committed suicide.

Bonhoeffer was formulating the ethical basis for when the performance of certain extreme actions, such as political assassination, were required of a morally responsible person. This combination of action and thought qualifies as one of the unique moments in intellectual history.

EMIL’S ENEMIES stays as close to the spirit of the time as possible, but is not written as an historical drama. Many things in the play, and this production, are drawn from history. The “Emil” of the title is the actual nickname used by the resistance for Hitler. Nonetheless, the playwright took certain liberties with characterization and the sequence of historical events, sometimes reducing the actions of many people to one character, sometimes by adding characters and events. This was clearly done for the sake of poetic unity. As Goethe noted, “Without poetic unity there is nothing in drama, nothing of importance to illusions on the stage, nothing of any concern to anyone.” – Douglas Huff

The character of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Huff’s play is at once intriguing and disturbing in that he does not appear like one of the traditional heroes of tragedy or melodrama. The historical Bonhoeffer appeared to many of his contemporaries to be a saint – a proper hero/victim – a good man who, in the face of utter evil, made all the right choices, suffering the consequences without regret. This was the Bonhoeffer who could write from prison, “My life …has been an uninterrupted enrichment of experience”; the man who won the admiration of fellow prisoners and guards; the Christian martyr who, according to the camp doctor, “climbed the steps to the gallows, brave, composed …entirely submissive to the will of God,”

This is not – at least on the surface – Huff's Bonhoeffer. This one becomes angry and accusatory. He even seems to struggle to find even the consolations of his religion. This is a Bonhoeffer who not only sees that the “sins of weakness – stupidity, lack of independence, forgetfulness, cowardice, vanity, corruptibility – are the really human sins – a greater danger than evil,” but who also discovers those sins in himself.

If Huff’s Bonhoeffer doesn’t die as gracefully as we might wish, nevertheless he dies for the right reason. Martyrdom is, for him, a role earned, not received; faith is a gift recovered from the depths of despair, in a ritual of forgiveness. – Robert Gardner

EMIL'S ENEMIES received its premiere at Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minnesota, under the direction of Robert Gardner. It was seen in a New York production in 2001 at Theatre M, under the English director, Julia Carey; in 2003 it was produced by Vijay Padaki in Bangalore, India under the direction of the legendary stage and film director MS Sathyu; and more recently it was brought to the English stage by Dr. Bernd Wannenwetsch for the 2006 International Bonhoeffer Conference held at Oxford University.

Douglas Huff”s plays have been performed all over the U.S. and internationally. His works include Ophelia (produced at THEATERWORK in its 9th Season); Hungry Ghosts ,and The Blind Venetian. His play The Far Shore was awarded the 2009 Mario Fratti/Newman Award; and Jean Paul Savage and the Reichenbach Fall, the National Gilmore Creek Playwriting Award.

Source : http://www.twnm.org/emils-enemies/

[Kiwi_Zep_Fan87]

Kids should definitely attend live Theater!  

U of A Researchers Find Major Benefits for Students Who Attend Live Theater

 

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Field trips to live theater enhance literary knowledge, tolerance and empathy among students, according to a study published this week by researchers in the University of Arkansas Department of Education Reform.

The new experimental study published in Education Next examines the impact on students of attending high-quality theater productions of either Hamlet or A Christmas Carol. The researchers found that viewing the productions leads to enhanced knowledge of the plot, increased vocabulary, greater tolerance and improved ability to read the emotions of others.

“What we determined from this research is that seeing live theater produced positive effects that reading a play or watching a movie of the play does not produce,” said Jay Greene, professor of education reform. “Plays are meant to be seen performed live. You can’t always take your kids to a play but if you can, you should. The story can be conveyed in a movie, but it doesn’t engage the viewer in the same way.”

Greene’s department has conducted several studies about the effect of culturally enriching activities on students. Two years ago, researchers found significant benefits in the form of knowledge, future cultural consumption, tolerance, historical empathy and critical thinking for students assigned by lottery to visit Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas.

For the live theater study, Greene led a team that constructed a randomized field trial, the gold standard of research, by offering school groups in grades 7 through 12 free theater tickets to one of the performances. A total of 49 school groups with 670 students completed the application process. Applicant groups were organized into 24 matched groups based on similarity in terms of grade level, demographics and whether they comprised a drama, English or other type of class. Lotteries were held to determine which groups would receive the free tickets and which would serve as the control group. Some members of both the control group and the treatment group also read the play or watched movie versions of these works.

Researchers then administered surveys to all students, on average about six weeks after the performances. For each play, researchers asked students six questions about the plot and five questions about the vocabulary used, combining them into a single scale of content knowledge. As compared to the control group, students who saw the live productions improved their knowledge of the plays by a very large margin. For example, 83 percent of the students who attended the play could identify Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as Hamlet’s friends, while only 45 percent of the control group correctly identified the two characters. More than 94 percent of the treatment group knew that Ophelia drowns in Hamlet, compared to 62 percent of the control group.

The research team found that reading and watching movies of Hamlet and A Christmas Carolcould not account for the increase in knowledge experienced by students who attended live performances of the plays.

Students who attended live performances of the play also scored higher on the study’s tolerance measure than the control group by a moderately large margin and were better able to recognize and appreciate what other people think and feel. To determine whether live theater increases students’ ability to recognize the emotions of others, researchers administered the youth version of the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, which was initially developed for research on autism. Students took a quiz that asked them to identify the characters’ emotions.

The study, “Learning from Live Theater: Students realize gains in knowledge, tolerance, and more” appeared in the Winter 2015 issue of Education Next and is available now on the publication’s website.

Greene holds an endowed chair in education reform. Co-authors Collin Hitt and AnneKraybill are doctoral students and Cari A. Bogulski is a researcher.

Source : http://news.uark.edu/articles/25549/u-of-a-researchers-find-major-benefits-for-students-who-attend-live-theater

[ebk]

That look like an incredibly intense play Kiwi.  I hope it will be deep and meaningful experience.

 

And I couldn't agree more about the benefits of live theatre.  It's the best!!

[Kiwi_Zep_Fan87]

1 hour ago, ebk said:

That look like an incredibly intense play Kiwi.  I hope it will be deep and meaningful experience.

 

And I couldn't agree more about the benefits of live theatre.  It's the best!!

I hope so too, e!  My mom and I are very interested in War History and when we knew that this play was coming to a theater near us, we just couldn't pass up a chance to go see it! I am trying to do some further research on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, at the moment, by taking a look at any documentary that I can find, so that my mom and I will be able to understand every aspect of the play. It is really going to be an intense experience and a chance to experience an important, but not so well known chapter, in the history of the Third Reich! 

[ebk]

Almost Tony time!!!

[ebk]

"She Loves Me" live streaming direct from Broadway starting in 5 minutes on BroadwayHD.com.

 

I'm unreasonably excited about watching real, live Broadway theatre from my couch!