Fame or Famine

“Company”
Last night’s presentation on Great Performances was as good as promised. Anyone who has ever liked Seinfeld or Sex and the City will appreciate it – in fact, you might think the play was a rip-off of those ouvres until you realized that Sondheim wrote it in the 70’s. The music is also melodic enough that I was able to appreciate it more than the wandering tunes of Sweeney Todd, and included one of my favorites: “Not Getting Married“, a hilarious patter song sung by a nervous bride on her wedding day.
Raul Azara had an understated elegance to being the …read more

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Before watching Company tonight, I caught the end of America’s Ballroom Challenge. I got a treat: Ilya Ifraimov and Nadia Goulina from New Jersey won the Show Dance segment with a very innovative robotic dance based on the Transformers.
They didn’t win the entire competition – Champions Andrei Gavriline and Elena Kryuchkova successfully defended their title – but it’s nice to see that innovation is appreciated by even the most traditional forms.
Now, back to watching “Company”…

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Lisa Borstein of the Rocky Mountain News reviewed the stage-to-screen adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s Company in glowing terms. I’m not familiar with the musical, but I plan on catching it, since it won a Tony in 2007.
A difficult production because of the demands on the performers (who have to play instruments right there, live, on stage) I have to wonder if the move to television will take advantage of the medium and overdub the musical bits. I’d be disappointed if that were the case.
However, Raul Esparza, the lead in the broadway revival, is quite an interesting lead, as his own …read more

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Eonline has announced the newest batch of celebrities to be competing on “Dancing with the Stars”, and by Baryshnikov, I’m excited.
The Lineup:

Actress & Famous Ex Priscilla Presley
Former Man Show host Adam Carolla
CSI: Miami actor Cristián de la Fuente;
  Shannon Elizabeth (American Pie)

Actor Steve Guttenberg (Three Men & a Baby)
R&B singer Mario
Oscar winner Marlee Matlin
Vegas and Showtime performer Penn Jillette
tennis player Monica Seles;
  Jason Taylor of the Miami Dolphins
Tony winner Marissa Jaret Winokur
Olympic figure-skater Kristi Yamaguchi.

The Buzz
Why am I looking forward to it so much? Well, of course there’s the simple pleasure of watching people not just move, but also grow …read more

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Happy President’s Day!
Tomorrow is the primary in my home state, and I’ll be honest: I hope that this post doesn’t sway anyone one way or another in terms of who they choose to vote for. I know who I’m voting for, and why, and none of the issues which sway that decision have anything to do with the Arts. Personally, I feel that there are more important things like the War in Iraq to worry about than arts funding.
That being said, looking at the arts policy papers of Obama, Clinton, and Huckabee, I do notice a few things. Ron …read more

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I’ve mentioned several times that yes, aside from writing about performing arts, I do in fact perform in them as well. One of my venues is Foxy Veronica’s Peach Pies, where I do occasionally bawdy acts and songs (for example, I choreographed and perform “All I Care About” from Chicago with all the channeled Richard Gere I can muster).
The following video, courtesy of Ellie (my girlfriend’s roommate) is my debut performance at the Caburlesque of “Socket, To Thee”, a spoof song I wrote many years ago. While it really has nothing inappropriate at all in it, I might caution against …read more

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I love being in the entertainment channel here at B5Media. However, sometimes I do feel a bit like the awkward cousin at the table; with a subject as broad, and yet as niche, as “performing arts”, I sometimes feel a little nerdy next to the cool kids over at 24 Headquarters or CSI Fanatic. What’s golden is when someone from one of those popular shows decides to go old-school and hit the floorboards again, or, of course, when one of the DanceWatcher shows comes up…
But what if we became proactive, and asked the question: what broadway show would the stars …read more

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“”It’s not just about preparing kids for careers; it’s about preparing them to lead good lives.” Sounds like a good plan, right? We’d like to think that perhaps our children are growing up into people who will appreciate the finer things in life. However, as I’ve written about before, the standards-based educational practices have resulted in not all kids left behind, but not all arts brought along, either.
As this article states, parents are getting sick of it. They are coming up with all sorts of new ideas, ranging from field trips to “arts hubs” where they are hiring teachers …read more

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I’ve had the same guitar for about 13 years. Her name is Agemaki, after a kabuki character, appropriate for the Japanese-made Takamine guitar. I have ridden my bike miles with it to play at preschools with it strapped to my back; it has been my solace during breakups, and has been the source of joyous camaraderie around campfires. It’s been used as a tool of seduction on dates. It has made my children laugh.
It hangs on my wall, taken down now and again for pleasure and (recently) to go into the burlesque show with me. So I understand something of …read more

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“At the moment you see the movement occur, you hear the voice of that dancer talking about what’s in their head or what images are going on for them.” – Elam in the Village Voice
Chris Elam is continuing to make waves with his ideas for the Misnomer Dance Co. After winning the IdeaBlob Contest, his plans to use the internet as a vehicle to deepen the understanding and involvement of the audience are just bubbling.
I’m very excited to see this – most of all because he seems, to me, to be the perfect person to make it actually happen. In …read more

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