Fame or Famine

OK, the show is growing on me. And not only me, obviously other people like it as well – the cast recording of In the Heights debuted at #1, and, well, there is the whole Best Musical thing.
Visit the Heights
Broadway.com has a charming little video where Lin-Manuel Miranda takes you backstage of In the Heights for a very personal tour backstage. He doesn’t do the normal “We’re so happy to be here, blah blahblah.” Instead he shares the video games he likes, the personal notes from people, his own personal image issues (“I think this mirror makes me look fat!”).
Some …read more

Comments Off

Avenue Q (winner of the 2004 Tony for Best Musical) has been making the rounds of my friends of late. I confess to being kind of surprised that it took them so long; my friends, even the ones not from NYC, tend to be pretty aware of current issues and trends, and the Sesame Street parody for Generation X is all about that.
More Than GenX
I got introduced to it by my daughter, believe it or not, who is as big a Renthead as you can get. The producers of Rent, along with composers/lyricists Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, put …read more

1 Comment

If you’re in the Chicago area, you could do a lot worse than to get to the Bohemian Theatre Ensemble’s rendition of Jekyll & Hyde. Now, some of you who have heard about this musical version of one of the more terrifying stories ever told might be sceptical, and rightly so. The original musical (with David Hasselhoff) suffered some…well, let’s be generous and just say that it wasn’t all that it could have been.
OK, actually it (reputedly) suffered reviews such as “pervasive lack of characterization” or a score that “doesn’t enhance the story.” It had a “try-out” period that was …read more

1 Comment

I’ve been very interested in learning some of the behind-the-scenes aspects of everybody’s favorite reality dance competition, So You Think You Can Dance. I think it was getting Arielle’s perspective that got me interested. But something is rotten in the state of etc…
So You Thought You Could Dance?
Like me, the TV Grapevine had a personal connection to someone who auditioned for the show. Like me, that person didn’t make it past the preliminary stages – but in their case, she was able to stay the extra day to see the “individual round.”
Yes, that’s right. That “individual round” is not …read more

1 Comment

We’ve had our own insight into the brave dedication of the cast of Beirut’s High School Musical, including the gracious input of Milia Ayache, whose sister Rania plays Sharpay Evans. But ABC news has also taken note, and draws a correlation between the theme of the performance and the fact that literally during the performance the warring factions that caused the strife were agreeing to put aside their weapons in favor of talking over their differences.
There was another part of the article, a minor part, that I found very interesting from a theatrical point of view. Apparently, when the streets …read more

Comments Off

A couple of fascinating literary works have come out – one journalistic, one autobiographical – that serve to really highlight how much the world has moved on from the days of Rudolph Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov leaping over airport turnstiles to defect to the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Alexei Ratmansky
In the New York Times Chip Brown has written a piece about the very young artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet, Alexei Ratmansky. At 39 he has become “one of the most sought after choreographers in the world.” Instead of plotting his escape from totalitarianism, the …read more

Comments Off

I had the distinct pleasure recently of dining at the Med Hookah lounge in Madison, WI, which aside from having great Mediterranean food also feature middle eastern dancers (aka bellydancers, though some don’t like that term).
Those Who Can, Teach
One of the performers there is Arielle, a teacher at the Madison Multicultural Dance Center with Mona N’wal and others. Though very young, Arielle’s been dancing since she was fourteen, and that leads to quite a bit of experience as well as talent.
That evening she did a three-part set, starting with two traditional songs and then a blended hip-hop/bellydance routine of her …read more

4 Comments

“I just saw the production; it premiered tonight after being postponed due to the recent hostilities in the county. My sister plays Sharpay Evans and it was thrilling to be able to watch it in the midst of such an ugly national crisis – very emotional.” That’s the comment that Milia Ayache, from Lebanon, left in answer to my entry about a “Multi-cultural High School Musical.”
Milia also directed me to the event profile on Facebook, which I have happily added to my profile (though I don’t think I’ll be able to make it, sorry). Theatre de Mazitou, the production house …read more

Comments Off

It always bugs me, as a professional dance instructor, when people walk up to me and say they can’t dance. In my opinion, dance is nothing but intentional movement; the level of intent and the focus determine the skill of the dance. This is why watching an 80 year old Merce Cunningham is more interesting than watching an 18 year old novice dancer – Merce has spent his life learning to move.
What about Mario Lopez?
Oh, that quote? It’s what he said about himself in response to a question about his singing and dancing in the role of Zach in A …read more

Comments Off

It worked for the Medicis & Michelangelo. It even worked for Laurie Anderson and Larry Ellison, I believe. It’s a system of supporting the arts that is not public-funded, and therefore not subject to the vagaries and whims of the hoi-polloi.
It’s the literal term “patron of the arts,” meaning not so much someone who just frequently visits them, but actually takes steps to actively support them. Instead of the whim of the public eye and politicians screaming “save the children!” it’s the whim of the benefactor with the deep pockets.
Selling out? Maybe, but I should be so lucky as to …read more

Comments Off