Fame or Famine

As I was going through the slurry of fine arts news that Google sends my way each day, I came across an interesting connecting thread between two very different types of theatre: Spanish.
The Bard for Our Time
As the Spanish speaking segment of the U.S. (as well as the rest of the world) continues to grow, it’s no surprise that the great playwrights such as William Shakespeare would be translated into that language. Indeed, it has been for ages; other languages, as well (I saw Othello in Japanese once, and got chills).
But here’s a twist on it: Romeo y Julieta is …read more

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Steve on Broadway (SOB) has a very poignant column out today about George Carlin. It’s sweetly memorable with a personal touch, and he notes that unlike contemporaries like Robin Williams, Carlin never did a Broadway show. Kind of surprising, when you think about it, for such a big name.
However, a little research reveals a CNN interview which may explain why. Carlin never wanted to do the traditional “[insert name of comic] on Broadway!” schtick. Like many of his acts, he wanted a bigger picture to be there. “That’s not really a Broadway show. That’s kind of using Broadway as a …read more

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Here’s the last donated blog from Steve Eley, creator of the Escape Pod Podcast (among others). I asked him to contribute not because of his expertise in the arts, but because I know he can tell a story. As you will see here…

Being asked by Gray to write a guest post on this blog was a bit surprising. This subject matter is a bit off my track; I’m not talented at the stuff Gray talks about. I’m a mediocre actor, a dangerously bad dancer, and there are laws prohibiting me from singing in six states. The one thing …read more

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On my shelf sits a book, a black book with a picture of a curly-haired smiling lady on the back. It’s called “Improvisation for the Theater” and is written by drama pioneer Viola Spolin.
Her son, Paul Sills, died of pneumonia today at age 80, having continued his mother’s work and shaped theatre as we know it today.
Paul Sills, the “Orson Welles of Improv”
Maybe you’ve heard of some of the places Paul Sills’ influence was felt. Second City? The Kids in the Hall? OK, how about Saturday Night Live? 30 Rock? Broadway’s Ragtime? Or how about one of his students, a …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’ve often heard one of the more emphatic criticisms of Keanu Reeves be his performance in Much Ado About Nothing. While I agree that in comparison to the others in that cast, he was less than spectacular…well, come ON! When you’re up against Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, and Denzel Washington, plus a whole bunch of other refugees of the RSC, and you’re doing some of the hardest roles in the Western Canon, shouldn’t you get credit for trying?
Hell, even the Beatles sucked at Shakespeare. On the other hand, from what I hear, Keanu plays a pretty mean bass…

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I’m going to my 20 year H.S. reunion in a month, and it amuses me that under “hobbies” I get to put “Burlesque Performer.” It’s very true; I spent the latter half of travel on thursday night choreographing a new number for the Peach Pies, where I get to sing “All I Care About” from Chicago. And it’s a great, great feeling to be back in that frame of mind, scribbling stick figures and arrows and lyrics.
But of course it caught my eye when reading the ROOT magazine feed that in San Francisco, they’ve started a Boylesque.
“SF Boylesque seeks to …read more

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” Now in its 11th year, the Fringe is, in producing director Nick Stuccio’s words, “a giant state fair of contemporary art.” It famously draws tens of thousands of people to see well over a hundred innovative performing arts events both from around the world and from the heart of Philadelphia. The Live Arts Festival features works specifically selected by the program’s directors, while Philly Fringe allows any artist to self-produce his or her own work…And so Martha became the Fringe’s first-ever podcast, its performance without a physical venue. It’s available in installments as a free download from iTunes and …read more

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One of the things I really like to see is when savvy philanthropists recognize that it’s very possible to play on the very puerile and base instincts of popular culture and harness that energy to fund worthy causes – such as the fight against AIDS.
And not just anybody – Tony-award winners like Jerry Mitchell and Denis Jones (of Legally Blonde, among others) are producing this seventeenth edition of the gala, and judging from the photos at Broadway World…well, a rousing good time was had by all.

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I love music. I love holiday music, even. But I gotta admit, even I had to agree with this guy: some songs just get played too damn much:

Happy holidaze, everyone.

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