Fame or Famine

One of the most prolific and amazing writers I know, who I am also lucky enough to have met a time or two, is Scott Sigler. He’s not, as far as I know, terribly musically inclined, even when he’s looking a lot like Elton John back in his feather-boa-and-big-glasses days. But he is also a writer for A&E online, specifically in their horror genre.
What does this have to do with the performing arts? Why, I’m glad you asked…
Everything’s Coming Up Musicals
I’ve written here before about the Creature From the Black Lagoon as a musical. But did you know there are …read more

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As anyone who reads this blog knows, I’ve got a love affair with the musical Passing Strange. I was entranced by the free downloads at the site, I thought that Stew was one of the more fascinating characters I’ve ever heard of, and I thought the multi-nominated musical was screwed over with just “Best Book” at the Tony’s.
I wasn’t able to swing a ticket during my recent trip to NYC, so imagine my crestfallen look when I read that I’m partly to blame for the show closing on July 20th. However, Spike Lee to the rescue! He’s going to be …read more

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Just a quickie this morning – Director and artist Julie Taymor is going to be honored at Aspen Film on June 28th.
Extraordinary Vision
Taymor is definitely one of the shining lights in the art of theatre and film. While perhaps best known for Broadway’s The Lion King and the recent film Across the Universe, her work goes much further. Movies like Frida and Titus, or re-imaginings of The Magic Flute for the Metropolitan Opera and Beowulf for the Los Angeles Opera are just the tip of the iceberg.
Image details: DIFFA’s Dining By Design Gala Dinner served by picapp.com
Her training included a …read more

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I swear, I couldn’t make this stuff up.
In the category of “stage to screen” I could probably somewhat justify Al Gore’s famous slideshow, An Inconvenient Truth. After all, it went on to become not just a book but also a Nobel-Peace-Prize winning movie. Well, ok, Mr. Gore got the prize, but it wasn’t for his work as V.P.
Turning It Up to Eleven
Now, however, it’s going the other way, as Giorgio Battistelli of Milan’s La Scala opera house is going to undertake to turn it into an opera, set to debut in 2011. Yes, that’s right, an opera about global warming.
Battistelli …read more

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It’s a banner day on Broadway, especially for some of the stories I’ve been tracking on this blog.
Stew Gets an Obie for Passing Strange
I wrote recently how musician and auteur Stew had garnered no fewer than seven Tony nominations – but there’s more out there than Tony. The Village Voice also gives out its own theatre award, the “Obie”, and Passing Strange has secured Best New Theatre Piece. I’m a little amused, though, because part of the prize is $1,000 – to be split between Stew, co-author Heidi Rodewald and director Annie Dorsen – which I think is just about …read more

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In a recent web interview, Stephen Sondheim was asked which of his musicals he’d like to see next put on the silver screen. His response was almost comical in its helpless-before-the-wheels-of-success attitude: “ It’s not so much a question of which I would like to see, rather which I think would lend itself..There is a move afoot to do Follies movie with a well-known director and a well-known star, and I’m not going to tell you who they are.”

Well, fine, Mr. Sondheim, be that way. He did reveal that he thought that Company would be well suited to the silver …read more

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It doesn’t even require talking about – Pilobolus is beyond words. But in another example of pop culture exposing us to the finer arts (see Dancing with the Stars and Alvin Ailey’s Revolutions for another example) here they are at the Oscars…

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This post is just for my friend Karl: After a triumphant Broadway run, Jennifer Garner is currently working with Kevin Kline on a TV version of their 10-week smash hit Cyrano de Bergerac.
While sceptics may roll their eyes at the idea of Edmund Rostand’s classic story of swashbuckling hearts being put on the boob tube, there is some hope: the play adaptation was penned by Anthony Burgess, who among other things penned a little thing called A Clockwork Orange.
No word on when it’ll be done, but just the chance to see these people in such classic roles is going to …read more

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This blog is a bit of a balancing act. I try to cover general performing arts, and that’s a wide spectrum; so you end up with one day me talking about plays in London, another day about popular culture like Dancing with the Stars, and another day about the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre celebrating its 50th anniversary.
And then you have days like today, when I can talk about how the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre performed part of its signature ballet Revelations on Dancing with the Stars. I have to say, this is one of the best …read more

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I confess, I have as much trouble as anyone taking seriously someone named P Diddy – but Sean Combs seems to be the king of re-invention, going from rapper to clothing designer to yes, Broadway actor.
In 2004 he starred in the revival of Lorraine Hansberry’s classic, Raisin in the Sun, which garnered Tony awards for co-stars Phylicia Rashad and Audra McDonald. It’s a powerful play about the struggles of an inner city black family, and other great actors including Sidney Poitier, Danny Glover, and Lou Gossett Jr. have played roles in the past.
While Combs’ acting skills were deemed less than …read more

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