Sunday, March 6, 2011

Mondays are Dark

A busy week results in a good reading list - enjoy!

The President Supports the Arts
The Washington Post covers the presentation of this year's National Medal of Arts and the National Humanities Medals.

Lett's Have A Festival
The Miami Herald points out that two Coral Gables theatre companies are producing plays by Tracy Letts; Actors' Playhouse is producing August: Osage County, while GableStage is presenting Superior Donuts.  It's a good look at both productions.  Hmm, the two theatres should have worked out a package deal....

Must be Spring
The area's regional theaters are starting to announce their new season line-ups.  South Florida Theatre Review has the Florida Stage schedule, while The Drama Queen has the Caldwell Theatre and Actors' Playhouse announcements.  Highlights include the Playhouse's David Arisco taking the stage in Hairspray (do we have to tell you which role?), City of Angels at The Caldwell; and two different plays by Miami playwright Christopher Demos-Brown at two theatres (Caldwell and Florida Stage).

CFY returns to Jupiter
The musical Crazy for You was the last great hit for the Richard Aikens incarnation of the Jupiter Theatre, breaking all box office records to that point.  It was a very successful mounting of the show's first post-Broadway production, with Brian Chenoweth headlining the cast. Now, the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, which broke that record (twice), is staging the show, and BroadwayWorld tells us about it.

Speaking of Jupiter
The South Florida Theater Review tells us that the Maltz Jupiter Theatre had an extremely successful fundraiser.
Its eighth annual gala, “A Night in Vienna” raised a record-setting $495,000, said development director Kathy Berman. Last year, the gala raised $325,000. The number of attendees jumped from 312 to more than 370.
They held the event at the Breakers.  Maybe Actors' Playhouse should take some notes; they're cramming almost twice that number into their theatre, and raising only about a third as much.

For Whom The Bell Tolls...
The Faster Times ponders the end of theatre criticism.
The question of whether theater critics are critical is really at least three questions:
Is theater criticism necessary for anybody or anything – like, say, for the theater?
Are theater critics too negative?
Is the field dying out?
Our own thoughts; whatever else one chooses to believe, theatre is about being seen and talked about.  Being seen and talked about by people who do so professionally implies that what we do must be worthy of such consideration.

When the critics are gone, coverage is gone, and interest will wane.  People have to know you're there, and a review is, for better or worse, an effective tool for spreading the word.  At the very least, it places awareness in the news.

While it's obvious that where there is no theatre, there is no theatre coverage, but consider that the reverse may actually be the more compelling truth: where there is no theatre coverage, there is no theatre.

Conundrum Pursues The Funny
Conundrum Stages talks about their upcoming showcase.

Down In The Rabbit Hole
The Playground Theatre's Stephanie Ansin is featured in this months' American Theatre Magazine, in an interview with Bill Hirschmann.
"I always want to address everyone's expectations and then turn them on their head," Ansin maintains
Speaking of  Wonderland
Broadwayworld reports that South Floridian Frank Wildhorn's musical Wonderland is getting a cast recording, and fellow South Floridian Janet Dacal is singing Alice. Congratulations to the entire cast and creative team!

Getting Into the Spirit
Palm Beach ArtsPaper takes a look at Ghost Writer, which just opened at Florida Stage.
“Florida Stage is one of about three or four theaters only that will get the first look. It’s really because I know it’s OK if my underwear’s showing a little bit,” he says sheepishly. “That they’ll look through that and see what I’m getting at.”
Truckin'
Arsht POV tells us about a new kind of event they are holding with The Miami Herald.
In January, more than 1,000 people descended upon the Miami Herald parking lot for their first-ever Street Food Truck Friday.
The next event is March 18, and will be themed to coincide with In the Heights.

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