Posts in New York
Literal “Rolling Stones” on Broadway

Being able to keep a classic theater alive and intact in this manner shows the significance of theatre in this quickly evolving society that often put more value on new tech than on the classic arts.

The Empire Theater on 42nd Street, the most notable of these moves in recent history, now functions as an AMC movie theater a mere 170ft from where it once stood as a Broadway performance theater.

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Critic Under Fire Has History of Problematic Comments in His Reviews

BroadwayRadio critic, Peter Filichia recently body shamed performers on their weekly podcast. Many have called out the longtime critic while others have defended him by stating this isn’t indicative of him as a writer. However, when looking at some of his previous reviews, Filichia appears to have a history with making these types of comments. They range from racist to describing people with fat phobic terminology.

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The Jimmy Awards is Just the Beginning

Monday could very well be the most important night of their lives.

After bopping around through an exuberant, five-minute mash of songs from currently running Broadway shows – “Tootsie,” “The Cher Show” and “Be More Chill,” to name a few – the 86 nominees stood grinning and red-faced.

“That was an adrenaline run,” said choreographer Keisha Lalama.

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Are Some Roles Too Iconic For Broadway?

I’ve noticed something of a trend at the Winter Garden Theatre over the past few years. Three of the last four productions that have played there have been musicals based on movies with iconic central characters. The one production that did not was about icons, but of a very different sort. The historical figures depicted in “Wolf Hall” are iconic, but not from movies, not from being embodied by a singular actor. Rocky, from “Rocky,” Dewey, from “School of Rock,” and Beetlejuice, from “Beetlejuice,” are very closely tied to the actors who played them originally, actors who were a big part of why the movies were so popular that they were adapted into musicals. As each one of these musicals has come to Broadway, most recently “Beetlejuice,” taking up residence in the Winter Garden this spring, I’ve had the same apprehension: the material may be good for the musical theatre treatment, but who’s going to get stuck toeing the fine line between doing his own thing and imitating an icon?

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OOPS…Britney Spears’s Music In A New Broadway Musical!!! Really???

Now I am not one to judge before a product is released and reviewed but this just feels wrong.  I am personally not a big fan of Spears but there is just something about a musical with her music coming to Broadway. I will be the first to admit I was wrong if it turns out to be a hit.   It seems we are starting to see a trend of musicals coming out with the music of popular artist.

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"Voice of My City" Explores Jerome Robbins's Relationship With NYC

The year 1918 was a good one for culture: it gave us Leonard Bernstein, honored with an exhibit at the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts earlier this year, and also Jerome Robbins, born October 11th of that year, the current subject of such an exhibit, and the namesake of southern border of Lincoln Center Plaza, 62nd Street. Last spring, the library celebrated Robbins's centennial with "Robbins At Night," projecting images of Robbins and his work on the ground just outside its front door from 7pm to 1am, images that sparkled not just with Robbins's creativity but with the reflective specks embedded in the ground of the plaza.

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With Les Moonves Gone, the Tonys Can Have an Exit Strategy from CBS

Years ago, then CEO of CBS Les Moonves told NY Post’s Michael Riedel that as long as he’s at CBS, so will the Tony Awards. This quote came at a time when the ratings were in the basement compared to other award shows. However, a statement like that from the guy who ran the network was certainly a sigh of relief.

But now Moonves is gone due to the many accusations of sexual misconduct. Which means that the Tony Awards’ biggest network champion is gone. And the ratings are still in the proverbial toilet.

So what does this mean for the future of the Tonys on CBS?

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The Issue Over Dimming Lights for Marin Mazzie is Why We Need to Stop Dimming Lights

Following the tragic passing of Marin Mazzie; it’s been announced that the “committee” at the Broadway League has decided to have only six theatres dim their lights in her honor.

Besides the fact that they announced the news in an incredibly cold press release, starting it off with the phrase “The Committee of Theatre Owners has decided to dim the lights” is the type of Broadway pretentiousness that makes my stomach turn.

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