THEATRE BUZZ

+ Upon Learning of the launch of this blog one of my 1040 clients sent me an email about the Mint Theatre.  I had not been familiar with this NYC theatre company.

According to a recent review from the Wall Street Journal he sent me, the Mint Theatre “specializes in unjustly forgotten 20th-century plays. The works they choose, no matter how obscure, are always worthy of revival, and their finely wrought small-scale productions make the strongest possible case for the plays”.

My client told me “Mint Theater used to be in a sixth-floor loft in the West Forties. Now their shows are on Theatre Row”.    

The company is currently offering free on demand streaming of the play “Conflict” through November 1^st.  Click here to find out how to watch.

“Conflict” by Miles Malleson is a political comedy of English manners set against the backdrop of a hotly contested election in 1920’s London. According to the WSJ review, it “combines his two great passions: sex and politics. The result is a provocative romance that sizzles with both wit and ideas”.

You can go here to donate to the Mint Theatre.

+ I remember going to the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn NJ with my family to see professional productions of Broadway musicals and classic operettas as a child.  And for many years, as an adult, my parents, uncle and I had a subscription to the theatre - 4^th and 5^th row on the aisle on the first Thursday night after opening of each show.  I haven’t been back in years – the last thing I remember seeing there was a concert by Michael Feinstein 

PMP has been around for a long time – “In November of 1938, Paper Mill Playhouse opens its doors with The Kingdom of God, a play by Martinez Sierra”.

I recently came across a posting of the theatre’s “Reimagined 2020-21 Season” –

“Paper Mill Playhouse will move forward with a mostly digital season, including several original productions to be captured on the Paper Mill stage and optimistically anticipating bringing smaller audiences back to the theater if that becomes possible by late spring or early summer of 2021.”

+ The Theatre Development Fund (see the link in the left hand margin), which operates the TKTS booth at Times Square in NYC among other things, tells us – “With in-person theatre out of commission for the foreseeable future, many companies and performers from Broadway and beyond are showcasing their work online”.

You can keep up-to-date on what performances are available to watch online here.

Membership in TDF is only $30.00 – well worth the price.  Go here to learn more.

BFN

IT'S A MUSICAL!

 

In 1959, when I was 5 years old, my Uncle Ted took me to see my first Broadway musical – Robert Preston and Barbara Cook in “The Music Man”.  From 1959 through the early 1970s the two of us saw just about every new “age-appropriate” Broadway musical – always a Saturday matinee and always sitting in the front row of the Mezzanine.

I have seen, in addition to traditional Broadway royalty past and present, the Andrew Sisters (2 of them), Lucille Ball, Richard Burton (with and without Elizabeth Taylor), Sammy Davis Jr, Andy Griffith, Monkee Davy Jones, Bette Midler (not as Dolly but as one of Tevye’s daughters), and the original “Match Game” host Gene Rayburn (as Albert Peterson in “Bye Bye Birdie”) on Broadway. 

I saw Barbra Streisand’s Broadway debut, at age 19, in “I Can Get It For You Wholesale” (which starred Elliot Gould, who Streisand would marry) and Liza Minelli’s Broadway debut, also at, I believe, age 19, in “Flora the Red Menace”.  I have seen every Mama Rose except Merman, and I have seen every, I believe, Annie the gun-getter including Merman (in the 1966 revival).

In my 60 years of going to Broadway musicals it is my sincere belief that the greatest and most thoroughly entertaining production number written for a musical is “A Musical” from 2015’s “Something Rotten!”. 

As Wikipedia explains –

“Something Rotten! is an original musical comedy with a book by John O'Farrell and Karey Kirkpatrick and music and lyrics by Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick. Set in 1595, the story follows the Bottom brothers, Nick and Nigel, who struggle to find success in the theatrical world, as they compete with the wild popularity of their contemporary William Shakespeare.”

Sadly “Something Rotten!”, a textbook example of the traditional musical comedy, did not win the Tony for Best Musical (it was nominated for 10 awards but only won one), losing to “Fun Home”, which I did not see, nor want to see.

“Something Rotten” was scheduled as part of the Summer 2020 season at the Forestburgh Playhouse in Forestburgh NY, not far from me (I have seen many shows there since moving to Northeast PA, including Loretta Swit from “M*A*S*H” as “Mame”), but, of course, the pandemic has shut down all live theatre.  Hopefully they will try again next summer.  FYI – next year the Forestburgh will be celebrating 75 years of summer theatre!

Listen to this recording of “A Musical” from the original cast album – click here – and try to identify all the references in the lyrics and music to previous Broadway musicals.

And when things get back to normal, if “Something Rotten” plays at a regional or local theatre near you do go and see it – you will not be disappointed.

BFN

STARS IN THE HOUSE

I have Sirius XM radio in my car.  There are a multitude of station choices, but I listen to only four – ‘60s on 6, Classic Vinyl, Siriusly Sinatra, and On Broadway.

The other day On Broadway host Seth Rudetsky mentioned “Stars in the House”, a daily live-streamed series of “music, community and education” he and husband James Wesley created when the pandemic caused the shut-down of Broadway theatres in March to support The Actors Fund and its programs.  Those who watch live shows can interact with the guests in real time. 

Viewers are asked to donate to The Actors Fund, and the series has so-far raised about $530,000 for the charity.  As the “Stars in the House” website explains - 

“The Actors Fund is a national human services organization that fosters stability and resiliency, and provides a safety net for performing arts and entertainment professionals over their lifespan. Through offices in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, The Fund serves everyone in film, theater, television, music, opera, radio and dance with programs including social services and emergency financial assistance, health care and insurance counseling, housing, and secondary employment and training services.” 

Guests on the series have included Andrew Lloyd Webber, John Lithgow, Jason Alexander, Kristen Chenoweth, Audra McDonald, Tina Fey and many other Broadway actors, writers, composers, and directors. 

I recently watched a “Knots Landing” reunion episode with Joan Van Ark, Ted Shackelford, Donna Mills, Michele Lee, and show creator David Jacobs, and a visit from singer Liz Callaway, that first “aired” on October 9^th. 

BTW – I saw Michele Lee co-starring with tv’s “The White Shadow” Ken Howard on Broadway in the Michael Bennett, Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields musical “Seesaw”, an adaptation of “Two for the Seesaw”, back in 1973.  The show also featured Tommy Tune in the unforgettable production number “It’s Not Where You Start (but where you finish)”.

Past episodes of the series have included other tv and Broadway cast reunions.  

Seth and James have also created a “spin-off” series of play readings by Broadway actors called “Plays in the House”, and Seth hosts the online “Seth Concert Series”. 

BFN