Profile for Alex Kulak2

I remember reading about that song cycle in his obituary, but I didn't know if it was finished or not. It's exciting that it'll see the light of day.

Coincidentally, the composer for the cycle was also the co-arranger for The Emperor's Newest Clothes.

https://youtu.be/dyQg302D1tE?si=OD6g8AIxEivjT4tu

Somehow this completely escaped me until this week. A 30-minute cartoon based on The Emperor's New Clothes that aired on HBO in 2018, featuring Jeff Daniels, Tim Heidecker, Alan Alda, and Allison Pill, with songs by the late great William Finn.

The animation is trash, the voice acting is iffy, and it looks like it was thrown together quickly and sloppily, but the songs are surprisingly catchy and well-written (if unevenly sung). It's kind of cool that Finn was able to lean into his style as much as he did for a kid's project.

As far as I can tell, this is the last musical project that William Finn worked on in his lifetime. It may not be perfect, but it's nice to hear a few more tunes from one of my favorite composers.

I don't know if I'd say there's "very few theaters left". Just going through the roster, even if some of the long-running shows that are losing steam (Gatsby, Moulin Rouge, & Juliet, etc.) stay open through April, there's still plenty of real estate for new shows to come in.

I'll be paying the obscene prices Chicago Shakes charges for tickets, so this better be life changing.

The Brutalist was a masterpiece, and part of that was the music, which I think is one of the best and most iconic film scores in years. I'll be first in line to see this when it comes out.

EvanstonDad said: ""ROB LAKE MAGIC WITH SPECIAL GUESTS THE MUPPETS"

Wow, catchy title."

It looks like what I would type into Google if I couldn't remember the actual name of the show and was just trying to spam keywords to find it.

I wonder who they'll get for Hal. It could work with an actor of any race, but if Hal is a white actor, I think it'll bring in a really interesting dynamic with his relationship to Robert (and his attempts to publish his work after his death) that isn't usually present in the show.

Fordham2015 said: "Full cast recording out tomorrow! First listen to "Andy Payne" on Playbill

https://playbill.com/article/exclusive-listen-to-andy-payne-from-dead-outlaw"

Andy Payne is easily my favorite song in the show, because it's absolutely should not work. It's a charm song that has almost nothing to do with the main plot, featuring a character who we've never seen before and will never see again, but after three minutes, you want to see a full show about him.

I'm BEGGING this show to tour.

Ayo Edebiri is someone I never would imagined in this role, but it almost makes too much sense. She is absolutely going to crush as Catherine.

If you haven't read or seen Proof, I truly think it's up there as one of the best plays of the 21st century. Just one of the most riveting scripts I've ever encountered.

Jeffrey Wright is fantastic casting. Denzel would come off as way too cool and charming for Willy.

Love Kushner as a writer, and his screenplay adaptation of West Side Story was really well-done and kind of underrated, but I'm not sure what he really brings to this project. The original script of Death of a Salesman is pretty airtight.

I hope we get many more great musicals out of Jeanine Tesori, but for my money, I think Fun Home is going to go down as her magnum opus. 

HELL yes. I saw this at Steppenwolf and loved it. I had heard rumblings of a transfer, but I thought it was dead in the water.

This isn't a Jamie Lloyd production, not enough actors in their underwear.

Per this article from Variety, McKellar, along with co-creator Park Chan-wook, have been expelled from the WGA for writing on their HBO series The Sympathizer during the 2023 strike.

Short of using a Ouija Board, I don't know how we're going to get a Stephen Sondheim song about Thomas Matthew Crooks

David Mamet's heel turn used to make me frustrated. Now it just makes me sad. What a bitter, incoherent man. I'm ashamed that I love his plays as much as I do.

On the bright side, this interview is a master class for journalists in how to keep your composure when dealing with an antagonistic interviewee.