Profile for Ravenclaw

On a somewhat related note, on the Matching Minds With Sondheim podcast this week, there was an interview with Dan Ockrent about his new biography of Sondheim coming out next week. I was unaware of this book but am excited to give it a read. On the podcast, they talked about what they had uncovered in the archives of his letters and Arthur Laurents's. Ockrent complicated a famous story about Sondheim's mother saying to him "The only thing I regret is giving you birth," saying she actually sai...

Kad said: "Beautiful score, but the show always left me sort of cold. It’s a marble statue of a show for me.(I do think the revelation about Clara is borderline camp, though, in both detail and execution)."Borderline camp, you say?....I'm just gonna leave this here...https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0ZyPozPNXd/?igsh=aWVzejUxMmFuNDVj

So fascinated by the choice to produce a teen production of Caroline, or Change and how the teens are responding to the material.I agree with what others are saying that functionally it gives the show a lift and a break after the emotionally taxing "Lot's Wife" but I've thought there's more to it than that--beyond the water imagery, it seems to me that "salty" has to do with the "pillar of salt" as well.In "Lot's Wife," Caroline asks god:"Murder me God down in that basement,murder my dreams s...

pc1145N said: "Today's matinee was cancelled after the show was scheduled to begin, 2:00pm CST.Does anyone know why?"It's covid-related. Cases are surging now--Chicago Shakes had to cancel Lord of the Rings earlier this week for the same reason. I saw another local show that had 14 actors out with covid this weekend. This current strain must be really rough because it's been a while since we've seen this level of absences.

NOWaWarning said: "NakedMaid said: "Full disclosure, I saw the Mendes revival (and the movie) and most of my reaction is based in knowing the piece via that lens."What Mendes revival? The Broadway revival was directed by DavidLeveaux if that's the production you're referring to."To be fair, Leveaux first directed it at the Donmar in the 90s under Mendes's tenure as artistic director. It's an easy enough mistake

From what I understand, Mendes had a strong vision for the show--some of which was toned down during previews--and Bernadette fit her performance to that vision. By many accounts, near the end of the run, Bernadette began to do "her own" Rose, which was noticeably different from the show that opened a year prior. Probably for the better. With Gypsy, much like King Lear or Hamlet, you build the production around the actor in the lead role, not the other way around. Laurents built a production ...

I'm not going to claim that Broadway is ruined, but I do think it's a fair point to note that the trend has been toward bigger, flashier, higher-stakes affairs. I think that "pretty good" is not good enough to justify the price of a Broadway ticket for most audiences, so everything must be the biggest, the best, the loudest, the fastest, etc., and for those of us who make it a priority to see a lot of work, that can get exhausting, and pieces (usually found off-Broadway or regionally) which o...

When you say "updated" do you mean modern dress or does the text make contemporary allusions as well? In Jamie Lloyd's A Doll's House, for example, the actors all wore contemporary clothing but text was projected on the back wall reading "1879"--implying that while the actors were dressed in modern clothing, the show was still set in another period (like how nobody in Chicago wears period-appropriate attire but we understand very clearly what decade we are in through other cues). Does the tex...

For me, the Encores production was nearly perfect. I doubt Weidman's book revisions will get close to what David Ives's revisions did--spinning a thread of logic while totally preserving the wacky tone, clearing out the clutter of the piece, and letting the score truly shine. I've wished for years that the Encores book would become the officially licensed version (like Follies), but, alas.

Speaking from the regions, I want to throw two names in the mix that have done exceptional work, in my opinion, again and again.First is Dennis Jones. Who, of course, has choreographed a couple of Broadway shows (quite impressively, in my opinion). I find his movement creative, original, exciting, and deeply based in story. He was a protegee of Stroman, and the influence is clearly felt. He's a person whose work I always seek out, and I'm surprised his Broadway work hasn't made him a more rec...

Someone who knows more about copyright law than I can correct me, but I doubt this film would ever get made because of the trademarked characters and names as well as copyrighted material of the show, and I'm sure Marvel would never give permission as they seem to want desperately for the world to forget this misfire of a show ever happened. Does anyone remember the documentary shot by the producer's son that supposedly had all the juicy details but never saw the light of day? That said, I ha...

But Lookingglass HAS given audiences good nights out, and presented shows that people would want to see--"Lookingglass Alice" and "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" were remounts of some of their most financially and critically successful productions, the former of which has been regularly revived to sold out crowds for decades. Both are delightful, creative, inventive, accessible, and just plain fun."Vilette" was a new production, and therefore riskier, and reviews were not as kind to that one, but...

Subscriptions have been dying a slow death only accelerated by the pandemic. It used to be a show with mixed reviews could play to decent houses because of loyal subscribers, but now the gap between the hits and the flops is bigger than ever. People don't want to lock down dates a year in advance. Add to that Lookingglass's slow return from the pandemic (they didn't return to live production until November of '21 and then delayed due to the omicron cancellations, so they sat dark for months a...

Astonishing.As Ben Brantley said,"Allow me to echo re "Into the Woods": There have been many talented interpreters of the Baker's Wife since Joanna Gleason brilliantly originated the role. But Sara Bareilles is the first I've seen to match Gleason's human complexity, while providing her own free-wheeling spin."https://twitter.com/BenjBrantley/status/1562128829925269506

Take a look at James Shapiro's book Shakespeare in a Divided America. There's a lengthy chapter about Kiss Me Kate, detailing the particulars of the development of the show, the story of how Bella Spewack's work became diluted by contributions from her ex-husband, all the stuff mentioned in that American Theatre article shared earlier in this thread, just with more information and depth. Suffice it to say, there were absolutely differences in opinion among the original creative team about how...

jacobsnchz14 said: "To those who have seen the film and the musical, is their introductory scene at the reception desk and elevator still there? Lemmon and Remick play off of each other very well there and was curious whether it's a scene or song in the show."I haven't seen the film, but the two characters meet on a boat (a cruise ship?) in this version. Introduces a water motif that runs throughout the play (and there''s a little pool downstage that light reflects off of).

The National Theatre's His Dark Materials was a technical marvel... so much that some say it was a detriment to the play...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4f14uO27eI

It feels a little disingenuous to me when I hear people say "how many gay actors have won oscars for straight roles?" in this context because this is a play, not a movie. If the question were how many gay actors have won Tonys for straight (or sexuality-unspecified) roles, it's a different list--off the top of my head, Simon Russell Beale, Ben Platt, Gavin Creel, Billy Porter (I know there's disagreement about this character's sexuality), David Hyde Pierce, Andre de Shields, and I'm sure ther...

Dollypop said: "Does this version include "Mr Monotony"?"I should hope not, as that was a Jerome Robbins number.

jkcohen626 said: "I wonder if the orchestrations for this count as new? I'm pretty sure JRB said that they have more instruments than they originally had. Not really so familiar on what counts as new orchestrations or if they fulfilled that."I'm pretty sure that they just added more string players to the same parts, the orchestrations themselves didn't change. Except for the new numbers that weren't part of the original Broadway production (i.e. "The Glory," which was added for the Donmar pro...