Mid Hudson Valley Theater Blog: June 2007

Thursday, June 28, 2007

On Stage Mid Hudson Valley June 28 - July 1

Only one show I could find this week for live theater. Good news is I've heard wonderful things about this show (and it features an actor I adore!) - Sorry! I missed the opening weekend of Thoroughly Modern Millie ...

Thoroughly Modern Millie
June 28, 29, 30 July 5, 6, 7 at 8:00 PM
July 1, 8 at 3:00 PM

Golden Stone Productions
Quimby Theatre
SUNY Ulster
Stone Ridge, NY
Call: (845) 687-4758

The Measure of a Man - a new play by Brian Petti
June 29, 30 at 8:00 PM

July 1 at 3:0 PM

Rhinebeck Theatre Society
The Center for Performing Arts in Rhinebeck
Route 308
Rhinebeck, NY
Call: (845) 876-3080

Where I've been for the last week

You may have noticed the lack of posts over the last week or so.

I was in the hospital a little longer then anticipated. Molly is totally worth it - she was born June 21, 2007 at 11:47AM via a planned c-section. She's a big girl, 22 inches long and 10 lbs 4 oz. We're both doing good, but my recovery is going much slower then I'd like.

I anticipate posting to be light for the next few weeks as I recover.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

My Cat ate my Score

We've all heard the excuse "My dog ate my homework" maybe even used it, but the score to the new sequel to Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom was destroyed by his new kitten. I find it amusing that the creator of Cats had his score erased by a kitten. Goes to show you should backup, backup, backup on any type of computer!

After putting felines in the spotlight for nearly two decades, one would think the furry creatures would have more respect for Cats composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.

London's Daily Mail reports that Lloyd Webber's new kitten Otto has managed to destroy the music he has penned for the upcoming sequel to The Phantom of the Opera. The six-month-old cat somehow climbed into the frame of Lloyd Webber's digital Clavinova piano, which features a built-in computer.

The award-winning composer told the London paper, "I was trying to write some new music; Otto got into the grand piano, jumped onto the computer and destroyed the entire score for the new Phantom in one fell swoop." (more)

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Teacher of Student's Iraq play Job in Jeopardy

One of my favorite theater bloggers is making a plea to help the teacher of the students who performed in Voices in Conflict, who's job now may be in Jeopardy.

I just want to second and further publicize Alisa Solomon's plea in last post's Comments to speak up for the rights of Bonnie Dickinson, the teacher at Wilton High School in Connecticut, who shepherded her class in the "Voices in Conflict" docu-drama project consisting of testimony from soldiers in Iraq.

Solomon saw the show and heard in the talkback that despite the show's success both at home and now in some command performances downtown, Dickinson is still being threatened with suspension.

Isn't School and Theater supposed to be educational? Help young people discover the world around them? Encourage them to care about what is going on in the world?

Connecticut Student Play in NYC

Not only did the students who had their show canceled allowed to finally stage their show, but they also got to take it on the road for an off-Broadway premiere!

Backstage at the Vineyard Theater, Taylor Telyan, 18, was bent over an ironing board, ironing her hair. A few feet away, her friend and castmate Tara Ross, also18, was applying makeup; outside their door, a couple of boys were sacked out on a couch, studying notes in binders. They had 35 minutes until their Off Broadway debut.

“The fact that New York City wanted to see our show, I was just blown away,” said Erin Clancy, 18, another castmate.

“It’s been so surreal,” added Michael Ward, 17. “There are actors who spend their entire lives getting here.”

They are all Connecticut high school students and performers in “Voices in Conflict,” a 45-minute show that caused more than three months of controversy. The result is a kind of victory march through three prestigious New York theaters that culminates Friday night at the Public Theater. (more)

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Wednesday, June 13, 2007

On Stage Mid Hudson Valley June 14-17

On stage this weekend in the mid Hudson valley we have three musicals to see. Grab a friend and go see wonderful local live community theater.

Tomfoolery
June 15, 16 at 8:00 PM
June 17 at 3:00 PM

G&S Musical Theater Company
The Center for Performing Arts in Rhinebeck
Route 308
Rhinebeck, NY
Call: (845) 876-3080

Man of La Mancha
June 15, 16 at 8:00 PM
June 17 at 4:00 PM

STS Playhouse

10 Church St.

Phoenicia.
Call: (845) 688-2279

A Little Night Music

June 15, 16 at 8:00 PM
June 17 at 3:00 PM

SummerStar Theatre
Orange County Community College
Middletown, NY
Call: (845) 341-4789

Spring Awakening Post Tony Box Office Bounce

Spring Awakening producers have reason to celebrate. Not only did the acclaimed musical win eight Tony Awards, but the box office has seen a big spike in business since the June 10 Tony telecast began.

By the end of the day June 11 it is expected musical to have taken in between $1.2 and $1.3 million. Pre-Tonys, the musical was averaging $150,000 a day at the box office. (more)

Pretty big bounce, No?

An interesting factoid:

To stage a musical number at Radio City, individual shows are required to foot most of the production costs. That can set a show back more than $200,000, a figure that has producers seeing red. (more)

In this case the gamble paid off - with a high price tag it's no wonder why we saw some shows only performing small numbers.

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Sunday, June 10, 2007

Tony Awards Winners

Since I provided my commentary on the awards in my live blogging coverage. I'll just list the winners here in bold - congratulations to all the winners and shows!

Best Play
The Coast of Utopia
Frost/Nixon
The Little Dog Laughed
Radio Golf

Best Musical
Curtains
Grey Gardens
Mary Poppins
Spring Awakening

Best Book of a Musical
Curtains, Rupert Holmes & Peter Stone
Grey Gardens, Doug Wright
Legally Blonde The Musical, Heather Hach
Spring Awakening, Steven Sater

Best Original Score
Curtains
Music: John Kander
Lyrics: Fred Ebb, John Kander & Rupert Holmes

Grey Gardens
Music: Scott Frankel
Lyrics: Michael Korie

Legally Blonde The Musical
Music & Lyrics: Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin

Spring Awakening
Music: Duncan Sheik
Lyrics: Steven Sater

Best Revival of a Play
Inherit the Wind
Jouney's End
Talk Radio
Translations

Best Revival of a Musical
The Apple Tree
A Chorus Line
Company
110 in the Shade

Best Special Theatrical Event
Jay Johnson: The Two and Only
Kiki & Herb Alive on Broadway

Best Performance By a Leading Actor in a Play
Boyd Gaines, Journey's End
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Brían F. O’Byrne, The Coast of Utopia
Christopher Plummer, Inherit the Wind
Liev Schreiber, Talk Radio

Best Performance By a Leading Actress in a Play
Eve Best, A Moon for the Misbegotten
Swoosie Kurtz, Heartbreak House
Angela Lansbury, Deuce
Vanessa Redgrave, The Year of Magical Thinking
Julie White, The Little Dog Laughed

Best Performance By a Leading Actor in a Musical
Michael Cerveris, LoveMusik
Raúl Esparza, Company
Jonathan Groff, Spring Awakening
Gavin Lee, Mary Poppins
David Hyde Pierce, Curtains

Best Performance By a Leading Actress in a Musical
Laura Bell Bundy, Legally Blonde The Musical
Christine Ebersole, Grey Gardens
Audra McDonald, 110 in the Shade
Debra Monk, Curtains
Donna Murphy, LoveMusik

Best Performance By a Featured Actor in a Play
Anthony Chisholm, Radio Golf
Billy Crudup, The Coast of Utopia
Ethan Hawke, The Coast of Utopia
John Earl Jelks, Radio Golf
Stark Sands, Journey's End

Best Performance By a Featured Actress in a Play
Jennifer Ehle, The Coast of Utopia
Xanthe Elbrick, Coram Boy
Dana Ivey, Butley
Jan Maxwell, Coram Boy
Martha Plimpton, The Coast of Utopia

Best Performance By a Featured Actor in a Musical
Brooks Ashmanskas, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me
Christian Borle, Legally Blonde The Musical
John Cullum, 110 in the Shade
John Gallagher, Jr., Spring Awakening
David Pittu, LoveMusik

Best Performance By a Featured Actress in a Musical
Charlotte d’Amboise, A Chorus Line
Rebecca Luker, Mary Poppins
Orfeh, Legally Blonde The Musical
Mary Louise Wilson, Grey Gardens
Karen Ziemba, Curtains

Best Direction of a Play
Michael Grandage, Frost/Nixon
David Grindley, Journey's End
Jack O'Brien, The Coast of Utopia
Melly Still, Coram Boy

Best Direction of a Musical
John Doyle, Company
Scott Ellis, Curtains
Michael Greif, Grey Gardens
Michael Mayer, Spring Awakening

Best Choreography
Rob Ashford, Curtains
Matthew Bourne and Stephen Mear, Mary Poppins
Bill T. Jones, Spring Awakening
Jerry Mitchell, Legally Blonde The Musical

Best Orchestrations
Bruce Coughlin, Grey Gardens
Duncan Sheik, Spring Awakening
Jonathan Tunick, LoveMusik
Jonathan Tunick, 110 in the Shade

Best Scenic Design of a Play
Bob Crowley & Scott Pask, The Coast of Utopia
Jonathan Fensom, Journey's End
David Gallo, Radio Golf
Ti Green and Melly Still, Coram Boy

Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Bob Crowley, Mary Poppins
Christine Jones, Spring Awakening
Anna Louizos, High Fidelity
Allen Moyer, Grey Gardens

Best Costume Design of a Play
Ti Green and Melly Still, Coram Boy
Jane Greenwood, Heartbreak House
Santo Loquasto, Inherit the Wind
Catherine Zuber, The Coast of Utopia

Best Costume Design of a Musical
Gregg Barnes, Legally Blonde The Musical
Bob Crowley, Mary Poppins
Susan Hilferty, Spring Awakening
William Ivey Long, Grey Gardens

Best Lighting Design of a Play
Paule Constable, Coram Boy
Brian MacDevitt, Inherit the Wind
Brian MacDevitt, Kenneth Posner, and Natasha Katz, The Coast of Utopia
Jason Taylor, Journey's End

Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Kevin Adams, Spring Awakening
Christopher Akerlind, 110 in the Shade
Howard Harrison, Mary Poppins
Peter Kaczorowski, Grey Gardens

Regional Theatre Tony Award
Alliance Theatre, Atlanta, GA

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Blogging the Tony Awards 2007

In summary, it was a predictable Tony awards. I really enjoyed many of the musical numbers from current shows. It's all over for another year - It will be interesting to see if some of the shows that have been slowing in the ticket sales will rebound with renewed interest.

11:00 - Best Musical ... Spring Awakening - Not surprising.

10:45 - Getting down to the last of the awards ... Best Actor & Actress in a Musical and Best Musical. But First - Fantasia performing from The Color Purple - Strong vocal performance. Just have Best Musical left .... the suspense ....

10:30 - Best Play ... Coast of Utopia ... no surprise there. Oooh a performance from Spring Awakening ... very good. Looks like an interesting show - I'll have to put it on my list of shows to see.

10:17 - Back to the Tony's with a performance from Jersey Boys ... What a night ... not all that great. They introduced a synopsis of the "Creative" Tony awards (the ones only viewable on the webcast) Then a performance from Grey Gardens - which was okay....

10:00 - Julie White of The little dog who laughed walked away with best leading actress in a play.

9:45 - Best Play Medley followed by the awards for Best Revival of a Play - Journey's End, interesting bit of information that the play has never been a commercial success in over 100 years.

9:35 - Notice how many theater related commercials there are? It's interesting to see what advertisers think appeals to Tony awards viewers. I don't mind seeing the spots on the different shows - hopefully soon I'll be able to take in one of the new shows.

9:30 - Musicals of the Season Medley ... Best Director of a Musical, Michael Mayer - he mentions sound designers and how they should have a Tony award - good! Finishing up with a performance from Company ... strong vocally, but not terribly interesting to watch. Yawn.

9:15 - Off with the Plays of the season medley ... On to Best Direction of a play ... another one for Coast of Utopia.

9:00 - Another for Spring Awakening - this time Choreography. The Coast of Utopia wins another Tony - Best featured Actress in a play Jennifer Ehle? And now Mary Poppins performance ... Wow, I enjoyed that very much - great tapping for "step in time".

8:40 - Best Performance By a Featured Actress in a Musical went to Mary Louise Wilson, Grey Gardens and the 110 in the shade performance ... what a voice!

8:00 - The start of the Tony telecast .... So far we've had no surprises. After the first Commercial we had a wonderful performance from the new musical Curtains. Spring Awakening has several Tony Awards already ... no surprises there.

7:30 - Watching the Tony Creative Arts awards ... it's a shame that these very essential and under appreciated designers are regulated to a webcast. Because let's face it, without Best Scenic Design of a Play, Best Scenic Design of a Musical, Best Costume Design of a Play, Best Costume Design of a Musical, Best Lighting Design of a Play, Best Lighting Design of a Musical and Best Orchestrations.

You'd be left with a naked Actor on a Blank stage, with no music or sound, in the dark. Yeah, not terribly interesting for the audience.

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Children's Theater Workshop - June 23, 2007

Brewster Theater Company is presenting a Children's Theater Workshop on Bringing Books to Life. This event will take place at Southeast Museum on June 23, 2007 from 2:30-4pm

Anansi
June 23rd 2:30-4:00
ages 7-9
Register by June 20

The workshop involves bring a popular story to life through warm-ups and theater games, making props/costumes and ‘performing’ the story. The cost of the workshop is $10

Location:
Southeast Museum
67 Main Street
Brewster, NY 10509

Register at Southeast Museum or Call (845)279-7500

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Tony Awards News Bits

So today is it ... the TONY awards. If you've ever wanted to know the History of the Tony Awards I wrote about it last year.

So tonight on CBS from 8:00-11:00 PM will be the 61st annual Tony Awards.

In the news:

Tony Award-winning composer Jerry Herman (Mame, Hello Dolly!) is scheduled to receive the Julie Harris Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual Tony Awards Party June 10 in Los Angeles. (more)

Three 2006 Tony Award Winners still on Broadway, a year later:

Three Tony Award winners from last season — The Drowsy Chaperone's Beth Leavel and Jersey Boys' John Lloyd Young and Christian Hoff — not only put in a full day's work on Tony night, they put in a full year.

All three stars continue to perform in their Tony Award-winning roles on Broadway a year after winning the honor — and they don't plan to stop anytime soon. (more)

Nominees are as follows:

Best Play
The Coast of Utopia
Frost/Nixon
The Little Dog Laughed
Radio Golf

Best Musical
Curtains
Grey Gardens
Mary Poppins
Spring Awakening

Best Book of a Musical
Curtains, Rupert Holmes & Peter Stone
Grey Gardens, Doug Wright
Legally Blonde The Musical, Heather Hach
Spring Awakening, Steven Sater

Best Original Score
Curtains
Music: John Kander
Lyrics: Fred Ebb, John Kander & Rupert Holmes

Grey Gardens
Music: Scott Frankel
Lyrics: Michael Korie

Legally Blonde The Musical
Music & Lyrics: Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin

Spring Awakening
Music: Duncan Sheik
Lyrics: Steven Sater

Best Revival of a Play
Inherit the Wind
Jouney's End
Talk Radio
Translations

Best Revival of a Musical
The Apple Tree
A Chorus Line
Company
110 in the Shade

Best Special Theatrical Event
Jay Johnson: The Two and Only
Kiki & Herb Alive on Broadway