Recent posts

#1
Miscellaneous / Re: Streaming Theatre
Last post by scenicdesign71 - May 07, 2025, 05:17 PM
Next To Normal is coming to PBS's Great Performances from the Donmar Warehouse this Friday (check local listings):

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/next-to-normal-about/16693/





...followed on May 16 by the Tony-nominated revival of Yellow Face:

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/yellow-face-about/16696/






#2
Daily Threads / Re: 2-MAY-25 Friday
Last post by DiveMilw - May 04, 2025, 07:13 PM
It was on Friday?  I totally had the date wrong.  I thought it happened on Saturday or Sunday.   :-[
#3
Daily Threads / Re: 2-MAY-25 Friday
Last post by KathyB - May 03, 2025, 09:07 AM
Today is the Kentucky Derby! My picks as of this morning are Journalism and Publisher.

I saw Patti LuPone in concert last night. Fabulous. My favorite moment was her interpretation of a Kate McGarrigle song, "Saratoga Summer Song."
#4
Daily Threads / 2-MAY-25 Friday
Last post by DiveMilw - May 02, 2025, 05:16 PM
I spent Tuesday through Thursday in Los Angeles for work so, of course, I am going on a day trip there tomorrow.    O:-). My co-worker, Steve, and I are going partly because of the aircraft we will fly back home.  (because anyone who works for an airline is a little bit of an airplane geek). Steve wants to do something touristy so we are going to visit the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  Green Day just got a star yesterday so we will be on the lookout for that.  I've never been to that part of LA so it will be fun discovering everything that is there.  
#5
Musicals / Re: Little Shop Of Horrors
Last post by KathyB - Apr 30, 2025, 10:05 AM
The Denver Center's production of Little Shop of Horrors is F A N T A S T I C.
This is a show that I never really "got" before from listening to the various cast recordings. But seeing everything put together, I can see why it's one of your favorites, @scenicdesign71 . Great cast, amazing Seymour and Audrey, fabulous set (maybe too fabulous—it kind of loses that "scrappy little musical" quality when there is obviously a big budget involved) and at least four different Audrey IIs, ranging from  handheld to gargantuan.

I believe there is very limited ticket availability for the rest of the run.


https://www.denvercenter.org/tickets-events/little-shop-of-horrors/
(Scroll to the bottom to see pictures; I can't link to the photos directly.)
#6
Musicals / Re: FLOYD COLLINS, Broadway 20...
Last post by scenicdesign71 - Apr 28, 2025, 09:45 AM
The New Yorker:   Jeremy Jordan Mines Floyd Collins For Its Sonic Gems
                                          Adam Guettel and Tina Landau's 1996 musical about a trapped caver resurfaces on Broadway.

I'm not seeing the supposed tonal or structural mushiness, or the storytelling laxity, that many critics seem compelled to mention even in reviews that could be considered — somewhat surprisingly, given such not-minor reservations — favorable overall.  (And I'm bewildered by Shaw's admission that she "genuinely could not tell you how many people die" over the course of FC's story).  Everybody loves Jordan, and most love Guettel's score.  Comparatively fewer seem to appreciate Landau's work here, either as writer or director, which makes me sad.

Ed.: ...but Jesse Green included her today in his wishlist of Tony nominations, even allowing himself the additional fantasy-factor of including Off B'way in the competition.  So that's nice.  She might or might not get an actual nomination tomorrow; I wouldn't be too surprised either way, but there are a lot of potential Best Director contenders this year.  Musical Revival seems more likely nomination-wise — and if FC were to actually win, I believe Guettel and Landau would receive awards along with the producers; but I'm afraid Sunset Blvd's much splashier alpha-"minimalism" will ultimately take the prize).


#7
Musicals / Re: FLOYD COLLINS, Broadway 20...
Last post by scenicdesign71 - Apr 26, 2025, 01:12 PM
Thanks for re-posting that, @KathyB!  I just re-read it for the first time since your original post, which I was then able to track down (on this daily thread from 2018) by typing "Mental Floss" into this Forum's Search box — I wouldn't have remembered the original site on my own.  But I appreciate your re-posting the link on this thread, where it'll be easier to find.  It's such a great article!


#8
The Work / Re: HERE WE ARE
Last post by Leighton - Apr 26, 2025, 01:06 PM
Looking forward to May 28!
#9
Musicals / Re: FLOYD COLLINS, Broadway 20...
Last post by KathyB - Apr 26, 2025, 07:50 AM
I might as well repost this Mental Floss article, which has been updated for 2025. (I know I posted it once, ages ago, but I can't find the post to link back to it.)

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/544782/1925-cave-rescue-that-captivated-the-united-states-floyd-collins
#10
Musicals / Re: FLOYD COLLINS, Broadway 20...
Last post by scenicdesign71 - Apr 26, 2025, 03:24 AM
NYT:   How a Kentucky Man Trapped in a Cave Became a Broadway Musical
               Floyd Collins was pinned under a rock while exploring a cave in 1925.  That history, recounted in song, is now on Broadway.

(Free link).  This piece advances no revelatory new perspectives on the true events or on the musical, but it does include a few comments from one of the co-authors of Trapped! (out in a new centenary edition last month), who is apparently enough of a fan to have "seen at least twenty productions of Floyd Collins since 1996".