LGBTQ news and entertainment
Having played “Jack” in INTO THE WOODS, I live for this young actor’s response to an unexpected “moment in the woods…”
Bravo!
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Check out the gorgeous new trailer for the new revival of Miss Saigon, which began performances at London’s Prince Edward Theatre in May.
The stunning production features such familiar Schönberg, Boublil and Maltby tunes as “The Movie in My Mind,” “The Last Night of the World” and “The American Dream.”
Starring newcomer Eva Noblezada as “Kim,” Alistair Brammer as “Chris” and Jon Jon Briones as “The Engineer,” this looks to be a MUST-SEE in London.
Only question left – when will Broadway audiences get to see this emotionally powerful production?
More info about the show here.
Thanks for indulging me, faithful readers. I’m currently staging A Chorus Line at Sacramento Music Circus.
This is the closest thing to a “temple” in my life.
This is seriously where I love to be.
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| Actor John Lacy as “Big Daddy” in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof |
At a performance of Cat On a Hot Tin Roof Saturday at the Repertory East Playhouse in Santa Clarita, California, one of the actors was fired for taking matters into his own hands when a heckler continued to yell “fag” from the audience.
From The Wrap:
John Lacy, who played Big Daddy in Tennessee Williams’ classic play that tackles homophobia among other themes, was fired after jumping off stage and physically confronting an audience member who repeatedly made noise and yelled “fag” during emotionally tense scenes, according to audience members’ accounts of the incident on Facebook.
The show apparently continued following the confrontation and concluded to a standing ovation. Lacy was apparently not let go until after the performance.
Lead actor Anton Troy resigned in solidarity with Lacy, writing on the social networking site that the show’s producers should have handled the unruly patron, who had apparently been drinking before the show and returned to the audience after consuming more alcohol during intermission.
“I will not support homophobia or an establishment that doesn’t support its talent,” Troy wrote. “Hate in any form is not something I choose to subscribe to. John is a seasoned professional and an honorable man. It should never escalate to a point where the talent has to handle an unruly drunk in the audience themselves regardless of the outcome. Producers dropped the ball, the fish stinks from the head on down.”
John Lacy has issued this statement:
Amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience at the theatre last. Wish I could say it was positive.
An audience member took it upon himself to heckle us all the way thru Act I, when it persisted in Act II and the producers did NOTHING about it, after admitting to me moments before I walked on stage it was “the drunkest audience they ever had,” and then he called our lead actor a “fag,” I took charge and showed him what was what.
And, get this, the producer, Michael Ovington Michael Owston FIRED ME! Insert laugh track!
Sorry for those who planned on attending. Right is right. Stood up to bullies my entire life, not gonna stop now
A live presentation of Meredith Willson’s Tony Award-winning musical The Music Man will be seen in the near future on NBC, the network’s chairman Bob Greenblatt revealed Monday morning.
No timetable or casting has been set for the production, which will likely follow the previously announced live broadcast of Peter Pan on December 4.
Both come on the heels of NBC’s massively successful telecast of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music, starring Carrie Underwood, last December.
The Music Man tells the story of con man Harold Hill, who arrives in a small Iowa town and attempts to sell the community on the creation of a boys’ band. He suddenly falls for Marian, the local librarian, and his conscience gets in the way of his ill deeds.
Excellent news for theater-goers in Los Angeles and in New York City, via LA Times:
Blythe Danner will return to Broadway in the new Donald Margulies play “The Country House,” which is scheduled to open Oct. 2 in a production by the Manhattan Theater Club. But before bowing in New York, Danner and the play will open at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles for a month-long run starting in June.
As previously announced, “The Country House,” directed by Daniel Sullivan, is set to open at the Geffen on June 11. (The staging will be a co-production between the Geffen and MTC.)
As regular readers of The Randy Report know, I was fortunate to get to know Blythe while appearing on Broadway with her in the first revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Follies. The entire cast was a big family and I’ve stayed in contact with Blythe since. She’s as charming and wonderful a person as you would hope, and her talent continues to know no bounds. (By the way – Tony Award nomination for that performance. Just saying…).
This current theater season, I saw Blythe’s fantastic performance in “The Commons of Pensacola” with Sarah Jessica Parker at the Manhattan Theater Club. Great, great play (which I still think should be brought to Broadway for a longer run), and exquisite performances – especially from Blythe.
I will definitely be seeing “The Country House” in LA. Maybe I can get some Follies alum to join me at the same performance…?
To celebrate my husband Michael’s birthday, we saw the terrific new play by Amanda Peet – “The Commons of Pensacola” – starring Blythe Danner and Sarah Jessica Parker at the Manhattan Theatre Club.
My one word review would be “GO!”
Artfully crafted, this stunning debut play by Amanda Peet is deceptively complex. Based loosely around the “idea” of what Bernie Madoff’s family may have experienced after he stole billions from investors, this play isn’t about the money but the dynamic of betrayal in a family stuck in dysfunction.
Blythe Danner is, not surprisingly, fantastic in the role of mother “Judith.” Blythe’s talent never disappoints. Like all of her work, her performance was layered with charm, nuance, an informing sense of physicality, intelligence and an innate vulnerability.
And Sarah Jessica Parker brings both light and dark to the role of “Becca.” She is both penetrating and poignant as she questions the family around her. The entire cast is very strong, handling the delicate material beautifully.
At one point, four of the lead characters find themselves in the same room facing betrayal – but four different betrayals. Director Lynne Meadow guides the play with a deft hand, unfolding the story in a manner that begins light-hearted and soon comes to bear on the drama underneath.
Excellent work was also on display by lighting designer by Jason Lyons, whose design was sensitive and fluid.
We were lucky that an audience “talk-back” was scheduled after the performance, so we stayed and listened to the cast elaborate on their own approach to the material and questions by the audience on their thoughts and opinions. Really insightful and interesting to hear both sides of a “theater equation” takes away from the experience.
I was fortunate to work with Blythe in the first Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “Follies” in 2001. I was already a big fan of her work, and loved watching her Tony Award nominated performance up close. We’ve stayed in touch over the years and I knew I couldn’t miss this performance.
Afterward, Blythe was great to take a few minutes (on a two show day already!) to chat and wish Michael ‘happy birthday.’
The play is only scheduled to run through January 26, 2014. Considering the excellent reviews and the strong box office, I’m hoping the play moves to Broadway for an open-ended run. The cast, director, playwright and story all deserve to be seen.
GO!
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| Blythe Danner (far left) speaks at a “talkback” with the cast (Sarah Jessica Parker 2nd from right) and audience of “The Commons of Pensacola” |
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| With Blythe Danner after her performance in “The Commons of Pensacola” |
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| Michael, Blythe Danner and I backstage after her performance in “The Commons of Pensacola” |
The relationship between older and younger LGBT community members is an important dynamic that gets lost in much of the advocacy discussion of our community. Please take the time to watch this video and consider contributing any amount to help what I believe is a very worthy project.
Bridging the Gap is a twelve-week intergenerational LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer) theater project.
During the course of twelve free workshops held at SAGE in Chelsea, LGBTQ group members will collaborate to create an original 45-minute play through improvisation reflecting the issues that matter to them. They will build theater skills, celebrate difference, challenge their assumptions about age and have fun! What could be more exciting than exploring the places where food, family (biological and chosen) and sexuality meet!
In New York City, LGBTQ people from different generations have had few opportunities to connect. This has robbed them of opportunities to weave a common history and share the strategies they have used to survive and thrive. Bridging the Gap brings these LGBTQ generations into the same room and uses theater to spark a dialogue between them.
Professional theater artists and community-based practitioners Timothy Connell, Maggie Keenan-Bolger and Sherry Teitelbaum are co-directing a devised, original theater piece exploring the LGBTQ community’s relationship with food. The piece will be created by the LGBTQ people who belong to Bridging the Gap, a free weekly intergenerational theater workshop that uses theater to spark a dialogue between different generations in New York City’s LGBTQ community. Ages in the group range from 19-88. SAGE (Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders) is the group’s community partner.
WHERE? The Jefferson Market Library, 425 Avenue of the Americas (at 10th Street), Greenwich Village, in the Willa Cather Great Room.
WHEN? Saturday, December 14th, 2013 at 2:00 PM.
The show that kept Las Vegas dancing in the aisles for six years, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus’ global smash hit musical MAMMA MIA!, returns to The Strip in Spring 2014 with an open-ended run at The New Tropicana.
“It’s so exciting that MAMMA MIA!is returning to fabulous Las Vegas, ” said creator/producer Judy Craymer. “We are so thrilled to be invited to the New Tropicana. It is the perfect hotel for us to bring the original show back to the Strip amongst the glamour and excitement of this legendary playground.”
“Our newly renovated, state-of-the-art Tropicana Theater is the perfect venue for the return of the show that set the standard for Broadway in Las Vegas,” said Fred Harmon, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Tropicana.
MAMMA MIA! is still one of the most successful musicals ever on the Strip. The show set the precedent for stage musicals in Las Vegas performing more than 2,200 times to over 2 million guests for over six incredible years.
Around the world, the show boasts 38 productions including 15 years and going strong in London’s West End and 12 years on Broadway.
For more information visit www.mamma-mia.com.
At a recent performance of “A Streetcar Named Desire” at Yale Rep, where Joe Manganiello is getting very strong reviews (“His Stanley personifies the fascinating combination of physical irresistibility and unsophisticated viciousness,” says the New Haven Register), Joe decided the sound and distraction of an audience member taking pictures over and over was too much to handle.
From Broadway.com:
After photos were taken during the first two acts, Manganiello reportedly stopped mid-line in the third act to pinpoint the offending audience member, shouting, “Can you stop with the camera? You have no idea how distractin’ it is!” The actor stayed in character as Stanley Kowalski during the aside, and then resumed the scene as if nothing had happened.
Manganiello took to Twitter backstage between the first two acts to issue a warning: “Dear person taking pictures during our show tonight… The ushers are going to be looking for you and you will be thrown out… you are insanely distracting to all of the actors onstage and incredibly rude. If you read this, please leave and don’t come back.”
Look kids – when they ask you to turn off the phones and not take pics – THEY MEAN IT. As an actor myself, I can attest to how distracting it is for audience members to continually take pictures during a performance. So not cool. Good for Joe for staying in character and addressing the situation.
Some have compared this to the famous Patti Lupone meltdown during a performance of GYPSY on Broadway, where during the 11 o’clock number “Rose’s Turn” she stopped the show completely to call out an audience photographer. While I understand the feelings about it, I never liked that approach as a solution. An entire evening was being built to make that number work, and she kills the entire momentum of the show by breaking character. This sounds like a much better way to shut things down and move on.
Bravo, Joe.