Monday, December 23, 2024
Award season is approaching, and the Drama Desk Award nominees for 2018 have been announced. The organization say "The Awards are bestowed annually in May in numerous categories. Nominations are made by the Drama Desk Nominating Committee, the members of which may change each season. The entire active membership then votes on those nominations." It adds, "Professional productions in Manhattan that have a minimum of 21 public performances may be eligible for Drama Desk Award consideration. Our awards season begins immediately following our awards show (check our website for the announcement of our spring awards ceremony) and continue into the following
Author: Jeff Myhre
“Saint Joan” at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
Three-time Tony nominee Condola Rashad stars in the title role of Saint Joan at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Her performance all but guarantees a fourth, and I expect her to win this time. She is, simply, a brilliant actor. In addition to her talents, the Manhattan Theatre Club has assembled a cast with chemistry and expert craftsmanship under the direction of Daniel Sullivan. When the weak link is George Bernard Shaw's rather long script, you have the makings of theatre at its best. The story is set in 15th century France during the Hundred Years' War, and the English are
A Walk in the Woods: The Barrow Group Mainstage
A play about nuclear arms negotiations in the 1980s should be a dated piece of interest only to historians of theatre, and perhaps, of nuclear strategy. Lee Blessing’s “A Walk in the Woods” is as relevant today as it was when it was written almost 30 years ago, though. For one thing, our world hasn’t grown out of nuclear threats, a disappointment felt heavily by those of us who thought the end of the Cold War might mean something better. More importantly, though, Blessing’s script isn’t about throw-weights, megadeaths, SLCMs, ICBMs, Pershing IIs and SS-20s (I’ll spare you the definitions,
The Accidental Club at The Cell
“The Accidental Club” has some rather impressive members: Janis Joplin, Billie Holiday, Judy Garland, Amy Winehouse and Prince. All were unique singers, and all battled against addiction in one form or another. And all lost the fight. Sherrie Scott has pulled these artists together into a one-woman musical-comedy-tragedy that addresses addiction without preaching. It had its workshop performances at the Cell in Chelsea as January became February. She tells the stories of each artist – the joy, the pain and the desire to fill up the emptiness with something they never could find. Today's headlines call it an opiod epidemic, but that
Radio Plays in the 21st Century
Radio Plays in the 21st Century Interview with Cat Parker, Artistic Director of The Articulate Theatre Company Jeff Myhre, Interviewer Before television, there was the "Golden Age of Radio." Plays on the radio were a major form of entertainment, from kid shows like "Little Orphan Annie" to the "Guiding Light" (yes, the show started on the radio), from "The Shadow" to "The Jack Benny Show." Techonology has rendered the form less popular, but it's still one of my favorite things in the entertainment world. Over the holidays, the Articulate Theatre Company staged "ON AIR/On Stage," its exploration into the world of the radio play. Artistic Director
Rising to the Tap
Rising to the Tap Tribeca Performing Arts Center Snapshot Review: Plain Riveting Jeff Myhre, Reviewer Andrew Nemr has a one-man show that is different from the usual single-performer gig. Yes, he tells the story of his life, and no, he isn't really an actor. But you don't have to be an actor to tell your own story. And if you self-identify as a tap dancing, only child, Phoenician-Canadian-American whose parents escaped the Lebanese Civil War on the last bus out of Beirut, well, you have quite a story. Nemr takes us through his life as a loner, bullied in school for being different, who
The Play That Goes Wrong
The Play That Goes Wrong Lyceum Snapshot Review: Three-Stooges Funny Jeff Myhre, Reviewer At some stag in your theatre career (and that includes just being in the audience), you have a performance that isn\\'t exactly good. An actor forgets lines, or props are not where they are supposed to be, or a sound cue doesn\\'t come, or part of the set wobbles or falls. On a particularly bad night, more than one of these things crops up. When they all happen at the same time, you get “The Play That Goes Wrong.” This import from London\\'s West End is currently the longest-running
Josephine: A Burlesque Cabaret Dream Play
Josephine: A Burlesque Cabaret Dream Play SoHo Playhouse Snapshot Review: Baker Would be Proud Jeff Myhre, Reviewer Before Beyonce and Rihanna, before Miss Ross and the Supremes, before the glorious Lena Horne and the great Dorothy Dandridge, there was Josephine Baker. They all stand on her shoulders. She was the first African-American superstar, but because of America's shameful history of race, Baker became who she was in her adopted home of Paris. By my count, her story has been filmed or staged at least four times. There is something about her story that is wonderful, tragic, upsetting and delightful. Tymisha Harris has a
Interview with Richard Vetere A Working Artist
Richard Vetere is that very rare bird, a writer who actually can live on the proceeds of his work. His career spans several years. and he has written successfully for the stage, film and TV as well as publishing novels and poetry. If that weren’t enough, he acts and directs. I interviewed him about a year and a half ago, and with the launch of StageBiz.com, I thought it would be good idea to see what he has been up to since then. Richard, being the kind of fellow he is, agreed to help out by answering my questions. StageBiz: The