July 17, 2006
Pictured: Grant Neale & Grant Neale
Photo by Miranda Arden
Summer in New York means FREE SHAKESPEARE and lots of it. New York Classical Theatre has been doing the free Shakey thang since 2000, and director Stephen Burdman did it even before that, so one imagines they know how to give audiences a night to remember. And hey, if you don’t like it, you can always get your money back.
The Comedy of Errors
New York Classical Theatre’s “Shakespeare on the Run”
presents
“The Comedy of Errors” Aug 3-27, FREE!
Thursdays-Sundays at 7pm
at West 103rd Street & CPW inside Central Park ,
All Ages, FREE!
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That Karen – always up to something. This time she’s doing a “9/11-Liza Minelli Tribute”. No, really, she is. Bottom line: she may or may not be your cup of tea (or chocolate – ha ha, bad joke there), but she’s certainly never boring. This show was done before and got some nice notices.
Karen Finley’s 9/11-Liza Minnelli Tribute Returns to Honor 5th Anniversary
MAKE LOVE
3 Shows Only! September 8 – 10 at The Cutting Room
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July 16, 2006
From one of the writers of Grey’s Anatomy! Directed by an actor from Queer as Folk! Starring the second cousin of the director of… okay, not fair.
The title is either a good one or will make you cringe, depending on your level of Eagles fandom. If you prefer Don Henley solo, brother, you’ve found your play. Got good notices in L.A., as well an Ovation Award nomination.
New Play by Grey’s Anatomy Emmy Nominee Premieres
ME, MY GUITAR AND DON HENLEY
October 3 – 24 at The 14th Street Y
** Directed by Queer as Folk’s Peter Paige **
“a gem of a play… crisp, stylish and brutally honest writing” — Flavorpill LA
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Again, this should be the title of a FringeFest show. Basically, the woman was cast in a touring production of Movin’ Out, the musical based on Billy Joel songs. Then her breasts got too big and they fired her. Considering the fact that Twyla Tharp “fired…the show’s assistant director and choreographer after Tharp learned the news” that his wife (also in the show) was pregnant (source), it seems pretty believable that excessive cleavage might’ve been the reason for this dancer’s firing. Not that we know. Just a guess. More pictures by following the link below.
Alice Alyse Broadway Dancer Fired for Enormous Breasts (Video, Photos) » Outside The Beltway | OTB
July 14, 2006
From offoffonline:
The Featured Review, Three Sisters, assesses a contemporary playwright’s updated version of a classic Chekhov play. No longer in turn-of-the-century Russia, Olga, Masha, and Irina are now exiled to the outer boroughs of Manhattan and longing for their beloved Upper West Side duplex.
Okay, that’s just a little too contemporary for our taste. Do they also have pet cats? And was the duplex rent controlled? Did the landlord lock them out when they left the house unattended for the first time in 25 years? Do they browse open houses while waiting for their brunch reservations? Ah, Chekhov, we hardly knew ye.
offoffonline – review – Three Sisters – Rising Phoenix Rep
Three Sisters
EDMOND is a screwy play, to the say the least. Unlike Mamet’s better known work (such as Glengarry Glen Ross, which was also made into a film), this is dark without much redemption for the main character. William H. Macy is the premiere interpreter of Mametspeak onstage (he was supposed to play the lead in EDMOND a few years back, but it didn’t work out) and on screen (he’s incredible in Homicide, a Mamet film that’s just plain weird), so he should go to town with this part. As a film, EDMOND will probably be more real and less surreal than it was onstage, a bit more of a thriller with some extra bite. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Read the review in today’s New York Times for a well-measured opinion.
First Independent Pictures presents the motion picture, EDMOND opening
July 14th in New York City at the Quad Cinema on West 13th Street
and at the Lincoln Plaza Cinema on Broadway between 62nd and 63rd.
Please see www.edmondthefilm.com for more info!
Based on the classic play by acclaimed American writer David Mamet – this grisly, psychological journey is a must see.
Tour-de-force performances by William H. Macy, Julia Stiles and others…!
Edmond (and other plays)
July 6, 2006
This isn’t off-off Broadway at all really, but it sounds great: real Greek theater, from, like, Greeks. The play The Persians. Six performances only: Saturday, September 16 Through Wednesday, September 20, at City Center. And it’s performed in Greek with supertitles. So the illiterate need not apply. Here’s all the info:
THE NATIONAL THEATRE OF GREECE PRESENTS
AESCHYLUS’ THE PERSIANS
DIRECTED BY AND STARRING LYDIA KONIORDOU
For Six Performances Only at New York’s City Center
Saturday, September 16 Through Wednesday, September 20
The National Theatre of Greece proudly returns to New York’s City Center for a limited six-performance run of Aeschylus’ The Persians — the oldest surviving play in history and the only extant Greek tragedy that is non-mythical in theme and based on historic fact — from Saturday, September 16 through Wednesday, September 20. Lydia Koniordou, one of Greece’s most accomplished stage actresses who Ben Brantley of The New York Times describes as “ravishing†and “blazing with conviction and ardor,†heads the cast and directs. The Persians will be performed in Greek with English supertitles. Translation is by Nikoletta Frindzila, sets and costumes are by Lili Kendaka, music is by Takis Farazis, lighting is by Lefteris Pavlopoulos, vocal patterns are by Mirka Gementzaki, and the assistant director is Lilly Meleme.
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July 4, 2006
This is waaaay off-off Broadway – Amherst, MA, to be exact. It does feature a lot of NYC-based artists, though, and we don’t like to be all “I never leave the island of Manhattan”. Some of these sound interesting, and hey, maybe you’ll be traveling and will check some of these out. Full press release follows; for more info visit KoFest.com.
The Ko Festival of Performance Celebrates the Opening of its 15th Anniversary Season with a Gala Weekend of Live Performance –
Three Evenings of Fabulous Fun!
Dates: Friday-Sunday, July 15-17
Times: 8 p.m.
For Reservations call (413) 542-2277. Box office opens July 10.
For further information visit www.kofest.com. or call (413) 427-6147.
Who says you can’t go home again? The Ko Festival of Performance is celebrating it’s 15th birthday by inviting back artists from the last 14 years of the Festival to show Valley audiences their latest work. The festival is opening with a trio of extraordinary events. On Friday, July 14 at 8 p.m., perennial KoFest favorite Ralph Lee’s Mettawee River Company conjures their latest magic with an adventure tale for all ages, Valentyne and Orson, performed under the stars at the Amherst College Observatory lawn. (Remember The Caucasian Chalk Circle (’05) The Heroic and Pathetic Escapdes of Karagiozis (’04) and Psyche (’03))? On Saturday, July 15 at 8 p.m., come to The Ko Kabaret, featuring a fabulous roster of Ko Festival alumnae in an evening of live music, compelling movement, wacky humor and wild performance, all in a stunning environment created from non-traditional and found materials by members of Boston’s hot, young ensemble TENT. Then on Sunday, July 16th at 8pm catch House/Boy, the internationally acclaimed concluding chapter of Nicky Paraiso’s trilogy that began with Asian Boys, which was featured in the 1994 Ko Festival. It is a sweet, poignant and musical look at parental legacies, and the enduring theme of what “home†means to Filipino Americans.
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July 1, 2006
We’re all for something that was off or off-off moving to another theater for an extended engagement. The artists are happy, the people working on the show are happy, and (in theory) audiences are happy. Plus for every show like this that works (that is, nobody loses their entire investment), that makes it that much more likely that another show will move as well (sort of – it’s the old “hey, that worked! Why not this one?” theory). Usually the direction is downtown-to-midtown and this is the opposite, but we’re not going to quibble. From some of the people who brought you BUG.
NILAJA SUN’S “NO CHILD…â€
HEADS DOWNTOWN FOLLOWING SOLD-OUT RUN
ON THEATRE ROW
PERFORMANCES RESUME OFF BROADWAY AT
BARROW STREET THEATRE
SATURDAY, JULY 8, 2006
OPENING SET FOR SUNDAY, JULY 16, 2006
Barrow Street Theatre, Scott Morfee, Tom Wirtshafter, and Epic Theatre Center are proud to announce that No Child…, a solo play written and performed by Nilaja Sun, and directed by Hal Brooks (Thom Pain), will be transferring Off Broadway to the Barrow Street Theatre (27 Barrow Street at 7th Avenue) this summer. Immediately following a sold-out and critically acclaimed run at the Beckett Theatre on Theatre Row, plans were in motion to bring No Child… to a larger audience. The open-ended engagement will begin performances on Saturday, July 8 with an opening night set for Sunday, July 16 at 7:00 p.m. Set Design is by Narelle Sissons, Lighting Design is by Mark Barton, Costume Design is by Jessica Gaffney and Sound Design is by Ron Russell.
No Child… is an unflinching look into the New York City Public Education system by the acclaimed teaching-artist and solo-performer, Nilaja Sun, who transforms into the teachers, students, parents, administrators, janitors, and security guards who inhabit our public schools every day and are shaping the future of America.
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