offoffBway.com

Liev Schreiber says, “I come off as psychotic . . . I’m misrepresented as a scary person. I’m not. It’s all about my size and my eyebrows.” Dude, if you have to tell us that… He also mentions that he made the beast with two backs on the Staten Island Ferry. Hey, whatever floats your boat (rim shot). At least he’s a movie star who does lots of theater. Even if he’s not psychotic.

I’M NOT SCARY – New York Post Online Edition: Seven

Joe’s Pub is presenting the dynamic duo of Kiki and Herb. This is a way more intimate way to catch ’em than when they were on Broadway, and maybe they’ll sing some Suicidal Tendencies, so go check ’em out.

Joe’s Pub NYC proudly announces the addition of the following show to our calendar:

Sundays January 7, January 14, January 21 + January 28

KIKI + HERB

“Having reached the heights of Broadway this past summer, Justin Bond and Kenny Mellman bring their characters Kiki and Herb back downtown for a series of late-night shows at Joe’s Pub where people can drink, eat and quite possibly have Kiki walk across their table. Who knows? “”Dare to Suck and let the magic happen!””, Kiki always says…

11:30pm, $20

LOCATION:

425 Lafayette Street (between East 4th and Astor Place) NYC; adjacent to The Public Theater

TICKETS:

By Phone: 212-967-7555

On the Web: www.joespub.com

In Person: At The Public Theater Box Office from 1pm to 6pm and at Joe’s Pub from 6pm to 10pm (both located at 425 Lafayette St.)

TABLE RESERVATIONS: 212-539-8778

Purchase of tickets does NOT guarantee a table reservation; you must call to reserve seats. Seating, as well as standing-room, is available only on a first-come, first-served basis for all shows without a dinner reservation. Two drink or $12 food minimum per person is standard.

In our continuing efforts to put as much information about the original production of DREAMGIRLS as we can, here’s a piece by David Hinckley from the New York Daily News talking about the first three Broadway D’Girls (there’s something they’ve probably never been called before).

New York Daily News – Theater – How the first Dreams came true

Theater Resources Unlimited has more job postings, casting notices, requests for new plays to read, and other hoo-ha than you can shake a script at. (You see what we did there? We made a play on words. We are soooo clever.) The bi-monthly update (see below) has enough to keep you going for at least five months.

TRU Bi-Monthly Update 12/23

Another Jennifer tidbit – Greg Braxton of The Los Angeles Times (reprinted in the Kansas City Star) interviews Ms. Holliday, who says:

Instead of being swept up in the hoopla over the new film adaptation of “Dreamgirls,” Holliday is being swept aside.
“Why is it necessary for them to wipe out my existence in order for them to have their success? It’s scary that they can be so cruel.” [said Holliday]

Well, I don’t think they thought about you at all, actually. Which may not be nice, but when studios produce a $75 million dollar movie, they usually aren’t that concerned with being nice. I don’t think the movie will do any damage to Holliday’s legacy, although admittedly future generations may see Hudson’s version as ‘definitive’, which it isn’t. Then again, this show business, and actors, especially stage actors, always get shafted (see also: Kathleen Chalfant not getting to play her role in Wit for just one glaring example).
As much as we do feel that Holliday is a little over the top in her criticism, this seemed unnecessary:

After weeks of suffering privately with the constant “Dreamgirls” onslaught — particularly the raves surrounding the other Jennifer — she said the final crushing blow came the night before her Ars Nova stint when she watched Hudson on “Entertainment Tonight” as Holliday’s version of “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” from the original cast recording played during the segment.

“When I saw that, I just gave up,” she said. “I thought, ‘This is a hopeless situation. I am being canceled out as an artist.’ ”

Memo to Dreamgirls the movie’s producers: play the new version of the song. If not that’s just mean.

Kansas City Star | 12/25/2006 | It’s no ‘Dream’ for Jennifer Holliday

With the Dreamgirls movie opening this week, and everyone going gaga for Jennifer Hudson who plays Effie, we thought we’d show you a clip of the original Effie, Jennifer Holliday, as she blows the roof off of the 1982 Tony Awards with “I’m Telling You I’m Not Going.”
You also get to see the late, great Tony Randall, who was the host that year.

YouTube – ’82 Tonys–Dreamgirls “And I’m Telling You”

Flavorpill now has multiple sites in its ‘network’, focusing on Art, Music, Fashion, World News, and Books, with this review of a new book about thirtysomethings in New York, including one who works at the Village Voice (now that’s specific). FP started a looong time ago, it’s nice to see them grow and become more important.
BTW Flavorpill folk: need a theater site? (Hint, hint.)

The Scarlett O’Hara Complex
Review by Caroline M. Sun

The Scarlett O’Hara Complex is a southern-fried comedy about a group of close-knit, middle-aged women who suspect “murder” when one of them catches her husband in a compromising position. A cross between Nancy Drew and The Golden Girls, these chatty, catty amateur sleuths set about trying to discover and thwart the plot of their wounded friend. In the process, the looming shadow of gentility cast over southern women by the movie Gone with the Wind is juxtaposed against the real-life violence of southern belles like Blanche Taylor Moore and Lorena Bobbitt.
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Flavorpill LA has an item about – no joke – Machomer, a show by Rick Miller that “eimagines the Bard’s infamous tragedy amidst the hustle and bustle of modern-day Springfield, twisting and mangling the tale to delightful extremes.”
Rick’s other shows include Bigger Than Jesus, and ‘Machomer’ has been touring for 10 years. Must be doing something right. This is kind of in the same vein as Oblivious to Everyone, although this one is of course about fictional characters (Paris Hilton is sort of fictional as well, but, sadly, she exists and Homer Simpson does not, proving that there is no justice in this world). Gotta have a gimmick, and if it’s a good one, more power to ya.
Irvine Barclay Theatre in Cali, Fri 11.24 – Sun 11.26 if you’re out there and want to check it out. If you do, feel free to email us a review. You know us, if it’s even vaguely coherent, we’ll post it.

– Machomer official site
– Rick Miller official site
– Flavorpill LA (listing)

Photo by Robbie Renfrow
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: make a show about a dumb celebrity, then just sit back and count your money.
OK, it’s not quite that easy, and presumably Oblivious To Everyone is pretty good or it wouldn’t be extending. That said, if this were a one-woman show about, say, Florence Kling Harding (she was President Harding’s wife! Come on, you knew that!), odds are it wouldn’t have captured the public’s imagination in quite the same way.
We begrudge no one their success – and we say again, may it run ten years.
Press release follows. Enjoy.

OBLIVIOUS TO EVERYONE,
A ONE-WOMAN PLAY ABOUT THE MEDIA’S FIERCE IMPACT ON WOMEN,
EXTENDS ON NYC’S THEATRE ROW
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