If Cilento’s name sounds familiar to you it is perhaps because you know him as the original “Mike” in A Chorus Line or as the choreographer of the musical Wicked.

His latest role is as Director and Musical Stager of a revival of Dancin’ which now has the name Bob Fosse’s Dancin’. The show is running at The Old Globe in San Diego through June 5th. The production has already announced it will open on Broadway at a theatre and on a date yet to be determined.

Cilento appeared in the original production of Fosse’s dance-musical Dancin’. The show ran for 1,774 performances and was nominated for seven Tony Awards including two for Fosse (he won Best Choreography) and one for Cliento as Best Featured Actor in a Musical.

Recreating Fosse’s work and bringing into a 21st-century focus was an enormous undertaking for Cilento as he revealed when we spoke via Zoom earlier this month. What follows are excerpts from that conversation that have been edited for length and clarity. To see the full interview, please go to our YouTube channel.

For seventeen years Fosse’s daughter, Nicole, has been trying to get a revival of Dancin’ off the ground. Why did all the pieces come together now?

I think maybe it’s probably the best time after the pandemic; celebrating him in a different way. My whole approach was getting him back out there the way he was as a dancer, what inspired him and what drove him to create what he created. So I did a lot of research and I went back. I know that Dancin’ was something that was out of the ordinary in 1978. He did it in a dance format, three acts, which was unheard of. There was no plot and no storyline and no particular reason to do it. But he wanted to explore and express different styles of choreography and music. I have to hand it to him. It’s a rough thing to do.

If anyone could do something like that it could only have been Bob Fosse.

Exactly. He was always pushing the envelope. Always looking for something new and fresh and innovative; pushing buttons, politically, socially, whatever. Just do it.

Even though you were in the original production, re-assembling his work from 44 years ago must have been an enormous challenge.

I can’t tell you how complicated it is. The big thing with this show was reconstructing Bob’s work. And it wasn’t about me as a choreographer or anyone as a choreographer filling in pieces and making the show work. It needed to come from Bob’s work and I was adamant about that.

Without any complete film of the original production to rely upon, how much did your own personal muscle memory allow you to recall what you had done before?

I was in every number in Dancin‘. It was very complicated. But there’s parts of my body that will just fall right into it. I didn’t do Crunchy Granola, so I have no body awareness. I sang it so I knew what I did up on the ladder, on the sides. I did Percussion, too, so I know what that was. I didn’t know the specific steps. Christine Colby [Jacques], who was in the original company, helped reconstruct all of the dancing material.

Then there’s a whole other part of this show that I wanted to insert viewers in this 21st century kind of world. So we can update it and lift it up into a place where, if Bob was doing this today, what would he do? So that was going on in my head. Corinne McFadden Herrera is my associate and Lauren Cannon is the assistant dance captain/assistant choreographer. They got into it and did the reconstruction, like looking at film work and looking at pieces of choreography and figuring it out. It’s such a long process. So first you have to identify what we want to reconstruct.

Did Fosse leave behind any archives with material you could access?

No. We’d identify the pieces that I wanted to dig into. The girls went and they pulled out the work and started. Then we started picking out pieces of the choreography or steps from the pieces of choreography that we want to string together to represent the number without doing the whole number. Needless to say it’s a very complicated job to take on. But when it’s done correctly, it’s completely rewarding because it’s the essence of him and the essence of his work as a choreographer and as a performer. I hope I managed to capture that and put it on the stage.

The original production was notorious for how strenuous it was on the dancers. There were countless stories of injuries. Is Bob Fosse’s Dancin’ just as difficult to do as the original?

I didn’t water down the the project at all. But the choreography is the choreography. And the dancers today are amazing in their training. They’re so rounded in technique: street dancing and hip hop and all of that stuff. I think their capability of picking up stuff is a little bit faster and easier for them. It’s just the specific style that slows them down because he’s very unique. He had a posture. He was very technical, but yet he wasn’t turned out like a ballet dancer. He was turned in. He wore a hat. He wore his head down, which brought you his vocabulary. He was a little bit hunched over, so it rounded off his shoulders. He had a built in mechanism that kind of like identified his style. It depended how far he wanted explode and how far he wanted to really pull it in.

The revival of Chicago has been running for so long, is there a built-in expectation amongst dancers that what that show presents is textbook Fosse?

It’s very successful and Annie [Reinking] did a really great job. But again, her building was in the style of Bob Fosse. Does that mean that’s Bob Fosse? Kind of, but not really. I think she created a format and a style within Bob’s style. And it became very specific. And I think the derbies and the black clothes and very exaggerated, beautiful body posture moves and stuff like that became iconic in itself. I think it misled a lot of people in thinking, oh, that’s Bob Fosse. This is what he does. And yes, he does that. But he also does 100 other things. And he’s an explosive dancer that wants to fly and he flies. And that’s a complete contradiction to what you see in Chicago. Everything’s very still, very isolated, very perfect. It’s beautiful, but that’s a different part of him.

If A Chorus Line gave an identity to the dancers in a Broadway show who heretofore didn’t have much of an identity, what did Dancin’ do? 

What Michael [Bennett] did was an idea from dancers that I danced with like Tony Stephens and Michon Peacock. They were at a point where they were disgusted that we as ensemble dancers in the show do production numbers, the thing that is carrying the show forward. It could be a horrible show, but the choreography could be amazing. So they wanted to do a show about dancers and they got Michael involved with that to get some dancers in a room. And I think he did an amazing job, too. To have dancers have a voice and a life and a history; where we were coming from and how we got to Broadway and were auditioning on the line.

I think what Bob did with Dancin’ was he made 16 of us principal dancers that were going to do an evening of dance. And we did everything. We sang, we read, we danced. We held the whole show together. So he put us up on another level. When Annie [Reinking] and I got a Tony nomination for Best Supporting Actors in a musical that was completely unheard of. But that’s what he did. He made the world recognize that we were as talented as principals in Broadway shows. We were a principal in a Broadway show, so he really pushed it over the edge for us.

I urge you to watch the full interview to hear stories of how Wayne Cilento got cast by Fosse in Dancin’, the big name star (and former collaborator with Fosse) whom he left to join the show, his experiences performing one of the most emotional parts of Dancin’ – “Mr. Bojangles” and how he chose to reinterpret that number for the new production. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable conversation.

Main photo: The company of Bob Fosse’s Dancin’ (Photo by Julieta Cervantes/Courtesy The Old Globe)

The post Wayne Cilento Can Still Do That Fosse appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Barry Edelstein, the Artistic Director of The Old Globe, knows his Shakespeare. In addition to directing several productions of the playwright’s works for The Public Theater and The Old Globe, he is the author of two books about Shakespeare. Thinking Shakespeare which had a second edition published in 2018 (and also serves as the name for the series) and Bardisms: Shakespeare for All Occasions.

Edelstein serves as the host and guide for these online presentations.

Reciting Shakespeare’s sonnets tonight will be Opal Alladin, Michelle Beck, Kate Burton, Angel Desai, Monique Gaffney, Michael Genet, Bill Irwin (whose participation alone is reason enough to watch this), Lizan Mitchell, Aaron Clifton Moten, Jennifer Paredes, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Herbert Siguenza, Keith Randolph Smith and Blair Underwood.

The sonnets scheduled to be performed include Sonnet 18 (Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?), Sonnet 138 (When my love swears that she is made of truth, I do believe her, though I know she lies,) and Sonnet 29 (When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes I all alone beweep my outcast state).

There is a downloadable PDF of all the sonnets being performed tonight.

Watching Thinking Shakespeare Live is possible on The Old Globe’s website, their YouTube channel and their Facebook page.

The Old Globe has been doing this series since mid-March. If you have the time before or after tonight’s performance, you can watch most of the previous shows on The Old Globe’s website and all of them on their YouTube channel. Which means if you can’t watch Thinking Shakespeare Live tonight, you should be able to see them later.

Photo: First edition of Shakespeare’s Sonnets from 1609

The post Thinking Shakespeare Live: Sonnets! appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

The premise for In-Zoom is best told by The Old Globe. “Two comic minds convene a meeting on Zoom and surprise themselves as they look at our particular pandemic moment and the virtual way we’re living it.”

Bill Irwin is a two-time Tony Award winning actor for his performances in Fool Moon and Who’s Afraid of Viriginia Woolf? Last year he performed his one-man show On Beckett at the Kirk Douglas Theatre.

If you’ve never had the pleasure of seeing Irwin at work, you owe it to yourself to check out In-Zoom. Here’s a sample of his reciting Beckett from a recent series called Art Goes On from Center Theatre Group.

Fitzgerald is a three-time Tony Award nominee for his performances in Waitress, the wonderful revival of Finian’s Rainbow and Young Frankenstein (where he played Igor and you know how that’s pronounced.)

Ten minutes is not a lot of time. Rest assured that they will be well-spent in the company of Irwin and Fitzgerald.

Photo of Bill Irwin courtesy of The Old Globe

The post In-Zoom appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

BREAKING NEWS: Disney’s musical Frozen has closed on Broadway.

American Ballet Theatre has canceled their 2020 Season at the Metropolitan Opera. The shows included are ABT Then and Now, the New York premiere of Of Love and Rage, as well as productions of La Bayadère, Romeo and Juliet, Giselle, The Sleeping Beauty, Jane Eyre and Swan Lake.

Antaeus Theatre Company has canceled all remaining performances of Measure for Measure and their Classic Sundays reading of The Roaring Girl. 

Bob Baker Marionette Theatre has announced postponement of all scheduled performances and events. No tentative re-opening date has been provided.

Boston Court Pasadena has postponed all performances through May 27th.

Their production of Assassins been rescheduled for September 10th – October 18th

The Broad Stage has announced the suspension of all remaining performances in their 2019-2020 season.

Mnozil Brass on March 26th.

Hiromi: Solo on March 28th

Red Hen Press: New Traditions on March 29th

National Geographic Live: Hidden Wild: Secrets of the Everglades on April 9th and 10th

Dee Dee Bridgewater and Bill Charlap on April 11th.

Dance for All on April 13th

USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance April 17th – April 19th

Beethoven, Bagels & Banter on April 19th

Angel’s Bone (co-presented with LA Opera Off Grand) May 1st – May 3rd

Diana Damrau & Nicolas Testé on May 16th

Lynn Harrell, cellist on May 17th

*Broadway in Hollywood has announced the cancellation of SpongeBob Musical at The Dolby Theatre.

The Illusionists, scheduled to play April 14th – April 19th at the Dolby Theatre has been rescheduled for January 12th – January 17th.

The tour of Mean Girls, scheduled to play the Dolby Theatre April 28th – June 7th, 2020 will be rescheduled.

The tour of My Fair Lady, scheduled to play the Dolby Theatre June 12th – July 5th will be rescheduled.

The tour of The Band’s Visit, scheduled to play at the Dolby Theatre July 7th – July 26th, has been suspended.

*The Cher Show is postponing its tour until 2021. Not official announcement yet, but this may impact the Spring 2021 booking at the Dolby Theatre.

*All Broadway Shows in New York have been suspended through September 6th.

Hangmen, which had gone into previews, will not re-open. A revival of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf will not re-open.

Beetlejuice, which was set to close at the Winter Garden on June 6th, is now officially closed. Though a 2021 tour is planned, there are still discussions of moving the show to another theatre.

*Disney’s musical Frozen has officially closed. It is the first long-running show to close as a result of the pandemic. The official closing day is March 11th, the last day of performances before Broadway suspended all performances. The show had 26 previews and 825 performances.

CAP UCLA has announced the suspension of the remainder of the 2019-2020 season.

Center Theatre Group has announced that all remaining shows in the 2019-2020 season have been postponed. This includes 1776 scheduled at the Ahmanson Theatre, King James at the Mark Taper Forum and Sakina’s Restaurant at the Kirk Douglas Theatre.

They join the previously announced postponements of Once on This Island, The Antipodes and the annual Block party.

As it relates to Once on This Island, CTG is working on rescheduling the show. Producers have canceled this show’s tour, but the possibility of a reduced tour post-Coronavirus is being explored.

Cirque du Soleil has announced the cancellation of all performances of Volta scheduled at the Orange County Fair and Events Center in Costa Mesa.

Colburn School has canceled all performances and events through April 12.

East West Players has announced a postponement of the entire run of Assassins. They have also announced postponement of the 54th Anniversary Visionary Awards Gala.

The Echo Theater Company is canceling performances of Poor Clare, scheduled to open March 14, through the end of March. Performances resume April 3. 

*The Ford Theatres summer 2020 season has been canceled.

The Fountain Theatre has suspended the world premiere of Human Interest Story. The April 25 Los Angeles premiere of If I Forget has been postponed to later date yet to be determined. 

Geffen Playhouse has announced the following:

Bernhardt/Hamlet, scheduled to begin previews on April 7th, has been canceled.

Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center has announced the cancellation of the Pina Bausch’s Palermo Palermo as Tantztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch canceled their tour.

Malpaso Dance Company has canceled its spring tour of the United States. Therefore the engagement at the Ahmanson Theatre on May 15th – May 17th has been canceled.

Goodspeed Musicals has postponed their April production of South Pacific. Their fall production of Candide has been canceled.

*The Hollywood Bowl 2020 season has been canceled.

The Industry’s Sweet Land has canceled all remaining performances. They will be offering a filmed version being streamed starting March 23rd.

Laguna Playhouse has made the following announcements:

Hershey Felder’s Monsieur Chopin, originally scheduled for April, has been moved to October of this year.

Rocky Mountain High, a Tribute to John Denver has been rescheduled to January 7th – January 10th of 2021.

They are trying to reschedule Ann sometime in the coming year.

The world premiere of To Sir, With Love, has been canceled.

The La Jolla Playhouse has announced that all performances by or at La Jolla Music Society, La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego Opera and San Diego Symphony will be canceled and/or postponed through the end of March 2020

La Mirada Theatre has announced postponement of all shows through May 10th.

The following shows have been rescheduled:

The Sound of Music will play May 15th to June 7th.

Mamma Mia will play June 12th to July 5th.

They will be rescheduling the following shows:

Bossa Nova Wave (originally scheduled for April 3)

Classic Albums Live – Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours (originally scheduled for April 4)

Circus Science Spectacular (originally scheduled for April 5)

The Center of the Universe (originally scheduled for April 9)

The Brubeck Brothers (originally scheduled for May 12)

La Mirada Symphony (originally scheduled for May 17)

Dance, Dance, Dance! (originally scheduled for May 22)

Sol de Mexico (originally scheduled for June 27)

*LA Opera has canceled the final performance of Roberto Devereux scheduled for March 14th.

Angel’s Bone, scheduled to be performed May 1st – May 3rd, has been canceled as The Broad Stage canceled their remaining events for the 2019-2020 season.

Pelléas and Mélisande, scheduled for May 2nd – May 23rd, has been canceled.

Rodelinda, scheduled for May 8th, has been canceled.

*The Marriage of Figaro, scheduled for May 6th – May 28th, has been canceled.

*Saturday Mornings at the Opera, scheduled for June 6th, has been canceled.

*Great Opera Choruses, scheduled for June 7th at The Soraya, has been canceled.

Lincoln Center in New York has announced that the musical Flying Over Sunset has been moved to the fall as has the opera Intimate Apparel. Both were previously scheduled to open this spring.

Long Beach Opera has postponed until next season its production of The Lighthouse.

*Their planned productions of Billy the Kid (scheduled for May 3rd – May 10th) and Frida (scheduled for June 20th – June 28th) have been canceled.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra has announced postponement of this weekend’s concert, Border Crossings, scheduled for March 12th at the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Monica and on March 13th at The Huntington.

They have also announced cancellation of the Ravel, Strauss + Contreras concerts on March 28th and 29th.

Beethoven + Mendelssohn scheduled for April 30th and May 1st has been canceled.

Sheku plus Eroica scheduled at multiple venues for May 15th – May 18th, has been canceled.

The Los Angeles LGBT Center is postponing its production of Hair that was scheduled to open on March 27th.

Los Angeles Master Chorale has announced the following cancellations:

The Fauré Requiem performances at Walt Disney Concert Hall on March 28th and 29th have been canceled.

The performance of Lagrime di San Pietro at the Musco Center for the Arts at Chapman University on March 19th has been canceled.

Come Away to the Skies: A Celebration of Alice Parker, scheduled for May 17th, has been canceled.

Los Angeles Philharmonic has announced the cancellation of all performances for the rest of the season at Walt Disney Concert Hall. (All concerts through June 6th.)

Manhattan Theatre Club has postponed their planned revival of How I Learned to Drive until next season.

MCC Theatre in New York has announced the All The Natalie Portmans played its final performance yesterday. Hollywood Dreams, which was to have begun previews next week, will be rescheduled.

They also announced that their Miscast 20 gala has been rescheduled from April 6th to June 15th

The Metropolitan Opera has canceled all performances for the rest of this season. This includes all scheduled Live in HD presentations

The McKittrick Hotel in New York, home to Sleep No More, The Woman in Black and Speakeasy Magick, has suspended all performances through April 12th.

Musco Center for the Arts has canceled all performances through early May.

The Music Center has announced that all venues (The Ahmanson Theatre, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Mark Taper Forum and Walt Disney Concert Hall) will be closed until further notice. This impacts the Los Angeles Philharmonic, LA Opera, Center Theatre Group, the Los Angeles Master Chorale and Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center.

A Noise Within has announced the following cancellations:

The remaining performances of The Winter’s Tale, Alice in Wonderland, and all other public events have been canceled through the end of April.

Alice in Wonderland will now open their 2020-2021 season August 22nd – September 13th.

Sweeney Todd, has been rescheduled for September 27th – November 15th.

The Odyssey Theatre is canceling performances of The Serpent through March 29 with performances resuming April 3.

The Old Globe has announced that their productions of Little Women and Faceless will be postponed.

The Open Fist, currently in residence at the Atwater Village Theatre, has suspended all performances of Rorschach Fest.

The Outer Critics Circle Awards, scheduled for May 21st, have been postponed.

The Pacific Symphony has announced the following in relation to their schedule:

Pink Martini on March 13th and 14th has been postponed. They have been rescheduled for June 17th and 18th.

Nowruz on March 28th has been postponed.

The Texas Tenors on April 3rd and 4th has been cancelled.

Verdi’s Otello on April 23rd, 25th and 28th has been cancelled.

Windborne’s the Music of the Rolling Stones: Mick Jagger and Keith Richards 1969, originally scheduled for May 1sts and 2nd, has been rescheduled to June 19th and 20th.

Yang Plays Rachmaninoff, scheduled for May 7th – May 9th has been canceled.

Beethoven’s Razumovsky Quartet, scheduled for May 10th has been canceled.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame with live accompaniment by organist Dennis James, scheduled for May 10th, has been canceled.

Pacific Symphony Youth Ensemble concerts scheduled for May 9th, 11th and 12th has all been canceled.

*The Pantages Theatre has announced suspension of performances of Hamilton through September 6th.

The Pasadena Playhouse has announced that all performances through May 31st.

Ann, scheduled for May 27th – July 28th has been postponed.

Their production of Annie Get Your Gun, scheduled for July 28th – August 23rd has been canceled.

*The Pasadena Pops has canceled their 2020 summer season and will reschedule the following concerts for their 2021 summer season:

Sway with Me: Latin Rhythm and Swing scheduled for June 19
Road to Motown scheduled for July 10
Fleetwood Mac: A Tribute scheduled for July 24
Michael Feinstein Sings Sinatra’s Songbook scheduled for August 14
100 Years of Broadway scheduled for August 28 

The Pasadena Symphony has rescheduled their March 21st Mozart & McGegan concert to May 23rd.

The Public Theatre in New York (and the adjoining Joe’s Pub) has canceled all performances through April 12th.

*Chicago’s Ravinia Festival has canceled their 2020 season.

Roundabout Theatre in New York announced that their productions of Birthday Candles with Debra Messing and Caroline, Or Change will open in the fall. Both shows were on the cusp of starting previews when Broadway theatres shut down.

San Francisco Opera has canceled their summer season scheduled to run June 7th to July 3rd.

*The Segerstrom Center has announced the following postponements, rescheduling and cancellations:

Orange County Millennial Choirs and Orchestras on April 1st has been rescheduled to June 2nd

Shen Yun from April 3rd – April 12th has been postponed

Ailey II on April 11th has been postponed

Chicago from April 14th – April 19th has been canceled

Sibelius Piano Trio on April 17th has been canceled

Clayton Brothers Quintet on April 18th has been canceled

Earth Day Celebration on April 18th has been canceled

Distinguished Speakers Series: President George W. Bush on April 20th has been postponed

Tuesday Night Dance Lessons on April 21st and 28th has been canceled

Laura Benanti from April 23rd – April 25th has been postponed

Best of Dance on April 25th has been canceled

Beckman Arts and Science Family Festival on May 2nd has been postponed.

Paper Planet on May 2nd and 3rd has been canceled.

Celtic Woman on May 2nd has been canceled.

*Les Misérables, scheduled for May 5th – May 17th and rescheduled for October 6th – October 18th has been canceled.

Emerson String Quartet on May 7th has been postponed.

Silent Disco on May 8th has been postponed.

Rock, Paper, Scissors: CUMBIA! on May 15th has been postponed.

Swing Under the Stars on May 29th has been canceled.

*Mean Girls, scheduled for June 16th – June 28th, has been postponed. The venue is hoping to reschedule.

*The Band’s Visit, originally scheduled for August 12th – August 23rd has been rescheduled for April 13th – April 25th, 2021.

*The Lion King, originally scheduled for September 2nd – September 27th, has been canceled.

*Ain’t Too Proud to Beg – The Life and Times of The Temptations, scheduled for November 17th – 29th has been rescheduled for September 14th – 26th, 2021.

*The Donna Summer Musical, originally scheduled for January 12th – 17th, has been cancelled due to a rescheduling of the show’s tour.

*The Cher Show, originally scheduled for April 13th – April 25th has been canceled due to a rescheduling of the show’s tour.

Shakespeare in the Park in New York has canceled this summer’s season.

Soka Performing Arts Center has announced the postponement of the remainder of its 2019-2020 season.

The Soraya has announced the following cancellations and postponements:

The Jerusalem Quartet on April 5th has been canceled.

The Count Basie Orchestra on April 9th has been postponed.

Amir El Saffar on April 16th has been canceled.

Bollywood Boulevard on April 19th has been canceled.

Randy Newman’s Faust on May 9th has been canceled.

Violins of Hope, which was postponed, will have an opening night concert by the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony on January 14th.

South Coast Rep has announced the cancellation of all performances of Outside Mullingar beginning March 13th. (They are “working to make the performance available online. More details will be announced in the coming days.”)

*San Francisco’s Stern Grove Festival has canceled their 2020 season.

Tonality has postponed their A Call to Restore concert that was set to take place on March 15th. Another date will be announced shortly.

The Tony Awards, scheduled for June 7th, have been postponed.

The Verdi Chorus has canceled their Opera Gets Real performances scheduled for April 18th and 19th.

*The Wallis has announced the cancellation of all performances through June 30th.

If you have an event that has been postponed or canceled and would like it included in this list, please send the details to contact@Culturalattache.co

Photo “Comedy/Tragedy on Keys” by Craig L. Byrd

The post Coronavirus Cancellations & Postponements – Updated 5/14/20 appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Dionysus takes on the form of a butch lesbian gardener named Diane (Rami Margron). The goal is to bring the earth closer to its natural order. In order to get the other characters in the play to go along with this idea, Diane will have to use all of her seductive powers. In other words, to be rather like Dionysus.

Jesse Green of the New York Times called George’s play, “astonishing.”  George was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for her 2013 play, The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence.

James Vásquez directs this production of Hurricane Diane. Joining Margron in the cast are Opal Alladin, Jenn Harris, Jennifer Paredes and Liz Wisan.

This looks like not just a very funny play, but also a thoughtful one, too. Perhaps just the kind of play the god of ritual madness and theater might love. Whether he/she goes by Bacchus, Dionysus or Diane.

Hurricane Diane runs 90 minutes and does not have an intermission. There is strong language in the play.

For tickets go here.

The post Hurricane Diane appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

That production was directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson and was awarded the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. (Technically this marked its first Broadway production, but plays that have had extensive life off-Broadway and or regionally that later make their way to Broadway are usually put in the “Best Revival” category.) Santiago-Hudson returns to direct this production.

Jitney tells the story of cab drivers. Specifically cab drivers who are operating without a license. They do so because regular taxis will not make their way to the Pittsburgh Hills neighborhood in the 1970s. When the city threatens to shut down their business, these men have to figure out what to do. The pressure this puts on the men reveals far more than just business challenges.

Wilson first wrote Jitney in 1979 and it was first produced in 1982. The playwright did significant re-writing in 1996 and it is that version that is considered definitive and is being performed here.

Appearing in Jitney at the Old Globe Theatre is a mix of cast members from New York and some new actors:  Francois Battiste, Harvy Blanks, Amari Cheatom, Anthony Chisholm, Brian D. Coats, Steven Anthony Jones, Nija Okoro, Keith Randolph Smith and Ray Anthony Thomas.

To read interviews with cast members Steven Anthony Jones and Francois Battiste, click on their names in this sentence to be directed there.

For tickets go here.

Photo:  Amari Cheatom, Harvy Blanks, and Brian D. Coats in Jitney. Photo by Joan Marcus/Courtesy of Center Theatre Group

The post August Wilson’s Jitney appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

For those somehow unfamiliar with this play, Romeo and Juliet are star-crossed lovers whose families are fierce enemies. That doesn’t change their love for one another. But tragedy ensues when that rivalry finds people being killed and false information being spread quickly.

Romeo and Juliet was the inspiration for West Side Story. There have also been multiple film versions of the story, most famously Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 version and Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 movie.

In this production, directed by Barry Edelstein, Aaron Clifton Moten plays “Romeo” and Louisa Jacobson plays “Juliet.” Other key roles are played by Yadira Correra (Tybalt), Morgan Taylor (Benvolio), Mason Conrad (Paris) and Ben Chase (Mercutio).

I should note that Tybalt and Benvolio are roles usually played by men. One of the exciting things about this production is the casting of Correra and Taylor in those roles.

Edelstein is known for his work directing Shakespeare’s plays having helmed productions of The Winter’s Tale, Othello, The Tempest, Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice and more. His productions have been seen at the Old Globe and also at the Public Theatre in New York.

The key to a successful production of this play is truly the chemistry between the title characters. It also helps for the underlying animosity between the two families to somehow resonate with contemporary audiences. Sadly in our polarized world, that shouldn’t be too hard to do.

The play runs 2 hours and 45 minutes with a 15-minute intermission.

For tickets go here.

Photos by Jim Cox/Courtesy of The Old Globe

The post Romeo and Juliet appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Don (Jonathan Walker), a hard working husband and father, just manages to make ends meet. He works in an office where the things he’s used to being one way suddenly seem very different – from co-workers to the technology used to get the job done. There’s a lot of change in the country that challenges his essential core beliefs. A misunderstanding at work gets wildly out of hand and Don sets out to makes things as he feels they should be. But is that really what he should be doing?

Patricia McGregor, who co-wrote and directed Lights Out: Nat “King” Cole and directed Skeleton Crew at the Geffen Playhouse, directs. The cast features Adrian Anchondo, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Omozé Idehenre and Mike Sears.

Lee, in the program notes for What You Are, explains that his play is not a polemic piece of writing.

“Just because a work of art is political, that doesn’t mean it’s trying to convince you that a particular argument is correct or incorrect. The best political art dissects an issue, looks at it from all sides, and then leaves you with a lot of questions to wrestle with. Part of why I write the plays I do is that I’m really trying to understand something. So when we talk about art being political, I think that we have to step away from the idea that people are trying to convince us of something, and be open to the idea that we the artists may not know. We can explore together, which I feel like is more productive anyway.”

What You Are seems like a play that could be exactly what we need in this place and time in history. Something that inspires discussion, not argument, with the goal of understanding differing points of view.

There is a note on the website indicating this production contains strong language

All images courtesy of The Old Globe.

For tickets go here.

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At this point the challenge for jukebox musicals is to do something more than passing time for a couple hours. Recent shows like Summer and Ain’t Too Proud have done very little to advance the reputation of these musicals. Rather than being biographical (as is On Your Feet as well), The Heart of Rock & Roll tells the story of Bobby (Matt Doyle) who eschews his dreams of being a rock star and joins the working world. His boss, Cassandra (Katie Rose Clarke), has all but given up her personal life for career advancement and now faces the possibility of becoming CEO. How much do you want to bet love gets in the way of it all?

Huey Lewis has been involved in the creation of the show and seems genuinely excited about its prospects.

The New York Times just ran an interesting story about how their critics respond, in varying degrees, to the jukebox musical format.  Only time will tell if they and audiences determine “If This Is It.”

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The premise is classic Neil Simon:  a newlywed couple (Kerry Bishé and Chris Lowell) are trying to start their lives together as husband and wife in New York. But a entirely-too-nosy mother, an eccentric neighbor and a badly thought out double date mean that their start isn’t going to be as easy as they imagined. Thankfully this is perfect Neil Simon territory where he can examine the nature of love with his trademark humor.

Jessica Stone directs the production which also features Jere Burns, Mia Dillon, John Garcia and Jake Millgard. Time will tell if Simon’s humor still holds up in our fast-paced, technology-addicted world. But a play about juggling life, love and work sounds like just what the doctor ordered.

Photo by Jim Cox/Courtesy of The Old Globe

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