Articles

Vote casting: ‘Legally Blonde,’ etc.

Broadway has a new lead actress for “Legally Blonde: The Musical,” thanks to an MTV talent competition (see story here). London and Broadway have also cast talent for revivals of “Grease,” “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” “The…

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You-review-it Monday

So how was your weekend? Did you go through some “Transformations” with ShadowApe Theatre? Take a trip down the yellow brick robe to see “The Wiz”? Take in a Black Expo Summer Celebration concert? Check out Chakaia Booker’s downtown artwork?…

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Dick Lugar makes The Onion

A little light reading for the day, care of The Onion.

It’s the senator’s first appearance in the satiric newspaper since this story in 2004.

Enjoy. Just don’t forward these as real news, please.

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Emmy nominees announced

The Emmy Awards don’t have the same cache–or offer the same box-office boost–as the Oscars or the Tonys. But they do lend prestige to the TV shows and talent that win them.

Because much of my evening time is spent at…

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Summer of the Superhero

There was Iron Man. There was the Hulk. There was Hell Boy. Now, Batman is back.

Summer has long been the time of blockbuster special effects movies, but this year seems disproportionately super hero focused.

What does it say that so many films–not…

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All the music we can handle?

With concerts booked heavily at Verizon Wireless Music Center, the Lawn at White River State Park, the Murat, the Indiana State Fair, Music Mill, the Vogue, the casinos and other venues as well as Indy Jazz Fest, IBE’s Summer Celebration, and RibAmerica, it…

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You-review-it Monday

So did you catch DK’s Gershwin show? Do the Time Warp again with the rest of the “Rocky Horror” fans at the Indianapolis Museum of Art? Or catch the young adult production of “Once on this Island” at Footlite?

Whatever your…

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Your summer reading list

At the top of my reading pile right now is Doug Crandell’s new novel “Hairdos of the Mildly Depressed.” Crandell has Indiana roots, a big heart, and lots of talent and I’m looking forward to gliding into this one.

It will…

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Awarding high school theater?

Forgive the randomness of today’s posting. I’m in a clearing-my-desk frenzy before taking off tomorrow afternoon for a family trip to the Jersey shore. (Thank goodness I have some LA Theatre Works plays on tape to get me through…

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Pretending to like new music

Noted curmudgeon—and very smart and funny writer—Joe Queenan recently threw down the gauntlet at contemporary classical music and those who, in his view, claim to like it.

Some notable quotes from his article “Admit It, You’re as Bored as…

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Smoking ban for ‘Jersey Boys’

Chris Jones at the Chicago Tribune reports that the Chicago production of “Jersey Boys” (an outstanding show, by the way–and that’s me talking, not Jones) has gone smoke free.

He’s not talking about the theater. He’s talking about the…

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Hutcherson visits ‘Journey’ crowd

Last night, the Heartland Film Festival (sorry, I mean Heartland Truly Moving Pictures–I’m still getting used to the new name) added some dessert to a packed advance screening of the new adventure flick “Journey to the Center of…

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You-review-it Monday

It was a long weekend. Surely you found some entertainment beyond the barbecue.

Like me, did you take the opportunity to visit with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra at Conner Prairie…on with the Sanders Family in “Smoke on the Mountain: Homecoming”…

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Att. shoppers: explicit material

My just-over-the-cubicle-wall colleagues at Indiana Lawyer reported yesterday that Judge Sarah Evans Barker “threw out a new Indiana law requiring bookstores and other retailers to register with the state and pay a $250 fee if they want to sell…

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‘Wall*E’: Quality as business plan

“Quality is the best business plan of all.”

So Pixar chief John Lasseter told the L.A. Times.

And the combination of reading that statement and seeing Pixar’s remarkable “Wall*E” last night gives me hope for, well, everything.

I’m not going to…

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Avg. TV viewer is now over 50

Today’s Variety quotes a study stating that the average age of TV network viewers–at least, those viewing shows live and not on DVR–is now 50. That’s the highest it’s ever been.

CBS has the oldest average age viewer, at 54. The…

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You-review-it Monday

So did you visit the “On the Road” scroll at the IMA? Swing to “Swing” at American Cabaret Theatre? Try to understand the great Joe Cocker at Verizon Wireless Music Center?

Let us know what A&E you experienced this weekend.

For me, much…

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Meet Indiana’s new poet laureate

I know the suspense was killing you, so here’s some relief.

As of last week, Indiana has a new poet laureate. He’s Norbert Krapf, a St. Joseph’s College grad with an M.A. from Notre Dame. His name is on 21…

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Mayor Ballard, arts patron

When I attended last night’s sneak preview of the “On the Road Again…” exhibition at the IMA, there was Mayor Ballard.

When I attended Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre’s “Hooray for Bollywood” performance at Pike Performing Arts Center, there was…

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