In January, more than a dozen Broadway productions will be shutting down, including “Spring Awakening,” “Gypsy,” “Hairspray” “13,” and “Young Frankenstein.” And there’s little on the horizon to replace them. (Are you really anxious to see “Shrek: The Musical”? Didn’t…
On Wednesday, “A Muppet Christmas–Letters to Santa” made its holiday debut on NBC.
Why am I mentioning that here?
Two reasons.
1. It was co-written by Indianapolis native Hugh Fink, a former SNL scribe and very funny man. (Check out some funny business…
–Let the movie awards season begin. “Slumdog Millionaire”–which IBJ A&E readers got a chance to see earlier this week (see your comments here)–was just named 2008’s Best Film by the National Board of Review. See story here.
–Another potential…
Break out the poodle skirts and leather jackets. Mid-January, 2009, is being taken over by the 1950s. At least, in Central Indiana it is.
Nobody planned it this way. It’s not a part of some cross-promotion. It just seems to be…
A few things I’m thankful for:
–I’m thankful that there’s plenty of material to write about in this blog. And that it has found a loyal readership (between 350 and 900 hits a day).
–I’m thankful for the smart, insightful, fun responses…
Today, I’m just going to serve as your GPS, guiding you to some interesting arts writing from my blog roll. Happy clicking.
–Recent Indy visitor Tyler Green (of IMOCA/IMCPL/IO’s “10 Things I Hate About Contemporary Art”) comments on his recent trek…
I’m still a little groggy from the midnight showing of “Quantum of Solace” last night, so I’m kicking off a new occassional short-attention-span feature here that I’m calling Quick Notes Friday. Welcome aboard.
–This was actually my second time seeing the…
It was encouraging to a see a packed house at the Central Library for the Nov. 9 performance of “Powered by Poetry– Whirl of the Divine.”
It was even better to see that the production itself–a collaboration between Butler University Departments…
An interesting Wall Street Journal piece (read it here) asks why we don’t see conservative political theater. Apart from Tom Stoppard and David Mamet, the writer of the piece “can’t think of a single well-known American or British playwright…
At his strongest when addressing the largely student audience on generationally-specific subjects, stand-up B.J. Novak–best known from his role as Ryan on NBC’s “The Office”–riffed smartly on OnStar, iTunes, Bill Nye, Wikipedia and GoogleMaps during his Thursday night set at…
One of the more convenient excuses given for not going to cultural events is the cost.
Well, with the 25th anniversary Zoobook now in release, that excuse has once again been mitigated.
Yes, I know that there are those of you…
Peter Bart, one of the smarter guys in Hollywood, has an interesting blog over at Variety. His topic: Celebrity interviews. (Find it here.)
In the piece, Bart elequently points out something I’ve felt for a long time now: That most…
Today, some random notes from around the arts world:
–Chris Jones at the Chicago Tribune has an interesting item today about customer service in theaters. See it here. Have you had any overwhelming negative or positive experiences from the front-of-the-house…
This is the time of year that otherwise respectable news outlets begin publishing or broadcasting stories about haunted houses–not just the “guy jumps out at you with a chainsaw” haunted houses but also the allegedly real ones.
Problem is, many of…
Between the upcoming release of Disney’s “High School Musical 3” in theaters–as both an arts journalist and the father of teenage girls, I know a lot about HSM–and my kid’s own real life high school musical (Pike High School’s production…
A few month’s back, I travelled to Louisville to catch the national tour of “Avenue Q.” Not only was I anxious to see the Tony-winning show, but I also wanted to catch it before it came to Indy, the better to…
At some point, I will write about something besides the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s presentation of “Guys and Dolls in Concert” last weekend.
But that point isn’t here yet.
I blogged on one aspect of the show on Saturday. (Find it here, along…
An open letter to Des McAnuff, director of the upcoming Broadway revival of “Guys and Dolls.”
Mr McAnuff,
You don’t know me, but having seen your productions of “The Who’s Tommy,” “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” and “Jersey Boys,”…
The well-sung but nondescript production of “The Sound of Music” currently running at Beef & Boards got me thinking about the musicals of Rodgers & Hammerstein. Some random thoughts:
–The R&H reputation pretty much rests on “Oklahoma!,” “Carousel,” “South Pacific,” “The King…
“Show, don’t tell” is a mantra of dramatic writing. And it’s a mantra pretty much ignored by Gueseppi Verdi in his opera “Il Trovatore.”
In its early scenes, exposition nearly overwhelms, and even when it looks like there’s going to be…
