Tennessee Williams @ 100

Tennessee Williams was born 100 years ago today.

To mark his birthday excerpts from an American Theatre Wing seminar, "Interpreting Tennessee Williams," a remarkable one-time-only meeting of cast members from two concurrent Williams revivals on Broadway (2005) -- Natasha Richardson, John C. Reilly and Chris Bauer of "A Streetcar Named Desire" and Jessica Lange and Christian Slater of "The Glass Menagerie."

Astor Place Riot

Tonight are the Oscars. We will find out who is allegedly the best. Despite the fact that our political disputes have become so nasty, in the last 150 years we seem to have become a bit more civilized in the way we determine who is the best actor. In 1849 the Astor Place Riot broke out in New York City, killing at least 25 and injuring over 100. The riot was brought on by a dispute over who was the best Shakespearean actor, Edwin Forrest, an American or William Charles Macready, an Englishman. There were deeper underlying reasons for riots, like relations between the US and Britain, and class conflicts. Still I trust that no one will be killed at the Academy Awards tonight, unless someone gets trampled to death trying to get a glimpse of the Red Carpet.

Astor Place Riot

The Cripple of Inishmaan

A trailer for the Druid's production of Martin McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmaan. I saw it last night at the Kennedy Center. It is a serious play, but this trailer does not capture how funny it is.

Let Me Down Easy

Last week I went to the Arena Stage to see Anna Deavere Smith's one woman play, Let Me Down Easy. This is s great show. It deals with Health care in this country, but it also deals a lot with death

Here is Smith discussing the show with Bill Moyers.

The 39 Steps

Last week I went to the Hippodrome to see a production of The 39 Steps. This is a theatrical re-imagination of Hitchcock's famous movie. It took me a little while to warm to the show. While the play is almost an exact replication of the scenes from the movie, the tone of the play is totally different.

The play consists of broad physical humor, with minimal sets. The characters from the movie are recreated on the stage by just four actors. After a while it becomes very impressive to see the movie so faithfully recreated, but at the same time totally changed. It was really a feat for one actor to play multiple characters in the same scene.

A few of the scenes were recreated on the stage with shadow play, as in the scene with the main character being chased by airplanes in the video below. The play also contains numerous references to other Hitchcock films. The airplane chase scene below is a recreation of one of the scenes from Hitchcock's film North by Northwest.

All in all, in was a very original and well acted play.

The Red Rose Girls - the Musical

There is a Broadway musical in development about the Red Rose Girls. This seems like fodder for a great musical. I just wonder how much of their art work will be incorporated into the show. Here is a video about the Girls that the producers have created.

The Red Rose Girls

Never Too Young For Shakespeare

Learning Hamlet at 30 months. This kid has a future.

A Little Night Music

Everything about A Little Night Music was great. The only criticism I could think of is that Desiree, the character Catherine Zeta Jones plays, should be just a bit past her prime. By no stretch could you say that Cathernine Zeta Jones is even a little bit past her prime. But I am willing to over look this for the sake of art.

Here are a couple clips. The stars discuss the show.



Catherine Zeta Jones - Send in the Clowns



Angela Lansbury - Liasons