Broadway To Vegas

Copyright: April 16, 2023
By: Laura Deni
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A RE-IMAGINED CAMELOT: LESS ISN'T ALWAYS MORE

Andrew Burnap, Phillipa Soo and Jordan Donica lead the cast. Photo: Joan Marcus.

When Alan Sorkin says there is no magic in Camelot he isn't kidding. None what so ever, no matter how you define the word.

It isn't that this fourth revival of Camelot is horribly bad. It's just that it isn't exceptionally good.

Commissioned by Lincoln Center to rewrite the notoriously clunky book, Sorkin removed all of the charm, romance and fantasy. He managed to take a book by Alan Jay Lerner (who should have stuck to writing lyrics), which has always been awkward and confusing and managed to make it worse. The award winning Sorkin who gained international fame for creating and writing The West Wing and whose A Few Good Men was nothing short of exceptional, was determined to make Camelot politically correct and relevant.

Not everything that calls itself entertainment has to be sanitized and "relevant."

Updated revivals can work, such as Parade. The basic reason for Parade's updated success is because Jason Robert Brown who composed the music and lyrics for the original, also did the updating. Jason Robert Brown was always on the same page with himself. In Camelot Sorkin was navigating strange waters and intended to change the musical's focus.

Robert Goulet, Richard Burton and Julie Andrews - each with their own individual look and personality - like most Broadway performers, immersed themselves into their characters. They were believable. In this revival the three actors in the star slots - King Arthur (Andrew Burnap), Queen Guenevere (Phillipa Soo) and Sir Lancelot (Jordan Donica) - could be siblings. They are talented, young actors who can sing, but look like they should be employed as Calvin Klein models. They know their lines but they don't come across as really immersed. They are playing a part but they aren't really into their roles.

It's as though they are college sophomores majoring in poly sci, read some books and are touting justice, truth and honor (as did Superman) but have yet to even do a summer internship. They need guidance. This unusually young cast doesn't reflect that young rulers - even fantasy ones - are surrounded by wisdom. Queen Victoria relied on Lord Melbourne and Queen Elizabeth II looked to Winston Churchill and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Both Victoria and Elizabeth had husbands who served as part of their spines.

In previous editions of Camelot King Arthur relied upon magic. In the current version, there is no support system.

The listing of a dialect coach is baffling since the only accent heard is pure American.

The cast of 27 is headed by Andrew Burnap, Phillipa Soo, Jordan Donica, Dakin Matthews, Taylor Trensch, Marilee Talkington, Camden McKinnon, Anthony Michael Lopez, Fergie Philippe, and Danny Wolohan.

In this revival the fantasy magic which guided King Arthur has been stripped away. That "magic" was one of the key parts that made the musical enjoyable. First was the music, followed by the magic. Sorkin, who should have kept his mits off of the score - even eliminated or switched some of the songs - instead of Guenevere singing I Loved Him Once In Silence now that song is sung by Lancelot and it bifurcates his personality.

The current trend towards political correctness has placed artistic creativity in shackles. The productions become sanitized to the point of boredom and fear of offending everyone and anyone.

In this revival Sorkin has made Guenevere a snarky mouthed, opinionated, "modern" woman who can cause the patron to wonder why would King Arthur love her. Or, as he calls it "a business relationship." His rendition of How To Handle a Woman has been butchered.

Jordan Donica and Andrew Burnap with Phillipa Soo(seated in red dress) and the cast of Camelot in background. Photo by Joan Marcus. .

The arrogant French knight Lancelot comes on strong with a rendition of C'est Moi and If Ever I Would Leave You, then acts like whimp with I Loved (Her) Once In Silence.

Sorkin has also switched around the characters. Morgan Le Fey (Marilee Talkington) who used to be a sorceress with a sweet tooth who can build walls, was a threat to Arthur’s reign and was Mordred’s aunt is now Mordred's mother (Camden McKinnon), and the major reason Guenevere throws a tantrum as Arthur is reunited with his old girlfriend. Morgan Le Fey is no longer a sorceress but a scientist, and, for a time, an opium addict who makes and sells brandy.

Merlyn, (Dakin Matthews) who in the original is a magician who can remember the future and can turn Arthur into a hawk, is now a tutor; The water nymph Nimue was there in a shortened version of the haunting Follow Me but nymph and song disapeared. Even Arthur’s sword-in-the-stone origin story is mocked with credit given to all those who tried to pull it from the stone, thus loosening the sword making it easily slip out.

What Do The Simple folk Do? comes across as lackluster rather than wistful. In several segments, original lines are replaced by political statements.

The Seven Deadly Virtues; Fie on Goodness and Guenevere remain as written.

Phillipa Soo and the cast of Camelot. Photo by Joan Marcus.

The production does have it's upsides. Although Soo was in Hamilton this is the show that will establish Phillipa Soo as a Broadway star. Bartlett Sher's direction is excellent. The sword fight scene and the Maypole segment (The Lusty Month of May) are high points.

Seen in previews at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre, this charmless production is seriously overlong and the sound was terrible. Giving the sound a pass since the sound designers are excellent and it is assumed the sound was fixed by opening night.

Unfortunately, this revival bludgeons the fantasy so many associate with Camelot thanks to the newly widowed Jacqueline Kennedy. A week after the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy in November 1963, Kennedy's widow, Jackie Kennedy, was interviewed by Theodore H. White, an interview that ran in the December 1963 issue of Life magazine. In the interview, Jackie stated that the show's original cast recording had been a favorite bedtime listening for her husband (who had been Lerner's classmate at Harvard University), and that his favorite lines were in the final number: "Don't let it be forgot/ That once there was a spot/ For one brief, shining moment/ That was known as Camelot". She also made a direct comparison to the Camelot storyline, saying, "There'll be great presidents again... but there'll never be another Camelot."

Thus, an association between Camelot and Kennedy's tenure as president formed immediately in the public consciousness, and has remained in the decades since. Lerner later wrote in his autobiography that, soon after the article came out, a touring production of the show at the Civic Opera House in Chicago had to be stopped after those lines were sung: "there was a sudden wail from the audience. It was not a muffled sob; it was a loud, almost primitive cry of pain. The play stopped, and for almost five minutes everyone in the theater - on the stage, in the wings, in the pit, and in the audience - wept without restraint. Then the play continued..."

Unfortunately, this revival not only negates the Kennedy connection but triggers no emotion.

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This is not your typical, totally boring textbook.

In the pages of How To Earn A Living As A Freelance Writer (the first to be lied to and the last to be paid) you'll find sex, celebrities, violence, threats, unethical editors, scummy managers and lawyers, treacherous press agents, sex discrimination; as well as a how-to for earning money by writing down words.

ART AND ABOUT

THE NATIONAL 4: AUSTRALIAN ART NOW

Allison Chhorn, Skin Shade Night Day, 2022. Installation view, The National 4: Australian Art Now, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2023. 4-channel digital video, HD, colour; 12-channel audio; shade cloth, coir. Image courtesy MCA and © the artist. Photograph: Anna Kucera.

featuring new commissions and recent works by an intergenerational and culturally diverse group of artists and collectives.

The National 4: Australian Art Now reflects how artists are responding to some of the most urgent and critical ideas of our times, imagining new ways of seeing and being in the world at a time of unprecedented change.

Reflecting the latest evolutions in contemporary art, the exhibition includes works in diverse media including painting, photography, film, video, sculpture, installation, drawing, sound and performance, encompassing a range of experimental, process-based and socially engaged practices.

MCA artists"

Hoda Afshar (VIC)
Daniel Boyd (NSW)
Eugene Carchesio (QLD)
Allison Chhorn (SA)
Léuli Eshraghi (NT/QLD/Canada)
Ivi (QLD/Aotearoa/Tonga)
Diena Georgetti (VIC)
Simryn Gill (NSW/Malaysia)
Jilamara Arts and Crafts Association (NT)
Mia Salsjö?(VIC)
Kieren Seymour (VIC)
Nicholas Smith (VIC/USA)
Isabelle Sully (The Netherlands/VIC)
Amanda Williams (NSW)
Rudi Williams (VIC)

The National 4: Australian Art Now?at the MCA is curated by Senior Curator, Exhibitions, Jane Devery.

A major survey across four venues. Now open with exhibition on display through July 9, 2023 at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, Australia.

DAVID CLAERBOUT

David Claerbout

Meditation in Peace / Meditation in Pieces is a video installation artist David Claerbout (b. 1969) was born in Kortfijk, Belgium, and graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp in Belgium, and Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He lives and works in Antwerp and Berlin.

Claerbout received a training in painting at first, and is later known for his works mixing photography, video, sound and digital technologies. Through manipulating and experimenting with motion and stillness, time and speed, as well as sound, the artist destabilizes conventional boundaries between visual media, and imbues his video images with multilayered temporalities.

He says that he "sculpts in duration. The definition of duration is different from that of time: duration is not an independent state-like time, but an in-between state." With his large-scale video-based installations, the artist makes the viewer a part of the work: whether by establishing a connection between the projected images on the screen and the audience, or by creating a spatial relationship between the screen itself and the exhibition space, or simply, by allowing a process by which "a single scene can develop into another by the presence of the spectator and a bit of time".

In 2007, David Claerbout was awarded the Will-Grohmann-Preis of the Berin Akademie der Kunste, and in 2010, he received the Peill-Preis of the Gunther-Peill-Stiftung. He participated in the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program from 2002 to 2003. Claerbout was featured in the 2004 Taipei Biennial.

This solo exhibition showcases a selection from his large-scale video works since 1996, which are to be accompanied by a series of sketch drawings, to construct a unique viewing experience in the high-ceiling gallery. On display through June 25, 2023 at the Taipei Art Museum.

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SWEET CHARITY

THE ANDREA BOCELLI FOUNDATION'S GLOBAL HEADQUARTERS in Florence, Italy were visited by Prince Albert and his wife Princess Charlene of Monoco. Founder Andrea Bocelli and his wife Veronica Berti Bocelli, who is the foundation’s vice chair along with one of the foundation’s beneficiaries, Sara Ciafardoni?, greeted the pair. Albert and Charlene toured the Andrea Bocelli Foundation (ABF) GlobaLAB during their visit.

At the foundation’s headquarters in the Palazzo San Firenze Albert and Charlene watched as students took part in a vocational education program. In the music room, the Time to Say Goodbye singer played the piano, performing a few classical songs for the Prince and Princess.

The core mission of the Andrea Bocelli Foundation, which was established by the Bocelli family in 2011, is to "empower people and communities in situations of poverty, illiteracy, distress due to illness and social exclusion by promoting and supporting national and international projects that promote the overcoming of these barriers and the expression of their full potential."

The couple traveled to Italy to commemorate the 160th anniversary of the principality’s consulate in Florence with a gala at the Palazzo Vecchio, the museum and former city hall. In the historic Solene dei 500, which was also a fundraiser for the Andrea Bocelli Foundation, the Prince Albert II Foundation, and Istituto degli Innocenti, a public organization that promotes child welfare. The gala coincided with the centennial of the late artist Silvano Campeggi, who created the iconic posters for movies including Casablanca and Gone With the Wind. During the event his widow, Elena Campeggi, and son Giovanni Battista presented the prince and princess with two paintings Campeggi made of Albert’s famous mother, Grace Kelly.

Charlene and Albert were joined by Bocelli, his wife, Anne Eastwood, Monaco’s ambassador to Italy, and Dario Nardella, the mayor of Florence.

A portion of the proceeds from the evening will? support "key projects for both the Andrea Bocelli Foundation and Prince Albert II Foundation: a synergic collaboration to help promote a more sustainable future through the organizations’ respective missions." The Prince Albert II Foundation has supported ABF projects in the past, including the ABF Water Truck in Haiti.

In related news, it was announced that Andrea Bocelli will be among those performing at a televised Coronaton Concert to be held in the grounds of Windsor Castle on May 7, to mark King Charles III's coronation. Prince Albert and Princess Charlene have confirmed their attendance at the May 6th coronation of King Charles III.

SPREADING THE WORD

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MR. SHAKESPEARE the bard's 459th birthday celebration takes place in San Diego, CA at the Old Globe’s Outdoor Copley Plaza on Satuday, April 22, 2023 from 11:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

The old Globe is celebrating theatre’s longest resident playwright, William Shakespeare, with the Globe’s annual AXIS event Happy Birthday, Mr. Shakespeare - an exciting and festive occasion to celebrate his countless contributions to arts and culture around the world. This event is free to attend and will offer fun activities for kids of all ages to enjoy.

The festivities will include ambient live music, a Renaissance dance workshop with Farah Dinga, a fight choreography demonstration and workshop led by Ben Cole, a puppet show featuring a scene from Twelfth Night presented as a telenovela with Gaston Morineau and Veronica Burgess, sonnet performances from the cast of The XIXth (The Nineteenth), and Shakespeare monologues and scenes performed by M.F.A. students from The Old Globe and University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Theatre Program. Plus, all attendees are invited to join in the Happy Birthday sing-along celebration with cupcakes.

"Shakespeare is central to The Old Globe, as the Globe is to San Diego, so we couldn’t let his 459th go by without a bang," said Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. "We’ve planned a day of fun for the whole family: music, costumes, performances, games, and food. Happy Birthday, Mr. Shakespeare! is one of our favorite AXIS events. It allows us to celebrate not only the words and works of this writer, but also each other, as it brings us together to have fun and embrace our shared humanity."

THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BROADCASTERS (NAB) has welcomed more than Than 160 Countries to its Centennial Celebration at the 2023 NAB Show in Las Vegas, April 15-19.

This year, more than 50 international delegation groups from Latin America, Asia and Oceania, Europe, the Middle East, North America, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean are attending the NAB Show. World-leading companies and technology pioneers will showcase their latest innovations across eight pavilions representing Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Bavaria, France, Korea and Belgium. Moreover, press members from 48 countries are covering the show, and more than 80 of NAB's international year-round media and strategic partners are in attendance.

NAB also is welcoming many international partner organizations including the Argentine Chamber of Professional Audiovisual Equipment Suppliers and Manufacturers (CAPER); Associated Broadcast Experts Society (ABEX) from the Czech Republic; Association of Radio Industries and Businesses Japan (ARIB); Beijing International Radio, TV & Film Exhibition (BIRTV); the Brazilian Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters (ABERT); Broadcast Engineering Society India; Broadcast India; the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU); the European Broadcasting Union (EBU); Future of Broadcast Television Initiative (FOBTV); the International Broadcast Equipment Exhibition (Inter BEE); International Association of Broadcasting (IAB); Japan Electronics Show Association (JESA); Korea International Broadcast Audio & Lighting Equipment Show (KOBA); Korea Radio Promotion Association (RAPA); and the North American Broadcasters Association (NABA).

This centennial NAB Show also welcomes ministries of communications, information, culture, arts, sports, broadcasting and media from all reaches of the world such as Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, South Korea, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Sri Lanka and Tanzania.

LA THEATRE WORKS RECORDS The Confession of Henry Jekyll, M.D. an original, L.A. Theatre Works-commissioned audio play by playwright and screenwriter David Rambo. Inspired by The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, Rambo’s modern-day psychological thriller about the duality of human nature stars Seamus Dever as Henry Jekyll and Robert Hyde. Featuring Laila Ayad, Edita Brychta, Matthew Hancock, Venk Potula and André Sogliuzzo. Directed by Anna Lyse Erikson.

As Jekyll records the history of his years-long struggle to maintain his reputation as a physician, venture capitalist and philanthropist while secretly attempting to suppress a voracious, amoral beast he has long felt lurking within his psyche, his harrowing story is revealed in a series of flashbacks.

Each of the four performances are recorded live in front of an audience for future radio broadcast, digital download and online streaming. A discussion with Les Klinger, one of the world’s foremost experts on the history of crime and horror fiction, and playwright David Rambo was moderated by L.A. Theatre Works producing director Susan Albert Loewenberg following the matinee on April 15.

Final recording performance takes place today at 4.p.m EST at the James Bridges Theater, UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television in Los Angeles, CA.

LOS ANGELES' CENTER THEATRE GROUP has announced that Snehal Desai, is joining the company as its artistic direction beginning in August, working alongside Managing Director and CEO Meghan Pressman.

Desai succeeds Michael Ritchie, who retired at the end of 2021. The theatre company has been led by Pressman and an associate artistic director team of four—including Lindsay Allbaugh, Tyrone Davis, Neel Keller, and Kelley Kirkpatrick—in the interim.

He previously enjoyed a seven-year tenure as producing artistic director of East West Players.

During his time at East West Players, Desai produced and directed three of the company's highest-grossing productions, including a post-Broadway run of Allegiance starring George Takei. Desai currently serves on the board of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, and is a former faculty member of USC's graduate-level Arts Leadership program.

WEST SIDE STORY comes to Dubai Opera in Dubai, UAE with performances April 25 – 30, 2023. A rare touring production featuring Jerome Robbins' original choreography that has thrilled audiences on three continents since 2003 and been seen by over three million people in 28 countries. A new international creative team has been assembled around the renowned Broadway director and actor Lonny Price, who will open the next chapter in the classic musical’s epic success story.

Members of the New York street gang the "Jets" patrol their dusty territory, provocatively snapping their fingers, always on the lookout for their rivals, the Puerto Rican "Sharks." Fiery Latinas dance to sultry Mambo rhythms in the summer heat, dreaming of a better life. In the midst of it all: a great love fighting but failing to overcome the obstacles and prejudices that stand in its way. Trouble is brewing on the Upper East Side.

Maria; Tonight; Somewhere; America – just a few notes of these world-famous songs evoke the unforgettable images and emotions of West Side Story. With its 1957 Broadway premiere, Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, Arthur Laurents and Stephen Sondheim redefined an entire genre, both musically and in terms of dance.

Nominated for seven Oscars and taking home one of the coveted trophies, Stephen Spielberg’s cinematic version of 2021 proves just how unique and timeless this modern interpretation of the "Romeo and Juliet." story is.

Concept and choreography by Jerome Robbins. Book by Arthur Laurents. Music by Leonard Bernstein. Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.

THE WEST END THEATRE Her Majesty's Theatre will be getting a new name. Owned by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and currently home to the London run of The Phantom of the Opera, the venue will become His Majesty's Theatre upon the coronation of King Charles III May 6, as first reported in The Stage.

The venue is one of six West End theatres owned by Lloyd Webber's LW Theatres, a group that also includes the Adelphi, the Cambridge, the Gillian Lynne, the London Palladium, and Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

This won't be the first rechristening. The space opened in 1706 as Queen's Theatre, mostly operating as an opera house. The name has historically changed to match the monarchy, becoming King's Theatre in 1714 with the coronation of George I. The theatre was renamed Her Majesty's Theatre in 1837, and was His Majesty's Theatre from 1901 to 1952 during the reign of King George VI, then Her Majesty's Theatre with the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

KATY PERRY, LIONEL RICHIE AND TAKE THAT will headline the coronation concert on May 7 as part of the celebrations marking the coronation of King Charles III, broadcaster and organizer BBC announced on Friday, April 14, 2023.

Take That (Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen) in performing at the King's party will be their first live show since the Odyssey Tour, four years ago in 2019 Katy Perry was appointed an ambassador of The British Asian Trust by then-Prince Charles in 2020. Andrea Bocelli had performed before Queen Elizabeth II.

Staged in the grounds of Windsor Castle a day after the official coronation ceremony, the concert will also feature international opera star Andrea Bocelli dueting with Grammy-winner Bryn Terfel as well as singer-songwriter Freya Ridings performing alongside classical composer and pianist Alexis Ffrench.

PRINCE EDWARD, THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH Patron of The London Mozart Players Trust, will hold a Concert and Dinner at Windsor Castle on April 19, 2023.

The Trust supports the London Mozart Players, founded in 1949 by Harry Blech to delight audiences with the works of Mozart and Haydn,. The UK's longest-established professional chamber orchestra, with a world-class reputation for adventurous musical interpretations. London Mozart Players are one of the world’s finest chamber ensembles, dedicated to harnessing the passion and talent of our musicians so our audiences can revel in the joy of world-class live performance.

LMP have a unique musical pedigree; its rich history connects it to the greatest names in classical music, while its pioneering approach to music-making marks the orchestra as a leader in terms of outreach, education and diversity. LMP are a versatile chamber orchestra of the 21st century, dedicated to reaching new audiences with classical music.

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SAMUEL D. HUNTER AND SANAZ TOOSSI have been named 2023 winners of the Dramatists Guild's Hull-Warriner Award, for their plays A Case for the Existence of God and English, respectively. The award is presented annually by the Dramatists Guild Council in recognition of works dealing with controversial subjects. Hunter and Toossi will be honored along with other Dramatists Guild Award winners at a May 15 ceremony at Joe's Pub in New York City.

Finalists for the honor included Joshua Harmon for Prayer for the French Republic, James Ijames for Fat Ham, Mona Mansour for The Vagrant Trilogy, and Bruce Norris for Downstate.

Hunter's A Case for the Existence of God made its world premiere Off-Broadway at the Signature Theatre in 2022, directed by David Cromer. The play, about two characters' disparate experiences of marginality, is a 2023 Lucille Lortel Award nominee for Outstanding Play.

Toossi made her New York play-writing debut with English, which also premiered Off-Broadway in 2022, at the Atlantic Theatre Company. The work follows four Iranians in a TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) class that devolves into chaos after the class leader bans Farsi from the classroom. The play won 2022 Lucille Lortel and Obie Awards for Best New Play.

Caridad Svich has been named the winner of this year's Flora Roberts Award. The Guild additionally disclosed two Lifetime Achievement Honors being bestowed in 2023, to satirist Jules Feiffer and, in a joint award, I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It On the Road writers Gretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford.

Winners of the Guild's Horton Foote, Frederick Loewe, Dramatists Legal Defense Fund Defender, and Lanford Wilson Awards will be announced at the May 15 ceremony.

Established in 1919, the Dramatists Guild of America is a national, professional membership trade association that counts playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists writing for the theatre among its members. The Guild was established for the purpose of aiding dramatists in protecting both the artistic and economic integrity of their work.



THE MOTIVE AND THE CUE by Jack Thorne.

Directed by Sam Mendes.

Starring Johnny Flynn as Richard Burton, Mark Gatiss as John Gielgud and Tuppence Middleton as Elizabeth Taylor.

A startling new play on the making of Burton and Gielgud’s Hamlet.

Why would the most famous movie star in the world choose to do a play which everyone already knows? And what lures us back to the same plays, year after year?

Richard Burton, newly married to Elizabeth Taylor, is to play the title role in an experimental new production of Hamlet under John Gielgud’s exacting direction.

But as rehearsals progress, two ages of theatre collide and the collaboration between actor and director soon threatens to unravel.

This fierce and funny new play by Jack Thorne offers a glimpse into the politics of a rehearsal room and the relationship between art and celebrity.

Starring Allan Corduner as Hume Cronyn. Ryan Ellsworth as George Voskovec. Johnny Flynn as Richard Burton. Mark Gatiss as Sir John Gielgud. Aysha Kala as Jessica Levy Tuppence Middleton as Elizabeth Taylor. Luke Norris as William Redfield Michael Walters as Robert Milli + Understudy William Redfield. Laurence Ubong Williams as Hugh McHaffie.

The creatives are: Set Designer Es Devlin - Costume Designer Katrina Lindsay - Lighting Designer Jon Clark - Composer Benjamin Kwasi Burrell - Sound Designer Paul Arditti - Video Designer Luke Halls - Casting Alastair Coomer CDG and Naomi Downham - Associate Director Zoé Ford Burnett - Staff Director Yasmin Hafesji.

Opening April 20, 2023 at the Lyttelton Theatre in London.

THE WORLD GOES 'ROUND by John Kander and Fred Ebb.

In musical theatre, the team of John Kander & Fred Ebb produced iconic songs for unforgettable characters like Roxy in Chicago, the Emcee in Cabaret; Zorba, Chita Rivera’s Spider Woman - not to mention Liza Minelli’s signature number for the film New York, New York.

The World Goes 'Round brings together some of their greatest hits from a life in the theatre in a brand new production featuring celebrity tributes and songs not included in the original production. That, plus a cast of Broadway veterans and DMV all-stars, makes this a landmark production, bringing Kander & Ebb to a new generation.

Featuring: Natascia Diaz, Kevin S. McAllister, Harris Milgrim, Nova Y. Payton, Karen Vincent, and MaryKate Bouillet. The swing is Benjamin Clark.

A co-production of ArtsCentric, Everyman Theatre, and Olney Theatre Center. Performances begin April 19 at the Olney Theatre Company in Olney, Maryland.

AUDITION FROM HELL Written and Directed by Sharon Maroney.

Four seasoned actresses at the top of their game, but slim on prospects, find themselves competing for two parts in a new musical. The audition goes sideways when the director quits, the producer loses her nerve, and tempers flare as past betrayals are revealed. With original music," this humorous and often heartfelt glimpse behind the curtain shares the highs and lows of the compelling yet brutal nature of show business."

Featuring: Laura McCulloch, Isaac Lambm Lisamarie Harrison, Emily Sahler, Laurie Campbell-Leslie, and Courtney Freed.

Elaine Akamian, scenic artist.

April 20 – May 14, 2023 at the Broadway Rose New Stage in Tigard, OR.

GOD OF CARNAGE Written by Yasmina Reza. Translated by Christopher Hampton.

Direction by Nicholas Viselli.

Starring David Burtka, Carey Cox, Gabe Fazio and Christiane Noll.

Winner of the 2009 Tony Award for Best Play, God of Carnage is described as a comedy of manners without the manners.

Set in present day NYC, God of Carnage is the story of two couples who meet for the first time shortly after their respective sons have a nasty schoolyard tangle. Any attempt at a civilized discussion quickly devolves into finger-pointing, name-calling, stomping around and throwing things. And that’s before they break out the rum.

This is the first NYC production of God of Carnage since its 2009 Tony Award winning production.

TBTB will incorporate supertitle captioning and audio description into the design of their production of God of Carnage, making every performance fully accessible to all.

April 18 - May 20, 2023 at Theatre 5 on Theatre Row in New York City.

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This is not your typical, totally boring textbook.

In the pages of How To Earn A Living As A Freelance Writer (the first to be lied to and the last to be paid) you'll find sex, celebrities, violence, threats, unethical editors, scummy managers and lawyers, treacherous press agents, sex discrimination; as well as a how-to for earning money by writing down words.

FINAL OVATION

AL JAFFEE Mad magazine cartoonist known for his fold-ins, died Monday, April 10, 2023, of multiple organ failure at a New York City hospital at the age of 102.

The cause was multiple organ failure, said his granddaughter Fani Thomson.

For 55 years, he encouraged fans of the satiric magazine to mutilate it.

The fold-in was one of the most popular of Jaffee’s creations for Mad, a reversal of the three-page foldouts that were popular in midcentury magazines from Playboy to National Geographic. Instead of revealing a larger image by folding out the page, Jaffee had readers crease the page, accordion-style, to create a new image by obscuring part of the full-page illustration.

Sometimes the fold-ins were jokes and sight gags, but Jaffee also used the platform for social and political commentary. A drawing of 1964 Republican presidential hopefuls Barry Goldwater and Nelson Rockefeller folded in to become nominee Richard Nixon. A Vietnam-era image of soldiers at war folded in to reveal a hypodermic needle in a cautionary piece against drug abuse. A red-carpet event replete with paparazzi folded in to focus on a celebrity entering a rehab center. Jaffee told Yahoo! News in a 2014 interview, "When we’re successful, it’s a funny take on a serious subject. When we fail is when we preach."

Jaffee was a top contributor to Mad for decades – his work first appeared in the magazine’s pages in 1955, he became a regular in 1958, and he continued drawing his fold-ins for Mad until 2019. All those years made him the magazine’s longest-running contributor, one who remained a freelancer for his decades-long career.

Jaffee contributed much more than the fold-in to Mad. He created the popular feature “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions,” in which he unleashed all the ways he would have loved to respond to questions whose answers seemed obvious. In the feature, a single panel would depict an exchange between two people – one asking a "stupid question" and one providing three "snappy answers" to that question. In one, a waiter asks a couple, "Table for how many?" The husband responds, “A hundred and 12 – we like to change seats every few minutes.” “One – my wife will sit on my shoulders." "I don’t know – I can’t count that high, either."

Among Jaffee’s other contributions to Mad were his elaborate drawings of inventions and gadgets – telescoping shoes for walking through puddles, a “head hook” to attach a phone to one’s head for hands-free talking, an electrical outlet with built-in extension cords. Some of his ideas even became the jumping-off points for real-life inventions. It’s hard to say if his “Hip No-Drip Sipper” led directly to the sippy cup, which looks exactly like the cup he drew, but the person who invented a smokeless ashtray cited Jaffee as inspiration in the patent file.

Jaffee attended the High School of Music & Art in New York City, a member of the new school’s first class. There, he not only honed his style; he also met friends who would become his colleagues, including Harvey Kurtzman, who grew up to be the founding editor of Mad. But before Kurtzman got around to founding the iconic magazine, Jaffee worked with other legends, beginning with Stan Lee.

Lee was editor of Timely Comics, the precursor to Marvel Comics, when Jaffee broke into the business in 1941. Timely was building its reputation on the strength of superheroes including Captain America and the Human Torch, but Jaffee’s skills kept him on the gentler side of the business drawing animal comics. His Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal were his best-known creations, though he also drew the teen humor comic "Patsy Walker" and the superhero spoof "Inferior Man," a hapless superhero who at the first sign of trouble runs into a phone booth and puts his civilian clothes back on.

Jaffee’s long career was honored in the industry. He won several awards from the National Cartoonists Society, and he was a member of the Will Eisner Hall of Fame. Those outside the world of comics paid tribute to him as well, such as when The Colbert Report observed his 85th birthday with a cake inspired by the fold-in. It read, "Al, you have repeatedly shown artistry & care of great credit to your field," but when the center was removed, the message that remained was "Al, you are old." Jaffee – who didn’t know about the cake until he happened to turn on the television that night – sent host Steven Colbert a thank-you drawing.

“When you expose hypocrisy or nonsense or plain ol’ stupidity, you want to do it in a way that makes the reader connect the dots. Don’t tell the joke, just hint at the joke. If you over-explain it, it’s no good.” —from a 2017 interview with Vanity Fair.

In 2013, Columbia University acquired Mr. Jaffee’s archive.

His first marriage, to Ruth Ahlquist, ended in divorce. In 1977, Mr. Jaffee married Joyce Revenson. The couple divided their time between Manhattan and Provincetown, Mass. She died in 2020. Survivors include two children from his first marriage, Richard Jaffee of Sebastopol, Calif., and Deborah Fishman of Petaluma, Calif.; two stepchildren, Tracey and Jody Revenson, both of Manhattan; five grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

DAME MARY QUANT the renowned fashion designer, credited with being one of the most prominent designers of the 1960s, bringing miniskirts to the forefront of style in that era, died at her home in Surray, England on Thursday, April 13, 2023. Sh was 93.

She introduced miniskirts and hot pants to the world. Her 'Chelsea look', with short skirts at its heart, went mainstream thanks in part to Quant's partnership with Twiggy, Britain's first supermodel. Her clothes were also popularized by Jean Shrimpton, Pattie Boyd and Cilla Black.

Credited with conceiving the miniskirt and hot pants and developing the mod style during that vibrant decade Mary put the fun in fashion and London became defined by the freedom, energy and popular culture of "The Chelsea Girl."

The V&A's hugely successful Mary Quant exhibition covering the first 20 years of her career, 1955-1975, will open in Glasgow's Kelvingrove Museum on May 20, 2023 after its international tour to Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and Japan, and following its runs in London in 2019 and Dundee in 2020. Immediately after her death the Glasgow Museum announced that "Our thoughts are with Dame Mary Quant’s family, friends, colleagues and fans. Ticket sales for the exhibition have been put on hold for now following her death."

Her husband Alexander Plunket Greene died in 1990 and she is survived by her son Orlando, three grandchildren and her brother Tony Quant.

Next Column: April 23, 2023
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Laura Deni

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