Broadway To Vegas

Copyright: August 1, 2021
By: Laura Deni
CLICK HERE FOR COMMENT SECTION

THE WOLVES BY SARAH DeLAPPE ARE AT THE DOOR

With the Summer Olympics currently taking place and the viewing public witnessing extreme competition, emotional breakdowns and not just team support but almost overly affectionate responses, The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe is timely viewing.

The 90-minute long play is staged with no intermission. Scene changes are marked by blackouts, with lighting design by Lap Chi Chu. Superb sound design by Stowe Nelson. Believable costumes by Asta Bennie Hostetter.

Laura Jellinek’s ingenious AstroTurf set has transformed the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre into a playing field.

Director Lila Neugebauer helms the ensemble piece which features: Paola Sanchez Abreu, Mia Barron, Brenna Coates, Jenna Dioguardi, Samia Finnerty, Midori Francis, Lizzy Jutila, Sarah Mezzanotte, Tedra Millan, and Susannah Perkins.

Granted, the actors are all teen-agers, at the peak of their physical ability. Yet, this is a grueling physical performance piece. Every movement, be it squats, stretches, practice passes or running has been choreographer by Neugebauer into harmonious precision.

Cast of The Wolves engaging in floor exercises. Photo: LCT

The characters aren't referred to by name, but by their player number.

Talented playwright DeLappe received a Pulitzer Prize for Drama nomination for this creation. The excellent construction of not just dialogue but overlapping rapid fire, multi-topical conversations and the ability to construct individual personalities earned this a Pulitzer nomination.

As this piece of social theater opens, nine teens stand in a circle exercising at soccer practice - members of The Wolves. All would like a college scholarship. Maybe one will grab that brass ring. They scream, talk over each other, throw out insults and basically don't listen. The play is peppered with vile profanity.

Their coach doesn't appear until the end, perhaps explaining the vulgarities. In real lift a coach should be present to encourage the players to keep their eye on the sport, rather than they tongues wagging. But, this is a play with sport practice used as the playing field for teenage-angst.

According to coachad.com "Most schools contacted for this story have a written code of conduct that doesn’t specifically mention cursing but effectively prohibits it. Punishment, athletic directors said, is handled on a case-by-case basis."

The overuse of not just occasional swearing, but almost non stop, coarse profanity stamps girls' sports with a bad name.

Tenn-age girls are by definition excitable and melodramatic. They don't need to use vulgarity to get their points across.

The play construction is a different matter - it's outstanding.

The cacophony of unrelated emotional scuffling include: China; a fight over who said we were taking liberties for granted and who uses tampons. The teenagers' intellectual capabilities are limited to talking about what they have learned in school - as it is pointed out that Cambodian genocide isn't studied until the senior year. The opinions and arguments as to whether somebody who is 90 should be sentenced to prison for life - to one of the members taking a pregnancy test. Did one of the members have an abortion? Afghanistan. Mothers who have died from breast cancer. Catty conversation and gossip mongering becomes perverse. They are loud, giddy - and vulgar. They talk over each other, rather than listening. They vacillate between eating for upper body strength to children of immigrants and hating what their mother buys on Amazon. They call each other 'retarded'.

Cast of The Wolves running. Photo: LCT.

"I hate you! I hate you!" one girl exclaimed. In a heartbeat they can be both evil and kind to the same person.

The Wolves demands much from its team members - actors who are all on stage except for one scene.

In that scene, close to the end of the play, #00 (Lizzy Jutila), goalkeeper, whose off court personality is that of a loner who suffers from an anxiety level which causes her to vomit before each game. She remains after practice, punishing herself by forcing a debilitating practice routine.

It isn't that they are members of a sports team - it's that they are teen age girls. They may be team players when it comes to the sport, but otherwise they are typical of limited attention spans, emotions leaning towards hysterical, gossipy, hormone driven teens with a strong propensity towards the lowest forms of vulgarity, through which they navigate a roadway to aduthood.

Exceptional playwright DeLappe manages to make sense of the teen-ager's incongruities and emotional labyrinth. She also has constructed a distinctive personality in each girl.

They don't possess intellectual prowess or superior leadership but you can tell that the seeds are there. In five or ten years, a few will stand out.

There is nothing profound or terribly important about their conversations. The vicious gossips will stay the course; those with the vulgar mouths with continue to prefer that form of communication. The doormats will continue to be trampled and those who develop a backbone will be resented for changing their personal playing field. All will, in one way or another, survive. All will remember their time on this sports team as one of the highlights of their high school years.

Generation after generation little changes.

You may have one of these teens in your own home - or perhaps you'll recognize your younger self.

The Wolves is streamed through August 15 as part of LCT's "Private Reels", which LCT has made available without charge via Broadway on Demand.

E-Book

Soft back Book

Broadway To Vegas is supported through advertising and donations. Priority consideration is given to interview suggestions, news, press releases, etc from paid supporters. However, no paid supporters control, alter, edit, or in any way manipulate the content of this site. Your donation is appreciated. We accept PAYPAL.

Thank you for your interest.

E-Book

Soft back Book

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

ART LAW 201: PAINTING THE PICTURE OF SALE OF ART DURING A GLOBAL PANDEMIC by Emily Behzadi appeared in the July, 2021 edition of the American Bar Association's entertainment-sports/publications. Behzadi is an Assistant Professor of Law at California Western School of Law. She is the Chair of the ABA Young Lawyer’s Division Entertainment and Sports Committee and the Vice Chair of the International Division for the ABA’s Forum on Entertainment and Sports. In this article Professor Behzadi was assisted by Alexandra Darraby.

In part, the article states:

The 2020 pandemic has occasioned unprecedented challenges to the art market. As an industry once dependent on in-person interactions, COVID has changed the landscape, requiring art galleries to shut their doors, art fairs to be cancelled, and auction houses to move to online bidding. In the first half of 2020, the art industry experienced the permanent closure of many galleries, mergers, and take overs by larger entities.

Last year, global sales of art and antiques were estimated to have reached $64.1 billion.3 While in 2020, the art world continues to witness global sales, it is clear that the global art market will not reach that high turnover this year. Dr. Clare McAndrew, founder of Art Economics, conducted an independent and objective study for Art Basel and UBS entitled The Art Market. In this study, McAndrew conducted a global art market analysis and looked at changing patterns of global wealth and art collecting in different segments of the global art market, including the galleries, auction houses, art fairs, and online sales venues. The report surveyed 795 galleries and 360 high-net worth art collectors around the globe. This is the first major survey of how the pandemic has impacted the art market and it yielded some interesting results.

According to McAndrew’s report, in the first six months of 2020, galleries reported that the value of their sales fell by thirty-six percent on average (with a median decline of forty-three percent).8 Smaller galleries, with turnover of less than $500,000, reported the largest declines in sales, with a drop of forty-seven percent of sales value, while galleries with turnover of less than $250,000 experienced a thirty-nine percent decline in sales. Larger galleries with more resources, locations, and larger-named represented artists were able to offset some of these losses. Smaller galleries, representing emerging artists and with vastly fewer resources, are undoubtedly struggling to remain in business. Many smaller galleries have had to shut their doors indefinitely. Of course, these dramatic drops in sales continue to further the power divide between larger and smaller galleries. Most galleries do not appear optimistic about the rest of 2020 and the beginning of 2021, with respect to sales of fine art and antiques. A majority of the galleries surveyed expected sales to continue to decrease and less than half of the galleries surveyed believed sales are expected to increase in 2021.

McAndrew’s report indicated that galleries with revenues between $250,000 and $500,000 reported a large downsizing of at least thirty-eight percent. Even high-end galleries like Pace Gallery—that furloughed a quarter of its New York staff in early April and David Zwirner Gallery —that reportedly laid off almost forty employees – have seen a dramatic drop in their workforce.

Those significantly impacted by the economic crisis are contractors, freelance workers, and collaborators – personnel who are vital to in-person exhibitions. As a result of cancelled exhibitions and a move towards online sales, brick and mortar locations are, for the moment, obsolete. As a result, those who hang shows, conduct lighting, and prepare soirees for openings, etc. are without work. The Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA), a leading organization of art dealers and gallerists in the United States, released a similar report on their website, surveying the status of art galleries as a result of the pandemic. The ADAA Report showed that as many as seventy-four percent of independent contractors regularly working before March 13th, 2020 are no longer employed. Travel restrictions, quarantine and COVID concerns, the cancellation of exhibitions, and most notably, the significant drop in sales played a key role in these substantial furloughs and terminations.

Auction houses have fared better, but not by much. According to The Art Market, the number of lots sold at auction fell by twenty one percent from the previous year. A more astonishing drop, is in auction turnover, which elicited a drop of forty-nine percent in the first quarter of 2020. Some auction houses are taking a hybrid approach, mixing brick and mortar with online sales. Sotheby’s, in particular, has seen success with this hybrid approach, seeing a $1.5 billion turnover thus far in 2020. On the other hand, Christie’s saw only $1.03 billion. The larger auction houses, such as Christie’s, Phillips, and Sotheby’s, have unsurprisingly garnered more online-only sales in 2020 than they did in all of 2019. However, according to a report by Pi-eX, a London art market analytics firm, the top three public auction houses saw a seventy-nine percent year-over-year drop in revenue during the second quarter of 2020, going from $4.4 billion in 2019 during the second quarter to only $0.9 billion during the same period. The problem still remains, that many potential bidders cannot view the works in person at auction houses prior to the sale. The viability of this new form of virtual live auctions is questionable in a post-COVID world. The theatrics and momentum of public auction sales cannot easily be captured in a virtual environment.

HARVARD ART MUSEUM reopens to the public on on Saturday, September 4. They have announced a new initiative that will make Sundays free to all visitors.

The opening exhibit is Devour the Land: War and American Landscape Photography since 1970 on display September 17, 2021–January 16, 2022.

Devour the Land shines a light on the unexpected and often hidden consequences of militarism on habitats and well-being in the United States. Featuring approximately 160 photographs by 60 artists, the exhibition reveals the nationwide footprint of the U.S. military, the wide network of industries that support and supply its work, and the impacts of - and responses to - this activity. How do photographs portray environmental damage that can be difficult to see, much less identify and measure? By posing such questions, the exhibition provides visitors a space to consider our current challenges and shared future. At the same time, the works on view also suggest how preparations for war and the aftermath can sometimes lead to surprising instances of ecological regeneration and change.

UNIQLO TATE PLAY OPENS AT TATE MODERN

Ei Arakawa

in London inviting visitors of all ages to transform the floor of the Turbine Hall into an ever changing work of art - part of a transformative project by artist Ei Arakawa, which launches UNIQLO Tate Play.

UNIQLO Tate Play’s first project is inspired by the Gutai group, radical Japanese artists who wanted to change the world through painting, performance and child ren’s play. For the group’s Outdoor Gutai Art Exhibition of 1956, Yoshihara Jiro created the groundbreaking work Please Draw Freely, a large board on which people were free to draw and paint. To kick off UNIQLO Tate Play, contemporary artist Ei Arakawa has expanded and drawn inspiration from this idea at Tate Modern as a gigantic interactive installation: Mega Please Draw Freely.

Over the next six weeks, Mega Please Draw Freely will see thousands of visitors completely transform the Turbine Hall by covering the floor with doodles, drawings, scribbles and sketches. The floor is coated in a temporary surface to allow people of all ages to draw on it with colored drawing materials provided for free.

Arakawa has also surrounded visitors with a theatrical pine forest in homage to the Gut ai group’s love of outdoor art and their local park, Ashiya park in Hyogo, Japan. Everyone can join free daily workshops to collectively create huge banners that will be hung from the hall’s ceiling every Monday, echoing the Gutai Sky Festival of 1960 where paintings were suspended in the air.

To coincide with Arakawa’s Mega Please Draw Freely, a remake of Yoshihara’s original Please Draw Freely installation is staged outside Tate Modern by the river Thames. Boards are available for the public to draw on every day, with each person’s contribution becoming a new layer in an unforgettable work of art. Surrounded by trees, sky and water, the locations reflect Yoshihara’s belief that art should be open and participatory, and accessible.

As part of the project, there will be a weekend-long picnic at Tate Modern, August 14-15, including special interactive performances led by Ei Arakawa, a performance artist based in New York since 1998. He relocated to Los Angeles in 2019.

For the first time at Tate Modern, and in the UK, visitors will also experience the special recreation of Gutai artist Motonaga Sadamasa’s famous performance work, Work (Smoke) 1957, which creates art from puffing giant smoke rings into the air, illuminated by colored light.

UNIQLO Tate Play: Mega Please Draw Freely and Please Draw Freely Outside are at Tate Modern until August 29, 2021.

E-Book

Soft back Book

SPREADING THE WORD

BROADWAY THEATERS will require all theatregoers to present proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 before they are permitted to take their seats. The Broadway League, the trade association representing producers, theatre owners, and more, announced that all 41 Broadway venues will require vaccines and masks. That news comes on the heels of a safety procedures release made in agreement between the League and Actors’ Equity, the union representing stage performers and stage managers. Those protocols include, among others, that companies are “Fully Vaccinated.”

Exemptions will be made for ticket holders under 12 and those with either a medical condition or “closely held religious belief” that prevents them from receiving the vaccine. In those instances, the individuals will be required to show proof of a negative COVID test -either a PCR test taken within 72 hours of the performance or an antigen test within six hours.

THE OLD GLOBE in San Diego may have been closed during the Pandemic, but they used the down time to spruce up the place.

While their doors were closed for performances The Lowell Davies Festival Theatre received a structural makeover, reinforcing the ability to deliver a one-of-a-kind outdoor experience for decades to come. The entrance deck is refurbished and repainted.

Carpets have been replaced in the Old Globe Theatre, and a fresh coat of paint has enlivened the space as the stage is being set for the world-premiere musical The Gardens of Anuncia on September 10.

The venue has also replaced the house lighting with more cost-efficient and environmentally friendly LEDs, and seat arm rests have been refinished (along with the plaques recognizing our wonderful donors).

A new shade structure is being added for events on the Copley Plaza, and enhanced landscaping and garden features adorn the campus.

Lady Carolyn's Pub is getting a refreshed menu featuring more hot food items and expanded beverage options. The theater has also switched to biodegradable drinkware to lessen their r environmental impact.

The Old Globe reopens with Hair on August 10.

WE LOVE LUCY & DESI takes place August 1 – August 7 at The National Comedy Center in Jamestown, NY.

"Since its debut in 1951, I Love Lucy has bought joy and inspiration to millions. Join us as we mark the 70th anniversary of I Love Lucy and the 25th anniversary of the Lucy Desi Museum and honor the legacies of two pioneering American innovators."

THE 29th ANNUALCONCERT OF COLORS called "Detroit’s most beloved free, global music festival," a blend of live, broadcast, and streamed events for eight days takes place Monday, August 2-Monday, August 9.

Returning this year is the Don Was Detroit All Star Revue tributing George Clinton. Was is recording on the Detroit Film Theatre stage with the ensemble he curated featuring talents: Amp Fiddler, Apropos, Dames Brown, Nadir Omowale, Jennifer Westwood, Coko Buttafli and The Mollywop Singers.

Concert of Colors performances include: jazz great Roy Ayers, Organic Orchestra & Brooklyn Ragga Massive with guest Hassan Hakmoun presenting Ragmala; Detroiter jessica Caremoore, Melvin David, Algerian singer Souad Massi, Minyo Crusaders from Japan and the Ukranian quartet Dakha Brakha and acts from Chile, Haiti, Japan, Uganda and other countries.

Detroit Public TV-WTVS and WDET 101.9 FM will broadcast and stream headlining artists who are recording at The Detroit Film Theatre at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) and on stages from their home countries. Live music returns to Concert of Colors at institutions in Detroit’s Cultural Center including the Detroit Historical Museum, DSO’s Outdoor Sosnick Courtyard, Michigan Science Center, Scarab Club, and the Hellenic Museum of Detroit.

WEST END LIVE will return to Trafalgar Square in London from September 18-19.

This annual musical theatre event is staged by the Society of London Theatre. During the weekend-long event, dozens of West End productions take part, performing in a fifteen-minute slot. Typically, over 500,000 visitors watch shows at West End Live each year.

CLOSELY RELATED KEYS by Wendy Graf.

Directed by Saundra McClain.

Starring Oscar Best, Sydney A. Mason, Mehrnaz Mohammadi, Nick Molari, and Adrian Mohamad Tafesh.

Living in New York shortly after September 11, Julia Dolan is an up-and-coming corporate attorney whose carefully constructed life begins to crumble when she learns she has a half-sister - a Muslim who has fled Iraq. Neyla plays the violin and wants to audition for Julliard, but Julia is wary. Is there more to Neyla’s story?

The creative team includes set designer Stephanie Kerley Schwartz, lighting designer Donny Jackson, costume designer Kim DeShazo, sound designer Dave Mickey and prop designer Patty Briles. Casting is by Michael Donovan, CSA and Richie Ferris, CSA. The production stage manager is John Freeland, Jr.

Closely Related Keys reminds us, on the 20th anniversary of that pivotal event, how living in a climate of racial, religious, moral and political polarization can cause us to put up walls on a personal level.

Presented through September 12, 2021 by International City Theatre in Long Beach, CA.

VOX CINEMAS the dedicated cinema arm of Dubai-based leisure pioneer Majid Al Futtaim, is introduce a new innovation to allow the audience to decide how the film plot unfolds. It is CTRL, the region’s first interactive movie experience, in partnership with entertainment and tech company, Kino Industries.

It will launch across the UAE and Saudi Arabia on August 5.

CTRL will be showing Late Shift (UAE PG 13), the world’s first interactive feature-length film, which enables cinemagoers to decide the fate of the lead character and the course of the movie using a simple voting system on an App.

During the screening of the action thriller, which has countless storylines consisting of 180 decision points and seven alternative endings, the audience typically makes 40-50 choices while cutting-edge and seamless technology aggregates the votes and chooses the most popular option. Late Shift was directed and co-written by Tobias Weber, an award-winning filmmaker and a co-founder of Kino Industries and Michael Robert Johnson, author of Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes. The critically acclaimed movie was awarded the 2018 BAFTA Cymru Award.

Founded in 1992, Majid Al Futtaim is the leading shopping mall, communities, retail and leisure pioneer across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.It spans 17 international markets, employing more than 43,000 people. Majid Al Futtaim owns and operates 28 shopping malls, 13 hotels and four mixed-use communities, with further developments underway in the region.

WILL GEER'S THEATRICUM BOTANICUM presents Under the Oaks, four evenings of performance and song on Theatricum’s spectacular outdoor stage in Topanga Canyon, CA.

Friday, September 3 - it's Classical Music Concert "Much Ado About Music" performs two enchanting clarinet quintets under the stars.

Friday, September 10 - Cabaret Theatricum Sings the Beatles - Theatricum company members perform timeless Beatles classics.

Friday, September 17 - Acting: The First Six Lessons written and performed by Beau Bridges and Emily Bridges.

Beau Bridges and his daughter, Emily Bridges, perform a staged reading of their play, based on the book by Richard Boleslavsky, now an award-winning feature film. "The Teacher" and his student, "The Creature," explore the craft of acting and evolve in their understanding and appreciation of life itself.

Friday, September 24 - Mel & Ell’s "Life, Music" and Peter Alsop's "Alsop for Adults." Come and share the joy, laughter, wit, insight and musical talents of Theatricum founding members Melora Marshall, Ellen Geer and Peter Alsop.

OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY

SHERMAN THEATRICAL ENTERTAINMENT, LTD a musical theatre and entertainment company has been formed by celebrated songwriter/producer Robert J. Sherman and finance professionals Bret Goldin and Andrew Kaplan.

The new company is poised to bring the award-winning and critically acclaimed theatrical productions of Robert J. Sherman, The Sherman Brothers, and Al Sherman to stage, screen, and streaming. Plans for music publishing and licensing of select songs and projects from the beloved Sherman family legacy portfolio.

Robert J. Sherman serves as Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of the new venture. He continues the family legacy which first made its mark on the industry in 1906 when Robert’s great-grandfather, Samuel Sherman (1871-1948) was appointed conductor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s royal orchestra by Emperor Franz Josef II. Samuel’s son, Tin Pan Alley songwriter, Al Sherman (1897-1973) would come to write hundreds of hit songs for iconic artists including Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Bing Crosby, and Peggy Lee. Al’s sons Robert B. Sherman (1925-2012) and Richard M. Sherman (1928- ) (aka “The Sherman Brothers”) remain one of the most successful songwriting partnerships in American songwriting history, sharing credits that include Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, Winnie the Pooh, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and It’s a Small World (After All).

Bret Goldin and Andrew Kaplan serve as co-CEOs overseeing business operations and finance. They are also responsible for strategic partnerships, acquisitions, and new licensing opportunities.

The first slate of projects from Sherman Theatrical Entertainment includes production of three Robert J. Sherman stage musicals, Love Birds, Bumblescratch and The Magic Flute; as well as a lost Sherman Brothers animated musical entitled, Inkas the Ramferinkas; and, the publication of The Robert J. Sherman Songbook which includes accompanying videos performed by rising London, West End theatrical talent including 2020 Olivier Award winner, Sam Tutty, Rachel John and Rob Houchen among others. The songbook will be released in early autumn 2021.

E-Book

Soft back Book

JULIE HALSTON will receive the 2020 Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award for her advocacy to raise awareness and funds for the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation.

The Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award is presented annually to a member of the theatre community who has made a substantial contribution of volunteered time and effort on behalf of one or more humanitarian, social service, or charitable organizations.

Others who have received the award are David Hyde Pierce, Eve Ensler and Larry Kramer.

For the past 10 years, Halston has helped raise millions of dollars to help patients with PF and their caregivers. Halston’s husband, newscaster Ralph Howard, was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis in 2008, and died of the condition in 2018. Halston founded the annual Broadway Belts charity event in 2010 to raise funds and awareness for the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation. The Ralph Howard Legacy Award annually recognizes individuals who have demonstrated extraordinary commitment to the pulmonary fibrosis community.

Halston appeared on stage most recently in the Broadway production of Tootsie. Her other credits include the Broadway revival of You Can’t Take It With You; On the Town; Anything Goes;Hairspray; Gypsy and Twentieth Century.

She will next be on stage in the upcoming Off Broadway world premiere of Douglas Carter Beane’s Fairycakes.

The Tony Awards are set for Sunday, September 26.

GRACIELA DANIELE the famed Tony-nominated director and choreographer will receive a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre at the 74th annual ceremony.

A 10-time Tony nominee, Danielle's Broadway credits as director/choreographer include Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life, Annie Get Your Gun, Marie Christine, Once on This Island, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, and Dangerous Game. She has musical staged/choreographed The Visit, Pal Joey, The Pirate Queen, Ragtime, The Goodbye Girl, Zorba, The Rink, The Most Happy Fella, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and the forthcoming new musical Paradise Square.

The Argentina-born artist also choreographed the New York Shakespeare Festival production of The Pirates of Penzance on Broadway, Los Angeles, and in London, and directed and choreographed A New Brain, Hello Again, Little Fish, Bernarda Alba, and William Finn’s Elegies: A Song Cycle.

Daniele made her Broadway debut as a performer in What Makes Sammy Run?, Here's Where I Belong, Promises, Promises, Coco, Follies, and Chicago.

THE AMERICAN THEATRE WING will honor the Broadway Advocacy Coalition, David Byrne’s American Utopia, and Freestyle Love Supreme as organizations that pushed the theatre industry to reckon with its role in systemic racism.

Founded in 2016 by members of the Black theatre community (Jackie Bell, Amber Iman, Cameron J Ross, Britton Smith, Adrienne Warren, and Christian Dante White), the Broadway Advocacy Coalition is dedicated to ensuring the arts industry play a more impactful role against racism. Through myriad series of workshops, forums, and impact projects, the non-profit has galvanized artists and arts workers to examine how white supremacy has permeated the industry and how we can approach racial equity.

American Utopia features former Talking Heads frontman Byrne and a global group of musicians as they explore themes of human connection, self-evolution, and social justice. After first playing Broadway in 2019, the theatrical concert will play a return engagement beginning September 17.

Freestyle Love Supreme also recently announced an upcoming return to Broadway; the hip-hop improv group will take up the Booth Theatre beginning October 7. The troupe was founded by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Thomas Kail, and Anthony Veneziale.

E-Book

Soft back Book

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

JACKIE MASON rabbi turned comedian who won 3 Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, an Ace Award, an Emmy Award, and earned a Grammy nomination, died July 24, 2021 at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan after being hospitalized for over two weeks. He was 93.

Known for his delivery and voice, as well as his use of innuendo and pun, Mason's often culturally grounded humor was described as irreverent and sometimes politically incorrect,

Mason came from a long line of rabbis, which included his father, his grandfather, his great-grandfather, and his great-great grandfather. In 1953 Mason graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major of English and Sociology from the City College of New York. At age 18 he became a cantor, and at age 25 he was ordained a rabbi. He led congregations in Weldon, North Carolina, and at Beth Israel Congregation in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.

His sermons started containing more and more jokes until, as he liked to tell it, the congregation contained moire Gentiles than Jews.

Mason switched to comedy.

In 1969, Mason made his Broadway theater debut as Jewish widower Nat Weiss in the comedy play A Teaspoon Every Four Hours, which he wrote with Mike Mortman. It held the Broadway record of 97 previews and closed after its official opening performance

In 1986, Mason made a triumphant return to Broadway in the two-year run of The World According to Me! which ran for 367 performances in its first run and 203 performances in its second run at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, his first of several one-man theatrical shows. It won a Special Tony Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, an Ace Award, an Emmy Award, and a Grammy nomination. His special Jackie Mason on Broadway won an Emmy Award for outstanding writing and an Ace Award.

One of his Broadway shows, his two-act Politically Incorrect (1994–95) ran for 347 performances at Broadway's John Golden Theater.

Mason also put on the Broadway one-man shows Love thy Neighbor (1996–97) which ran for 225 performances at the Booth Theatre. Much Ado About Everything (1999–2000) which was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment for its run in London) and ran for 183 performances at the John Golden Theatre; Prune Danish (2002; nominated for a Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event); Jackie Mason: Freshly Squeezed (2005; for which he was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance), and The Ultimate Jew (2008).

He holds the record for the longest-running one-man show in the history of both Broadway and London's West End.

He also headlined in Las Vegas, appearing for as many as 50 weeks a year at the Aladdin. I reviewed many of his shows, interviewed him for both print and on the radio. He was extremely intelligent, articulate and a joy to interview.

He is survived by his wife Jyll Rosenfeld whom he married in 1991. She had been his manager; and a daughter, comedian Sheba Mason, from a previous relationship with Ginger Reiter.

DUSTY HILL the bearded bassist for Texas trio ZZ Top for more than 50 years, died in his sleep at his home in Houston, Texas on July 28, 2021. He was 72.

Best known as the bassist and secondary lead vocalist of the American rock group ZZ Top; he also played keyboards with the band. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a member of ZZ Top, in 2004.

JOHNNY VENTURA the famed merengue pioneer and former mayor of Santo Domingo, died Wednesday, July 28, 2021 1 in a Dominican Republic hospital after suffering a heart attack. He was 81.

After reaching superstar status in the music industry, Ventura went into politics. He served as the vice mayor of Santo Domingo from 1994 to 1998, and as mayor of Santo Domingo from 1998 to 2002.

The country's Ministry of Culture posted about the star's death on Twitter, writing: "We join in the pain that overwhelms his family in these difficult times. His legacy will live forever in his songs and Dominican culture."

Gabriel Abaroa, Jr. President/CEO of The Latin Recording Academy issued the following statement: "With a career that spanned more than six decades, the Dominican singer and composer, dubbed El Caballo Negro, established himself as one of the most popular merengue and salsa artists of the last century. He recorded over 100 albums which included hits like "Patacón Pisao," "Pitaste," "El Elevador," "La Agarradera," "Capullo y Sorrullo" and "El Tabaco." Ventura also had a storied political career in his native country where he served as mayor of Santo Domingo. He was a Latin Grammy winner who contributed to The Latin Recording Academy for many years as part of its Board of Trustees, and secretary of the Executive Committee. He was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.

"Those of us who knew him and enjoyed his friendship express our fondest farewell with sorrow and gratitude."

Ventura is survived by his wife of 50 years, Nelly Josefina Flores, seven children, 17 grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Next Column: August 8, 2021
Copyright: August 1, 2021 All Rights Reserved. Reviews, Interviews, Commentary, Photographs or Graphics from any Broadway To Vegas (TM) columns may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, utilized as leads, or used in any manner without permission, compensation and/or credit.
Link to Main Page

---

Laura Deni

For the snail mail address, please E-mail your request.