Broadway To Vegas

Copyright: March 26, 2023
By: Laura Deni
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ELEGY - A LAMENT FOR THE DEAD

Based on interviews with gay Iraqi refugees, Elegy explores the experiences of gay Iraqi refugees. A young man pieces together a personal story; his is in a flight from tragedy through a no-man’s land of empty train stations, border crossings and bomb-blasted towns. Elegy is a moving and impassioned cri de coeur exposing the horrific realities of life in post-liberation Iraq and the injustice of the UK asylum process.

Written and directed by Douglas Rintoul, inspired by interviews and photographs by Bradley Secker. Performed by Adam Best who received a UK Theatre Award nomination for Best Actor and winner of Critics’ Award for Theatre in Scotland – Best Male Performance. Originally devised with Jamie Bradley. Original music composed by Raymond Yiu and played by Stephen Upshaw. Sound design, recorded and edited by Helen Atkinson.

The word 'elegy' means a poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead.

This award-winning production fuses intimate factional storytelling, specially composed music, and an evocative soundscape to create a personal and devastating world.

Gates clank, haunting music beckons.

The play ricochets between Iraq brutality and indifference and suspicion in England. This is a story of a man composed from numerous interviews of a number of gay refugees who fled mass killings in Baghdad.

A young boy is being punished for using his left hand. The teacher explains that both good and evil are habits. The teacher ties his left hand to the back of his chair. In Iraq the left hand is only used for wiping oneself after using the bathroom.

The sound indicates a storm is approaching.

Cut to the boy being interviewed by immigration. He's asked why he is leaving his country. He's rehearsed his story, to hide the truth - his unspoken relationship.

His father always took him aside and emphasized that he was a man, but he had already crossed over into a new territory - an unknown sexual geography. His lover, Jay, is 21.

At one time he was dressed in American clothes, in his own apartment. There were friends on the internet.

In England he is searched and kept in a small room for six hours. Another interviewer arrives and asks more questions. He explains that in his country you don't talk about those things. She explains that in this country that is legal but questions why he can't be more discrete.

The music indicates a tidal wave is approaching.

A cell in a removal center. His case is heard from a judge who asks him which are you and gestured with his hands and fingers.

He shares a cell with three others,and experiences nightmares.

He had arrived in London cold and scared. He sees all of the surveillance cameras and doesn't understand the train timetables.

In Iraq he had slept in his clothes expecting the police to come for him. He hears the shelling, his country is falling. Tanks are everywhere. Agitating neighbors bang on his door. Jay is at the other end of the city. He contemplates what it would take to get to him.

He and others are boxed into a train car filled with Christmas trees headed to a country which promises jobs and freedom. He'd been a cafe manager.

He has no idea how long the journey will take.

Screaming cars whiz past.

In Iraq women can no loner leave their homes alone. A father or male cousin has to accompany them.

Once they had all o gotten along- the gays and straights. It has never been an issue until the occupation. A community that has become divided. Outsiders shunned.

Then home became a dilapidated wooden beach house. His possessions - those which had been discarded on the beach.

The scene becomes a cafe. He and Jay are seated. The men they know from the internet are there. Journalists at the next table discuss rumors about the militia killing gay men. He is worried. Pictures exist of his dancing with Jay. Hairdressers are being threatened. Young teenage boys in tight jeans are being beaten to death.

The cafe owner comes over and says he doesn't want "particular types" in here and they are asked to leave the cafe.

The scene returns to the removal center. Authorities are trying to make things so uncomfortable that others won't come. Older men ask them how they got here and why. With no money to bribe them, they take his bag and empty the contents.

A guard comes in and tells him he is going to be transferred. He is shoved into a van and taken to a building next to an airport. He knows if he is sent back he will be tortured to death.

Journalists are being killed.

Jay's mother informs him that Jay was killed when superglue was injected into his anus and then he was fed laxatives.

He always thought that a refugee was one who sleeps in a tent, carries his possesses in a plastic bag and has no bathroom. He was wrong. A refugee is someone who doesn't belong in any country, especially his own.

In England he first confused security and normality for beauty. As a foreigner he risks being questioned - foreigners are stopped, searched and even killed.

He has flashbacks, works illegally earning enough for cigarettes; he'd complain but he has no rights.

In Iraq secret police make offensive remarks about gays, search for pictures or other proof. He longs to start a new life in Europe so he can forget his past. He thinks his degree in computer science was a waste of time and money.

He registered at the UN for asylum.

He mused that they don't do what they do because of religion - many drink, take drugs, have sex - they do it because their hearts are dead. They are products of violence and pass it along. Both good and evil are habits. They learned violence from the previous generation and regime.

Presented by the Wireless Theatre Company, Elegy is supported by PRS for Music Foundation and Arts Council England.

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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

LEGO ART

Lego recreation of Monet's Water Lilies 1914-26

Claude Monet's world-famous triptych Water Lilies 1914 -26 is set to be recreated by artist Ai Weiwei for his new London exhibition.

The French impressionist's inimitable brushstrokes portraying reflection landscapes are reimagined in a 49ft work formed of around 650,000 Lego bricks in 22 colors. It will be displayed at the Design Museum gallery in Kensington London beginning April 7, 2023, running until July 30, 2023.

Claude Monet’s monumental triptych Water Lilies 1914 -26, which depicts nature’s tranquil beauty as part of the French impressionist’s world-famous series, will take on new meaning in a giant recreation by artist and activist Ai Weiwei in his new London exhibition.

Entitled Water Lilies #1, it is the largest Lego artwork by the celebrated global artist since he first adopted the medium in 2014 to produce portraits of political prisoners, and will span the entire length of one of the walls of the Design Museum gallery in Kensington, west London.

Taking 9 years to complete, the creation arrived at the museum in 10 reassembled sections.

In the original masterpiece, Monet depicts one of the lily ponds in the gardens of his home in Giverny, near Paris, one of a series of paintings of the lily ponds with which the artist was infatuated. Yet, though his works are seen as a celebration of the natural world, the pond and gardens were human-made, designed and created by Monet at the turn of the 20th century. He even had the nearby river Epte partially diverted to perfect his idealised landscape.

Water Lilies #1 will be seen alongside another major new Lego artwork by Ai, Untitled (Lego Incident), part of a series of five expansive "fields" where hundreds of thousands of objects will be laid out on the gallery floor. This field comprises thousands of Lego blocks donated by members of the public after Lego briefly refused to sell their products to him in 2014 as Lego's policy is to never sell to anyone wanting to use its product to make a political statement.

Another work will comprise 200,000 porcelain teapot spouts from the Song dynasty dating from 960-1279CE, while another features 1,600 neolithic stone tools.

Other exhibition highlights include dozens of objects and artworks from throughout his career exploring the tensions between past and present, hand and machine, precious and worthless, construction and destruction, such as his Han dynasty urn emblazoned with a Coca-Cola logo, which epitomizes these clashes.

A number of examples of Ai’s "ordinary" objects, where he has transformed something useful into something useless but valuable, will also be shown. These include a worker’s hard hat cast in glass which becomes at once strong and fragile, and a sculpture of an iPhone that has been cut out of a jade axe head.

Large-scale Ai Weiwei works will also be installed outside the exhibition gallery, in the museum’s free-to-enter spaces as well as outside the building.

Ai Weiwei's first exhibition focusing on design will mix recent works with commissioned pieces, inviting us into a meditation on value and humanity, art and activism.

Ai Weiwei is one of the most significant and recognized artists working today. Known around the world for his powerful art and activism, Ai does not differentiate between disciplines: his practice glides across art, architecture, design, film, collecting and curating.

This major exhibition, developed in collaboration with the artist, will be the first to present his work as a commentary on design and what it reveals about our changing values. Through his engagement with material culture, Ai explores the tension between past and present, hand and machine, precious and worthless, construction and destruction.

The exhibition draws on Ai fascination with historical Chinese artefacts, placing their traditional craftsmanship in dialogue with the more recent history of demolition and urban development in China. The result is a meditation on value – on histories and skills that have been ignored or erased. Discover some of the artist’s most important works displayed alongside collections of objects that have never been seen and new commissions made for the exhibition.

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SWEET CHARITY

RECOVERY THROUGH SPORTS

Nick Knowles, Robert Morgan, Mike Tindall, Paul Woolnough and Freddie Scott

Pivotal Moments Media (PMM) hosted a launch party March 20, 2023 at the seaside venue Bungalow Santa Monica to launch Recovery Through Sports, PMM’s annual Multi-Day Sports Experience taking place in Fall 2023 at sports facilities throughout Santa Barbara, CA. The event will bring together athletes, celebrities, sports teams, fans, charities, healthcare providers, corporations, and the media to unite to raise money and awareness of how sports can improve mental fitness, all under one umbrella. During October’s event, Recovery Through Sports will host daily matches, exhibitions, and friendly competitions featuring athletes, celebrities, and other personalities.

Hosted by former rugby Champion Mike Tindall MBE, British TV presenter Nick Knowles, PPM Founder and CEO Robert Morgan, former NFL player and inspirational speaker Freddie Scott, launch party guests included Olympian and activist Greg Louganis, filmmaker Jay Chandrasekhar and numerous brand marketers, prospective sponsors financiers and other industry guests.

Tindall said of the event, "I’m really excited about the potential of this initiative Recovery through Sports from Pivotal Moments media. Sport had the unique power to change people's lives and with RTS we aim to support those who are already making positive change and expand their reach."

Knowles added, "It’s exciting after six years of developing this initiative with Paul Woolnough to see it come to life thanks to Bob’s enthusiasm for the project and sitting under the Pivotal Moments Media umbrella is the perfect collaborator and home for it. The event in the fall in Santa Barbara is already shaping up into a really huge opportunity to shine a light on those in many sports making a difference to communities and individuals."

Former Professional International Rugby Player Mike Tindall - who calls Anne, the Princess Royal, his mother-in-law, was a 2003 Rugby World Cup Winner; Principal Patron of Matt Hampson Foundation; Principal Patron of Rugby for Heroes; Ambassador for the UK’s Midlands Air Ambulance; and Patron of Cure Parkinsons. Nick Knowles has collaborated with William and Kate, the Prince and Princess of Wales and Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex on the globally acclaimed broadcast TV mental health awareness TV series Mind over Marathon. He is ambassador, patron and supporter of charities including; Walking with the Wounded; Rugby for Heroes; Child Bereavement UK; Sport Relief; Comic Relief; and Children in Need.

The big question mark - Santa Barbara is a short distance from where Prince Harry lives. Will he be a part of the event?

THE PULMONARY FIBROSIS FOUNDATION (PFF) hosted its 13th annual Broadway Belts for PFF! gala. The events have raised over $465,000 and counting. The March 6th sold-out gala at New York City’s SONY Hall, which was complemented by a virtual live stream, raised funds to fight pulmonary fibrosis (PF), a life-threatening disease that causes progressive scarring in the lungs.

Hosted by Tony-award winning actress and comedienne Julie Halston, Broadway Belts for PFF! showcased rousing performances by Broadway stars including Grammy-nominee Nicole Zuraitis, Kate Baldwin, Julie Benko, Emily Bergl, Kevin Del Aguila, Susie Mosher, Jason Tam and Maria Wirries.

Robert Creighton was presented with the fifth annual Ralph Howard Legacy Award. Creighton, whose mother, Joan, passed away from PF at the young age of 59, has been a Broadway Belts for PFF! supporter since its creation. He also was integral in helping the PFF transition to virtual events during the Coronavirus pandemic. The award is named after Ralph Howard, Julie Halston’s late husband, a strong advocate for local community involvement and mentorship, and unwavering supporter of Broadway Belts for PFF!.

PF impacts over 250,000 Americans and there are approximately 50,000 new cases diagnosed each year. It currently has no cure.

Broadway Belts for PFF! was directed by Carl Andress with Christopher McGovernas musical director, and produced by D. Michael Dvorchak, Sue Frost and Julie Halston.

SPREADING THE WORD

LEGAL TO HIT YOUR NEIGHBOR In March 1991, the traffic ministers of Denmark and Sweden signed the deal that paved the way for the 2000 opening of Øresundsbroen, (a combined railway and motorway cable-stayed bridge across the Øresund strait between Copenhagen, Denmark and Malmö, Sweden) which gave the countries their first land border. However, the Øresund has frozen over a few times – on such occasions Danes are legally entitled to hit Swedes with sticks should they try to cross.

WILL SMITH made his first trip to Saudi Arabia to watch the inaugural $21m AlUla Cup camel race, the world's richest camel race. the winning team gets luxury cars, prize money of 80 million dirhams, and trophies. On top of that, they will get an astronomical price tag on their camels Smith watched the final day of the four day camel race with music producer Swizz Beatz, the first American to own a camel racing team (Saudi Bronz) in Saudi Arabia.

The AlUla Camel Cup, the pinnacle of camel racing, was organized by the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) as part of the AlUla Moments calendar in collaboration with the Saudi Camel Racing Federation (SCRF).

"The AlUla Camel Cup will celebrate the most noble of Saudi Arabian sporting traditions, welcoming royalty VIPs, the elite of sport, and many distinguished guests to the most glorious of settings for this illustrious occasion," Amr al-Madani, CEO of the Royal Commission for AlUla said in a statement.

This was Smith's first visit to the UAE and it took time to visit Hegro, the UNESCO World Heritage Site and FAME: Andy Warhol in AlUla which brings together some of Warhol’s most iconic artworks at the award-winning Maraya to May 16, 2023, featuring paintings and prints of Hollywood stars, sporting legends and musicians and his groundbreaking Silver Clouds.

THE LATIN RECORDING ACADEMY ADDS NEW CATEGORIES As part of the The Latin Recording Academy’s commitment "to evolve with the ever-changing musical landscape and to best serve its membership body of music creators and professionals," the organization announced that several changes, a new field and categories have been added to the Latin Grammy Awards Process.

NEW LATIN GRAMMY AWARDS FIELD AND CATEGORY ADDED:

Best Songwriter Of The Year
As part of the newly-created Songwriting Field, this new category recognizes the written excellence, profession and art of songwriting. Songwriters must have a minimum of six newly written songs in which they are credited as a songwriter or co-writer and are not the performer, producer or engineer.

NEW LATIN GRAMMY AWARDS CATEGORIES ADDED:

Best Singer-Songwriter Song
To be eligible for this new category within the Singer-Songwriter Field, the singles or tracks must contain at least 51% of the lyrics in Spanish, Portuguese or any native regional dialect, and must be from a Singer-Songwriter Album competing in the Singer-Songwriter Album Category that year.

Best Portuguese-Language Urban Performance
This new category within the Portuguese Language Field recognizes the enormous amount of Urban music that is being created in Brazil and Portugal. The singles or tracks can include a fusion mix of Urban styles with other genres as long as the Urban character predominates.

ADDITIONAL CATEGORY AMENDMENTS:

Album Of The Year
Albums within the General Field must contain at least 51% playing time of newly recorded material. Award to the Artist, Producer(s), Engineer(s), Mixer(s), Mastering Engineer(s) and Songwriter(s) of 33% playing time of the album if other than the Artist will receive the award.

Song Categories
It is now required to include the date of composition when submitting product for all of the Song categories.

New Criteria For Best Engineered Album
Award goes to Recording Engineer(s) and Mixing Engineer(s) credited with at least 33% of the album and Mastering Engineer(s) credited with at least 51% of the album within the Production Field.

All updates go into effect immediately for the upcoming 24th Annual Latin Grammy Awards taking place in November.

THE OLIVIER AWARDS 2023 The London West End's biggest night of the year returns to the Royal Albert Hall, hosted by Hannah Waddingham and featuring performances from the brightest stars of the West End. Sunday, April 2, 2023.

A SCREENING OF THE LOST KING will take place March 29, 2023 at Windsor Castle in the presence of The Duke of Gloucester who is Patron of the Richard III Society. The Lost King directed by Stephen Frears. features Sally Hawkins, Shonagh Price, Helen Katamba, and Lewis Macleod.

Billed as "the life-affirming true story of a woman who refused to be ignored and defies the stodgy academic establishment in her efforts to find King Richard III's remains, which were lost for over 500 years," unearthing Richard III's long-missing remains in a Leicester car park. Written by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope it is based on The King's Grave: The Search for Richard III by Philippa Langley and Michael Jones.

PRINCE EDWARD, THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH as Patron, The National Youth Jazz Orchestra, will attend a reception and performance at Woolwich Works, The Fireworks Factory, in London on April 1, 2023.

LEA MICHELE has returned as the star of Funny Girl on Broadway after taking some time off when her 2-year-old son Ever Leo was hospitalized. Happily, the boy was released from the hospital and Michele is back starring as Fanny Brice.

OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY

HIGHEST PAID ACTORS from the 2023 Academy Award winners and nominees who earned the most per minute of screen time according to TradingPedia.

Brendan Fraser, who won this year’s Oscar for best actor, ranks 10th on the list of the top-earning Academy Award nominees with $12,195 per minute of being on screen.

Michelle Yeoh, the winner in the best actress category, is 11th in the ranking, having earned $10,526 per minute of screen time.

The Banshees of Inisherin cast is the highest-paid ensemble of all nominees in terms of earnings per minute of screen time - Barry Keoghan, Kerry Condon, and Brendan Gleeson complete the top 3, while Colin Farrell ranks 5th With his reported earnings of $100 million for Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise is the highest-paid actor per minute of screen time and among the highest-paid stars in Hollywood of all time.

TradingPedia's research included "calculat (ing) how much Oscar nominees were paid per minute of being on screen, based on their reported salaries and the screen time data available. We also looked at actors such as Tom Cruise, Jennifer Lawrence, and Tom Hanks who were not nominated but starred in films with multiple nominations."

ACCORDING TO DATA presented by SafeBettingSites mobile games are expected to generate $315bn in revenue this year, or six times more than online games, download games, and gaming networks combined.

According to Statista data, four years ago, the entire gaming industry generated around $203bn in revenue, and 83% of that value or $169bn came from mobile games. Two years later, in 2022, mobile games raked in close to $275bn in revenue, while their revenue share jumped to an impressive 85%.

According to Statista, 2023 is set to witness another revenue share growth, with gaming apps bringing over $315bn on a global level, or 86% of total gaming revenues.

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NEW YORK WOMEN IN FILM AND TELEVISION (NYWIFT) is proud to announce the honorees for the 43rd annual NYWIFT Muse Awards. For more than 40 years, NYWIFT has presented the Muse Awards to celebrate and illuminate women of outstanding vision and achievement, both in front of and behind the camera in film, television, music, and digital media. CBS Sunday Morning contributor, comedian, actress, and self-described "Accidental Pundette" Nancy Giles will once again serve as the event’s emcee. David Yurman, America’s luxury jewelry brand, has designed and provided this year’s Muse Award statues for honorees, as well as an exclusive gift for attendees. The awards celebration will be held Tuesday, March 28, 2023, at Cipriani 42nd St in New York City.

This year’s MUSE Award honorees include:

IFC Films President Arianna Bocco
Award-winning actress and singer Danielle Brooks, who will receive the "Made in NY" Award presented by the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment
Filmmaker Deborah Chow, who will receive the Nancy Malone Directing Award
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa, who will receive the inaugural Enid Roth Award for Excellence in Journalism*
Emmy and President's Volunteer Service Award-winning television host, chef, and author Sandra Lee
BAFTA & SAG Award-winning actress and producer Freida Pinto
Tony Award-nominated actress Lauren Ridloff, who will receive the Loreen Arbus Changemaker Award
Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning actress, artist, and activist Sharon Stone
AMPAS President Janet Yang

* The inaugural Enid Roth Award Excellence in Journalism Award is made possible with the organizational support of the Enid Roth estate. The award is named for Roth, an Emmy winner who had a celebrated 40-year career in journalism in New York and was the longtime Director of Local News at NBC. The Enid Roth Award for Excellence in Journalism will recognize trailblazing women in journalism.

THE HUMANITIES MEDAL AND NATIONAL MEDAL OF THE ARTS were awarded last Tuesday, March 22, 2023 by President Joseph Biden to 22 honorees: They included: producer Mindy Kaling, singer Gladys Knight, actor and comedian Julia Louis-Dreyfus, legendary performer Bruce Springsteen, Feliz Navidad songwriter and singer Jose Feliciano, fashion designer Vera Wang, philanthropist Fred Eychaner, and cultural grant maker Joan Shigekawa, as well as artists Judith Francisca Baca and Antonio Martorell-Cardona.

As institutions, the Billie Holiday Theatre and the International Association of Blacks in Dance received the medal.

The list includes a number of acclaimed writers, such as Amy Tan, author of The Joy Luck Club, Richard Blanco, who delivered a poem at Barack Obama’s second presidential inauguration, memoirist Tara Westover, novelist Colson Whitehead, and Ann Patchett, a finalist in the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Author Walter Isaacson, who served as the chair and CEO of CNN from 2001-2003, also were honored with the medal.

Johnnetta Betsch Cole, the first female African-American president of Spelman College, historian Earl Lewis, Native American academic Henrietta Mann and Equal Justice Initiative founder Bryan Stevenson received the medal. The call-in public radio program Native America Calling also was honored.

All the recipients of both medals, except Feliciano, attended the ceremony, according to the White House.

While this is the first time the president hosted the event, he previously awarded a National Humanities Medal to Sir Elton John in September 2022 during a White House event celebrating John’s life and work.

The National Medal of the Arts is the highest American award given to artists, art patrons, and groups that have advanced arts in the United States.

The medal, inaugurated in 1997, "honors individuals or groups whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the humanities and broadened our citizens’ engagement with history, literature, languages, philosophy, and other humanities subjects," according to the National Endowment for the Humanities.

THE SHONDA RHIMES Unsung Voices Playwriting Commission, sponsored by award-winning writer and producer Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, Inventing Anna) and presented by IAMA Theatre Company has selected Chloé Hung as the 2023 recipient. Now in its sixth year, the commission was created to help grow and nourish budding playwrights and artists with an emphasis on cultural inclusion, and to showcase fresh, creative, thought-provoking work.

Born and raised in Toronto, Hung is a Chinese-Canadian playwright, TV writer and screenwriter who holds an M.F.A. from the Dramatic Writing Program at NYU Tisch.

Rhimes, a frequent IAMA audience member, came on board in March 2017 as the company’s first-ever "Patron of the Arts," committing funds for the commission through her Rhimes Foundation which was established in 2016 by writer/producer Shonda Rhimes and her family. The foundation was created to support arts, education and activism with a focus on promoting cultural inclusion and fighting inequality.

Founded in 2007, IAMA is a Los Angeles-based ensemble of artists committed to the creation and cultivation of new voices and artists that challenge boundaries and take risks, while fostering an inclusive community that inspires theater-makers of future generations.



THE DRY HOUSE by Eugene O'Hara.

Directed by Eugene O'Hara.

Starring Kathy Kiera Clark as Claire. Mairead McKinley takes on the role of Claire’s sister Chrissy. Carla Langley plays Chrissy’s daughter Heather.

O’Hare’s story follows sisters Chrissy and Claire as they attempt to overcome the devastating impact of alcoholism on their family. Described as a "darkly comic redemptive play about love, loss and the possibility of hope after years of self-destruction", The Dry House gets its world premiere at the London venue and boasts an all-female cast.

The Dry House runs at the Marylebone Theatre in London from Friday, March 31 until Saturday, May 6, 2023.

SHOUT SISTER SHOUT! based on Gayle F. Wald’s book Shout, Sister, Shout!: The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

Featuring Jalisa Williams, Nia Savoy-Dock and Joseph Anthony Byrd.

This musical tells the story of Sister Rosetta Tharpe—one of America’s most influential rock, R&B and gospel crossover singers and guitarists. Ambitious, courageous and uncompromisingly public, Tharpe became a pioneer of the women’s movement for racial and sexual equality and musical legend who redefined the national and international music scene in the 1930s and ‘40s and beyond. Dive into Cheryl L. West’s spirited, authentic and emotionally charged story about a charismatic music forerunner and the authentic roots of rock-and-roll. SHOUT! is the story of a powerful woman and a trailblazer among many musical genres, having influenced the music of Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Aretha Franklin and many others.

Performances through May 13, 2023 at the Ford Theatre in Washington, DC.

In related new in celebration of Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s birthday which took place on March 30, Gibson Gives, the philanthropic arm of Gibson Guitars - announced the creation of the Sister Rosetta Tharpe Music Scholarship which will benefit the Arkansas Arts Academy as the 2023 partner school. The Arkansas Arts Academy will receive a $5,000 music scholarship and a guitar in honor of Sister Rosetta, the Godmother of Rock n’ Roll.

SHUCKED with a book by Tony Award winner Robert Horn, music and lyrics by Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally.

Directed by three-time Tony Award winner Jack O’Brien.

What do you get when you pair a semi-neurotic, New York comedy writer with two music superstars from Nashville? A hilarious and audacious farm-to-fable musical about the one thing Americans everywhere can’t get enough of: corn. Shucked is the new musical comedy that proves sometimes tearing down a few walls, rather than growing them, is the only way to preserve our way of life. Shucked is about to turn Broadway on its ear and offer a kernel of hope for our divided nation," is the official description.

The production stars (in alphabetical order) John Behlmann, Kevin Cahoon, Andrew Durand, Tony Award nominee Grey Henson, Caroline Innerbichler, Ashley D. Kelley, and Alex Newell. The ensemble of Shucked features Jimmy Brewer, Audrey Cardwell, Dwayne Clark, Rheaume Crenshaw, Jaygee Macapugay, Scott Stangland, Yasmeen Sulieman, and Quinn VanAntwerp. The swings are Miki Abraham, Ken Wulf Clark, Traci Elaine Lee, and Alan Wiggins.

With choreography by Sarah O’Gleby, and music supervision, music direction, orchestrations, and arrangements by Tony Award nominee Jason Howland, the design team includes Tony Award winner Scott Pask (scenic design), Drama Desk Award nominee Tilly Grimes (costume design), Tony Award nominee Japhy Weideman (lighting design), Tony Award winner John Shivers (sound design), Academy Award winner and Emmy Award winner Mia Neal (hair and wig design), and Stephen Kopel, C12 Casting (casting director).

Shucked began previews at the Nederlander Theatre in New York City on Wednesday, March 8, 2023, with an official opening night set for Tuesday, April 4, 2023.

FAT HAM by James Ijames.

Directed by Saheem Ali.

Fat Ham, is billed as "the deliciously funny, Pulitzer Prize-winning new play, comes to Broadway following a critically acclaimed, sold-out run produced by The Public Theater and National Black Theatre. Playwright James Ijames and Director Saheem Ali reunite to reinvent Shakespeare’s masterpiece."

The cast includes Nikki Crawford, Chris Herbie Holland, Billy Eugene Jones, Adrianna Mitchell, Calvin Leon Smith, Marcel Spears, and Benja Kay Thomas.

The creative team includes Maruti Evans (Scenic Design), Dominique Fawn Hill (Costume Design), Bradley King (Lighting Design), Mikaal Sulaiman (Sound Design), Darrell Grand Moultrie (Choreographer) Earon Chew Nealey (Hair and Wig Design), Skylar Fox (Illusions Design), Kamra A. Jacobs (Production Stage Manager), Kate Murray (Casting), and Baseline Theatrical (General Management).

Officially officially opens on Wednesday, April 12, 2023, at the American Airlines Theatre in New York City. This is a 14-week limited engagement through Sunday, June 25, 2023.

AN IMPROBABLE FICTION by James DeVita.

Directed by Beth Lopes.

Stage Directions by Deborah Strang.

Starring Susan Angelo (Cleopatra), Apollo Dukakis (Falstaff), Stanley Andrew Jackson (Othello), Veralyn Jones (Mistress Quickly), Kasey Mahaffy (The Messenger), Philicia Saunders (Juliet).

A Noise Within’s "Noise Now" community engagement series presents a staged reading of An Improbable Fiction. It’s plague time, and Shakespeare’s characters are out of sorts (and out of work). Several of our favorites Shakespearean characters reunite at the Boar’s Head Tavern to celebrate life and ruminate on the state of the world.

Stage Manager: Mikayla Bettner.

A free reading Monday, April 3 at 7:30 p.m. at A Noise Within in Pasadena, CA.

KIT MARLOWE by David Grimm.

Directed by Emma Rosa Went.

"Performed by an all women and non-binary company, director Emma Rosa Went seeks to reinvigorate the play's radical and provocative landscape, by giving a new generation of queer artists access to its explosive and urgent questions about art, love, depravity, redemption, and the cost of genius. Set in the seedy underworld of Elizabethan England, the story of the meteoric rise and fall of Christopher Marlowe – playwright, poet, spy, and sexual outlaw – charts the ambitions of youth in a cold and unforgiving world."

The cast will feature Helen Cespedes; Amy Jo Jackson; Merritt Janson; Rami Margron; B Norwood; Maria-Christina Oliveras; Yasmin Pascall, Sushma Saha; Han Van Sciver; and Ching Valdes-Aran.

Originally produced at the Public Theatre in 2000, Kit Marlowe refracts the life story of its title character, the Elizabethan playwright whose talent and potential rivaled Shakespeare’s, through the lens of the writer’s own most famous play, about a man who makes a deal with the devil.

Bold, reckless, and blazingly talented, Kit Marlowe intends to make a name for himself no matter the cost. Duty-bound and cautious, his best friend Thomas Walsingham just wants to ensure they both are able to live safe, comfortable lives—but he can never resist being pulled back into Kit’s orbit. Kit uses their friendship to reach out to Thomas’s uncle, the spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham, who is more than happy to direct Kit’s ambitions to his own ends.

Kit, however, is not the type to be blindly loyal to anything, including the crown. He treasures his burgeoning literary career and idolizes Sir Walter Raleigh, whose wavering place in the queen’s favor has put him in danger—from Walsingham. And tied deep within this knot of conflicting loyalties is Thomas, who is pulled farther and farther into a life of numbing duty, as the fraying connection between two young men slowly becomes the only thing that might be able to save them both. But in this world of honor and espionage, bargains must be kept, and the price for breaking a promise may be far more than just your life.

This in-person-only event presented by Red Bull Theater will premiere on Monday April 3rd at Polonsky Shakespeare Center, Brooklyn, New York.

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FINAL OVATION

NICHOLAS LLOYD WEBBER a Grammy nominated composer and record producer and son of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber died March 25, 2023 in Basingstoke Hospital in England from stomach cancer. He was 43.

The eldest son of famed composer Andrew Lloyd Webber had battled stomach cancer for 18 months and entered hospice care on March 23, 2023. He was surrounded by his family, including his father who canceled coming to America for the Broadway opening of his latest musical Bad Cinderella. Nicholas was best known for his work in the movie The Last Bus (2021), Mr. Invisible (2013), the BBC show Love, Lies and Records 2017, Fat Friends, The Musical (2017) which toured England in 2018 and 2022.

Along with his father, producer Greg Wells and composer and lyricist David Zipple, Nicholas received a Grammy nomination in 2022 for Best Musical Theater Album, for their work on Andrew Lloyd Webber's Bad Cinderella which opened on Broadway this week.

He is survived by his wife viola player Polly Wiltshire, whom he married in 2018, his father, mother Sarah Hugill, uncle Julian Lloyd Webber and siblings Imogen, Isabella, Alastair and William. Nicholas and Imogen were children from Andrew's first marriage.

GLORIA DEA the first magician to perform on what became the Las Vegas Strip died Saturday, March 18, 2023, at her Las Vegas home. She was 100.

She began performing as a child under the name Mysterious Mite. In 1941 she appeared onstage at the El Rancho Hotel in Las Vegas, making playing cards, float and billiard balls disappear. She closed out her act with a card jumping from a handkerchief into a quartered range.

A few years later she left for Hollywood appearing in King of the Congo and Plan 9 From Outer Space (1957). She quit show business to sell insurance and then cars at a Chevrolet dealership.

Later she returned to Las Vegas and was embraced by magicians David Copperfield and Teller of Penn and Teller who attended her 100th birthday party at the Westgate in Las Vegas.

Copperfield inducted her into the University of Nevada at Las Vegas's College of Fine Arts Hall of Fame the week after her death.

Her first three marriages to John Statham, Hal Borne and Jack Shulen ended in divorce. Her fourth husband Sam Anzalone whom she married in 1975 died in 2022.

NORMAN STEINBERG Emmy award winning screen writer Died March 15, 2023, He was 83.

Steinberg was the co-writer of the Mel Brooks comedy Blazing Saddles and won an Emmy for Flip Wilson's 1970 variety show.

Brooks called him "one of the best writers I ever worked with."

Brooks convinced lawyer Steinberg to give up his day job and move to Los Angeles to write.

His other credits include; Yes, Georgio; My Favorite Year; Johnny Dangerously; Wise Guys and Funny about Love.

He is survived by his wife, Serine Hastings, and children Nik and Daphne, from his first marriage to Bonnie Strock.

Next Column: April 2, 2023
Copyright: March 26, 2023 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.
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Laura Deni

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