Broadway To Vegas

Copyright: March 29, 2020
By: Laura Deni
CLICK HERE FOR COMMENT SECTION

EMOJILAND MUSICAL CD IS UPLIFTING

In times of uncertainly and stress, nothing is needed more than some silly fun. While many have been binge watching television and videos, take a few minutes to listen to Emojiland, the original off Broadway cast recording released by Broadway Records.

For those who saw the production, this recording is a perfect souvenir. For those who didn't catch the live performance and perhaps aren't an emojis devotee - which established a new way in which people communicate - you're still in for a youthful experience.

The platter comes with an interesting booklet with photograph by Jeremy Daniel and a package design by Robbie Roselle. However, there is no show synopsis. It's difficult to determine the three plotlines simply through listening to the 19 track music by Keither Harrison and Laura Schein who also penned the book.

Officially, it is labeled as "an electric ensemble piece about a diverse community of archetypes who take one another at face value: a smiling face dealing with depression a princess who doesn't want a prince, a skull dying for deletion, a nerd face too smart for his own good."

While the intended target audience might have been teens, considering the current state of the world, the vibrant beat of this CD is perfect for at home exercising and is a definite mood lifter. Excellent sound balancing and perfect enunciation by the singers, makes this an easy to experience recording.

The talented cast with excellent voices features Max Crumm as the Man in Business Suit Levitating, Jacob Dickey as Smiling Face with Sunglasses, (aka "Sunny"), Dwelvan David as Guardsman, Heather Makalani as Kissy Face, Tanisha Moore as Woman Dancing, Jordan Fife Hunt as Man Dancing, Lucas Steele as Skull, George Abud ) as Nerd Face, Emojiland Co-Writer Laura Schein as Smiling Face with Smiling Eyes (aka "Smize"), Emmy Winner & Grammy Nominee Felicia Boswell as Police Officer, Natalie Weiss as Construction Worker, Ann Harada as Pile of Poo, Lesli Margherita as Princess and Josh Lamon as Prince.

What stands out in the booklet are the incredibly clever costumes by Vanessa Leuck and make-up design transforming each performer into the emoji they represent.

Songs such as Good To Be Alive; Sad on the Inside; Work Together; Thank Me Now and Start Again seem eerily appropriate.

The clever musical number won't depress or create additional stress. Perfect for current isolation living.

Musicians:

Music director/keyboard: Lena Gabriella. Keyboard 2: Nick Wilders. Drums: Giabcarlo "GC" De Trizio; Guitar: John Brry: Bass: Amanda Ruzza. Engineer Kenta Yonesaka. Additional engineering Bart Schoudel. Mixed by Nik Chinboukas. Mastered by Chris Athens. Recorded at Germano Studiosm NYC. Mixed at Spin Recording Studios, Long Island, NY. Mastered at Chris Athens Masters, Austin, Texas. Photography by Jeremy Daniel. Package design Robbie Rozelle. Keyboard programming Keith Harrison, Nick Wildems Electronic drum programming by Giancarlo "GC" DeTrizio.

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

HONG KONG MUSEUMS that reopened after a marked dissipation of coronavirus cases have again been closed by the government as a second virus outbreak has taken hold.

Then a second wave of the pandemic hit. Between March 16 and March 23, identified cases of the disease in Hong Kong doubled from 157 to 317. Most of those new cases are of international origin, as residents return from Europe or North America.

As a result, social distancing measures are back in force, with officials abruptly shuttering institutions such as as the Hong Kong Museum of Art - which reopened on March 11- once again. The West Kowloon Cultural District is also closing the M+ Pavilion.

Singapore, too, has seen a dramatic upsurge in new cases the past week days after appearing to have the outbreak under control. Two museums have closed temporarily after staff members tested positive for the virus.

E-Book

Soft back Book

SWEET CHARITY

ELTON JOHN will host tonight's (March 29,2020) FOX Presents the iHeart Living Room Concert for America to benefit coronavirus charities.

The special concert event will pay tribute to front-line medical professionals working to treat coronavirus patients, first responders, and local heroes while soliciting donations from viewers and listeners.

The commercial-free event will feature performances by Alicia Keys, Backstreet Boys, Billie Eilish, Billie Joe Armstrong, Mariah Carey, Tim McGraw and others, all playing from their homes on their personal cell phones, cameras and audio equipment, to ensure the health and safety of all involved as Americans adapt to social distancing

THE BRITISH FILM INSTITUTE has partnered with The Film and TV Charity to announce a new industry-backed Covid-19 Film and TV Emergency Relief Fund. Established with a £1m ($1,200,000) donation from Netflix, the new fund will provide emergency short-term relief to workers and freelancers who have been directly affected by the closure of productions across the UK.

BRUNO MARS has donated $1m to MGM Resorts Employee's Relief Fund to help employees out of work because of COVID-19. Mars is a frequent headliner at the Las Vegas resort.

NETFLIX has created a $100m fund for their employees who have been laid off because of COVID=19.

SPREADING THE WORD

THE MARTIN E. SEGAL THEATRE CENTER has begun a daily one-hour live online talk from Monday to Friday - - about making art and making sense in the Time of Corona. The new global series dubbed Segal Talks.

New York, US, and international theatre artists, curators, researchers and academics will talk for one hour with Segal Center’s director Frank Hentschker about life and art in the Time of Corona and speak about challenges, sorrows, and hopes for the new Weltzustand--the State of the World.

The newly introduced Segal Talks are in English, ad-free and will be live-streaming on www.HowlRound.comas well as on the Segal Center YouTube Channel. Each session will raise money for a theatre artist or a company.

In collaboration with HowlRound Theatre Commons, based at Emerson College the first weekly program, starting March 30th, will feature:

Taylor Mac & Kristin Martin (New York); Mok Chiu Yu (Hong Kong) + Hanchen Feng, Shuyi Liao (China); Thomas Ostermeier (Germany); Marco Martinelli & Ermanna Montanari Teatro delle Albe (Italy); Toshiki Okada (Japan) and Meredith Monk (New York).

New York Theatre artists Taylor Mac & Kristin Martin will talk about the New York situation and Trickle Up, an initiative where over 50 New York theatre artists and over 20 theatre organizations help their peers living below the poverty line. They share videos on new subscription-based site, counteracting the loss of income in the COVID-19 pandemic.

TUESDAY, MARCH 31 -
Theater promoter Mok Chiu Yu (Hong Kong) + dramaturge, researcher and award-wining playwright Hanchen Feng and theater directorShuyi Liao(Beijing, China).

WEDNESDAY APRIL 1st
Join us for an update on the situation in Germany with Thomas Schaubühne Berlin’s influential artistic director Thomas Ostermeier–one of the world’s most recognized German theatre-makers of today. Since 1999, at the age of only thirty-two, he has become the Artistic Director of Schaubühne Berlin and since 2005, he has also been Professor for Directing at the Ernst Busch Academy. He is best known for his acclaimed and worldwide touring productions like Hedda Gabler, Hamlet, An Enemy of the People, RICHARD III, and Returning to Reims.

THURSDAY, APRIL 2
Join us for an update on the situation in Italy with Marco Martinelli, playwright and director, founded with Ermanna Montanari the Teatro delle Albe in Ravenna (1983), one of the most respected Italian theatre companies, and actress, author and set designer Ermanna Montanari.

FRIDAY, APRIL 3rd
An update on the situation in Japan with Toshiki Okada–one of the world’s most recognized theatre-makers of today. His company chelfitsch, where he writes and directs all of its productions, was founded in 1997. The troupe is applauded for its unique use of language and physicality, and is widely considered, both inside and outside Japan, as one of the leaders of contemporary theater. chelfitsch made its debut abroad with a performance of Five Days in March in 2007 and has since performed works in more than 70 cities around the world. Okada moved his family left Tokyo after the Fukushima disaster.

Segal Talks was conceived, created and curated by Frank Hentschker in March 2020.

THE OLD GLOBE IN SAN DIEGO will transition their existing diverse arts engagement programs developed with their Community Partner venues onto our online platforms. The first of these will include Community Voices, a playwriting workshop that began last Thursday, March 26, and Behind the Curtain, a how-to-make-theatre workshop, starting Wednesday, April 1, 2020.

The Old Globe’s Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein will lead a special free online sonnets edition of Thinking Shakespeare Live!, a fast-paced, funny, and altogether fascinating guide to the language of the Bard. An ideal introduction to Shakespeare for families and young audiences, as well as an exciting new look at the playwright for Bardophiles, Thinking Shakespeare Live: Sonnets! will take place on Tuesday, March 31. Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets, each only 14 lines long, contain some of his most beautiful and moving poetry. This half-hour, “social-distance” version of Thinking Shakespeare Live! will introduce the sonnets and then delve into one masterpiece of the form, exploring its language and how it works, and how it relates to Shakespeare’s work for the stage.

While the Globe’s stages are dark, audiences are invited to explore Shakespeare’s plays in On Book: The Old Globe’s Shakespeare Reading Group. Beginning with the two plays announced for the Globe’s 2020 Summer Shakespeare Festival, The Taming of the Shrew and Henry V, the group will offer an online space to read and discuss Shakespeare’s work with directors, actors, and other artists who have tackled these great masterworks for the Globe’s stages. Beginning Thursday, April 2, meetings will take place every Monday and Thursday.

All events can be accessed through The Old Globe’s On Book Facebook group page.

ROSIE’S THEATER KIDS PRESENTS TAKE A ROSIE BREAK and watch for your favorite theater luminaries to light up your screen with "Take a Rosie Break!" videos shared by Chesney Snow, James Monroe Iglehart, Jessie Mueller, Teal Wicks, BD Wong, and more as they challenge you to get off the couch, get creative, and “Take a Rosie Break!" Each “Rosie Break” is a video challenge hosted by an artist, celeb, or friend of RTKids who's got an exciting or unique skill to share with you. And when you’re done, you can join a community who have shared their results and creations on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube #TakeARosieBreak #RosiesTheaterKids #RTKids.

The first four "Take A Rosie Break!" challenges are available now:

Actor, Poet, Educator, Chesney Snow of In Transit Broadway fame shows us the ABC's of beatboxing with our premiere "Take A Rosie Break!" video.
Jeff Statile, RTKids Artistic Director of Drama & PPAS at RTKids, shows us how to feel the virtual beat with this air drumming session.
Lori Klinger, RTKids Founder, Artistic Director and Executive Director, gets you ballet ready with this fun, interactive dance break.
James Monroe Iglehart of Broadway's Hamilton and Aladdin grants us our wish of rhyme with this freestyle challenge.

Additional videos will be released weekly.

JAZZ MAN SLIM MAN performed at an unusual take away event last Saturday, March 28. Restaurant VUE outside of Palm Springs, CA, which is closed because of the Coronavirus quarantine, remains open for carryout. People order food, booze, and groceries; they drive up to the curb, pop their trunk and their order is placed inside. It's been pretty popular. Slim Man was asked if he could serenade people as they waited in line in their cars. A parking lot concert. After figuring out sound and distancing logistics, Slim Man agreed and last night serenaded folks as they waited in line in their cars.

THE OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL will further delay its 85th season until September 8, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. "The effect on the organization’s finances has forced OSF to lay off approximately 80% of its full time-staff, artists, and seasonal workers in order to mitigate additional losses. All laid-off company members with current OSF health benefits will have them fully paid for two additional months, with many expected to return to OSF when programming resumes," said the release.

LET'S GO CRAZY: THE GRAMMY SALUTE TO PRINCE will be broadcast Tuesday, April 21 on the CBS Television Network The tribute concert is hosted by comedian Maya Rudolph, who will also perform with her Prince cover band Princess. Filmed January 28th, the special will air on the four-year anniversary of the superstar’s passing.

The 38-time Grammy nominee and seven-time Grammy winner will be saluted by an all-star lineup performing hits from Prince's renowned catalog, including Beck, Gary Clark Jr., Common, Earth, Wind, & Fire, Foo Fighters, H.E.R., Juanes, John Legend, Chris Martin, Miguel, Morris Day And The Time, Princess, Sheila E., St. Vincent, Mavis Staples, the Revolution, and Usher, with special appearances by Fred Armisen, Naomi Campbell, Misty Copeland, FKA Twigs and Jimmy Jam.

WATCH CYPRUS AVENUE FOR FREE thanks to a partnership between Abbey Theatre in London and The Royal Court Theatre. The film adaptation of Cyprus Avenue by David Ireland stars Stephen Rea and is directed by Vicky Featherstone. The award-winning Cyprus Avenue was originally co-produced by the Abbey Theatre and The Royal Court Theatre, London before touring to The MAC in Belfast and The Public Theater in New York. Cyprus Avenue will be available to watch for free on the Abbey Theatre website, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages until Sunday, April 26, 2020.

THE INDIANPOLIS 500 won't be starting the engines on May 24. The road race has been postponed to August 23 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The NTT Indycar Series announced the move and is also shifting the GMR Grand Prix, which runs on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course.

PRINCE CHARLES 71, has tested positive for COVID-19. Suffering from "a bad cough," along with his wife, Camilla, they remain self isolated at their Birkhall home at Balmoral in Scotland. Camilla has tested negative.

The official statement from Clarence House stated: "He has been displaying mild symptoms but otherwise remains in good health and has been working from home throughout the last few days as usual.”

The heir to the throne is known as a workaholic.

Regarding the testing, the statement explained: "The tests were carried out by the NHS in Aberdeenshire, where they met the criteria required for testing.

"It is not possible to ascertain from whom the prince caught the virus owing to the high number of engagements he carried out in his public role during recent weeks."

LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE

Comedian Wayne Alan who owns the North Theatre entertainment complex in Danville, VA, which includes a bed and breakfast, theater and restaurant, sent the following jokes:

I'd tell you a Coronavirus joke but, you probably won't get it.

Did you hear the joke about the virus? Never mind, I don't want to spread it around.

I ran out of toilet paper and had to start using old newspapers. Times are rough.

What do you call panic-buying of sausage and cheese in Germany? The wurst kase scenario.

John Travolta was treated for Coronavirus but they found out that it was just Saturday Night Fever and he is Stayin Alive.

One reason for the toilet paper shortage is that Charmin ran the others out of business...they got wiped out.

What should you do if you don't understand a Coronavirus joke? Be patient.

OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY

SHOW ME THE UNEQUAL MONEY while sports games are on hold, many of players are counting what they aren't being paid. As in most workplaces, men receive more than women.

It's been that way for quite some time. From 1990-2019, not one woman was on any of the e annual lists of the top ten most highly-paid athletes. Not even Serena Williams ever made it into the top 10, though a number of male tennis players, including Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, made the top 10 in this period.

In 2019, Serena Williams was the only woman on the list, appearing at number 63.

As to how many different sports were represented on the Forbes list of the top 15 most highly-paid female athletes, tennis dominated, although there was also one football player (Alex Morgan), one golfer (Ariya Jutanugam) and one badminton player (P.V.Sindhu) on the list. However, the sports represented in the men’s top 15 list were football, basketball, American football, tennis, Formula 1 racing, golf and boxing.

The most highly paid sportswoman in 2019 was Serena Williams, who earned $29.2m while her male counterpart, footballer Lionel Messi, earned $127 million.

THE RECORDING ACADEMY through its Chair and Interim President/CEO Harvey Mason, Jr. issued the following statement regarding the passage of the $2 trillion stimulus package: "The Recording Academy thanks the Congressional leaders who worked with the music community to craft a bill that allows the music to play on. In navigating this unprecedented crisis, all music industry professionals across the U.S., many of whom rely on multiple gigs for their livelihood, can be grateful that they are included in this extraordinary effort to help Americans. We will now turn our attention to helping music makers and others who make a living in our industry navigate the process of getting the financial assistance they need while anticipating the day when they can return to providing the soundtrack to our nation, which we'll all need when this crisis is over."

KENNY ROGERS KNEW WHEN TO HOLD 'EM AND WHEN TO FOLD 'EM when it came to flipping houses. He was as good at real estate as he was at having chart topping records. In 1984 he flipped his first a Beverly Hills abode for $20 million - a record price for Los Angeles at the time. Since then, most of his homes have been in the Atlanta area where he also started an interior design business that catered to Atlanta’s richest home owners.

After his Beverly Hills flip, Rogers bought a bank-owned, 27,000-square-foot Atlanta home in 2002 that had been on the market at $12 million for just $2.75 million, and sold it in 2006 for $8.5 million. Just outside of Athens, Georgia, Rogers built the almost 1,000-acre Beaver Dam Farm which he later sold in 2011 for $10.5 million. In 2009, Rogers paid $2.8 million for a home in Atlanta’s ritzy Tuxedo Park that was listed at almost $8 million. He sold it elegantly furnished in a down market in 2011 for $3.725 million.

Most recently, Rogers bought and then spent over $3 million to redesign and decorate a 7,000-square-foot suburban Atlanta family home when his twin sons were only four years old and needed plenty of space to play (Kenny was married five times but married to his current wife, Wanda, and twins’ mother since 1997).

Rogers died at the current family home surrounded by his wife and children.

E-Book

Soft back Book

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

TERRENCE McNALLY whose stories career as a playwright, musical librettist and screenwriter earned him four Tony Awards and an Emmy, died Tuesday, March 24, 2020 in a Sarasota, Fkoirida hospital from complications related to coronavirus. He had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and had overcome lung cancer. He was 81.

A few of his Broadway productions are: Ragtime; Kiss of the Spider Woman; The Visit; The Full Monty; Catch Me if You Can; The Rink; Mother and Sons.

He received the Tony Award for Best Play for Love! Valour! Compassion! and Master Class, as well as the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for Kiss of the Spider Woman and Ragtime. His other accolades include an Emmy Award, two Guggenheim Fellowships, and a Rockefeller Grant. In 2018, he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the highest recognition of artistic merit in the United States. In 1996, he was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1996.

In 2019 he was honored with a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre.

McNally was partnered to Tom Kirdahy, a Broadway producer and a former civil rights attorney for not-for-profit AIDS organizations, following a civil union ceremony in Vermont on December 20, 2003. They subsequently married in Washington, D.C. on April 6, 2010. In celebration of the Supreme Court's decision to legalize same-sex marriage in all 50 states, they renewed their vows at New York City Hall with Mayor Bill de Blasio officiating on June 26, 2015.

NASHORN WOODEN famed New York City drag diva died Monday, March 23, 2020 from the coronavirus. He was 50.

Wooden took on the stage name Mona Foot starting in 1989 because "at the time, that show Who's the Boss? was on, and Katherine Helmond's character Mona was too much for me. I loved her," he said in a 2017 interview with Paper magazine.

In addition to performing as Mona Foot, Wooden was known for his being part of the The Ones, an electronic dance band whose 2001 single “Flawless” peaked at number seven on the UK Singles Chart. The hit, which was sampled by singer George Michael for his 2003 dance smash "Flawless (Go to the City), was inspired by the 1999 film of the same name, in which Nashom appeared alongside actor Robert De Niro.

The Brooklyn native performed as Wonder Woman at Wigstock 2018 before retiring.

MANU DIBANGO African jazz saxophone and vibraphone legend died from coronavirus complications on March 24, 2020 in Paris, France. He was 86.

He developed a musical style fusing jazz, funk, and traditional Cameroonian music. At the 16th Annual Grammy Awards in 1974, he was nominated in the categories Best R&B Instrumental Performance and Best Instrumental Composition for Soul Makossa.

He served as the first chairman of the Cameroon Music Corporation, with a high profile in disputes about artists' royalties. Dibango was appointed a UNESCO Artist for Peace in 2004.

FRED "CURLY" NEAL the longtime Harlem Globetrotters guard whose dazzling dribbling and penchant for half-court shots entertained several generations of basketball fans, died Thursday, March 26, 2020 at his home near Houston, Texas. He was 77.

Neal played more than 6,000 games and 22 seasons.

CHEF FLOYD CARDOZ who won season 3 of "Top Chef Masters," died of complications from coronavirus on March 25, 2020. He had tested positive for COVID-19 on March 18 at Mountainside Medical Centre in Montclair, New Jersey. He was 59.

Cardoz was the co-owner of the Bombay Canteen and O Pedro restaurants in Mumbai. He had recently launched his third venture, the Bombay Sweet Shop.

He is survived by his mother Beryl, wife Barkha and sons Justin and Peter.

Next Column: April 5, 2020
Copyright: March 29, 2020 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

---