Broadway To Vegas

Copyright: March 5, 2023
By: Laura Deni
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THE DATING GAME

Ever wonder why those endless dates just never work out? Perhaps you're too clingy? Aloof? Demanding? Or, is it the other person?

This clever play is composed of short, to the point, segments as to the pitfalls of dating.

Starring Alyssa Kria, Mariele Runacre-Temple, Neil Frost, and Reuben Anderson.

Frank is looking for a love interest. He had been living with Katie, who is employed by a dating service. Remaining on good terms, Frank turns to her agency to provide him with several possible relationships.

In the first segment he meets a no nonsense type who informs him that she'll be taking notes. She asks for his medical rundown, indicating that if he knows his sperm count that would "push you to the top of the list." Shocked at the request, he is informed that "after all I'm 28."

She states she's open for a "second interview " next Tuesday and quips, "I'll be interested to see if you can make it."

In the second segment an eager Lucy inquires of he wants to go back to his place. He thinks she is agreeing to sex, while her intent is to convince him to put his property title in both of their names.

Segment three introduces sultry voiced Diagra, who orders peanuts and a Bloody Mary minus the vodka - just the blood. She created her new moniker from her given name of Diana. She changed it when she crossed over to "the dark side" and fancies herself a witch. She calls her witch agency and endures a call from her mother who complains about the name change and warns her daughter that she needs to get home on time as the door will be locked at midnight.

A dejected and disillusioned Frank calls Katie at the dating agency and suggests they get back together. She points out that they have both moved on. However, she is interested in setting him up with women registered with her agency but he is skeptical until she mention a 26-year old hairdresser with "huge tits."

Frank thinks Katie is attempting to do her former lover a favor until she mentions putting the date meeting on his credit card.

Ka-ching!

A cleverly written and acted series of dating prospect scenarios.

Recorded for the Wireless Theatre Company at Bonifide Studios, 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

SUPERNATURAL SCULPTURAL VISIONS OF THE BODY

Supenatural Sculptural Vision. Photo: Taipei Fine Arts Museum

What will bodies of the future look like? Who or what will we be? This exhibit discusses the future of the human body in the Anthropocene era. As genes continue to evolve with future technological developments, mankind can modify the existence of all living things, such as nature, animals and human beings. What form will the body take in the future? "Who" or "what" will we become? What kind of environment will we live in?

The exhibition aims to find possible answers to these questions through hyper-realistic and realistic sculptures.

These forward-looking pieces are not only a testament to the impact of digital evolution and genetic engineering on "post-humanity" and the environment, but also illustrate how these hybrid creations are increasingly blurring the boundaries between nature, science, and culture.

Innovative technology has had a profound impact on modern sculpting. The artist perfects the production process with 3D printing technology, expanding the boundaries of sculpting to the level of robotics and biosynthesis, thereby opening up the possibility to expand new designs in artifacts, biology, and technology.

The exhibition is divided into four major themes: Hybrid Others, Post-Nature, Artist 4.0,and Technological-Human-Metamorphoses which explores hybrid lifeforms, genetically modified organisms, future humans and robots, and technology’s impact on life, respectively.

On display through June 4, 2023 at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum in Taipei. Taipei City Taiwan, R.O.C

POP ART PIONEERS

Love by Robert Indiana. Photo: Gormley's.

a new exhibition in Dublin, Ireland honors five of the most celebrated pop artists from the US - Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Robert Indiana.

The exhibition, which runs at Gormley’s Dublin gallery only until March 18 is free to view and no advance booking is required.

Showcased over two floors, the exhibition features a wide range of pieces from each artist, including Warhol's iconic silkscreen portraits, Lichtenstein's monumental The Den, Haring's bold graphic designs, and Indiana's iconic LOVE artworks.

In addition to showcasing the artists' individual styles and techniques, the exhibition explores the historical and cultural context in which they worked, highlighting the ways in which their art reflected and commented on the society of their time.

Pop art emerged in the 1950s and 1960s as a reaction to the seriousness and elitism of abstract expressionism. Pop artists sought to create art that was accessible to a wider audience by incorporating imagery from popular culture, such as celebrities, advertisements, comic books, and consumer products.

Two of the key figures in the pop art movement were Warhol and Lichtenstein who went on to influence Haring, Indiana and numerous other contemporary artists. Pop art had a major impact on the art world, as it challenged traditional notions of what art should be and who it should be for. Pop art continues to be an important influence on contemporary art and culture, with many artists still drawing inspiration from its themes and techniques.

Since 1990 Gormleys Fine Art have art galleries in Dublin and Belfast, specializing in contemporary painting, sculpture and bluechip art, alongside international artists.

BANKSY MURAL IN UKRAINE PROTECTED BY AUTHORITIES High-Protective glass have been installed to protect Banksy street art in Kyiv. Four works have been covered.

The move was implimented after police detained eight people in December after they attempted to steal a Bsnkdy mural depicting a lady wearing a gas mask and holding a fire extinguisher.

"We believe that this is a newly discovered cultural and historical heritage," Deputy Head of Kyiv regional military administration Oleh Torkunov told the press. "Every single Banksy work should remain on the site as it is in its original form."

All the artworks will remain in their current locations and the local authorities are planning reconstruction efforts for the buildings around them.

Kyiv’s Regional Military Administration said the installed glass is completely impact-resistant. This security can protect street murals from different conditions' thieves, vandals, current war and climate conditions.

"An additional sensor under the glass that reacts if someone will try to hit it, break it," explains Valentyn Hrytsenko, representative of Europe’s Ajax Systems which implemented the surveillance system. "And on the opposite side, there is another sensor that takes a photo."

A steady power source is not necessary for sensors. The hub communicates with the sensors up to 1,700 meters away, and in less than 0.15 seconds, it alerts the security firm about the alarm. All three of Banksy’s art installations—in Borodyanka, Irpen, and Gorenka—have a variation of the Ajax security system installed.

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SWEET CHARITY

ONLINE AND STREAMING WORLDWIDE Live from David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center a multi-media, site-specific staged reading. Material by Ukrainian Playwrights Natal’ya Vorozhbit & Oksana Savchenko. As translated by Sasha Dugsdale & John Freedman with Natalia Bratus.

Featuring Jessica Hecht, Bill Irwin, David Krumholtz, Nathan Malin, Will Manning, Tedra Millan.

Directed by Igor Golyak.

Benefitting Worldwide Ukrainian Play Readings and International Center for Theatre Development (CITD) HOPE Initiative.

March 6, 7:30 pm ET.

GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL 2023 will feature Sunday night Pyramid Stage headliner Elton John, with Arctic Monkeys (Friday night) and Guns N’ Roses (Saturday night). Yusuf / Cat Stevens will play the Sunday teatime legend slot. Among the multitudes performing will be Lizzo, Guns N'Roses, and Blondie.

Glastonbury Festival takes place June 21-25, 2023 at Worthy Farm in Pilton, England.

This year’s Festival will support Oxfam, WaterAid and Greenpeace and other worthy causes including the Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal.

SPREADING THE WORD

WARNING: HARD BOILED EGGS the Young Vic Theatre in London has issued a warning on its Further Than The Furthest Thing program: The advice to theater-goers states: the production contains "strong language, themes of climate displacement and xenophobia, and depictions of pregnancy and infant homicide."

The theatre also warned about themes of mental illness, death, 'implied suicide' and sexual violence. The final line cautions that "This show involves the handling of cooked egg."

Later the venue explained that there is a warning for anyone with an egg allergy because "cooked eggs are handled during the show."

Further Than The Furthest Thing is set on a remote volcanic island in the middle of the Atlantic where a community has lived undisturbed for centuries. When one of the inhabitants brings an outsider to the island their way of life is changed forever.

Based on real events on the island of Tristan da Cunha, Jennifer Tang’s interpretation of Zinnie Harris’s award-winning play is a story of a community haunted by its past and under threat from a modern world in crisis.

MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL the 1994 iconic blockbuster book by John Berendt, which still holds a New York Times bestseller list record, is being developed into a new musical. The production will be directed by Tony Award winner Rob Ashford, written by MacArthur "Genius" Grantee and Pulitzer Finalist Taylor Mac, with music and lyrics by Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown and choreography by Tanya Birl and Sarah O’Gleby.

THE HANGMAN playwright Martin McDonagh’s creation tells the story of Harry, the second-best hangman in England, who has just learnt that hanging is to be abolished.

The play, which received its world premiere in London in 2015, has yet to be shown in Ireland, where a major new production comes on the back of the release of McDonagh’s multiple award-winning and Oscar nominated feature film The Banshees of Inisherin.

Rehearsals are underway in Dublin for the premier which will open at Dublin's Gaiety Theare on March 11, 2023.

The creative team is led by director Andrew Flynn, who has a long association with McDonagh’s work, and the ensemble cast includes Aisling O’Sullivan, Denis Conway, Gary Lydon and Killian Scott.

AN EVENING WITH THE LATE JOHN CLEESE purportedly will take place on time, March 18, 2023 when the "one and only" John Cleese, 83, shares hilarious and silly highlights from his life and career.

March 18, 2023 at Dubai Opera in Dubai, UAE.

WILL GEER THEATRICUM BOTANICUM will celebrate its 50th Anniversary in high style with a summer-long season of theater, music, performance and other festivities at its spectacular, one-of-a-kind outdoor venue in Topanga, California.

Theatricum was founded in the ’50s by actor Will Geer as a haven for out-of-work performers during the Hollywood Blacklist. Incorporated as a non-profit in 1973, Will’s family continues his legacy, shining a light on current social issues through the lens of Shakespeare, the classics, and a host of satellite events every summer.

The anniversary season will feature four mainstage plays performed in repertory (June 10–Oct. 7); an Elizabethan Faire with special guests William Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth (June 17); a 50th Anniversary Weekend Gala (Aug. 4–Aug. 6); an Americana Harvest Festival and reprise of The Woody Guthrie Story, Theatricum’s tribute to the famed folksinger, labor leader and activist who was a family friend and lived on the property in his later years (Oct. 8); and the company’s annual Holiday Family Faire (Dec. 9).

Additional satellite events include MOMentum Place, Theatricum’s annual Mother’s Day offering of modern dance, aerial acts, juggling and performance art curated by Lexi Pearl (May 14); comedy improv with Theatricum’s resident troupe, Off the Grid, at the end of each month (June 30, July 27, Aug. 31, Sept. 28); and the company’s annual Under the Oaks salon series on Fridays in September (Sept. 8–Sept. 29).

Unlike most companies in L.A. that stage continuous runs of a single play, Theatricum opens each of the four plays in rapid succession at the start of the season. As soon as a production is up and running, it gets added to the weekly schedule — making it possible to see all four in a single summer weekend.

THIS WEEK THIS WEEK is Open Fist Theatre Company's weekly comic newscast, featuring a revolving cast of actors and special guest stars at every performance.

Created and directed by Second City’s Ron West, "this is L.A.’s premier topical sketch show, with a hilarious group of talented performers presenting each week’s top news stories as only they can."

Performances continue on Thursdays through March 30, with the writers and cast presenting their favorite "Best of Best of" This Week This Week ripped-from-the-headlines sketches from the past year on weekends, March 18 through April 8. Always fresh. Always funny. Always relevant.

Created and Directed by Ron West. News Anchor: George Caleodis. Guest Star: Rebecca Metz.

Cast: Bryan Bertone, Eric Carthen, Elle Engelman, Teru Mitsuhara, Brendan Mulally, Jennifer Polonia, Lou Saliba, Jade Santana, Ash Saunders, Jaya Subramanian.

Atwater Village Theatre in Los Angeles, CA.

THE LATIN RECORDING ACADEMY announced its second annual Leading Ladies of Entertainment Connect TogetHER mentorship program, in partnership with She Is The Music, a global nonprofit that works to increase the number of women in music.

Recording and mixing engineer and Vice President of N.A.R.S Records/Dream Asylum Studios Marcella Araica, Global Head of Latin Music for Amazon Music Rocío Guerrero, CEO of artist management company RLM Rosa Lagarrigue, Managing Director, Latin America at Spotify Mia Nygren, and nine-time Latin Grammy-winning pianist, arranger and director Janina Rosado will be the mentors of this year’s collaborative program, which will provide one-on-one virtual mentoring sessions with young women looking to follow a career in the music and entertainment industries.

The mentors will begin their work by paying it forward at a virtual panel moderated by Raquel “Rocky” Egusquiza, Executive Director of the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation, to be held on Wednesday, March 8, 2023, at 1 p.m. EST/10 a.m. PST.

OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY

DUBAI BLING

Cast of Dubai Bling. Press photo.

a popular Netflix television "reality" show portraying the glamorous lives of ten millionaires living in what has been described as 'one of the fastest growing cities in the world' began airing last October 27. The show is already embroiled in its own money scandal.

As first reported by Arabian Business the purportedly wealthy cast were paid just 9,175AED (approximately $2,492.99) each for every episode made.

Arabian Business wrote that Netflix immediately launched an investigation about the salary leak and is "determined to find the mole" who disclosed the information with unidentified cast members left 'embarrassed' who ask appearance fees up to 100,000AED.

Dubai Bling portrays the rich and luxurious life of ten Dubai-based 'millionaires'; Loujain Adada, Kris Fade, Brianna Fade, DJ Bliss, Diva Dee, Farhana Bodi, Zeina Khoury, Mona Khattan, Al Samadi, Mona Kattan.

However, according to Arabian Business, only four cast members — Al Samadi, Loujain Adada, Kris and Brianna Fade — are actual millionaires.

According to press reports: "Some of these guys were so desperate to be famous so the fee wasn’t an issue, they would have probably done it for free," a show insider is quoted.

It's just been announced that - due to season two being underway - cast members are now being offered a 5% pay increase.

MONTHLY PAYMENT PLAN FOR LAS VEGAS SHOWS has been announced by Wynn Resorts. In an attempt to fill up the showroom seats, (Awakening at Wynn has been struggling to fill seats) on selected selling sites, Wynn Resorts has enacted a monthly payment option, rather than customers placing their orders on their credit cards.

Cirque du Soleil also offers a monthly payment plan.

In all cases, purchases must total over $150. and payment options are four, six, or 12-month payment plans.

THE LUCILLE LORTEL THEATRE in New York City, has announced the purchase of a three-story carriage house in Chelsea which will help support emerging artists, the creation of new theatrical works, and bolster New York’s iconic downtown theatre scene.

Located at 134 West 18th Street, the building will act as the Theatre’s new headquarters, featuring a fully accessible 61-seat studio theater, a public, collaborative co-working space for artists, and new office space for the growing theatre company. The fully renovated space is anticipated to be open in 2025.

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AGNES OF GOD by John Pielmeier.

John Pielmeier’s taut, compelling, forceful and thought-provoking drama Agnes of God, inspired by a newspaper article about an event that occurred in a convent near Rochester, New York. When a young nun has no memory of giving birth and then murdering her child, she is court-ordered to be examined by a therapist.

Summoned to a convent, Dr. Martha Livingstone, a court-appointed psychiatrist, is charged with assessing the sanity of a novice, Agnes, accused of murdering her newborn. The Mother Superior determinedly keeps young Agnes from the doctor, further arousing Livingstone’s suspicions. Who killed the infant, and who fathered the tiny victim? Livingstone’s questions force all three women to re-examine the meaning of faith and the power of love, leading to a dramatic, compelling climax. A hit play on Broadway and later on film, after a long wait, Square One is thrilled to finally have the production rights to present this thrilling Broadway classic.

Featuring: Priscilla Squiers, Celine Montaudy and Lucy Babbitt.

On the stage March 9 - March 26 at Square One Theatre Company at the Stratford Academy in Stratford, Connecticut.

DRINKING IN AMERICA written by three-time Obie Award winner Eric Bogosian.

Directed by Mark Armstrong.

"Drinking in America is a gritty, muscular restaging with star Andre Royo bringing to vivid life over a dozen colorful characters, each in the throes of intoxication. This critically acclaimed work takes on a new persona in our present day, with terms like toxic masculinity and male fragility at the forefront of the zeitgeist. In this new interpretation, Drinking in America continues to challenge society’s ideal of what exactly makes a man, and just how easy it can be to break that same man down."

Starring Andre Royo.

The creative team includes: Kristen Robinson (scenic design), Sarita Fellows (costume design), Jeff Croiter (lighting design), John Gromada (sound design), Kate Wilson (dialect and vocal coach), and Bess Marie Glorioso (production stage manager). Technical supervision is by Hudson Theatrical Associates with general management by Baseline Theatrical’s Andy Jones & Jonathan Whitton. Drinking in America is produced in association with Andrew D. Hamingson and William Russo (ADH Theatricals).

Drinking in America begins performances on Friday, March 10 with an official opening on Sunday, March 19, at the Minetta Lane Theatre in New York City.

As with previous Audible Theater shows at the Minetta Lane, Audible will record and release Drinking in America as an Audible Original, extending its reach to millions of listeners around the world.

THE ART OF BURNING by Kate Snodgrass.

Directed by Melia Bensussen.

An inspired new comedy exploring the love, rage, and responsibility that go with marriage and parenting in America. Mid-negotiation, modernist painter Patricia changes the terms of her ‘conscious uncoupling’ with Jason. She wants full custody of their 15-year-old daughter Beth. Jason demands that their daughter decide, but mysteriously Beth didn’t show up for school. Has Patricia hidden her away to protect her, or is there something more sinister afoot?

"A play about a custody fight, but also an exploration of what it means to be a parent in the 21st century, and particularly a woman raising a daughter at this time. Euripides, in the writing of Medea, posits women having rights as absurd as the river water flowing uphill. In contemporary America, the rights of women are a given — or are they? The schism between red and blue states begs this question, as the battle for women’s rights seems to turn back decades."

"Kate’s play studies these questions with wit and a dollop of mystery. A wild theater ride, The Art of Burning explores how the world has changed from one generation of women to another: how do we change with it, and where is the parent’s responsibility to teach/instruct and/or adapt? "

Starring Adrianne Krstansky, Rom Barkhordar, Michael Kaye, Vivia Font, Laura Latreille, and Clio Contogenis.

Creative Team includes: Scenic Designer Luciana Stecconi - Costume Designer Kara Harmon - Lighting Designer Aja M. Jackson - Sound Designer Jane Shaw - Wig Designer J. Jared Janas - Fight Director/Intimacy Coordinator Ted Hewlett - Casting Alaine Alldaffer - Stage Manager Kelly Hardy - Assistant Stage Manager Emily Pathman.

A world-premiere, co-produced by the Huntington Theater in Boston and the Hartford Stage. Through March 26, 2023 at Hartford Stage in Hartford, CT.

ARDEN OF FAVERSHAM new adaptation from Jeffrey Hatcher and Kathryn Walat.

Directed by Obie Award-winner Jesse Berger.

Rick Sordelet will serve as fight director.

"Arden of Faversham is one of the English-speaking theater’s first true-crime stories. Darkly comic–with a shocking ending–it’s Macbeth meets Double Indemnity meets Fargo. And it features one of the strongest and most mercurial female protagonists in Elizabethan drama, whose wit and passions drive the action. This play has been on my 'must-do' list for years, and I’m thrilled to finally have an opportunity to tackle it, especially in a crackling new adaptation by Jeffrey Hatcher and Kathryn Walat. Their work heightens the thrills, sharpens the laughs, and deepens the passions of the original, enlivening the ways in which this rarely-produced classic speaks – playfully and powerfully – to today’s audiences," said Mr. Berger.

Inspired by actual events, Arden of Faversham is an Elizabethan play of unknown authorship–some say, Shakespeare. It’s Valentine’s Day and Alice Arden wants her husband dead. He’s come into money and all she can think about is her lover, Mosby. So, the pair enter into a pact to murder Arden and engage a cluster of killers to do the deed. If only they weren’t so spectacularly inept.

The cast will be lead by Cara Ricketts as Alice, Thomas Jay Ryan as her husband Arden, and Tony Roach as her lover Mosby.

They will be joined by Veronica Falcón, Zachary Fine; Emma Geer; Joshua David Robinson; Thom Sesma; David Ryan Smith; and Haynes Thigpen.

This strictly-limited four-week engagement at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in New York City opens March 16 and will continue through Saturday April 1st.

E-Book

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This is not your typical, totally boring textbook.

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

FINAL OVATION

WAYNE SHORTER 12 time Grammy winning saxophone pioneer and innovator who was instrumental in shaping the sound of jazz, died March 2, 2023 in a Los Angeles hospital. He was 89.

Shorter received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz in 2013 and the following year was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in honor of his "prolific contributions to our culture and history." Shorter was awarded Sweden’s Polar Music Prize in 2017 and was a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2018.

His final recording, Live at the Detroit Festival (Candid, 2022) came from a live set recorded at the Detroit Jazz Festival in 2017 with Terri Lyne Carrington, Leo Genovese and Esperanza Spalding. Shorter served as the festival’s artist-in-residence that year before health issues forced his retirement from playing.

At the time of his death, he was working on an opera called Iphigenia.

Shorter is survived by his third wife, Carolina Dos Santos, and daughter, Miyako.

Next Column: March 12, 2023
Copyright: March 5, 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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