Tag: New York City
Huh? Orson Welles? The guy whose “first film” Citizen Kane made movie history in 1941?
In my last post, I praised Rob McClure in the title role of Chaplin: The Musical but worried about the rest of the show — books, music, choreography, all those incidentals — being strong enough to justify Broadway prices. I was expecting lukewarm reviews but obviously I was way too optimistic. When I saw the word “soppy” in the second sentence of the NY Times review, I knew the show was in trouble.
Thursday night I caught a preview performance of Chaplin: The Musical, a new Broadway show starring newcomer Rob McClure that was first developed at the La Jolla Playhouse under the title Limelight: The Story of Charlie Chaplin. That first draft did not get particularly good reviews, but that was a couple of years ago.
I wasn’t in London at the right time to see the smash hit, One Man, Two Guvnors, but that didn’t stop me from writing about it in this post, and I did subsequently catch a broadcast of it here in NYC as part of the National Theatre Live program. The title of that post was “Commedia Conquers London — Is Broadway Next?” and the answer is yes! — it begins its Broadway run on April 6th. Finally I’ll get to see it live on stage, and I’m hoping many of you will too. Highly recommended!!
Okay, so I exaggerate ever so slightly, but I do want you all to know about TOFT, the Theatre on Film & Tape Archive at the NY Public Library for the Performing Arts, which I mentioned in my previous post. Located at Lincoln Center, it is definitely something to be grateful for this Thanksgiving!
Pop Quiz: Name the famous Nobel-Prize winning author who wrote the following in his most celebrated work:
Yep, that’s what Wikipedia says: “Physical comedy, also known as slapstick…” And if you go on the Discussions page for their physical comedy entry, you read “I propose this article to be merged with the Slapstick article. There are a lot of information on this article that is much the same in the slapstick article, and hence redundant. In my opinion, the two articles will be more informative and detailed when merged.”
Okay, let’s be honest, it would be pretty bogus of me to pretend to be objective while reviewing a show (Flocked) that stars two friends of mine (Audrey Crabtree & Gabriela Muñoz) and is directed by a third (Hilary Chaplain), now wouldn’t it? On the other hand, I did swear on the Blogopedia Bible to report on all interesting physical comedy in the known universe, so I would risk being consigned to eternal Blog Purgatory were I not to mention the show at all.
I just got back from the opening night of this century’s 6th NY Clown-Theatre Festival, a cabaret hilariously hosted by the Leroy Sisters (Aimee German & Jenny Sargent) and featuring excerpts from most of the performers we’ll be seeing in the festival. If this preview was any indication, it’s a strong and varied lineup.
Here’s a riddle for you: what do the sticky floors of New York City subway cars and dusty, musty books on Elizabethan drama have in common? For the answer, just read on….
In the early days of modernism, conceptual artists such as Marcel Duchamp and George Grosz delighted in blurring the line between art and reality. In 1917, Duchamp submitted an upside-down urinal as a work of art, though one obviously lacking in the aesthetic appeal traditionally associated with Art with a capital A. This “found object” was unaltered except for its label. He named it “Fountain.” The piece was rejected by the show’s curator and was soon lost, yet went on to make art history.
Or so says the New York Times. A mere five days after a lengthy profile of Cirque du Soleil co-founder and owner Guy Laliberté, which I wrote about in this post, the Times is back with a three-page preview of Cirque’s upcoming debut at Radio City Music Hall, the stage show Zarkana. And though their previews tend to be fluff pieces, the Times is again raising questions about the Cirque’s artistic direction, comparing Zarkana to Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark and wondering out loud about the caliber of the theatre and clowning components.
Jim Moore, whose photography I wrote about in this early blog post, has a new show of clown photos opening tomorrow at Manhattan’s Cornelia Street Café. Since I realize most of you aren’t anywhere near New York City, I’m planning to have a glass of wine in your honor at tomorrow’s opening — one glass per missing blog reader — provided the wine’s free. I also thought I’d show you some of what you’re missing with this preview of photos from the exhibit.
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Workshops & Other Events
My first book (1976)
My book Clowns has long been out of print, but you can borrow it for two weeks at a time from the Internet Archive. More information is available here.
My second book (2015)
Visual and verbal humor for the cognitively and artistically curious! Available here.
“A book to treasure!”
—Bill Irwin