Michael Dale - Page 138

Let's just say, for the moment, that I owned the Venus de Milo.  I don't know how it happened.  Maybe some ancient Greek stone cuttings were found that led to a Middle Ages parchment that inspired someone to do some research on ancestry.com, but in any case, it has been indisputably determined that I am the sole owner of sculptor Alexandros of Antioch's Venus de Milo.

A few selections from Broadway's beloved videographer Bradshaw Smith.

If the Occupy Wall Street movement had an official musical, it would likely be The Cradle Will Rock, Marc Blitzstein's allegorical tale of a union leader who leads a fight against a wealthy businessman who controls his town's police, press, church, elected officials and even some artists.

Casting controversies, the role of reviewers and another Broadway great turning 80 were among the stories that fired up theatre chat boards and fueled cocktail conversations at Sardi's during the past twelve months. Here are ten of the big issues theatre lovers talked about in 2011.

Grey turns 80 in 2012, but here in New York it seemed like there were shades of Grey all over the city throughout 2011.

Remembering past performances from Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS' Gypsy of the Year competition.

Shakespeare's okay, Stoppard provides a fine mental workout and Ayckbourn is always good for a serious laugh, but the British playwright who never fails to delight me is the witty and wonderful Noel Coward.

I don't think I'm giving away a major spoiler when I mention that toward the end of Thomas Bradshaw's Burning, there's a reference to one of the characters as having won the 2010 Tony Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Play.  I'm not sure I'd appreciate the honor if I was John Benjamin Hickey, as the character referred to is one of the sleazier ones in a play filled with sleaziness.

With Marilyn Maye wrapping up her Jerry Herman tribute at Feinstein's, let's take a look back at both of them in the 1960s.

While Broadway fans know full well of Peter Filichia's prowess as a theatre columnist and critic, some may not be aware that he is one of those cliché-defying gents who can define both the infield fly rule and an 11 o'clock number. So in his terrific new book, Broadway Musical MVPs, he borrows a page from the sports section and picks a Most Valuable Player for the past 50 Broadway seasons.

One of the great stage actors of our time once gave a chilling performance on the small screen that lured tourists to Broadway.

Ten years ago, when New Yorkers were still adjusting to the shock of so many lives lost and a way of life gone forever, Mamma Mia!, just by being the right musical at the right time, had something to do with Broadway's own healing process.

Last season, playwright Richard Nelson invited us to spend election night 2010 at the Rhinebeck home of schoolteacher Barbara Apple and her aging uncle, Benjamin as her left-leaning sisters and brother gathered for dinner and conversation about family matters and the country's political climate. Titled That Hopey Changey Thing after a sarcastic post-election quip Sarah Palin once directed at Obama voters, Nelson referred to it as a 'disposable' play, written quickly and heavily steeped in the national conversation of its time.

With its many supporting roles for older performers, one of the great pleasures of productions of Follies is the opportunity to see some of the theatre's senior members making a triumphant return to the Broadway stage.

On Saturday afternoon, August 27th, that revival will chalk up its 6,138th performance, surpassing A Chorus Line as Broadway's longest running American musical. Sure, there are three Broadway productions higher on the list of total performances - Les Miserables, Cats and the still-running Phantom of the Opera - but the distinction of Chicago being an American musical is a significant one.

If the Vineyard Theatre's Off-Broadway production of [title of show] had concluded its run in 1986, or even 1996, the story of the musical where composer/lyricist Jeff Bowen and bookwriter Hunter Bell played themselves creating the musical that the audience was watching most likely would have ended right there. But it was October or 2006...

If I were delusional enough to think my scribblings could turn an unknown into a star overnight, then I'd be writing these words fully confident that by tomorrow morning every Broadway producer in town would want to sign a young musical comedy actress named Oakley Boycott.  Yes, Oakley Boycott is her actual name and as a performer she's as unique as her moniker.  I first saw her two years ago at one of Town Hall's Broadway's Rising Stars concerts, where she floored the place as a rhythmically-challenged singer awkwardly pounding her way through John Kroner's 'Where's The Beat.'  Since then it seems her New York appearances have been limited to Scott Siegel's Town Hall concerts and doing concert musicals for Mel Miller's Musicals Tonight!

The year Avenue Q asked Tony Voters to 'Vote Your Heart.'

'That's me up there,' said the gentleman sitting to my right at Tuesday night's performance ofHairwhen I ask him at intermission if he was having a good time. I knew his response would be positive, as I could hear him obviously being moved by the production during the first act. He was a big guy, strong, maybe in his early 60s wearing a Hawaiian shirt, khaki shorts and sporting a crew cut. To look at him you might think he was a retired cop or a Vietnam vet. For all I know, maybe he was. But in row K of the St. James Theatre there was a rush of memories passing through him of his youthful days as a hippie.

They look a little like Blue Man Group, they sound a little like Toxic Audio and they talk a lot like Andy Kaufman and Carol Kane playing Latka and Simka onTaxi, but while Voca People might give the appearance of being a bit too tourist trappy for we jaded New York theatre types, it's the kind of family friendly, good clean fun that's legitimately clever, catchly and often downright adorable.