by Karen Tortora-Lee on June 21, 2010
For you youngsters who get all your music electronically: a liner note is as foreign to you as a 45 rpm adapter so let me break it down for you – liner notes were like mini blog entries that came with an album and often were the first thing some people went for when they got their hands on a record. Back in the day (when you had to Buy a Record at a Store and wait to get it home) before you could listen to the music there was always a little thrill on the car (or bus or subway) ride home – coaxing that vinyl in its paper sleeve out of the album cover and reading the liner notes in anticipation of getting that baby home and slapping it on the turntable. It was here where, like a novelette, the experience of the album, the anecdotes, (the written dvd extras, if you will) were all there in sweet little teaspoon heaping, just the right size to tantalize you and make you want to dive into the album.
But what if liner notes were the only thing you had to go on in order to truly know who your recently-deceased father was? This is the question that Liner Notes (written by Written by John Patrick Bray directed by Erin Smiley and now playing at the Robert Moss Theatre) asks.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on June 21, 2010
There’s always a catch when a group of grad-school liberals invites you to their dinner party, or so Dan Rosen’s The Last Supper (currently playing at the Red Room) will have you believing. This play, based on the movie Rosen wrote which was released in 1995, adapts well for the stage and under Akia Squitieri’s direction it doesn’t lose any of the meat that the original film dished up.
The Last Supper (the movie) wasn’t a box office smash, but seeing it on the smaller stage it’s easy to see why – this story was meant to start its life off as a play and perhaps become a movie later on, not the other way around. With thoughtful platforms, weighty discussions and deeply ponderous moments, not to mention strong character evolutions, this story is meant to be played out in front of an audience. It’s also a heck of a lot funnier in person – and it’s the humor which acts as the spoon full of sugar which helps the poison go down.
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by Diánna Martin on June 20, 2010
In the third part of our interview series on Oberon Theatre Ensemble’s Summer Rep 2010, I was delighted to be able to speak with Cara Reichel, Director of Othello, and Producing Artistic Director for Prospect Theatre Company. Coincidently I finally got to see Othello last night (Othello is one of my favorite plays of The Bard). Cara’s ability to weave music (brilliant violin and djembe) in as a way to accentuate both the beauty and horror of the piece was brilliant. That shouldn’t be surprising, considering that Cara has much experience with and an affinity for music and theatre – as we can see from the following interview:
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by Sarah V. Schweig on June 20, 2010
Art is hard. If an artist wants to articulate something about boredom, he or she cannot simply write and produce a deliberately boring play. Audience members could instead go sit in a Starbucks for an hour and save twenty bucks. Similarly, if an artist wants to articulate something about the absurd, he or she cannot simply formulate a scatterbrained pageant of pastiche and call it existentially profound. Continue Reading…
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by Stephen Tortora-Lee on June 20, 2010
What kinds of secret do you know?
Is it classified? Is it torrid? Do you feel it’s necessary to preserve your identity? Do you have a secret identity? Is it ruining your life? Is it a second life? Is it real or just pretend? Do you need to expose it to be free? Do you need to preserve it just to stay sane?
The blurb for this Planet Connections show was very brief:
It’s a secret.
I want to keep the surprise as well so you can find the answers for yourself by coming to the play. So the questions that are sparked within you will hopefully expose new truths to you, or make you laugh in surprise at the craziness of a situation, or cry at the irony, or smirk in bemusement at an unexpected twist, or revel in satisfying conclusions. Or hopefully lead you on to examine yourself deeper and find new secrets about yourself.
But I will tell you one thing . . .
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by The Happiest Medium on June 19, 2010
MODOTTI is the story of photographer, silent film actress and ultimately activist and communist subversive, Tina Modotti. Sleek and sensuous, yet as dangerous as a tiger, she tore through the male dominated political forums almost as fast as she tore through her lovers.
Modotti fled to Mexico lured by the revolution and artistic excitement. Accompanied by her lover, American photographer, Edward Weston, she took on the challenge of a culture undergoing rapid change. Relishing in her new found freedom, her contemporaries were muralist, Diego Rivera, and Cuban revolutionary, Julio Mella.
Taking on controversial issues is a young person’s adventure, one that is bound to have dire consequences.
Modotti is playing at the Acorn Theatre (410 West 42nd Street)
One lucky grand prize winner will receive:
- A pair of tickets to MODOTTI for the Sunday June 27th (final) performance
To enter, correctly answer the following question:
Q. What’s the name of the short film that Alysia Reiner (the actress playing Tina Modotti) and Katie Rosin (Marketing/PR for Modotti) produced together?
(Wanna cheat? Find the answer here.)
Email us your answer with your first and last name to giveaways@thehappiestmedium.com, all entries must be received by Wednesday, June 23rd.
Click here for contest guidelines.
Good luck!
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by The Happiest Medium on June 18, 2010
Planet Connections Theatre Festivity is New York City’s premiere eco-friendly theatre festival, connecting artists and audiences with diverse dynamic charitable organizations. The Planet Connections experience entertains, enlightens and informs.
The Happiest Medium (proud sponsors of The Planet Connections Festival), will be running Q&A throughout the festival.
Today we ask one question each of 4 1/2 Hours: Across the Stones of Fire author Jeff Biggers and Melissa F. Moschitto, writer and director of Another Place. These two strong plays really show what Planet Connections is all about – both plays raise some tough questions about how we live on this planet and how we interact with our resources . . .
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by Diánna Martin on June 18, 2010
Order - Ryan Tramont as Tom Blander and Amanda Plant as Maisy Blander
Next up in our Oberon Theatre Ensemble Rep interview series is Brad Fryman, the Artistic Director of this esteemed theatre company, who produces the shows, and who essentially decides what will be running season after season. Not only is Brad producing two shows simultaneously at Theatre Row, he is also co-starring in Order, as the anything-but-sane psychotherapist, Dr. Fine. Having co-starred in numerous theatrical productions year after year with an impressive body of work, Fryman continues to strive toward providing the public with thought-provoking theatre, and if this season is any indication, then provoking the senses and minds of audiences are definitely a given.
I had a chance to catch up with Brad in between shows to find out his thoughts on this Summer Rep season and working on Order with Austin Pendleton and Christopher Boal. Here’s what he had to say:
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by Anne Jordanova on June 17, 2010
I am fascinated with driven entertainers who do more with their beautiful mug and talent than the average human. In saying this, no one fits this mold better than German sensation Soraya Garcia. Born in Hannover to Spanish parents, Soraya has risen out of an array of fashion models and musicians to stand alone. She labels herself a “rebellious, liberal democrat” and as her career is about to explode, I figured I would sit down with her and grab a few quick thoughts from her creative mind, before I am having to wait in line like the rest of the Universe …
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by Stephen Tortora-Lee on June 16, 2010
The Riverside Symphony (written by Michael Niederman and directed by Hondo Weiss-Richmond) is truly a symphony of perspectives. It opens with Cassandra (Arlene Chico-Lugo), a young high school student speaking to us and to her park as she reminisces about the playground with hippopotami set into the cement. She cries out to the world wondering how any one can stand it – “always preparing for the future that will never get here”.
We switch perspective then to the bum lying on the park bench, Pigeon (Michael Gnat). From him we hear bits of poetry, bits of dissonance, bits of brilliance, blending in with weariness, and a rage at the world for no longer living up to the promise of what might have been.
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