Broadway, Currently Playing

There are many shows playing right now on Broadway.  Some of these include Jersey Boys, Rock of Ages, Catch Me if You Can, The Addams Family, and Sister Act.  To buy tickets for any one of these performances, just go to   http://ppc.broadway.com/ and pick the play you want.  There is a Buy Ticket button right there on the screen for each play.  Out of the many plays listed I have already talked about wanting to see The Addams Family, so I will pick another one that I find interesting.  Since I like to listen to rock from the 80's, I think that Rock of Ages seems interesting.  Rock of Ages is a rock musical set in Hollywood in the 1980s, when it was all about big chords, big dreams and big hair! Rock of Ages explores the pursuit of dreams and tells its story through hits from iconic groups and rockers of the 1980s.  

Starring

Drew                   Dan Domenech

Sherrie                 Rebecca Faulkenberry

Stacee Jaxx          MiG Ayesa

Dennis                 Adam Dannheisser

Lonny                  Mitchell Jarvis

Justice                  Michele Mais

Regina                Josephine Rose Roberts

Hertz                  Paul Schoeffler

Franz                 Cody Scott Lancaster

Creative Team

Book                       Chris D'Arienzo

Director                   Kristin Hanggi

Choreographer        Kelly Devine

Set Designer            Beowulf Boritt

Costume Designer   Gregory Gale

Lighting Designer      Jason Lyons

For the upcoming Tony Awards on June 12 some of the nominations are:

Best Play
	Good People	Author: David Lindsay-Abaire
	Jerusalem	Author: Jez Butterworth
	The Motherf**ker with the Hat	Author: Stephen Adly Guirgis
	War Horse	Author: Nick Stafford

Best Musical
	The Book of Mormon
	Catch Me If You Can
	The Scottsboro Boys
	Sister Act

Best Book of a Musical
	Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson	Alex Timbers
	The Book of Mormon	Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone
	The Scottsboro Boys	David Thompson
	Sister Act	Cheri Steinkellner, Bill Steinkellner and Douglas Carter Beane

Set Design: The Addams Family

The set design that I am going to make is for the Addams Family.  I am going to make a set for the dinner that the Addams are to throw for the Parents.  This is the house that I would pick for the main setting.  It is secluded out in the middle of nowhere and looks creepy enough to scare any normal family right out of it.



Who eats dinner in a clean normal kitchen.  Everybody does.  If you have never seen The Addams Family, they are far from ordinary.  They are a family that you might consider to have one giant death wish, and that is just with uncle Fester around.  The kitchen in this house is bound to be dark and gloomy.  There is probably spider webs in the corners and dangerous utensils out and about.

I don't know about anybody else, but this would creep me out.  If I walked into a room and saw this woman as my host, I might have to leave right away.  This is just plain scary.  I mean if the host looks like this, what the hell does the rest of the house have in store for me?

Okay, if my kid was to come home with a girl looking like she seriously just dug her way out a grave I would be irate.  Just take a good look her. She looks at you with these eyes that say "To dissect, or not dissect?"  It creeps you out.  Just think of the weird things she has lying around her bedroom.

They all look dead.  the setting for this dinner would be enough to scare anybody out of their relationship.  At least that is how I would try to manage to put it together.  Gloomy, spooky, and creepy, enough so that anybody involved would like "Gahh" as soon as they walked in the room.

Shows I Would Like to See

     When I was doing the previous discussion post I talked about The Addams Family musical being something I would like to go see.  I still would, since I have been a fan of The Addams Family since I was a kid.  It is an original story of what most parents go through, the nightmare of having a growing daughter.  Wednesday Addams becomes a young woman, and has fallen in love with a sweet, smart, young man from a respectable family.  I surely found this weird since Wednesday has taken on the person as the ultimate princess of darkness, and she has a "normal" boyfriend.  This throws her parents, Morticia and Gomez for a loop when have to host a dinner for the young man his parents.  Seeing what my parents had to go through for 
my younger sister, I think it would be an interesting spectacle to watch.

The Addams Family characters include Brad Oscar (Uncle Fester), Zachary James (Lurch), Adam Riegler (Pugsley), Jackie Hoffman (Grandma), Rachel Potter (Wednesday), Roger Rees (Gomez), and Bebe Neuwirth (Morticia)

The crew consists of Charles Addams (creator/cartoonist), Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice (Book).  Andrew Lippa (Music and Lyrics), Phelim McDermott (Direction and Design), Julian Crouch (Direction and Design), Sergio Trujillo (Choreography), Jerry Zaks (Creative Consultant), Natasha Katz (Lighting Designer), and many more.

Another play musical that has been referred to me from friends is the Lion King Musical.  This peaked my interest right away since the Lion King was the first movie I ever saw in a movie theater as a kid.  I was a fan from the start, but then again, what kid wasn't.  The Lion King is a play that more than 50 million people world-wide has seen.  It is the Tony Award winning Broadway sensation that Newsweek calls "a landmark event in entertainment."  The New York Times says "There is simply nothing else like it!"

Starring

Simba  - Dashaun Young

Mufasa            - Alton Fitzgerald White

Rafiki  - Tshidi Manye

Scar - Gareth Saxe

Nala -  Chauntee Schuler

Young Simba (alternating performances) -  Judah Bellamy

Young Simba (alternating performances) -  Alfonso Romero Jones II

Zazu - Cameron Pow

Pumbaa - Ben Jeffrey

Timon  - Fred Berman

Young Nala (alternating performances) -  Khail Toi Bryant

Young Nala (alternating performances) - Shaylin Becton

Banzai - James Brown-Orleans

Ed -  Enrique Segura

Shenzi - Bonita J. Hamilton

Creative Team

Music - Elton John

Lyrics-Tim Rice

Director - Julie Taymor

Book- Roger Allers and Irene Mecchi

Costume Designer - Julie Taymor

Choreographer            -Garth Fagan

Set Designer - Richard Hudson

Lighting Designer - Donald Holder

Sound Designer - Tony Meola 
To see a sneak peak, click here for The Lion King

Theatre and My Life

         When I started here IUP I was an Accounting Major.  I have since then switched to Business Management because I couldn't stand accounting.  I had never really thought much about how theatre was used in my life until I took the course.  I now think and look at a lot of things very differently in my life. 

People use different roles and act differently every day, in different situations.  We have a side of ourselves that we do not want anybody else to see.  We all have certain ways we act around certain people.  I am no different.  I have a different role for almost all situations.  When I am here at school, I am just like everybody else.  I hang around with all my friends and just try to enjoy the situation.  The only situation I act differently for at school is for the ROTC.  I am in a serious role where I need to be more respectful and responsible than any other part of day.  I feel this will eventually be my primary role in life since this is something i feel very strongly about.

When I am at work, it is all about work.  I may act in a way to try to keep everybody in a good mood, but when it comes to getting things done, in my opinion there is nobody else out there with as good of a work ethic as me.  I find it interesting to see how other people in my life act, and the roles they seem to portray.  Working is a very good part of my life because I am a work-a-holic, because of my addiction to have lots and lots money.  Could that be considered a role in itself?

I am not really sure how theatre affects my life much more than that because its all I do while I am in school.  School, ROTC, and work is my life.  I will continue to think of how theatre affects me in my everyday life once I get back to it.

Theatre Profile- Ford's Theatre: America's Most Famous Theatre

Ford's Theatre is the sight of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, and has a special place in the history of the in the United States.  Since it reopened in 1968, it has been one of the most visited sights in the Nations Capital.  Ford's Theatre has a mission to celebrate the legacy of Abraham Lincoln and to experience the American history through theatre and education.  The Ford's Theatre Society works hard to present the Theatre's nearly one million visitors each year with a high quality historic and cultural experience.  Its work is what makes this historic site an important tool for promoting the ideals of leadership, humanity, and wisdom espoused by Abraham Lincoln. 

Ford's Theatre has had works from the nationally acclaimed Big River to the world premieres of Meet John Doe and The Heaven's Are Hung In Black.  With such works, Ford's Theatre is making its mark on the American Theatre landscape.  Within the near future Ford's Theatre will also be recognized as a major center for learning, where people of all ages can examine the events of that fateful evening in 1865 and experience the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln.  Click here for a 360 degree of Ford's Theatre

Upcoming Events Include:

Parade
Book by Alfred Uhry
Music and Lyrics by Jason Robert Brown
Co-conceived by Harold Prince
Choreographed by Karma Camp
Directed by Stephen Rayne
September 23-October 30, 2011
The Tony Award-winning musical drama Parade features the true story of Leo Frank’s trial and lynching in early 20th-century Atlanta. Ostracized for his faith and Northern heritage, Jewish factory manager Leo Frank is accused of murdering a teenaged factory girl the day of the annual Confederate Memorial Day parade. Alfred Uhry’s award-winning book and Jason Robert Brown’s rousing, colorful and haunting score illuminate a circus of conflicting accounts, false testimony and mishandled evidence in a town reeling with social and racial tension. Isolated from the world, Leo develops a new and deeper love for his wife, who tirelessly crusades for his freedom. Stephen Rayne (The Heavens Are Hung In Black, Sabrina Fair) directs this compelling and provocative tale of justice miscarried, revealing a country at odds with its declarations of equality. Tony-Award nominee Euan Morton stars as Leo Frank. Parade is a co-production with Theater J and is presented in association with the Anti-Defamation League and Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington.

Members/Group Pre-Sale: March 23, 2011, at 10 a.m.
Public Sale: March 30, 2011, at 10 a.m.

A Christmas Carol
By Charles Dickens
Adapted by Michael Wilson
Directed by Michael Baron; original staging recreated by Mark Ramont
November 18-December 31, 2011
Join the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future as they lead the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge on a journey of transformation and redemption. Originally conceived by Michael Baron, this music-infused production captures the magic and joy of Dickens’s Yuletide classic. Acclaimed Washington stage actor Edward Gero returns to play Scrooge in the production The Washington Post hailed as “musically high-spirited” and “infectiously jolly.”

Members/Group Pre-Sale: August 15, 2011, at 10 a.m.
Public Sale: August 29, 2011, at 10 a.m.

Ford’s Theatre Commission
By Richard Hellesen
January 20-February 12, 2012
In his fourth commission for Ford’s Theatre, playwright Richard Hellesen explores the two documented encounters between Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln during a period of national crisis. As Lincoln searches for a way to end slavery in the summers of 1863 and 1864, Douglass’s rhetoric and conviction challenges the president to envision a post-emancipation world. Together, the men imagine not only a unified nation but a society that brings truth to the Constitution’s assertion that “all men are created equal.” Hellesen’s previous works for Ford’s Theatre include One Destiny, Investigation: Detective McDevittand The Road from Appomattox, three gripping and insightful explorations of critical moments in Civil War history. The world premiere of this work will coincide with the opening of the Center for Education and Leadership, which will include new galleries exploring the immediate aftermath of Lincoln’s assassination and the evolution of his legacy.

Members/Group Pre-Sale: August 15, 2011, at 10 a.m.
Public Sale: August 29, 2011, at 10 a.m.

1776
Book by Peter Stone
Music by Sherman Edwards
Choreographed by Michael Bobbitt
Directed by Peter Flynn
March 9-May 19, 2012
With quick-witted dialogue and a playful score, 1776 dramatizes the impassioned debates of Philadelphia’s Second Continental Congress. As George Washington sends updates from the military front, patriots John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson attempt to persuade the 13 colonies to separate from British rule. Motivated by a series of abuses from King George, America’s first politicians forge a new democracy by composing the Declaration of Independence. Based on the letters and memoirs of America’s founding fathers, this classic, Tony Award-winning musical showcases the principles, pride and determination that influenced the birth of our nation.

Members/Group Pre-Sale: August 15, 2011, at 10 a.m.
Public Sale: August 29, 2011, at 10 a.m

They will also continue to show the performance of One Destiny.

One Destiny will let you learn about Lincoln’s assassination from two men who were there. Actor Harry Hawk and Ford’s Theatre co-owner Harry Ford revisit the events of April 14, 1865. As they reconstruct the sequence of events, they grapple with the question: Could John Wilkes Booth have been stopped? This 30-minute presentation explores the key facts of the assassination while capturing the emotions of that fateful night. Featuring costumed actors.

One Destiny is offered during the day in the fall and spring and during the evening in the summer.

This production is appropriate for ages 8 and up.

Stephen F. Schmidt and Michael Bunce in the Ford’s Theatre production of One Destiny. Photo courtesy of Ford’s Theatre Society.

Tickets currently on sale for performances through May 21. Tickets for Summer 2011 will go on sale March 21, 2011.