Micki Grant is always first in line: the first Black to write commercial jingles, to have a non-silent role in a commercial, to get a contract role on daytime television. The first woman to write the lyrics, score, and libretto for a Broadway musical …Read more
Even seemingly well-adjusted families can be messy. In the new play “Grand Horizons,” by Bess Wohl (“Small Mouths,” “Make Believe,”) a retired librarian, Nancy (the wonderful Jane Alexander) and her husband Bill (James Cromwell) have recently moved t …Read more
Ironically, Tennessee Williams, a gay playwright, wrote some of the most iconic roles for women in theater. He created parts such as Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire, Maggie in A Cat on A Hot Tin Roof and Amanda in Glass Menagerie. These are serio …Read more
Classic plays have universal themes and meaningful dialogue. Often the challenge for modern directors is how to mount the plays creatively and who to cast in iconic roles. William Shakespeare’s “King Lear” and Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons” both deal …Read more
Before there were the gory massacres and rapes of GOT, there was “Titus Andronicus,” one of Shakespeare’s first tragedies. A revenge play, it was one of his most violent works ,and in it, all the central characters were killed, some in very unusual a …Read more
People believe anything they see, in reputable publications and even on Wikipedia. They accept every number, name and fact as truth. This places a great deal of responsibility on the media and can be taken seriously or merely ignored. Such is the si …Read more
The prologue sets the tone that will quietly pervade the lengthy work “The Ferryman,” the new masterful work by Jez Butterworth, (“Jerusalem”): When a dead body is discovered in a bog, it is identified as that of Seamus Carney, who disappeared ten y …Read more
The clothes are the same, most of the dialogue is the same and of course, the story arc is the same — so why doesn’t Pretty Woman: The Musical have the same appeal as the 1990 movie starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere? For one thing: it doesn’t …Read more
If you’re a celebrity actor, the world can easily learn about your life and career. You probably have your own website—and there may even be a fan-site or two out there devoted to you. If you’re a star of the highest magnitude, biographers may have w …Read more
“The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world” — Dr. Paul Farmer January 2010. In the wake of Haiti’s devastating earthquake, millions of people are left displaced. Among them is a group of children — many disa …Read more
