AmericanTheaterWeb Update for Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Well, took the site pretty much live yesterday. Had some notes about changes you'd like to see - will work on trying to implement some over the next week or so.

Just in case you're seeing this and wondering 'where are the clips' - you can just use the old URL www.americantheaterweb.com to get to the new pages. The news is in process - ATWTopNews should be done by about 7:30AM EST. Until then, you can scroll through the ATWClips.

Best,

Andy

AmericanTheaterWeb Update for Monday, July 21, 2008

Well, it's 4:57AM here on the East Coast - and I'm at it. London newsclips just went up at www.americantheaterweb.info I'm going to continue just doing one set of links this week - email me if you find that difficult. I'm hoping that today or tomorrow, we might all start being directed there, so, with fingers crossed...

Andy

p.s. Remember that until the full newsclips are done, you can find each portion of the clipping at http://www.americantheaterweb.info/index.php/atwclips/

AmericanTheaterWeb Update for Sunday, July 20, 2008

Well, it's just about 5:40 here on the East Coast - the first posts are going up on www.americantheaterweb.info I should have the ATWTopNews done by 7:30AM or so. Until then, if you drop by and want to see the news 'in process' - click on ATWClips at the top right of the page, or click through to here: http://www.americantheaterweb.info/index.php/atwclips/

Hope you're having a good weekend!

Andy

AmericanTheaterWeb Update for Saturday July 19, 2008

Want to try something this weekend. Am only going to do the news over at the beta - www.americantheaterweb.info

Hope you like what you find there!

Andy Propst

aTW NewsClips - London

Daily Telegraph

ATW NewsClips - Late Day Links

Associated Press

Singer and radio star Jo Stafford dies at 90
Jo Stafford, the honey-voiced band singer who starred in radio and television and sold more than 25 million records with her ballads and folks songs, has died. She was 90.

New York Times ArtsBeat Blog

London Theater Journal: Back to New York, Onstage at Least
In anticipation of my return to sweltering New York City on Sunday, I went to sweltering New York City on Thursday night. I found it a most invigorating place – probably quite a bit more than I will the real thing. It helps when hot-weather discomfort and hostility – […]

amNY New York City Blog

Interview with Nancy Lemenager on Playing Velma

New York Magazine Vulture Blog

‘[title of show]’ Makes Everyone Feel [name of emotion]

Chad Jones' Theater Dogs Blog

Review: `Ishi: The Last of the Yahi”
Fisher’s `Ishi’ horrifies, fascinates

Back Stage

Craig Pomranz reviewed by David Finkle
What's instantly lovable about Craig Pomranz isn't his easy way on a stage, the unforced smile, the loose body language — although all of that is certainly appealing.

Can I Help You? reviewed by Christopher Murray
"Alphonse, you are going to feel a big needle." Nine words blandly spoken but likely to strike terror in the heart of poor Alphonse — and a typical moment in the experimental collaborative Exploding Moment's new work.

Back Stage MITF Reviews

Zen and the Art of Doing Nothing
Zen and the Art of Doing Nothing, written and directed by Michael Wallach, has flashes of originality, even brilliance, crammed into a creaky backstage story of a nervous actor pressured by a domineering father (Brad Russell).

Back Stage West Reviews

The Drowsy Chaperone
Yes, there are curmudgeonly naysayers to this loving spoof of 1920s musical theatre, but what could they be thinking?

Henry V
Rarely have Shakespeare's other historical dramas reached the grandeur of this one, the Bard's portrayal of "good King Harry," the Lancastrian monarch who won the Battle of Agincourt.

Spring's Awakening
musical. Frank Wedekind (1864-1918) was ahead of his time with this powerful 1891 tragedy of adolescence and sexual repression in rural Germany.

The Wizard of Oz
It feels like Christmas in July as Musical Theatre West offers an enchanting and visually spectacular revisit to this stage adaptation of the beloved 1939 MGM movie

An Evening of Music and Comedy Starring Debbie Reynolds
It must be nice to be Debbie Reynolds. Now, I mean. Because despite the unfortunate marriages and the not wholly grateful children, she seems remarkably comfortable where she is.

Dupe
The word dupe can refer to a person who is deceived by others, or it can be a copy of a negative from which additional copies can be made, thus saving the original.

Playbill

* McCarthy, Lumbard, Patterson, Page, Fleming and More Cast in Muny's My One and Only
* PLAYBILL ON OPENING NIGHT: [title of show] — Did You Ever See a Dream Walking?
* Controversial Stitching Extends Off-Broadway to Aug. 2; Ventimiglia Joins Cast
* PLAYBILL.COM'S THEATRE WEEK IN REVIEW, July 12-18: The Helen Hayes Gets a Second Act

TheaterMania

* Dacal, de Jesus, Gomez, et al. Set for Reading of Hudes' Yemaya's Belly
* Donna McKechnie to Star in Reagle Players' No, No, Nanette

nytheatre.com

Reviews: Fresh Fruit Festival: Bed and Breakfast and Theater Boys

The Playgoer Blog

Inside the RNT
Nice little 2-minute interview with the National's Nick Hytner embedded into Michael Riedel's column today.

nytheatre Mike 2.0 Blog

There’s No Clock in the Forest
It’s been a light week for posting here on the ol’ blog. That’s because I’ve been knee-deep in “tech” rehearsals for my latest show,...

ATW NewsClips - Mid-Afternoon Links

Orlando Sentinel Attention Must Be Paid Blog

Puppet events for July

Fort Worth Star-Telegram Pop Cultural District Blog

High School Musical(s) move into the bigtime
Not talking about Disney's juggernaut, but actual musicals performed by students at real high schools

Chicago Tribune Theater Loop Blog

Want to see the hottest British show of last year? Road trip to Complicite..
One show has utterly dominated the British theater awards in the last year or so. And it wasn't by David Hare or Tom Stoppard or Harold Pinter. It was Complicite's production of "A Disappearing Number." Simon McBurney's company-devised show won...

New York Magazine Vulture Blog

Vulture Crush Dominic Cooper on ‘Mamma Mia!’ and Why He’s No Heartthrob

Playbill

* Warren, Graham, Ewoldt, Kromer, Hurst and Thomas Set for Free DCT Readings
* Spin Will Feature Short Plays by Rapp, Gionfriddo, Thompson and More
* DeLaria Will Sing Arlen, Porter, LaChiusa and More on New CD, "The Live Smoke Sessions"
* Little Fish Recording, with Ripley, Jbara and Kimball, Due in September
* Barnaba Will Be Truman in Give Em Hell Harry! Beginning July 20 Off-Broadway
* Camp Broadway to Perform in Macy's Parade; Auditions Held July 19

TheaterMania

[title] characters
Betty Buckley, Barrett Foa, Megan Hilty, Derek Keeling, Aaron Lazar, S. Epatha Merkerson, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Anthony Rapp and a host of stars attend the opening of Broadway's [title of show].

* American Idol's Davis, Guarini, Hernandez, Locke, to Play Rrazz Room This Summer
* High School Musical: Get in the Picture Begins ABC Run on July 20
* Wilton, West Join Anderson, Branagh, Jacobi in Donmar Warehouse Season

The Producer's Perspective Blog

The sequel to sequels.
So Les Miserables II: One Show More is out of the question.
Ditto to the sibling sequel Thoroughly Modern Molly.


The Guardian - Performing Arts Blog

Matt Wolf: West Side Story in Spanish? You're talking my language now

London Theatre Guide

Gate announces season of premieres and Sadler’s transfer
A new adaptation of Hedda Gabler, the world premiere of a new dance theatre piece and the UK premiere of German playwright Falk Richter’s State Of Emergency comprise the Gate’s new season.

ATW NewsClips - Mid-Morning Links

amNY New York City Theater Blog

Morning News: Friday, July 18, 2008

UPI

Suit: Woman humiliated by flight attendant
Carolyn "Lynne" Meadow, the artistic director of the prestigious Manhattan Theatre Club, claims in her suit against Continental Airlines...

Playbill

* Sondheim's Saturday Night to Play London's Jermyn Street Theatre in 2009
* Casting Announced for What to Do When You Hate All Your Friends
* Gurney, Tale of Two Cities and Finn Tribute Featured on Playbill Radio July 22-29
* Mormon Boy's London Run Canceled
* Wilton and West to Star in Donmar's Family Reunion
* Actors Fund Launches Online Store
[for eash of use: http://www.actorsfund.org/]

TheaterMania

* Aubrey O'Day to Join Broadway's Hairspray on July 18

The Guardian Performing Arts Blog

Lyn Gardner: What to see this week

Whatsonstage.com

Lee Mead Removes West End Dreamcoat on 10 Jan

Whatsonstage.com - Off-West End & Fringe

Mad London Fundraising Festival This August
TheatreMAD, the theatre charity who fundraise for those affected by HIV, AIDS and other critical illness, are to stage a London Fringe festival as part of their...

London Theatre Guide

Warehouse welcomes West and Wilton
Samuel West and Penelope Wilton return to the Donmar Warehouse to star in T S Eliot’s The Family Reunion, which opens on 25 November, after previews from 20 November.

Atkins sympathises with Greer
Eileen Atkins, star of new comedy The Female Of The Species, spoke of her sympathy for Germaine Greer following the show’s press night.

ATW Review - After Years of Development, [title of show] Reaches Broadway, Delightfully

Something interesting and thoroughly unique happens in the telling the history of Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell's joyful musical [title of show]; as the piece's four-year development process is related, the plot description of the show also unfolds.

Bowen and Bell wrote this intimate show about writing a musical for the New York Musical Theater Festival (NYMF) and the piece debuted in that Festival in 2004. Subsequently, 'show' was developed at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Connecticut and, then, it ran off-Broadway in an extended, and ultimately commercial, run at the Vineyard Theatre in 2006. Last night, nearly a full four years since Bowen and Bell developed the piece for NYMF, [title of show] opened on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre. It's not for nothing that there's a reason why there PLAYBILL cover for 'show' is a picture of the production's PLAYBILL; this is a delightful New York theater industry hall of mirrors.


Hunter Bell and Jeff Bowen in [title of show]
Photo: Carol Rosegg


At this juncture, most New Yorkers have heard something about the piece with book by Bell and music and lyrics by Bowen (they also play themselves in "show"). It's been profiled extensively during its many incarnations, reviewed repeatedly, and in the time since its off-Broadway run, been the subject of an online video project "the [title of show] show" – also created by and featuring Bowen and Bell.

Theatergoers' familiarity with the piece and its history, though, does not dampen the joy that comes with experiencing the musical. There's a freshness and irreverence that's inherent to the material that captures one on both a first visit and return trips. Given that the last third or so of the show has been redeveloped to reflect what's taken place in both the lives of the creators and their co-stars (Susan Blackwell and Heidi Blickenstaff) and the development of the show itself, event those people who caught "show" two years ago, will be in for a few surprises. Blickenstaff's need to juggle "show" and her work in Broadway's The Little Mermaid, for instance, has been added in to the musical for its Broadway engagement.

But it's not just the story of writing the musical that is found here. Bell's book contains almost Pirandellian layering (which has been perfectly calibrated by director and choreographer Michael Berresse). Bowen's infectious score contains an equal number of Escher-like twists and turns. Many of his songs pull one in and out of the action of writing the piece and performing it (which very quickly blurs into one sort of gleeful haze).

Within this haze there are a multitude of showbiz jokes and insider quips, ranging from a strain of the ill-fated musical Henry, Sweet Henry to random lines from Into the Woods. There's a running joke in the show about the actresses whom Bell and Bowen invite to participate in the project. Periodically between scenes, an answering machine beep signals a message that they've received from a Broadway diva. These voiceovers can be hysterical.


Heidi Blickenstaff, Susan Blackwell, Hunter Bell and Jeff Bowen in ['title of show]
Photo: Carol Rosegg

"show" also has enormous heart – Bell and Bowen have written what might be one of the ultimate valentines to not only musical theater, but also to the people who love them, and in instances like this, create them. Bowen's ode to the dreams that young people have about becoming part of the city's theatrical community – "A Way Back to Then" – truly encapsulates the soft and truly endearing emotional center that's the heart of "show."

As the piece unfolds within the confines of a rehearsal room with four mismatched chairs (from scenic designer Neil Patel), Bell, Blackwell, Blickenstaff and Bowen – along with accompanist Larry Pressgrove – prove both amusing and touching, and in the case of Bell and Bowen, who rarely leave the stage, indefatigable. Perhaps most important, the quartet manges to navigate the hairpin turns of the piece's various realities, even as they deliver Bell's quips with aplomb and Bowen's songs with gusto.


Susan Blackwell, Jeff Bowwn, Heidi Blickenstaff and Hunter Bell ['title of show]
Photo: Carol Rosegg
When combined, the performers' verve and the production's ability to navigate the script's quicksilver tone changes make [title of show] a truly refreshing and winning night at the theater. It's great to finally have this piece on Broadway.

---- Andy Propst

---------------------------

[title of show plays at the Lyceum Theatre (149 West 45th Street). Performances are Monday, Tuesday and Friday at 8pm; Saturday at 3 and 8pm; and Sunday at 3 and 7:30pm. Tickets are $26.50 - $101.50 and can be purchased by calling 212-239-6200 or by visiting http://www.telecharge.com/. Further information is available online at http://www.titleofshow.com/.

ATW NewsClips - California, Pacific Northwest Print

Los Angeles Times

'Sweet Charity'
The fast-paced Madrid Theatre production is full of spunk and pizazz.

A lynching yields a musical love story

'Henry IV' in Barnsdall Park
In its fifth season of free Shakespeare in Barnsdall Park, the Independent Shakespeare Company presents...

Peters writes a new role for herself
She has earned seven Tony nominations and a rapt fan base. Rebounding from...

King Henry is outnumbered
David Denman marches to Agincourt as Shakespeare's brave king, but the cast's...

Los Angeles Daily News

'Of Equal Measure' comes up short
One-sided direction, story don't deliver

Orange County Register

Shakespeare Orange County's 'Henry V' roars with British pride
The Garden Grove-based troupe's staging is a grand retelling of one of England's greatest military victories.

Dr. Seuss debuts this weekend at renovated Gem Theater
The Garden Grove theater reopens after extensive remodel with Seussical the Musical

Orange County Weekly

Getting Wet With Monica Palacios Before Her 'Greetings From a Queer Señorita' Runs at Breath

San Francisco Chronicle

Still Current
During the Lorca Summer Festival, the Pangs Theater ensemble is staging the three plays that made Federico Garcia Lorca's theatrical reputation: "The Blood Wedding," "Yerma" and "The House of Bernarda Alba."

San Francisco Examiner

Kudos: Ruth Felt
Occupation Founder and president of SF Performances

Chad Jones' Theater Dogs Blog

Eugenie Chan spins into Avant GardARAMA!

Contra Costa Times

Hit musical 'Drowsy Chaperone' got its start at a stag party
Fortunately, the betrothed were good comedy writers

Seattle Times

Three reviews of Shakespeare shows outdoors

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The union of Shakespeare groups is far from a marriage of star-crossed lovers
Merger of Seattle Shakespeare Company and Wooden O was a marriage that just made sense.

See all of 'Angels in America' -- but with two casts, in two theaters
For the next few weeks, avid Tony Kushner fans can shuttle between two fringe productions to see both parts of "Angel in America," "Millennium Approaches" and "Perestroika," with two different casts.

The Oregonian

Take a ticket for classic fare
Tobias Andersen is a prominent actor on Portland-area stages, playing key roles in such high-profile productions as Artists Rep's adaptation of "Uncle Vanya" (the one that starred William Hurt)....

Five Live: Performance
2. "Man to Man" Inspired by the performance methods of late Portlander Scott Kelman, the U.K.-based Kelman Group presents a one-woman show about gender switching and ...
3. "21A" Vancouver company Arts Equity crosses the river this year while looking for a new permanent home. First up: Joey LeBard stars in the multi-character solo show, ...

ATW NewsClips - Mid-West, Southwest and Mountain Print

Chicago Tribune

Unvoiced thoughts come through loud and clear
The five solo performers in "A Dreadful Day" are among the best the in city, their monologues like short stories you want to clutch to your chest. If that sounds dorky, you have yet to encounter the pleasures herein.

Stage ticker
[theater notes]

Chicago Tribune Theater Loop Blog

'Hizzoner' cancelled for summer, Giuntoli in hospital
The July and August performances of the Prop Thtr Group's long-running hit "Hizzoner" at the Beverly Arts Center have been cancelled, due to the hospitalization of star Neil Giuntoli. According to a spokesman for the show, Giuntoli has a staph...

Robert Sella to play Salieri at Chicago Shakespeare
The high-profile New York actor Robert Sella is to play Salieri in Gary Griffin's upcoming production of Peter Shaffer's "Amadeus" at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. The show begins performances Sept. 6 on Navy Pier in the mainstage Courtyard Theatre. If you've...

Chicago Sun-Times

'Mamma Mia' leaves its actors a bit stranded
I saw the stage version of "Mamma Mia!" in London, where for all I know, it is now entering the second century of its run, and I was underwhelmed. The film version has the advantage of possessing Meryl Streep, ...

Writers get 'First Look' at their new plays
...that opportunity is the main objective of First Look Repertory of New Work, Steppenwolf Theater's summertime showcase of plays staged in rotating rep at the Merle Reskin Garage Theater.

Stage notes

Daily Herald

Merry 'Much Ado'
Just as pride can't frustrate the budding romance of loquacious lovers Beatrice and Benedick and a bit of slander can't divide

Noble Fool hosts two crowd pleasers

Flawed 'Mamma Mia' still fun
As a movie musical, "Mamma Mia!" is a mess. But a most amusing mess. It features

Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Give her an inch ...
Ann Michels returns to the role that launched her on a rocket ride in Twin Cities musical theater.

Putting some razzle-dazzle on Hennepin
Hennepin Avenue stars: Minnesota to get its own Walk of Fame

OnStage: 'Annie Get Your Gun'
Opening: Last year we were writing stories about Laura Osnes going from Minnesota community theater to Broadway

St. Paul Pioneer Press

Minneapolis / Theater copes with director's ouster
About 50 members of the area's dance and theater community gathered late Wednesday night in support of Jeff Bartlett, the longtime artistic director of the Southern Theater, whose ouster was made public earlier this week.

Give her an 'Inch,' and she'll take a smile
Actress/singer Ann Michels was drawn to "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" because of its messy, meaningful story.

Detroit Free Press

'Ladies of Harmony' opens at Broadway Onstage
The first show of the 15th season for Broadway Onstage opens at 8 p.m. This comedy by Ohio playwright Ron Hill is about a Harmony Church committee, reluctantly planning a funeral dinner for a man they all despise.

Louisville Courier-Journal

Cast shines in Bunbury's 'Moon'
What makes Bunbury Theatre's production of Ken Ludwig's ""Moon Over Buffalo" worth hearing and seeing is a cast committed to the wacky physicality and boundless energy needed to make the show funny

Cleveland Plain Dealer OnStage Blog

Newest photo tour of Great Lakes Theater Festival's $14.7 million renovation of Playhouse Square's historic Hanna Theatre

Sneak peek: 'Mamma Mia!' promotional video from PlayhouseSquare

Cleveland Scene

Bummer Summer
A time-share gets bloodied in Bang and Clatter's Betty's Summer Vacation

Capsule reviews of current area theater presentations

Cincinnati Enquirer

Meet 'West Side Story' gang
Jersey Productions moves to the Aronoff Center's Jarson-Kaplan Theater for a trio of shows, starting with a revival of "West Side Story."

'Edges' smoothes path to adulthood
The song cycle "Edges," a revue about the struggles of becoming an adult, gets its regional premiere at Contemporary Arts Center.

'Park' perfect for a stroll
"Barefoot in the Park," the Neil Simon comedy about newlyweds trying to start a new life together, opens this week at the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company.

CinStages.com

Remembering Jim Campbell
Essential member of the Playhouse family for more than ten years.

Dallas Morning News

Festival of Independent Theatres kicks off with weirdly wonderful double bill
The Festival of Independent Theatres celebrated the opening of its 10th season on Thursday with perhaps the weirdest double bill in a decade. Not that there's anything wrong with weird in the world of independent theaters.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

10th annual Festival of Independent Theatres
It's time for the 10th annual Festival of Independent Theatres, and if doesn't look like FIT has grown all that much in a decade, consider how important it has been to Dallas' fringe-theater scene, which is arguably bigger than ever.

TV, stage actor replaces Phillips in Casa production
Casa Mañana has announced a replacement [Richard Kind] for Lou Diamond Phillips in its upcoming production of the classic Richard Adler/Jerry Ross musical Damn Yankees.

Upcoming: Jersey Boys, Fort Worth Guitar Guild Festival, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
The national tour of the Tony-winning musical "Jersey Boys," about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, comes to Dallas for three weeks.

Houston Chronicle

Broadway class of 2008
Classic revivals, new voices share the New York stage in a strong year for the musical.

Austin American-Statesman

Review: "The Clean House"

Denver Post

"Hot L" comes back to life at Barth

"End Days" is a promising start

Rocky Mountain News

BORNSTEIN: 'End' finds a lost family feeling its way through dark days

Music takes center stage in Buddy Holly story

Daily Camera

Disney's 'High School Musical 'hits local stages
Jeff Calhoun didn't know what he was getting into when he took the job as director of the national tour of Disney's "High School Musical."

Review: 'How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'

ATW NewsClips - Mid-Atlantic, New England, and Southern Print

Washington Post

Signature Series Channels New York's Sizzle
Signature Theatre is bringing a New York nightclub vibe to Shirlington. For a series of cabaret performances running through Aug. 1, the theater has transformed its smaller performance space into an intimate club, complete with small tables, candlelight, wine and food, sultry singers and a grand...

A 'La Mancha' Without the Musical Majesty
A serving of brawling and blarney is one thing, but a Broadway musical is altogether something else. Can Keegan Theatre, the scrappy local specialist in Irish drama, really hold its own doing "Man of La Mancha"?

With Olney's Young Actors, 'Big River' Washes Over the Top
Watch 'em float in silhouette -- it's Huck and Jim, gliding down the Mississippi in Olney Theatre Center's romantically lighted production of "Big River."

Fringe Festival at a Glance

Mini Reviews

'Mamma Mia!': Gotta Love It, Like It or Not

Philadelphia Inquirer

Making a show about making a show
So {title of show} is a new musical about four people trying mightily to create a new musical. But don't stop there. The actors playing the roles are ...

'Mamma Mia,' here we go again - this time on screen

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

PICT celebrates Synge by staging complete cycle of plays
"It is Ireland's sacred duty," joked English critic Kenneth Tynan in 1956, "to send over, every few years, a playwright to save the English theater from inarticulate glumness." ...
* Synge cycle information

Movie Review: 'Mamma Mia!'
We might admire the breathless audacity, if not the morning-after wisdom, of the casting: In trying to think of a worse choice than Pierce Brosnan as the male star of a pop musical, the only name ...

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Award winners to get Broadway opportunity
The 2009 winners of the Gene Kelly Awards for best actress and actor will have a chance to perform at Broadway's Palace Theatre.

Boston Globe

Stages: Gold pumps, leopard prints are back again

Orlando Sentinel

'The Wind in the Willows' performed by IceHouse

Miami Herald Drama Queen Blog

Women undercover
Most theater companies save their world premieres for "the season," roughly October through May when both year-round residents and snowbirds make for a deeper ticket-buying pool. But Fort Lauderdale's Women's Theatre Project is taking a different approach, aiming to cure the summertime arts blues with a brand-new work about the girls in blue...

Sun-Sentinel

The Hate U Gave: The Tupac Shakur Story, a review
The Hate U Gave: The Tupac Shakur Story may be the most thought-provoking and lacerating evening in South Florida theater this season.

Sarasota Herald-Tribune 24/7 Blog

Theater plays prominent role in Emmy nominations

St. Petersburg Times

American Stage, Ruth Eckerd add administrators

Show Palace unveils 2009-10 season

The Fabulous ’50s and ’60s Revue will return in mid 2009. The 2006 version set an attendance record. The 2009 version will have new dances and songs and even a segment for requests from the audience.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ATLArts Blog

NBAF THEATER: 'The Amen Corner'

NBAF theater: 'Hallelujah Street Blues'

Atlanta Creative Loafing Fresh Loaf Blog

The Color Purple glows at the Fox

Charlotte News & Observer

Abba dabblers do too little
Theater fans who love a good yarn could only be disappointed by the skeletal tale at the heart of the Broadway musical "Mamma Mia!" The characters are sketchy.

ATW NewsClips - Tri-State Print

New York Times

Puttin’ on the Put-On, With Tunes
“[title of show]” is genial, unpretentious and far funnier than many of the more expensively manufactured musicals that make it to Broadway these days
* Audio Slide Show

In the Berkshires, Some Heavy Hitters, Some Smaller Sluggers
Marquee-name playwrights, directors and actors lend an air of glamour, fill the houses and help keep the bills paid at the main stages at these Massachusetts festivals.

Does Your Mother Know You Sing Abba Tunes?
You can have a perfectly nice time watching this spirited adaptation of the popular stage musical and, once the hangover wears off, acknowledge just how bad it is.

New York Times ArtsBeat Blog

London Theater Journal: Hitting Bottom
I was very sad when the armed intruder put a gag in Eileen Atkins’s mouth on Wednesday night. Ms. Atkins, an actress of incomparably incisive style, had seemed to be the only hope that “The Female of the Species,” Joanna Murray-Smith’s sitcom about feminism under siege, might be worth listening...

New York Daily News

ABBA musical slips on some Greece
You want it to be great, don't you? The soundtrack, the cast, the history: Everything about "Mamma Mia!" makes it the ideal summer fling. Except, alas, the experience itself.

'[title of show]': Little musical that could
People often wonder how a show gets to Broadway. One way is to come up with a quirky idea: Make a musical about making a musical and enter it into a theater festival, where you get noticed.

'Forbidden' revue takes cue from reality TV
Summer is grilling season. That sizzling sound and roasted aroma coming from the 47th Street Theatre are stage stars getting the hibachi treatment (i.e., scorched) in "Forbidden Broadway Dances With the Stars!"

Hot Seats: Theater and comedy picks
Seasoned comedy king Sinbad is back on stage at Caroline's, sure to leave you rolling in the aisles. For some drama, catch performances of iconic writer Samuel Beckett's one-man dramas at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater.

amNY

[title of show]: Love it or hate it
When Hunter Bell and Jeff Bowen announced last year on the "[title of show] show," their internet television series, that they intended to take their hit Off-Broadway musical "[title of show]" to Broadway, no one took them seriously.

amNY New York City Theater Blog

Spiderman Musical Holds Open Casting Call

Newsday

Theater review: '1968: Rock the World'
"Rock the World" is a must-see for those who were alive in 1968, and even more so for those who weren't.

Review: [Title of Show]

Theater review: 'Beauty and the Beast'

New York Post

Riedel: Irons ever so good
Top job in Brit pol drama

Haunting Liam's dead on
Less than a year after Mikhail Baryshnikov performed it as part of a Samuel Beckett evening, "Eh Joe" is back, this time via

This Broadway musical really [expletive]
Originality isn't what it used to be. Take "[title of show]," a Broadway musical - 95 minutes long, top ticket price $111...

Abba Dabba Do
Streep belts out songs, wears overalls and does a split in "Mamma Mia!," an exuberant if not always brilliantly crafted adaptation...

New York Sun

The Mega-Meta-Micro-Musical
If you see only one mega-meta-micro-musical this year, make it "[title of show]."...

New York Journal-News

[title] fills in the blanks
A little musical about writing a little musical makes it to Broadway — and its finale is about making it to Broadway. It's fresh, smart and funny.

Shakespeare, bloody Shakespeare
Bravely and confidently, the Rockland Shakespeare Company has picked "Titus Andronicus" for its 10th anniversary production at Rockland Community College. A Shakespearean punster would call it a hack's work, because hacking of limbs, heads and the odd tongue are part of the action.

ny1

"{title of show}"
"{title of show}" is the ironic-generic meta-musical that popped up four years ago in the Off-Off New York Musical Theatre Festival.

New York Observer Culture Blog

9 To 5: The Musical Coming to Broadway

New York Magazine Vulture Blog

The ‘Mamma Mia!’ Cast Disagrees on Just How Comfy Colin Firth Was in Those Outfits

Hartford Courant

"[title of show]" A Feast For Stage Insiders

Star-Ledger

A musical with songs and words you'll remember
A smart musical about "two nobodies in New York" feverishly writing a musical about themselves writing a musical, "[title of show]" is a lovely and surprisingly resonant creation by composer Jeff Bowen and writer Hunter Bell.

Role is a feather in actor's (Yankee) cap
As he prepares to open "The Odd Couple" on Friday night, there's one thing Lou Liberatore is flatly refusing to do.

Mamma Mia! How dreadful!

Trenton Times

Opera NJ raises curtain on 'The Merry Widow'
Opera New Jersey will continue its repertory of three productions this week at McCarter's Berlind Theatre in Princeton, including the first two of four performances of Franz Lehar's "The Merry Widow" 8 p.m. today and 2 p.m. Sunday.

Off-key 'Mamma' for indulgent ABBA fans only

Bergen Record

Review: [title of show]

ATW NewsClips - National, Industry Print

Associated Press

Two musical obsessives follow their dream to B'way
When we last saw Hunter Bell and Jeff Bowen on stage, the two theater-obsessed lads were basking in the glow of a successful off-Broadway run in ''title of show,'' their delightful tale of writing and putting on a musical.

Variety

Sondheim re-ups with Warner
Icon's catalog spans more than 50 years

High School Theater to be feted
First round of trophies will be presented June 1

Cape Cod attracts big names
Summer program's current offering is 'Reality!

Marshall-Green, Pine join 'Beast'
Duo will play maimed Iraqi War vets

O'Neill Theater lines up cabaret
Event runs July 30-Aug. 9

Corddrys to play stage brothers
Crispin Whittell directing 'True West'

Review: [title of show]
...stripped of satirical edge for its heavy Broadway date, the backstage show by Hunter Bell (book) and Jeff Bowen (score) is revealed in all its narcissism, flaunting its shallow aesthetic values and taking unseemly pride in its inflated ambitions

Review: There Reigns Love
Ever since an afternoon in 1979 when he performed all 154 of Shakespeare's sonnets from the stage of the Olivier Theater in London, Simon Callow has taken an almost obsessive interest in these poetical works from the Bard of Avon. Now, in "There Reigns Love," he has rethought them in a more theatrical light. The final result, although still in need of some polishing, makes for high drama indeed.

Review; Eh Joe
It is an incontrovertible fact that Liam Neeson has the most beautiful -- and beautifully expressive -- upper back in the entire English-speaking theater. And that's a very good thing, since that broad, muscular back is pretty much all we get to see in the flesh of Neeson, who has the title role but not a single line of dialogue in Beckett's bleak 30-minute piece "Eh Joe," ...

Review: Zorro
Replete with arch putdowns and audience-nudging one-liners, tuner "Zorro" tries to put the camp in "gypsy encampment." Unfortunately, it also bangs on about honor, identity and dignity and takes itself so seriously it kills off its most winning personality -- a tragedy for both the remaining characters and the audience's enjoyment. Although tremendous flamenco stomping ...

USA Today

Streep is the dancing and singing queen in 'Mamma Mia!'

Bloomberg.com

Bossy-Boots Lover, Bad Flamenco, Wild Gypsies Harass Sexy Zorro in London
The London musical ``Zorro'' should have the qualities to make a night of passionate theater: dashing hero and flamenco from the best-selling Gipsy Kings.

Streep Dances, Brosnan Sings in Hummable, Syrupy `Mamma Mia': Rick Warner
Pierce Brosnan sings! Meryl Streep dances! Colin Firth plays guitar!

`[title of show]' Sinks; Durang Says `Boo' to Catholic Church: John Simon A familiar problem at birthdays is what to give the celebrant who has everything. The problem with reviewing ``[title of show],'' a vest-pocket and sweaty-collar musical, is what to say about a show that has nothing.

Wall Street Journal

Songs of Themselves
"[title of show]" comes across as a flyweight exercise in narcissism interspersed with fleeting moments of genuineness.

Q&A: Bill T. Jones on His New Musical "Fela!"

Christian Science Monitor

All the world on stage
New International theater festival in California offers audiences a window on foreign cultures – and shared stories.

Back Stage

The Desk Set
Most actors would undoubtedly love to find a supplemental job that's closer to their field — where they could learn things that might prove valuable in their craft.

Continuing Education
You've decided to find an acting teacher. That's a big enough decision in itself. So what else is there to think about in getting yourself back to class?

Undiscovered
Many actors arrive in Los Angeles with a fantasy about landing representation. In reality, nabbing an agent and/or manager is a process, and there's no one way to go about it.
[more Welcome to L.A. Coverage can be found at http://www.backstage.com/]

[title of show] reviewed by David Sheward
Can an intimate little musical with no stars and virtually no plot — but lots of charm and laughs — survive on big, spectacle-loving Broadway?

Gate/Beckett: Eh Joe reviewed by Leonard Jacobs
Who is this hermitic, tormented man on stage? It's Liam Neeson, of course, wearing a forlorn yet mysteriously blank-faced look.

Theater Boys reviewed by Jerry Portwood
Bare skin is the name of the game when it comes to gay-themed plays.

Traces/Fades reviewed by Andy Propst
Lenora Champagne crams Traces/fades with enough material to fill two or three plays.

Back Stage MITF Reviews

Kidnapping Laura Linney
Philip Mutz's Kidnapping Laura Linney is exactly the type of fluffy fun one always hopes to find in festivals but so rarely does.

The Red Paintball
Just ask Ted Haggard — this country loves to catch religious hypocrites with their pants down, especially the gay ones.

ATW NewsClips - Online Sources

Playbill

* Alabama Shakespeare's West Side Story Begins to Rumble July 18
* Aubrey O'Day Is Hairspray's New Amber Beginning July 18
* DIVA TALK: Chatting with In the Heights' Karen Olivo Plus News of Akers, Colella and Callaway
* Runolfsson, Noll, Buntrock and More Join Julie Andrews at the Hollywood Bowl July 18-19
* Free As You Like It, with Ireland, Weller and Davenport, Begins Boston Run
* Fellner, Marshall, Morris and Renfroe Read notes to MariAnne July 18-20 at the Powerhouse
* "Mamma Mia!," It's Arrived: New Movie Musical Opens in U.S. July 18
* Tickets for 2008 NY International Fringe Festival Go On Sale July 18

TheaterMania

Life Is All Right in America
I’m all for this new bi-lingual West Side Story that plans to open next spring.

Review: [title of show]
This Broadway musical about the making of a musical has plenty of heart, passion, wit -- and a terrific cast of four.

Talkin' Broadway

Review: [title of show]
Cults of personality form when the messenger becomes, or in many cases makes himself, more important than his message. But even in the arena of unbounded hero worship that is too often the Broadway musical, writers and stars rarely trade on the premise that you should think less about what's being said than who's doing the talking (and singing) - while simultaneously proclaiming the opposite. . . .

nytheatre.com

Review: [title of show]

CurtainUp

Review: [title of show]
What started off as a cutsey little self-referential festival entry became a sassy, cult-like Off Broadway musical that has plopped down, with no added flash and trash, onto the Great White Way.

Review: The Marriage of Bette and Boo
Like the best absurdist playwrights, Durang fills his socio-political themes with jokes and levity. It’s best if you let him explain it all for you. . . .

ATW NewsClips - Select Blogs

The Clyde Fitch Report Blog

Pondering the Clay Tablet
For about a week or so -- well, ok, maybe a little bit longer -- I've been carrying around the New York magazine tribute to Clay Felker, the legendary creator and editor of the magazine.

Arts Advocacy Update L
This, my friends, is the 50th Arts Advocacy Update. Hooray!!

Welcome to Mark Blankenship's The Critical Condition

About Last Night Blog

TT: Hating the new

ATW NewsClips - London

The Independent

Regards to Broadway from West End directors
The last few years have seen a veritable flock of Seagulls land on the stage with varying degrees of success.

Review: The Female of the species, Vaudeville Theatre, London

The Guardian

Street Scene, Young Vic, London
A dazzlingly diverse score of ordinary yearning makes for a great evening, writes Michael Billington

Beauty and the Beast, Williamson Park, Lancaster
Alfred Hickling finds this larger than life promenade performance makes for a warm heart and sore legs

Daily Telegraph

Review: The Female of the Species
Charles Spencer reviews The Female of the Species at the Vaudeville Theatre

Whatsonstage.com

West & Wilton Have Family Reunion in TS Eliot Fest

Latest Gossip: Fiennes & Griffiths in Double Dose of Classics???

Whatsonstage.com - Off-West End & Fringe

Review: Street Scene
There are only a few performances (until next Tuesday) of Kurt Weill’s great 1947musical melodrama at the Young Vic, but you simply must catch one of them. A sort of white Porgy and Bess set in a New York tenement over a sweltering hot twenty-four hours, the score is one of Weill’s American masterpieces, set to a 1929 play of Elmer Rice with beautiful lyrics by the Harlem poet Langston Hughes.

Why You Should See … I, Lear
I, Lear, an “anarchic character comedy” from theatre company The Black Sheep, opens at the Trafalgar Studios next week (21 July - 16 August). It features two of England’s finest actors, who attempt to condense a lifetime’s worth of roles into a single evening. And it’ll all end in tragedy. Here, one of those “twin collossuses of the stage”, Chester Blenheim, explains the inspiration behind the show…

ATW NewsClips - Late Day LInks

Playbill

* Noll, Scott, Skinner, Paice, Stanek, Lacey Will Star in Signature's Ace, a Musical With Wings
* Andrea McArdle Will Prove You Don't Know Me at the Metropolitan Room
* PHOTO CALL: Thurgood Star Fishburne Gets Sardi's Caricature
* PHOTO CALL: August: Osage County's New Residents
* "Moonlighting" Star Beasley Joins Cast of Grecian Formula
* PHOTO CALL: Vermont Light in the Piazza with McCarthy, Worsham and Worley
* Superstar Parton Jumps Onto Broadway Bandwagon for 9 to 5: The Musical
* Sondheim Extends Worldwide Publishing Agreement with Warner/Chappell Music
* Lacey, Grodner, Drummond and D'Amico Will Take Italian Sojourn to the O'Neill Center
* Aranas, Bobb, Joyce, Marshall-Green, Pine and More to Star in NYTW's Beast
* Lavin and Najimy to Star in Reading of Nora and Delia Ephron's Love, Loss, and What I Wore
* Shaiman Penning Score for Touchstone's "Bob: The Musical"
* New Music: NAMT Announces Selections for 2008 Festival of New Musicals
* Rock Musical bare Will Make Its San Francisco Debut in 2009; Arima to Direct
* "Theater Talk" Will Head to the Guthrie in August
* National High School Musical Awards Named for James M. Nederlander
* "Mamma Mia!" Soundtrack Lands in Top Ten on Billboard Chart

TheaterMania

* Noll, Paice, Skinner, et al. Set for Signature's Ace
* John Ventimiglia to Join Cast of Stitching, Which Extends Through August 2
* Anthony Rapp's Without You Set for Special Engagement at City Theatre
* Kristin Chenoweth, Neil Patrick Harris, Chandra Wilson React to Emmy Award Nominations
* Kenn Duncan's Photographs to Be Displayed at New York Public Library
* Marshall-Green, Pine, Stoll, et al. Set for NYTW's Beast
* Full Cast Set for BTF's A Man For All Seasons and Noel Coward in Two Keys
* Robert Sella, Robbie Collier Sublett to Headline CST's Amadeus
* NAMT Announces 2008 Selections


Broadway.com

FRESH FACE: Carrie Manolakos

* Logan Marshall-Green, Larry Pine & More Set for Beast at NYTW
* NAMT's 2008 Festival Lineup to Include Pamela's First Musical
* Stoppard's Heroes to Be Part of Keen Company Season
* Linney, Chenoweth, McDonald, Nixon & More Among 2008 Emmy Nominees

nytheatre.com

Review: TRACES/fades

MITF Reviews (updated)
[Flagboy, Daguerreotypes, Natalie, Eighty-1, The Wendy Complex and Flies in the Snuffbox]

The Playgoer Blog

The Nonprofit Takeover of Broadway, cont.
Looks like second best won't do for the so-called Second Stage any longer. They want to play with the big boys on Broadway.

The Wicked Stage Blog

"Rafta Rafta" Headed for Main Stem

The Producer's Perspective

Sequels suck. But just for us.
Squeezing successful products for every penny of profit may sound like a greedy, grubbin' producer sort-of-thing to do, but the exploitation of products that have penetrated the market successfully is what allow producers to reinvest in more new product.

The Times UK

Jonny Woo
Charismatic and confident, Woo resists cosiness or anything personal as he runs a gamut from Shakespeare to Barbra Streisand

Kids Week tickets go on sale
Theatreland in London’s West End is opening itself up to children to see what goes on behind the scenes

ATW NewsClips - Mid-Morning Links

Chicago Tribune Head Candy Blog

Jersey Boys Joke of the Day - Monday

Jersey Boys Joke of the Day - Tuesday

>Jersey Boys Joke of the Day - Wednesday

Jersey Boys Joke of the Day - Thursday

Associated Press

Eric Idle adds an orchestra to Monty Python comedy
In Eric Idle's world, a leaf blower is part of the orchestra.

amNY New York City Theater Blog

Morning News: Thursday, July 17, 2008

Playbill

* New Victory Announces 2008-2009 Season of Family Programming
* Akers, Cavenaugh, Callaway, Reichard, Haran and More Set for Fall Cabaret Convention
* Curtains' Paice to Star in Signature Theatre Company's New Musical Ace
* Fourposter, Heroes and Beasley's Christmas Party Comprise Keen Company Season
* Chenoweth, Dench, Linney, McDonald, Rashad Nominated for Emmy Awards
* Grease's Keeling to Perform at New York City Triathlon July 20

TheaterMania

My, Oh Mia!
Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Christine Baranski, Dominic Cooper, Amanda Seyfried, Rita Wilson, Jane Seymour, Kathie Lee Gifford, and Louise Pitre come out for the New York premiere of the film Mamma Mia!

* 60th Annual Primetime Emmy Nominations Are Announced
* Keen Company Announces 2008-2009 Season

Broadway.com

Second Stage to Purchase Broadway's Helen Hayes Theatre

About Last Night Blog

TT: Jo Stafford, R.I.P.
Jo Stafford, who died yesterday, is mostly forgotten now, save by those who were young a half-century ago, but back then she was one of the most popular singers in America,

The Guardian

Men in black
In pictures: As Zorro: The Musical hits the West End, relive the masked hero's many lives on stage and screen

Alan Bleasdale reunited with BBC after 22-year absence
Writer to return with a drama based on the sinking of RMS Laconia during the second world war

The Guardian Performing Arts Blog

Chris Wilkinson: Noises Off: Getting down to the nitty-gritty
David Pollock: Wlll booking chaos bring order to the Edinburgh Fringe?


Whatsonstage.com

* Gate Adapts Hedda, Dances to Sadler’s Wells Deal
* 1st Night Photos: Keanu Leaves Females in Private

London Theatre Guide

First Night Feature: The Female Of The Species
In a week where Germaine Greer has loomed over the production like the angry clouds of a British summer sky, The Female Of The Species faced critics who would actually watch the play last night.

ATW NewsClips - California, Pacific Northwest Print

Los Angeles Times

REDCAT's New Original Works Festival
REDCAT's innovators show that . . .

King Henry is outnumbered

Orange County Register

'The Marvelous Wonderettes' in Laguna brings back marvelous memories
Laguna Playhouse's nostalgic show examines the innocence of the '50s and the dynamism of the '60s through the prism of a female vocal quartet.

Orange County Register Paul Hodgins' Blog

A “West Side Story” for our times — bilingual and more menacing — is coming to Broadway

L.A. City Beat

Life Begins at 8:30, So Leave the House at Six
Don Shirley takes a bus!

NOW PLAYING July 17
(Capsule Reviews from Don Shirley)

Contra Costa Times


Disney to Shakespeare and Alan Thicke -- quite a week
One Hand clapping is about the week's Bay Area theater highlights

Classy cast, sets spark 'Thoroughly Modern Millie"

Doing theater in harmony

San Francisco Weekly

Oscar Wilde's view of women in politics not ideal
It's an election year, in case you hadn't noticed. From Josh Kornbluth's Citizen Josh to Nikolai Gogol's The Government Inspector, Bay Area...

Killing My Lobster new show doesn't kill
San Francisco's flagship comedy troupe is back with a new show, new actors, and a different performance space. This edition's theme is "time,"...

American Joe pits liberal sister against army brother
Despite being given life by the same DNA donors and being raised in the same household, siblings often grow into people who bear little...

Also Playing
(capsule reviews)

Campaign pain?
SF Mime Troupe takes no election-year guff in Red State

Sacramento Bee

Review: Vicki Lewis nails the role of Rose in Music Circus' excellent telling of 'Gypsy'

Seattle Weekly

Twist in the Gut
In the annals of American dramaturgy, A Streetcar Named Desire isn't just an 800-pound gorilla—it's the whole monkey house. Family,...

Bard Beats Bond
Stage acting is where TV stars go to demonstrate that they've got chops. And when stage actors want to assay the test of great acting, they go to...

Opening Nights: Bare
When I think of Catholic boarding school, I think of two things—parents who don't really want to be parents and bored, forgotten children...

Opening Nights: Big River
Taproot Theatre gets a number of things right in its staging of Big River, the 1985 musical that follows Huckleberry Finn and his runaway slave...

Opening Nights: The Mikado
Just like the pair themselves—W.S. Gilbert, bourgeois family man/cutting satirist, and A.S. Sullivan, shameless hymn-monger/bon-vivant...

Opening Nights: The Wind in the Willows
With little more than a tricked-out bicycle, Theater Schmeater transports the young and the young at heart to a magical realm of animals in their...

The Stranger

White Girls
Leni Riefenstahl, Blanche DuBois, and a Bulimic Black Man

ATW NewsClips - Mid-West, Southwest and Mountain Print

Chicago Sun-Times

Why are ABBA songs so infectious? Science has answers
It only takes a single exposure, and in an instant, your whole day can change. The infection is rapid and feels potentially unending. One minute you’re minding your own business ...

Time Out Chicago

Deborah Clapp
The new leader of the League of Chicago Theatres talks shop.

Smoke alarm
In the wake of the Jersey Boys smoking bust, we check in with Ald. Brendan Reilly on what it means for other cig-wielding stage characters like August: Osage County's Violet Weston.

Review: A Midsummer Night’s Dream: A Queer Tale @ MidTangent Productions
Review: Unsex Me Here @ The Living Canvas
Review: Rag and Bone @ Rubicon Theatre Project
Review: Saints in Strange Places @ Appetite Theatre

Spotlight on...Milly's Orchid Show
Mily May Smithy, maven of miscellany, pops up at Park West Saturday 19.

Daily Herald

July 17 openings and closings

Minneapolis City Pages

Guthrie's Government Inspector a first-rate farce
As someone who once logged a certain amount of deeply satisfying and restorative R.E.M. sleep in the back seat of a state-owned car (yes, on the...

Theater Spotlight: Autobahn
Seeing as how we, as a species, appear to be furiously evolving toward a life of sitting on padded seats and hurling ourselves through space in...

Detroit Free Press

The Bard comes home to the park
"Barefoot in the Park" was nice, but Shakespeare in the park is what Water Works Theatre Company does best at Royal Oak's Starr Jaycee Park.

More Shakespeare
Can't wait a week for a summer Shakespeare fix? You could cross the Canadian border for Stratford or just go to Jackson and Grand Rapids. Both are hosting performances of the Michigan Shakespeare Festival.

Encore Michigan

Panhandle Slim extended through September

St. Louis Riverfront Times

Mo' Muny!: What happens when the Muny looks back on its 90 years? (Hint: It ain't "magic.")
Doubtless, 90 Years of Muny Magic, this week's birthday celebration of St. Louis' longest-lasting — and, in recent decades,...

Dennis Brown offers up his ten most memorable Muny moments

St. Louis Stage Capsules

CiN Weekly

What's the Point?!
Know Theatre opens season with regional premiere

Houston Press

Capsule Stage Reviews: Ain't Misbehavin', Snoopy, The Tamarie Cooper Show, War of the Roses

Austin American-Statesman

A coffee with ...
'Nanny' co-star now nurtures a 'Clean House' in Austin.

Denver Post

History as chess yields a weighty "Henry VIII"

Rocky Mountain News

Actresses revisit the 'Hot L'
Reprising roles gives actresses second chance to bring experiences to lobby stage

ATW NewsClips - Mid-Atlantic, New England, and Southern Print

Washington Post

A Man Walked Into a Bard One Day . . .
Suspect in Folio Theft Is Something of a Character

'Miss Lizzie,' A Greek Chorus That Rocks
The spirit of fringe is rock-and-roll, so it's fitting that one of the most sizzling acts thus far in the third Capital Fringe Festival is an hour-long ramble through Greek tragedy set to amplified music.

How to Choose at the Fringe Festival?
Just try searching for that perfect play among the 100-plus Capital Fringe Festival offerings -- the one that for a mere 15 bucks will entertain, warm the heart, remind of you of your humanity.

Washington City Paper

Fringe & Purge
Highlights from Washington City Paper's Capital Fringe Festival Blog

Philadephia Inquirer

In spite of yourself, a fABBAlous time
Let's just be frank here - Mamma Mia! is about as critic-proof a musical as you'll ever find. Some people just love ABBA, and others love any creative endeavor to which the prefix "chick"...

Philadephia Weekly

Stage
PlayPenn at the Playground at the Adrienne, and the Spark Festival at Plays and Players Theater.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Finger-snappin' 'Smokey Joe's Cafe' is a departure for CLO
All musicals are time machines. ...

Gene Kelly Awards going national

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Civic Light Opera brings Wild West to Benedum
Tuesday, Jack Devereaux will open a two-week run as Frank Butler in the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera production of "Annie Get Your Gun."

'Smokey Joe's' shines spotlight on songwriters
Songwriters -- for the most part -- get little attention. That's one big reason you might want to see the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera's production of "Smokey Joe's Cafe."

Apple Hill adds twist to traditional 'Cinderella'
This summer, Apple Hill Playhouse offers a traditional retelling of "Cinderella," complete with a pumpkin coach and a beautiful princess -- and no male siblings. But there's a twist. Cinderella and the prince meet while they're doing laundry.

Theatre Factory presentation pays tribute to Cole Porter's life, music
"Red Hot & Cole" showcases many of American songwriter Cole Porter's biggest hits from Broadway and Hollywood, from "Anything Goes" and "Kiss Me Kate" to "High Society" and "Can-Can."

Hoping 'Stonewall's Bust' will leave audience breathless with laughter
When playwright John Morogiello's comedy "Stonewall's Bust" takes stage for the first time, he has some high hopes for the outcome.

Irish & Classical celebrates works of John Synge
For theater lovers, the Synge Cycle can become a vehicle to explore the world of Irish playwright John Millington Synge.

Baltimore Sun

Strong cast weaves fine 'Plaid'

Drawing on the soul of the 'Machine'

Richmond Times-Dispatch

Cheap Dating at Lulu's, Fringe Theater at Gallery 5, Shockoe Chef Showdown

Boston Globe

In 'Assassins,' they sing, dance, and aim to shoot a president
Why does Company One ask us to spend 90 minutes in a dark room with these obsessive killers? For Sondheim fanatics, the answer is obvious: It's the music, stupid.

Making a mockery out of situation
"The Book Club Play" is a play about a film mockumentary about people who love books.

Boston Phoenix

Killing grounds
The Seagull flies at the Publick; Company One knocks off Assassins

Providence Journal

As You Like It in Westerly; Evita in Matunuck
You can catch actor David Birney playing Shakespeare in Westerly’s Wilcox Park this weekend, or you can head over to Matunuck for Evita at Theatre by the Sea.

Providence Phoenix

Mamma Mia!
Passable, frothy fun

Berkshire Eagle

Director digs into Chekov
Among the plays Michael Greif has directed at Williamstown Theatre Festival since his first production there in 1993 is John Guare's "Landscape of the Body."

Orlando Sentinel Attention Must Be Paid Blog

Not quite theater, but fun all the same

Miami Herald

Smart treatment for comedy of buffoons
Just over a century ago, Jacinto Benavente surprised audiences in Madrid with the premiere of Los intereses creados (The Bonds of Interest), a ''comedy of buffoons'' that pays homage to Italian Commedia dell'Arte and playwrights such as Carlo Goldoni, as a mocking satire of society at the time. ...

Miami Herald Drama Queen Blog

Exiting too soon
If you've been following the state of the newspaper business over the past few years, you realize that (as with the economy) the picture isn't a rosy one. From the country's largest dailies to its smallest ones

St. Petersburg Times

Dialogue causes 'Forever Plaid' to founder

Atlanta Creative Loafing

All that glitters: Valhalla and The Merchant of Venice
Can't buy me love, or can you?

Speakeasy with...Randy Havens
Moving FWD: at Dad's Garage

Charlotte News & Observer

'Wicked' star enjoys new spotlight

Charlotte Creative Loafing

DREAM Act deferred
Plus, firm convictions with Shakespeare Carolina's Richard III