Reinvigorating (Resuscitating?) the ATW Blog

It's hard to believe that the last time I posted to this, was just as the Tony Award nominations were to be announced last May. How time flies. A trip to Beijing, a move out of the five boroughs, and so much more has happened since. We're actually well over half way through the new season and, in fact, the Tony Awards committee has met several times to determine eligibility for this year's awards.

So, a New Year's resolution (better late than never, right?) for myself and the ATW Blog….a post a day – a comment on the news clips or perhaps some thoughts on the disc (or discs) that are playing while I work.

Today, beyond the "I'm Back" aspect to this post …I was heartened to see not only the positive review in today's "Times" about Fabrik, playing at Urban Stages through February 17, but also the swell picture that, combined, I hope will get audiences to this show that I described as "must-see" when I reviewed it for Back Stage last week.

For those of you who've missed it – the "Times" review can be found here:

http://theater2.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/theater/reviews/30fabr.html?ref=theater

Here's my Back Stage review:

http://www.backstage.com/bso/news_reviews/nyc/review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=100370118

Thanks for your patience if you've been a subscriber to this and wondered what's happened. Remember – comments are always welcome.

Best,
Andy Propst

ATW NewsClips - Further Update

Morning -

Back to Eastern time and heading back to NYC and a real internet connection. I've decided that I will spend late Saturday culling the COMPLETE set of links for the past week, trying to sort them into each days' news. Those should be done by midnight, and then, first thing Sunday, I'll get back to the daily updates.

As for the reconstitution of the site, well, let's get the news back on track, and then, we'll go there....:)

Thanks for understanding and any support you might have for me and ATW.

Best,

Andy Propst

ATW Newsclippings - An Update

Well, leaving today - will be back home mid-day Saturday, and I hope to have the newsclippings (along with some original reviews) back at full force on Sunday. My sincere apologies about this. I HAD been told there would be internet down here. This one post has taken me 20 minutes to get online.

Thanks for understanding.

Andy Propst

ATW Newsclippings

The place has no internet access so to speak. It works for about 5 minutes and dies. I'm really sorry about there being no news. I've got about 40 million calls into the service folk. To no avail. I'll make sure I post something snarky about this place so that other unsuspecting souls don't end up having the same problem.

My apologies.

Andy Propst

ATW NEWS CLIPPING

Andy is away at the moment. He is having problems connecting to the internet. News clippings will be back as soon as possible.
Sorry for the inconvenience. Thank you for understanding.

Tony Season Begins Tomorrow - Some Predictions

Well, I figured that I might as well join in on the prognosticating on who will be nominated for Tony Awards. This isn't a complete slate, but rather, a snapshot of whom I believe will be up for the top awards. As we barrel into the Tony Award season, remember you can always see a full selection of press about the 2007 Tony Awards at www.americantheaterweb.com/news/Tony2007.asp

Until next time,

Andy

PLAY
The Coast of Utopia
Coram Boy
Frost/Nixon
Radio Golf

MUSICAL
Curtains
Grey Gardens
LoveMusik
Spring Awakening

REVIVAL OF A PLAY
Inherit the Wind
Journey's End
A Moon for the Misbegotten
Talk Radio

REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
The Apple Tree
A Chorus Line
Company
110 in the Shade

LEADING ACTOR IN A PLAY
Boyd Gaines – Journey's End
Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon
Brian F. O'Bryne – The Coast of Utopia
Christopher Plummer – Inherit the Wind
Liev Schreiber – Talk Radio

LEADING ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Eve Best – A Moon for the Misbegotten
Angela Lansbury – Deuce
Vanessa Redgrave – The Year of Magical Thinking
Marian Seldes - Deuce
Julie White – The Little Dog Laughed

LEADING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Christine Ebersole – Grey Gardens
Audra McDonald – 110 in the Shade
Lea Michele – Spring Awakening
Debra Monk - Curtains
Donna Murphy – LoveMusik

LEADING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Raul Esparza - Company
Jonathan Groff – Spring Awakening
Gavin Lee – Mary Poppins
David Hyde Pierce - Curtains
Martin Short – Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me

DIRECTION OF A PLAY
Michael Grandage – Frost/Nixon
David Grindley – Journey's End
Doug Hughes – Inherit the Wind
Kenny Leon – Radio Golf
Jack O'Brien – The Coast of Utopia

DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL
John Doyle – Company
Scott Ellis - Curtains
Michael Greif – Grey Gardens
Michael Mayer – Spring Awakening
Jerry Mitchell – Legally Blonde

An update from Andy / Reviews of recent openings

So what's become of Andy you might ask? The blog hasn't been updated in over a week and the reviews on AmericanTheaterWeb have been slight. All that I've written for the site itself is the review of Cymbeline that's playing at BAM through Saturday (Full Review). Despite what you might have read elsewhere, this is a truly effective and affecting production. If you've got time tonight or tomorrow, take the trip out to Fulton Street.

Meanwhile, an outline of some of my theatergoing and the reviews that have been appearing elsewhere: I quite enjoyed Memory at >59E59 (expect a full review in "The Voice" next week). This week, you'll find my thoughts on Harold Prince's excellent work on LoveMusik in the paper (Full Review).

Elsewhere, my review of Rachel Dickstein's Betrothed at the Ohio Theater has been posted this morning on backstage.com (Full Review). Also, while you're looking at that site, take a look at my review of Jenny Schwartz' God's Ear, this is one of the most exciting pieces of theater I've caught in a long time (Full Review). You should check it out. Finally, expect a review of An Octopus Love Story next week in Time Out. This quirky love story that's also a shrewd bit of commentary on what makes a marriage took me by surprise. It's funny and touching and well worth a look. (For quick reference - here's their website: http://www.kidswithguns.com/.

And with that, we're truly off and running in the 2007-2008 season.

Until next time,

Andy