A few theater related articles around the web I found of interest this week: Julie Taymor Roars by Jacob Bernstein, The Daily Beast, May 21, 2012 The director speaks about her career, the Spiderman issues, and where she’s going. Maybe my taste is different than 80 percent of the people that go to Broadway, but [...]
So, the Tony Awards run Sunday, June 10th this year with Neil Patrick Harris hosting (huzzah!). As such, every theater snob, geek, pleb, sporto, motorhead, slut, blood, wasteoid, dweeb and dickhead will be tuning in hoping for some of that live theater magic (We miss you, Bret Michaels!). But how many people waiting with baited [...]
When theater makes me want to talk about it afterwards, it is always a good thing. When theater makes me stop and think, “Jeezus. . . I really don’t know anything about theater anymore,” it is an amazingly good thing. I caught the last night of Fresno State’s production of “T.I.C Trenchcoat in Common: [...]
Gentle readers, I have been taken to task. Taken to task for not being “nice”. Yes, indeed. . . a grave lapse of character on my part, I know, but there it is. Or is it? No, not being “nice” is actually a revelation of my character, not a lapse thereof. “Nice” is something I [...]
I know that a great multitude of people will be thrilled with CenterStage Clovis’ “Hello, Dolly!”. Except me. So, this is hardly a review. It is really me trying to explain to myself the whys and wherefores of the thing. ******* I’ve struggled a great deal with how to frame my judgments of CenterStage Clovis [...]
Some say that art is man’s loftiest endeavor. Others say that art is a load of sheep dip. Most of us fall somewhere in between. The first thing you should know is that some art really is crap. The catch, though, is that nobody can agree on which art is crap. This means that if you [...]
You’re nervous and terrified. I get that. But you’re not afraid to be pushed and challenged. You’re not afraid to grow. So what are you afraid of? Oh, . . . the simple act of getting beyond yourself and putting it out there for the world to see, to judge, to make comment on? Well, [...]
Having said all of that. . . I want to remind everyone creating anything about this: “It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic, is of altogether secondary importance, and that, in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does things.” ~Theodore Roosevelt The trick is to keep criticism in [...]
On the subject of peer-to-peer review, more than anything else I cannot emphasize that there is a time and a place and a way for it. And it isn’t at the post-opening night revels at the bar. Here is one playwright’s list of do’s and don’ts. How to tell a playwright you didn’t like his [...]
Can a reviewer be expected to give honest critical feedback while simultaneously cheerleading the artistic community? This question has come up on the Fresno Beehive twice: the issue of the critic’s–in both cases, Donald Munro’s– poor review being taken to task for not being supportive enough of local artistic endeavors. The topic coming up once every [...]
