Life Upon The Sacred StageLife Upon The Sacred StageFeaturing news, reviews and insights into the worlds of faith and theatre. Articles
Ken Prymus
2007-11-19 21:28:00 Congratulations to Ken Prymus, who will be starring along with Melba Moore in “Ain't Misbehavin'” starting Dec. 4 at the Prince Music Theater in Philadelphia.I’m always glad to hear good things about people like Ken. He has sung at Broadway Blessing three times, tying Marian Seldes for the most appearances by a performer at this event. If you’ve been lucky enough to have been there when he sang, you know he not only has a gorgeous voice, but a warm and giving spirit to go along with it.Ken has already performed in this show on Broadway, before spending seven years as Old Deuteronomy in “Cats.” If you haven't’ heard him in any of his Broadway or regional performances, you’ve probably heard him on film -- he sang the title song, “Suicide is Painless” for “M*A*S*H.”“Ain't Misbehavin'” spotlights the music and style of songwriter-pianist Thomas "Fats" Waller. It appeared on Broadway in 1978 and won the Best Musical Tony Award. Conceived by Broadway ...
Bush on global warming
2007-11-18 19:05:00 Check out this video clip -- Bush onGlobal Warming.wmv . It is so funny. My friend Sarah Melici sent it to me. Everybody I’ve sent it to loves it. That boy should be on “Saturday Night Live.” More About: Global Warming , Armin
Young Frankenstein
2007-11-16 17:08:00 The sets and the special effects are spectacular -- they should be, they cost a reported $20 million. But the most important thing, the humor, isn’t there. The book and lyrics just aren’t funny. Line after line and lyric after lyric just hang there. It’s a musical comedy without the comedy. What a shame that this production is on while truly lovely shows like “Cyrano” and a fabulous musical like “Legally Blonde” are darkened by the strike. “Young Frankenstein ” shouldn’t just be dark, it should never have seen the light of day. The lyrics to a song from the much funnier Mel Brooks musical “The Producers” come to mind: “We are still in shock/Who produced this shlock?”
The Overwhelming
2007-11-14 17:17:00 This interview with J. T. Rogers appears in the Nov. 16, 2007 issue of "National Catholic Reporter." My review of the play is posted on Oct. 23. I don’t know when I’ve seen a new drama as compelling as “The Overwhelming.” I was riveted for the entire two hours and 20 minutes of this story centered around an American family, newly arrived in Kigali, Rwanda, in 1994 as the genocide is ready to explode. Thanks to a cast that is excellent across the board, it is the most theatrically satisfying evening I have spent in a long time. Playwright J.T. Rogers, 39, has done an extraordinary job of conveying the confusion and terror of that place and time. He did this without ever having been to east Africa or talking to any Rwandans. But he had followed the events there closely at the time, or as closely as he could. “There was never any clear explanation in the newspapers for why this came about so suddenly,” he said during a telephone interview from his home in ... More About: Helm
Destructive Emotions: Facing Up to Guilt, Fear and Anger
2007-11-13 22:55:00 Working through the chapters in this book is like being instructed by an insightful spiritual director or a scripture-based psychologist. I recognized so much of what I had been taught, and learned many new approaches as well, in this workbook by psychologist Florence MacKenzie. It offers a combination of practical examples, solid mental health advice and Christian guidance to help people overcome the toxicity of guilt, fear, worry, anxiety and anger. Part One sets the ball rolling by dealing with mind renewal, showing us how important it is to control our thoughts and reminding us that we have the power to overcome destructive emotions -- most of which come from wrong thinking or negative past experiences -- through the working of the Holy Spirit within us. MacKenize illustrates all her points through liberal uses of scripture; in fact, each chapter begins and ends with a “memory verse.” To fortify us for the journey of change, she uses 2 Pet. 1:3: “His divine power g... More About: Emotions , Anger , Fear , Guilt , Facing
Rick Costa
2007-11-12 18:21:00 What a nice surprise. I just heard from Rick Costa , an actor I met when I interviewed him for my book, “Working on the Inside.” He’s really been busy for the last three years: August 2005 to January 2007 -- 30th anniversary tour of "Annie," as an ensemble member, plus understudy for "Rooster". January 2007 to August 2007 -- "Spamalot" at the Wynn Hotel in Vegas, ensemble and understudy for "King Arthur" and "Bedevere". Recently he launched his new web site and other job venture with "CostaDigitalEditing" - editing demo reels, films, VHS to DVD transfers etc. Being a terrific and highly experienced actor, he brings a trained theatrical eye to this venture. Check out his site at www.CostaDigitalEditing.com.
The Glorious Ones
2007-11-09 20:29:00 I just could not get into this show, at least not until the very end and then I thought, Oh, that was sweet. This is because it isn’t until the end that I could feel any emotional involvement with the characters. Up until then the emphasis had been on the slapstick performances of this 16th century comedy troupe. And that, actually, is another reason I wanted to leave early -- and would have if I had been on the aisle or there had been an intermission. I don’t like slapstick. This is the first time I haven’t liked, or loved, a musical with lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and music by Stephen Flaherty. I am a huge fan of theirs. The morning after I saw “Ragtime” I bought the cast recording and have played it often through the years. I LOVED “A Man of No Importance” and gave it a rave in NCR, as I did “Dessa Rose.” I also liked “Seussical” and “Once on this Island.” While I still enjoyed most of Flaherty’s lyrical music in “Glorious,” Ahrens’ lyrics... More About: The G
The Year of Living Biblically
2007-11-07 17:01:00 Sometimes it’s hard enough just dealing with one biblical command, such as to love our neighbors. Writer A.J. Jacobs took it quite a bit further. For one year he tried to follow all of the Bible’s commands, including stoning sinners. He chronicles his experiences in the funny and informative new book “The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible.” I had a good interview with Jacobs last week for a piece for NCR. I’ll publish the whole story after it appears, but for now I’ll share some of his thoughts with you. “I went into it with an open mind to find out what, if anything, I was missing in not having had a religious background,” he said during our telephone interview from Philadelphia, one stop on his 20-city book tour. Jacobs, 39, an editor at “Esquire Magazine,” grew up in a non-religious Jewish household. He writes that he had never prayed. For his biblical year, though, he had to ... More About: The Year of Living Biblically
The sacred stage
2007-11-05 17:12:00 “I write plays because the most powerful form of human communication is a story, and incarnating the text on stage is the strongest way to tell one. For me, seeing life breathed into words is an act of faith that proclaims somehow, in a profound and mysterious way, the Ultimate Word also became flesh.”--George Halitzka in the Fall 2006 issue of “Christianity & Theatre” More About: Stage , Sacred
Mame
2007-11-04 17:44:00 Congratulations to Blue Hill Troupe for another impressive fall musical. “Mame” is the first musical I ever saw, way back when with Angela Lansbury, and it’s the show that made me fall in love with musical theatre. For that reason I would be very careful about what “amateur” group production I saw. I know from experience, though, that Blue Hill productions are about as professional as an amateur group can get. Patricia Berg sparkles as Mame. She’s got a lovely voice, and she can really dance. Nancy Raditz as Gooch is also fabulous and Will Baney Bentley is a winning young Patrick. I also enjoyed -- I think everybody enjoyed -- Joseph Baney Bentley as Peter Dennis. What a little ham! Only a third grader, he’s right at home on the stage, with the comic timing of a pro. He should have a good career in showbiz if he wants it. And speaking of great comic timing, leslie Shreve is hilarious as Mrs. Upson. I would say this even if leslie wasn’t a fellow memb...
Cyrano de Bergerac
2007-11-01 23:47:00 Oh, I LOVE this play! I first saw “Cyrano” in 1980 at Baltimore’s CenterStage with F. Murray Abraham. I was so charmed I went back twice. I then saw a production in 1983 or 84 at Syracuse Stage. I don’t know who the Cyrano was then, but he was moving enough for me love the play all over again, although I didn’t care for the rather modern sets; CenterStage’s (by Hugh Landwehr) had been traditional and rich in detail -- just gorgeous. In the mid-80s I saw the play again, this time at the Kennedy Center with Derek Jacobi, and again the modish set. But still I was entranced by this story of missed love. So with all these great memories, I went yesterday to see Kevin Kline’s portrayal of the romantic poet and swordsman with the huge nose and white plumed hat, hoping I wouldn’t be disappointed. I wasn’t. I didn’t think I was going to be, but after Kline’s rather c’est la vie approach to Lear last season, I wasn’t sure. But here he plays Cyrano j... More About: Gera , Berg
A Bronx Tale
2007-10-27 19:06:00 This show left such a bad taste in my mouth I don’t even feel like writing about it. What it amounts to basically is a 90-minute sentimental look back at a Mafia kingpin named Sonny. This was a man who murdered people in cold blood, yet Chazz Palminteri in this autobiographical show presents him as a patron saint.I don’t understand this glorification of the Mafia, but I was in the minority last night. The audience loved it. I wonder how a play would go over if it presented fond memories of any of the men accused of some of the sensational crimes in our area recently, those who raped and murdered the young women they met in bars or the two accused of holding the Connecticut family hostage, raping the mother and 11-year-old daughter before killing them and the 17-year-old daughter and setting the house on fire. Murder is murder. This play is a disgusting waste of theatre space. More About: Tale , Bronx
Project Dance
2007-10-26 18:35:00 Hi -- I just received this from Cheryl Cutlip. If you’ve been to Broadway Blessing the last two years you’ve seen how fabulous Project Dance is. If you want to know more, check out my April 17 interview with Cheryl.Dear friend, A new season, filled with amazing opportunities for expansion and development, is unfolding for Project Dance. Thank you for your past support and for the many ways you have helped us make our dreams a reality!The mission of Project Dance is to positively impact culture through artistic integrity. Our desire is to see every dancer nurtured to their fullest human potential for their own well-being and their contribution to the world. We offer training, education, and performance opportunities for dancers worldwide who desire to dance with integrity to inspire.We take dance outside of the studios and theatres and onto the streets of major world cities for the public to enjoy freely. Our events allow dancers to dialogue on topics like the pressures o...
Dividing the Estate
2007-10-24 19:48:00 Stick around for the second act. That’s when this play comes alive. The first is mostly what I’ve come to expect from Horton Foote, folks sitting around doing lots of talking that meanders all over the place just like in real life. Only in the theatre this gets a little dull after awhile. It’s in the second act that the fun starts and the play becomes a lot funnier than I remember Foote’s plays being. Much of the credit for this goes to the playwright’s daughter, Hallie, who is the standout in what is an otherwise ensemble presentation. She had my attention whenever she was onstage, no matter who was talking. Watching her even in her sidelines times it is clear she is completely Mary Jo, the greediest of the relatives in the squabbling Gordon family. She listens intently to the others and is always ready to pounce. “What do you pay him,” she asks as the rest of the family politely allows 91-year-old longtime servant Doug to ramble on about his thoughts o... More About: Estate
The Overwhelming
2007-10-24 04:25:00 Wow, what a play! I was riveted for the entire two hours and 20 minutes. Playwright J.T. Rogers has done an extraordinary job of conveying the confusion and terror in Rwanda in the days just prior to the 1994 genocide.He uses an American family to do this. They are a college professor, Jack Exley (Sam Robards), and his family, Linda White-Keeler (Linda Powell), his African-American second wife who is a nonfiction writer, and Geoffrey (Michael Stahl-David), Jack’s teenage son with whom he has a distant relationship. Jack is writing a book about ordinary people who make a difference in the world and wants to interview his college roommate, an African man running a clinic that treats children with AIDS. He also naively expects this time in Africa to be an enriching experience for Geoffrey the way his college semester abroad in Sweden had been for him. “I don’t want to raise another American who doesn’t question,” he says, mentioning his students and their sense of entit... More About: Helm
I Love a Piano
2007-10-22 19:13:00 This was charming, a lovely way to spend Sunday afternoon, watching six talented performers sing and dance their way through this revue of more than 60 Irving Berlin songs. The staging at the Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts was simple, but the result was shimmering. It was like being transported back to another, more glamorous time, back before love songs had lyrics like “let’s get it on.” The romantic in me couldn’t help but love a show like this.“I Love a Piano ” follows the life of a 1910 upright piano with one broken key as it is bought and sold, abandoned and found again. Starting in a music store, the piano moves through different settings and decades as a way of showcasing the songs. Using Berlin’s popular favorites as well as humorous lesser known compositions like “Pack Up Your Sins and Go to the Devil,” this show, which had never been seen in New York City, captures the spirit of a half-century of American history, from the ragtime rhythms of...
Pygmalion
2007-10-22 05:07:00 What a disappointment. I’ve read this play and saw the old movie, but I had never seen it live and wonder how much that contributed to my letdown. It is a really talky play, at least in the first act. In the second act Shaw’s superwoman appears and that’s always entertaining. In “Pygmalion” the superwoman is, of course, Eliza Doolittle, and in this production she is engagingly played by Claire Danes making her Broadway debut. Unfortunately, for the most part, the rest of the cast sounds as if they’re doing a first read-through -- there’s just no life in their performances. Danes gives no hint of being a first-timer, unlike other Hollywood actors who have tried Broadway recently; the worst of which has to have been Julia Roberts whose hands shook and who appeared so scared she could barely move and spoke her lines mechanically. Danes, on the other hand, seems right at home, she owns her space, to use a popular phrase. This is even more remarkable considering...
Meet your grace
2007-10-18 17:33:00 “Contemplate how you are being asked to give your heart to God amidst your everyday activities. Be prepared to meet your grace in every circumstance of life.”--Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton More About: Grace , Meet
Atonement
2007-08-12 22:07:00 “Atonement ,” a new work by acclaimed composer Elizabeth Swados, will have its world premiere at 7 p.m. Oct. 1 at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, 1047 Amsterdam Ave. at 112th St. Describing it as a concert with liturgical underpinnings, Ms. Swados sees it as an interfaith Yom Kippur offering. “I felt that Yom Kippur is a beautiful opportunity to reexamine, rethink and renew our relationship with the state of this world and with each other,” she says. “Because I often do a great deal of political satire and edgy work, I wanted to devote a single piece to examining the horrors that our world is now facing, as well as the destitution of many of its citizens. I thought that it would be appropriate to take one hour to identify with the starvation and terror that is going on around us and to look into ourselves and recognize our own complicity, active or passive, in this chaos. “Since Yom Kippur is a time of examining our sins of the last year as well a... More About: Tone
Doubt
2007-08-10 20:57:00 “It is a proven fact that no two things can occupy the same space at the same time. This theory applies to the mind and heart of human beings. Where there is trust there can be no doubt. . . doubt stems from our beliefs, many of which hinge on our thoughts and feelings of unworthiness. . . We attract into our lives that which we focus upon with the strongest intent. Unfortunately, most of us do not monitor our thoughts, and therefore have no idea of what we are thinking most of the time. . . The moment a seed of doubt becomes imbedded in our thoughts, we can become so preoccupied with fixing what has apparently gone wrong that our thoughts shift from the desired outcome. We are now focused intently on ensuring that nothing goes wrong. Forestalling wrong, rather than desired intent, becomes the focus. . . Constant prayer and affirmation are the strongest defenses against doubt. . . When we expect to be guided and protected and to receive the benefits of Divine Will, we can... More About: Doubt
Where heaven and earth meet
2007-08-08 22:22:00 “The Spirit is given so that we, ordinary mortals that we are, can ourselves be, in a measure, what Jesus himself was: part of God’s future arriving in the present; a place where heaven and earth meet; the means of God’s kingdom going forward.”-- N.T. Wright More About: Earth , Heaven , Meet , Where
a Good Farmer
2007-08-07 19:22:00 I met this show’s playwright, Sharyn Rothstein, when I interviewed her last fall about her play “Neglect,” which, like this one, was being presented by the award-winning 3Graces Theater Co. She was only 25 at the time, but quite impressive and I really enjoyed talking to her.She was working on her master’s degree in public health as a way of becoming a playwright. As a Jew raised in a socially conscious family, this made perfect sense.“I see a theatrical production as the best form of social action,” she told me. “I can’t imagine living in a creative world divorced from social action. I’m good at playwriting and I need something to write about.”Her Jewish religion motivates her, just as my Christian faith motivates me.“There’s a strong idea of right and wrong, and that you should work of the right,” she said, mentioning the Jewish concept of tikkun olam, repairing the world. “It’s what I love about my religion, to have that at the heart of it.”He... More About: Good , Farmer
Fool for Christ
2007-08-07 18:00:00 I sat down with pen and paper to review this DVD, but I was so immediately involved that my paper stayed blank. From the opening sentence, “Well, Dorothy, here you are, 75 years old and in the clink again,” Sarah Melici drew me into the world of Dorothy Day. With her gifts for storytelling and acting, Melici transforms herself into the passionate 20th century journalist, social critic and cofounder of the Catholic Worker movement. Melici has been performing this one-woman play, which she wrote with Donald Yonker, for many years. I haven’t been fortunate enough to see it live yet, but the quality of the DVD is first rate and it will be one that I will watch often. It opens as Day is jailed after one of her many arrests; this one for protesting for farm worker rights. She then reflects back on her “checkered” life, with its affairs, abortion, brief marriage, the birth of her child and the birth of her faith and activism. From the distance of years she can see... More About: Christ , Fool
Juliet
2007-08-03 18:32:00 This one-woman play was done in Chicago in June at the Christians in Theatre Arts (CITA) summer leadership conference. I missed it there, but heard it was great. It will be part of this year’s New York International Fringe Festival. For information, visit www.juliet-tour.com.An Eastern European Julie t set during the times of darkest dictatorship and without a Romeo: this, in a single sentence, is the essence of András Visky's drama, a "dialogue" in which the Transylvanian writer has documented the true story of his parents. In 1939, his father fled from Romania to Hungary, where he was to meet his future wife.After World War II they decided to return to Transylvania, by then a part of Romania again, because, as he said, a servant of God must always choose the hard way. His father was sentenced to 22 years in prison; his mother remained alone with the seven children without even a knowledge of the language. They were deported to the Romanian Gulag a thousand kilometres from the...
God's time
2007-08-02 22:03:00 “God is not hurried along in the time-stream of this universe any more than an author is hurried along in the imaginary time of his own [script]. He has infinite attention to spare for each one of us. He does not have to deal with us in the mass. You are as much alone with Him as if you were the only being He had ever created. When Christ died, He died for you individually as much as if you had been the only man in the world.”-- C.S. Lewis More About: Time
Miracle in Rwanda
2007-07-31 18:43:00 Leslie Lewis Sword’s performance drew me in and held me for this hour-long show; for me she became Immaculee Ilibagiza, the survivor of the 1994 Rwanda genocide she portrays. I felt her fear as she hid in a small bathroom with 11 other people for two months while her fellow Tutsis were being slaughtered. She also became the pastor who hid them, the Hutu militia who hunted them and her father in this one-woman play she created with Edward Vilga. It was performed Sunday as the final work in 59E59 Theaters’ East to Edinburgh series and will be seen throughout August at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It should be well received. I liked the way much of the story is told through prayer. As Immaculee hides, she prays the rosary, personalizing it to her situation. She talks to Jesus as she begins each decade of the Sorrowful mysteries -- the agony in the garden she understands now from her own suffering in that small space, knowing, as Jesus did, that people want to kill he... More About: Miracle , Mira , Wanda
Sin
2007-07-29 19:13:00 With the exception of some heavy-duty overacting on the part of a few men in the cast, “Sin” is an interesting theatrical experience. Set in San Francisco on the eve of the 1989 earthquake, it is a modern morality play in which a judgmental traffic reporter is forced to deal with the Seven Deadly Sins as represented by various people in her life. It takes an act of God and personal tragedies to help her recognize which of these Sins rules her life. Megan Hill as Avery is the strongest cast member, which is fortunate since it is her story. Playing a 31-year-old helicopter-flying traffic reporter, "Avery Bly On High," she looks down on the world from her perch in the sky as well as in her perfectionist judgments on other people’s failings. I also liked Douglas Scott Sorenson as her brother, Gerard, who is dying of AIDS. His gallows humor, and the way he delivers it, are the highlight of the first act. Wendy MacLeod’s play did what a good play should do -- i...
Trust your gifts
2007-07-26 22:26:00 "For you, there is only one road that can lead to God and this is fidelity, to remain constantly true to yourself, to what you feel is highest in you. The road will open before you as you go.”-- Teilhard de Chardin“Do your best and leave the rest to our dear God.”-- Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton More About: Gifts , Trust , Rust
This will be wonderful
More articles from this author:2007-07-25 23:32:00 Heard from Mary-Mitchell Campbell about what she plans to present at this year’s Broadway Blessing, Sept. 10 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine:“I kind of wanted to do a simple praise chorus with a small group and a gospel singer riffing over it. It is called 'Send Down Your Rain' and it has a special place in my heart. When Tituss Burgess and I were in India in April, we taught it to the untouchable kids during a drought and sang it at the concert we presented for the village. After the concert, the heavens opened up and it poured! It was a beautiful moment and a reminder of how much possibility exists when things look challenging.” Sounds lovely, doesn't it? And what a great story!For more about Broadway Blessing and Mary-Mitchell Campbell, see earlier postings. More About: Wonderful 1, 2, 3 |
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