Brooklyn playwright Lynn Nottage has won the 2009 Drama Pulitzer Prize for “Ruined” – a powerful play set in the African Congo at the height of its civil war. It follows the plight of a group of women amidst the brutality and the chaos – a celebration of endurance.
Ruined – Manhattan Theater Club, 131 West 55th Street, NYC
Other plays by Ms Nottage:
Crumbs from the Table of Joy
Mud, River, Stone
Poof
Por’Knockers
Las Meninas
Intimate Apparel
The Apollo Theater In Harlem
Everyone played the Apollo. I remember leaving school early on Wednesdays and standing on line to get in to see James Brown, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry or the Moonglows. In those days you could sit through and catch a second show which we did often.
A lot of our neighborhood friends performed at the Apollo. with groups like the The Chantels (“Maybe”, “Will you Love Me Tomorrow” and our favorite “The Plea”), the Limelighters, the Cadillacs and others. Sometimes the singing groups would gather outside one of the side doors to see if they could get on stage that day and do their thing.
Our Dad introduced us to the Apollo, where he once played. (Jazz big band that won “Amateur Night” ) It was our Broadway and sometimes Sinatra or Bennett would travel north to sit in with one of the bands.
Motown Records
One of the greatest shows I ever saw, was the Arthur Prysock Singing with Red Prysock’s band, followed by Machito. This was followed by an outrageous jam session with the two bands joined together playing Dizzy Gillespie’s Caravan, like I had never heard it before.
I can recall going out on a first date to see Bill Cosby and embarrassingly crying with laughter and following up the next week to see the complete Motown Review, all for less money then it takes to fill a gas tank.
The Apollo turns 75 and it’s been a miracle that it is still alive.
Suzan-Lori Parks is an author, award winning playwright and screenwriter. I was going to categorize her as an “over achiever”. But, that’s probably a disservice – she is just doing what she has to do. Doing what matters to her – with excellence.
She won her 2002 Pultitzer Prize for the play “Topdog/Underdog”. I saw this in San Francisco a few years ago and enjoyed this clever, funny and explosive story about 2 brothers – “Lincoln” and “Booth”. You might imagine how it ends, but, it will still shock you.
Like in the Akira Kurosawa’s film “Rashomon” , where the same scenario is told from different points of view, this play illustrates how 2 boys in the same family can remember differently and be affected differently by the same traumatic event. Their perceptions colored their actions and attributed to the way they chose to lead their lives.
(The NYC Public Theater production had Jeffrey Wright and Don Cheadle as the siblings – you can just imagine the power of that duo.)
Ms Parks had an idea to write a play for every day of the year, the result is “365 Days, 365 Plays“ which she wrote between 2002 – 2003. Starting in 2006, they were presented at theaters, coffee houses and auditoriums across the country. Some venues could do a few of the plays, some as short as one page , and other locations could only stage one. However, all were seen before the end of 2007, just as she envisioned.
Season ticket packages are now on sale for Phoenix Opera’s upcoming productions of Puccini’s “Tosca”
and Verdi’s “Aïda” Following up on its successful December premiere performances of “La Bohème,” Phoenix Opera is presenting “Tosca” on November 14th and November 16th, 2008, and Verdi’s “Aïda” on January 30th and February 1st, 2009 .The company’s General Director, John Massaro, points out that “Tosca” is the most dramatic of all Puccini’s operas, noting also that the performances will celebrate the 150th anniversary of Giacomo Puccini’s birth. “Tosca” also will bring to the Phoenix audience some of Puccini’s most well-known arias, such as “Vissi d’arte,” “Recondita armonia,” and “E lucevan le stelle.” Massaro says that “’Tosca’ has it all…love, devotion, treachery, lust, and above all, beautiful music.”
I love the Posters
“Aïda,” Giuseppe Verdi’s classic tale of love, loyalty, betrayal and courage, will provide some of the world’s most stirring arias, such as “Celeste Aïda” “O Patria Mia,” and “O terra, addio,” as well as the
triumphant “Grand March,” and the famous double scene which brings the opera to its climax. PMO’s December 2007 premiere production of Puccini’s “La Bohème” met with critical success, referred to by Maria Nockin of Music & Vision as “an auspicious beginning” for the company.
Massaro and his wife, mezzo-soprano Gail Dubinbaum (Creative Director) an accomplished New York Metropolitan Opera star, founded Phoenix Opera in early 2006.
Maestro Massaro says, “Now that Phoenix Opera has demonstrated its ability to mount world-class
productions of the best-loved operas, the Phoenix audience can expect nothing less from ‘Tosca’
and ‘Aïda’” An international cast has been assembled for the two operas. Cast details may be found at
www.phoenixopera.org. Click on “Productions.”
Discounted season ticket packages for “Tosca” and “Aïda” are on sale now through Ticketmaster and
from the Orpheum Theatre box office at 602-262-7272. Patron ticket packages are also available
through Phoenix Opera.
The Cultural Coalition will be presenting a very special performance Cabaret dealing with the theme of Dia de Los Muertos through music, dance, storytelling and spoken word as part of the ALAC Theater Festival at the Herberger Theater, downtown Phoenix.
It should be a great performance! Featuring Liliana de Leon, Stella Pope Duarte, Peter Torsiello, Michelle Ceballos and Open Dance, Zarco Guerrero and more…
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There will be another revival of this ground breaking musical as a celebration of its 50th birthday. Previews will begin at the National Theatre in Washington DC on 12/16/08, the same theater where it first opened in 1957. It will then move on to Broadway in March 2009.
I love “West Side Story” and I love that I can revisit the ‘61 film on DVD, on CD and at the occasional theater revival. Based on Shakespeare’s “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet”, it was transplanted to the 50’s west side of Manhattan with music by Bernstein, lyrics by Sondheim, choreography and direction by Robbins.
On its Broadway opening night, Sept. 26, 1957, there was a question as to whether this musical was a hit or a miss. Neither the critics nor the audience were sure of what they had just seen. But in its existing 50 years, it has proven itself to be the perfect meld of dialogue, music and dance. A supreme example of the Broadway musical, “West Side Story” is a successful vehicle for a much used, tragic scenario.
Many of the songs, “Something’s Coming”, “Maria”, “America“, “Somewhere”, “Tonight”, are still being heard today at weddings, song recitals and Jazz venues. Some are universal love songs, but others are just fun – “Dear Sgt. Krupke”, “I Feel Pretty”.
(“When you’re a Jet you’re a Jet all the way – from your 1st cigarette ‘til your last dying day…”)