By 1957, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were the reigning kings of musical theater, but had never written a show for television. That changed when they were commissioned to adapt the enduring fairy tale Cinderella for the small screen, as a star vehicle for Julie Andrews, everyone’s fair lady since a year earlier. With other casts and some tinkering with the score, … [Read more...]
Theater roundup: ‘Dividing the Estate’ and ‘Evita’
Take economic bad times, add a land-rich but cash-poor clan brimming with selfish money-grubbers and you have a recipe for a dysfunctional family play like Dividing the Estate, which landed on Broadway for 50 performances in late 2008 and early 2009, just before its author, the prolific Horton Foote, passed away. He again takes us to fictional Harrison, Texas, the site of so … [Read more...]
Sundays: A wound that may never heal
By Myles Ludwig The earthquake and tsunami that hit the Solomon Islands hard has a personal meaning for me. I have lived and traveled in the region and experienced typhoons, hurricanes and tsunamis, and I know how devastating those experiences can be for anyone who survives. For weeks later, imagined sounds of winds and waves disturbed my sleep. I have a particular interest … [Read more...]
Journalist Wright tells Miami hit man’s story on Byliner site
Even though he uncovered the story, journalist Evan Wright never expected to write a full account of the drug cartel hit man from Miami who ― allegedly, as they say ― became a top CIA officer and a leading figure in the clandestine war against terror. On the contrary, Wright thought this story, which resembles The Departed, but on a bigger, more important stage, would be … [Read more...]
Theater roundup 1: ‘Sound of Music’ without syrup; a rethought ‘Les Miz’
There must be some theatergoers who have never seen Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music, but not many. Performed perpetually by high schools and community troupes, it would be hard to miss, and then there’s that syrupy, Oscar-winning move version that keeps showing up on cable TV. Director-choreographer Marc Robin gave himself quite a challenge when he approached the … [Read more...]