There were LMM handwritten lyrics, a Daveed Diggs improv that added a lot to TJ’s character, and oh so much more. – Vulture
Author: ArtsJournal2
Will Netflix Save UK Theatre?
That is, Netflix, Sam Mendes, Steven Spielberg, and a series of small grants. “The fund will provide short-term relief to hundreds of theater workers and freelancers across the U.K., and particularly those from underrepresented groups, which are disproportionately affected by the crisis.” – Variety
A Van Gogh Drive-In
The “immersive” show had to be adjusted from a walk-in experience in Paris for Covid-19 safety in Toronto. – BBC
Broadway Actor Nick Cordero, 41, Dies Of Complications From Coronavirus
The actor’s leg was amputated, and he was placed in a medically induced coma for weeks, in an effort to stop the virus. One review of Cordero’s performance in A Bronx Tale: “The terrific Mr. Cordero radiates a cool charisma that mixes a surface geniality with shrugging ruthlessness.” – The New York Times
Some Of Hollywood Gets To Avoid The UK’s Quarantine Rules
Why? Money. Also, Tom Cruise had a chat with the minister. “We want the industry to bounce back and exempting small numbers of essential cast and crew from quarantine is part of our continued commitment to getting cameras rolling safely again.” – Variety
Don’t Underestimate The (Anti-Racist) Power Of Black Fiction
Reading Ibraham X. Kendi’s Stamped from the Beginning or How to Be an Anti-Racist, or maybe cuddling up to Asha Bandele and Patrisse Cullors’ When They Call You a Terrorist, may be great for catching up on what should have been in our educations already. But “fiction gives you a window into both lives you know and recognize and ones you don’t. It helps you to put yourself in the shoes of those characters, even when you have a different perspective when it comes to race, gender or sexual identity.” – Time
Could British Main Streets Be Saved By Turning Shuttered Shops Into Housing?
Well, it’s an idea, anyway, and far – far – from the worst idea Boris Johnson has proposed. “The devil, though, is in the detail, a territory that Boris Johnson finds notoriously hard to navigate.” – The Guardian (UK)
After The ‘Hamilton’ Movie, People Wonder Why We Can’t Stream A Lot More Broadway
Well, we can. Some of it. Sometimes, for different price points, from different streamers. Why not all? “Video recording a show is up to individual producers. And they have tended to pass on the opportunity for two main reasons: cost, and the fear that streaming will cannibalize ticket sales.” – The New York Times
How To Save American Theatre: Bring It To TV
No, not like the National Theatre Live performances – more like the 1950s style playhouses. “What I’d like to see is both more modest and more ambitious: a TV series that brings together leading nonprofit theatres to stage new plays appropriate to production in studios without audiences. This may discourage broad comedies and musicals, which thrive on laughter and applause, but it would still allow for a wide range of potential material. Protocols are now being established in Hollywood and New York for studio work designed to protect the safety of cast and crew, and these would make production on this scale possible.” – American Theatre
How Artists Survived The (First) Great Depression
Public funding was the way. However: “Back then there was even less agreement on a public role for creatives. The Writers’ Project assigned them a public role in producing travel guidebooks, histories, and life stories of everyday Americans, including thousands of narratives of formerly enslaved people. New Deal artists created landscapes, murals, street scenes, portraits, sculptures, and abstracts inspired by American life.” – LitHub