Straight Shootin’ with the cast of The Bad and the Better: Regina Blandón
The streets are filled with shady politicians and rebel-rousing anarchists in Derek Ahonen’s new play, The Bad and the Better, which begins performances at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater on June 14. In anticipation of the new detective noir, Stage Rush asked some of the fearless cast members about rolling with The Amoralists, admiring rebels, and shooting firearms. Here’s what they had to say!
Actor: Regina Blandón Read more 
Straight Shootin’ with the cast of The Bad and the Better: Jordan Tisdale
The streets are filled with shady politicians and rebel-rousing anarchists in Derek Ahonen’s new play, The Bad and the Better, which begins performances at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater on June 14. In anticipation of the new detective noir, Stage Rush asked some of the fearless cast members about rolling with The Amoralists, admiring rebels, and shooting firearms. Here’s what they had to say!
Actor: Jordan Tisdale
Has the nature of the Amoralists’ work allowed you to take more risks on stage? Moreso than your experiences with other theater companies?
They have allowed me to take more risks than I have before and probably ever will. It’s all in the writing. Although we are a breed of actors who go all the way and don’t consider anything but excellence as an option, we wouldn’t be able to do that without the allowance of the writing. Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, and Sam Shepard to name a few, do the same when they give an actor crazy and plentiful circumstances to work through. Actors love to go all the way and push the boundaries. Read more
Ticket giveaway: The Amoralists present The Bad and the Better
***This giveaway has concluded***
Now that the Broadway season has come to a close, summer is a a time for traveling off the Great White Way and exploring some riskier theater. Stage Rush is giving readers a head start by giving away a pair of tickets to the newest production from one of the most daring theater companies around—The Amoralists. A new play by Derek Ahonen, The Bad and the Better is a detective noir set in modern day New York in which political corruption leads to a street war between anarchists and the local government. The play, directed by 4,000 Miles‘ Daniel Aukin, begins performances on June 14 at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater and runs through July 21, and Stage Rush is setting one winner up with a pair of tickets.
Answer the questions below to be entered into the contest.
Only one entry per person will be counted. Read more
Clybourne Park makes Tony nominee Jeremy Shamos racist proof
In two acts each taking place in different eras, the new play Clybourne Park demonstrates how race issues haven’t changed much in 50 years. Jeremy Shamos plays Karl in Act I during 1959 and Steve in Act II in the present day—two of the most foot-in-mouth characters to hit Broadway in years. Shamos’ hilarity has been recognized with a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play, along with three other nominations for Bruce Norris’ Pulitzer Prize-winning drama. This is quite a triumph for a play that nearly got the plug pulled on it when mega producer Scott Rudin abruptly withdrew from the production last February, due to a conflict with Norris. Stage Rush sat down with Shamos, before the Tony nominations were announced, to discuss breaking dozens of social norms on stage, Clybourne’s press-shy playwright, and almost not making it to Broadway.
Your Act I character, Karl Lindner, has stepped out of A Raisin in the Sun and into Clybourne Park. What’s it like to play that unique aspect?
I’ve made some effort to not over think the Raisin in the Sun connection. I haven’t poured over Karl Lindner’s part in that play. For Bruce Norris, it was a jumping-off point, and it’s the same for me. I’ve never seen the movie; Bruce told me that I shouldn’t. [laughs] When I first walk on stage in Act I, my character resonates with people and a lot of the work is done for me. Pretty late in the first act when I say “The community association made an offer to these people,” the people who are familiar with [A Raisin in the Sun] know what that means, because they’ve been in that living room and saw him make an offer to the Youngers. I get the advantage of my first act being the second act of something else.
How does it feel to play a character that breaks social norms and is hilariously bad?
That’s the pleasure of doing Bruce’s plays in general. He allows his characters to say things that we have probably all thought, but would never say. That’s a complete pleasure, especially within the context of a very smart theatrical event. I’ve been asked if it’s hard to say the things that my characters say. There are certain things that are offensive that would be hard to say if the play itself was offensive. Then yeah, I’d just be offensive in an irresponsible way. But because things are contextualized so well, I feel like it’s thrilling and the audience gets a real vicarious thrill. Read more
Follies’ Elaine Paige: Still here and finally gunning for a Tony Award
Photo: Joan Marcus
On May 1, Elaine Paige, the actress who originated the roles of Eva Peron in Evita and Grizabella in Cats could likely be nominated for her first Tony Award. Despite a lauded stage career that goes back nearly 45 years, the British actress has only been on Broadway twice (and not in those shows), having done most of her work in London’s West End. Her Broadway debut was in Sunset Boulevard, and although she played the lead role of Norma Desmond, she was ineligible for a Tony nomination, as she was a replacement. However, her return to Broadway last fall as the saucy stage and film star Carlotta who belts out “I’m Still Here” in the revival of Follies has her on everyone’s frontrunner list for a nod for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. As she readied to begin rehearsals for Follies’ Los Angeles run, Paige telephoned Stage Rush to discuss chumming it up with her Follies costars, being Andrew Lloyd Webber’s go-to gal, and what a Tony nomination would mean to her.
You’ve taken this show to three locations now. How does that feel?
Here we are in LA for the third and final installment. It’s extraordinary. It feels like we’re on tour, really. It’s all very unexpected, of course, because initially it was just going to be in Washington, DC. To then be told we were going to New York was a wonderful surprise. Now to be here in LA is even better. It keeps on rolling.
What’s going on with this production? Has anything different? How’s it going with Victoria Clark, who is replacing Bernadette Peters?
I haven’t yet started rehearsals; I start on Friday. One thing I know is different is that the leading lady, Bernadette Peters, is not in this production out here. It’s a young lady by the name of Victoria Clark, who I’ve yet to meet. That will make a different complexion on the piece. Sometimes when somebody new comes into something, I think that could be a breath of fresh air.
Duncan Sheik gets electronic with American Psycho and goes indie with Spring Awakening movie
Duncan Sheik is still knee-deep in theater projects. The Tony-winning composer is getting ready to mount the first staged production of his new musical The Nightingale this June in San Diego, he’s still polishing away at the musical version of American Psycho, and he’s also trying to get the much-anticipated film version of Spring Awakening off the ground. Yet while the stage calls, Sheik is taking some time to focus on his music career. Sheik is co-headlining a concert tour with Suzanne Vega (most widely known for “Tom’s Diner”), which will play New York’s Highline Ballroom on April 25 and 26. Sheik phoned Stage Rush on the drive to his first rehearsal for the tour to chat about how American Psycho is influencing his next solo album, Spring Awakening going the indie film route, and why he’s wanted to dodge his biggest hit, “Barely Breathing,” for so long.
How did this collaboration with Suzanne Vega come about?
We’ve known each other for a really long time because we’re both practicing Buddhists. We knew each other through those circles and we’d see each other at various places when we’d be touring for our records. For a long time, Suzanne had this idea about writing a show where she would play Carson McCullers and perform these songs that were inspired by her writing. Suzanne’s daughter is a huge fan of Spring Awakening, so Suzanne thought that since I’ve done the theater thing before, she’d call me up. We ended up writing a score for this piece together. She performed it a year ago at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater and she’s been performing a few of the songs in her concerts since then. So we decided to do this co-headlining tour. Read more
Concert recap: Lysistrata Jones Class Reunion at Joe’s Pub
The energy at Joe’s Pub was infectious on April 9 as the short-lived, but much loved, Lysistrata Jones cast performed their Class Reunion concert. The quirky Douglas Carter Beane musical, a modern-day musical adaptation of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, played only 30 performances on Broadway, but was in fine shape taking to the stage one last time three months after closing.
—Concert recap by Zachary Laks
Joe’s Pub’s intimate setting made for an exciting opportunity to hear Lewis Flinn’s score, which will be preserved on a cast recording set for release on May 15. Book writer Beane hosted the evening, interjecting his sharp wit in between the performances. Three of the original Broadway cast members were unable to attend, due to scheduling conflicts. Most noticeably absent was Lysistrata Jones herself, Patti Murin who is filming a pilot in Los Angeles. Teddy Toye (Harold) and Alexander Aguilar (‘Uardo) were also unavailable for the event.
The concert began as the Broadway production did, with its startling bang and a Greek-like chorus homage leading into its high-energy meet-the-characters cheer song, “Right Now.” With a peppy, petite lead in Libby Servais (Murin’s understudy—who had never gone on in the role on Broadway), the opening brought the whole cast out to great cheers and the glory-filled moments of the cast reuniting on the same stage. Flinn noted that the performance was taking place exactly one year ago from the first rehearsal for its off-Broadway production. Read more
The No. 1 Reason To See: Evita
Evita hasn’t been seen on Broadway in over 30 years, but this Andrew Lloyd Webber classic is making up for it now with a grand-scale revival starring Ricky Martin, Elena Roger, and Michael Cerveris. Roger, who is Argentinian herself, portrays the controversial first lady of Argentina through her humble beginnings as a commoner, rising to become the internationally famous wife of President Juan Peron, to her early death from cancer.
The No. 1 Reason To See Evita: The opulence of the Casa Rosada Read more
Off-Broadway’s Stuffed and Unstrung returns at Princeton’s McCarter Theatre
The only thing better than an improv show is an improv show with Jim Henson puppets, right? That’s why Stuffed and Unstrung exists. Featuring six comedians and over 80 puppets, Stuffed and Unstrung is an R-rated comedy show of storytelling, songs, and skits where the audience dictates what the puppets and comedians act out. Produced by Henson Alternative (the adult division of The Jim Henson Company), Stuffed and Unstrung is the chance to reunite with the puppets that we grew up with… and discover that they’ve grown up too.
Typically, my theater experiences are sequestered to Broadway and New York. However, on April 13, I will be traveling to Princeton, New Jersey to see Stuffed and Unstrung at the McCarter Theatre. I first saw Stuffed and Unstrung when it played a (criminally) brief off-Broadway run at the Union Square Theater in April 2010. It officially ranks as the funniest live show I have ever seen. The jokes were fresh, biting, and always pushing the envelope of decency. The acting was nuanced, original, and adorable. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the night was that the audience members called on stage were somehow just as funny as the performers in their awkward stories and prompt suggestions.
If you want to join me at the McCarter Theater for Stuffed and Unstrung, Stage Rush is giving you a special promotional code to get tickets for $25. Use the word “Stuffed” when buying tickets online at McCarter.org or by calling (609) 258-2787. Student tickets with a valid ID are also available at $15.
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The No. 1 Reason To See End of the Rainbow
It is not a happy time for the “Get Happy” singer. In the new play End of the Rainbow, Tracie Bennett plays the unraveling Judy Garland, just six months before her fatal overdose. The famous singer and actress is in London with her piano accompanist and fiancé (this will be marriage no. 5) and barely well enough to perform the series of concerts for which she is contracted. Prescription drugs and booze leave her unable to perform, performing leaves her craving prescription drugs and booze, and the two men overseeing her are left scrambling to pick up the pieces of her disintegrating life and career.
The No. 1 Reason To See End of the Rainbow: The story of a great performer begetting a great performance Read more