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newyorktheater · 4 years

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part of a hand washing poster from the New York City Department of Health

As local news of the spread of the coronavirus grows more alarming (with Governor Cuomo having declared a state of emergency in New York over the weekend), the theater community has been responding seriously, but also theatrically.

Much of the theatrical response, official and otherwise, has to do with….cleaning. The Broadway League updated its statement on its website:

“….all productions continue to play as scheduled. We have significantly increased the frequency of cleaning and disinfecting in all public and backstage areas beyond the standard daily schedule, and we have added alcohol-based sanitizer dispensers for public use in the lobby of every theatre. We invite patrons to make use of soap, paper towels, and tissues available in all restrooms.”

As a preventive measure against disease in general, the Centers for Disease Control long has recommended washing your hands, and has suggested singing Happy Birthday twice, to make sure your hand washing lasts 20 seconds. The Charles R. Wood Theater in Glen Falls, N.Y. has a better idea:

A theatrical duo called Fossilheads modified a step-by-step World Health Organization illustration about hand washing with Lady Macbeth’s monologue about the same activity (albeit in a different context) to drive it home among theater fans:

This is the flyer posted in the lobby of every theater I’ve attended this past week, from Broadway to Off-Off Broadway, issued by the NYC Department of Health, which offers a useful coronavirus page. The poster was often not far from the newly ubiquitous hand sanitizer

“…I’m certain that theatre will survive whatever happens,” declares critic Lyn Gardner in The Stage of the UK> “Theatre has survived the plague in 1606…the uncertainties following both 9/11 and the 2008 financial crash and also several heightened alerts around terrorism.” Yes, theaters were shut down in 1606. “The closure of theatres in 1606 eventually ushered in a new era with the creation of the indoor playhouse. It is possible the Covid-19 virus may play a similar role in shaping the theatre of the future.”

How Theaters Can Prepare for Coronavirus: A TCG Webinar

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) — This page created by the Centers for Disease Control is the most reliable source of health information about the virus

The Week in New York Theater Reviews

I Am Nobody

A man in a hazmat suit came on stage, to give us the usual spiel about the location of the exits and turning off our cell phones, and I thought: Ok, yes, the governor has declared a state of emergency in New York, but isn’t this carrying coronavirus precautions a bit too far? As it turns out, though, this box office manager making the announcements was being playful, wearing one of the costumes from ‘I Am Nobody,’ the latest quirky musical by Greg Kotis, who won two Tonys twenty years ago as the book writer and lyricist of “Urinetown,” the satirical musical about a future dystopian society in which citizens had to pay to pee. “I Am Nobody,” for which Kotis wrote the music as well as the words, takes place in a different dystopian society – our own, with its “supernatural contraptions” and social media and smart phones and the Internet.

Girl From The North Country

Girl from the North Country” is largely the same slow, sad, elliptical and occasionally exquisite theater piece I saw Off-Broadway. But my reaction to it has changed, for better and for worse. There are still a good number of tuneful melodies sung gloriously by an exceptional 17-member cast accompanied by fiddle and piano, and I appreciated new aspects of the show. But 150 minutes of dreary lives didn’t wear as well this time around.

Aaron Yoo

The Headlands

The first of the many surprises in “The Headlands,” the latest, cleverly crafted play in New York by trickster San Francisco playwright Christopher Chen, comes after Henry (Aaron Yoo) introduces himself to us as a Google engineer, a film noir buff, and an “amateur sleuth” who’s been looking into the unsolved murder of one George Wong, a kitchen contractor….”Oh, I’m [his] son.Sorry for not telling you earlier…”

Anatomy of a Suicide

It’s been a battering couple of weeks, what with abandonment, abduction, desperation, murder, genocide, and pandemic – all but the last one happening on New York stages…. “Anatomy of a Suicide,” is without question an exercise in virtuosity for both playwright Alice Birch and director Lileana Blain-Cruz, with a cast that deserves kudos. But it was a show that made me wonder whether I needed a break from theatergoing.

Bob Avian, Hal Prince and Michael Bennett watching a rehearsal in Boston of “Company”

Book: Dancing Man: A Broadway Choreographer’s Journey a fun and easy read that offers a light, slight overview of the six-decade career of an accomplished and well-connected theater artist…If much of “Dancing Man” is of the “And then we worked on this,” it can’t help but offer a large, sweet slice of theater history. At the age of 82, Avian, the NYC-born son of working class Armenian immigrants, is old enough to have seen the original production of “Oklahoma!” – his first musical on Broadway. He was eight years old at the time…and largely unimpressed:

The Week in New York Theater News

Digital lotteries and rush:

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf $39 tickets

Lehman Trilogy $40

Company: Standing room for $32

Mrs. Doubtfire: Digital rush tickets on TodayTix for $35.

Plaza Suite: Digital lottery on TodayTix for $39

The 65th annual Drama Desk Award has a newly designed statuette. Nominations will be announced April 21, and the ceremony will be held on May 31 at Town Hall.

Michael Urie will reprise his role in Jonathan Tolins’ Buyer & Cellar for two performances at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater April 10–11

Qui Nguyen

MTC’s production of Qui Nguyen’s “Poor Yella Rednecks,” at City Center May 12 to June 28, will feature Samantha Quan and Paco Tolson, who both appeared in the MTC 2016 production of Nguyen’s “Vietgone,” in a cast that also includes Tim Chiou, Maureen Sebastian and Eugene Young. Told from a mother’s perspective, the play is the story of a young family’s attempt to put down roots in Arkansas, a place as different from Vietnam as it gets.

“Once Upon A One More Time,” the Broadway-aiming musical using the music of Britney Spears, will perform at Chicago’s James M. Nederlander Theater this spring with a cast that includes Justin Guarini as Prince Charming and Briga Heelan as Cinderella, along with Simon Callow as the narrator, Emily Skinner as the stepmother, and Aisha Jackson as Snow White.

Clubbed Thumbs Summerworks Festival at The Wild Project, May 15 – July 1

Spindle Shuttle Needle by Gab Reisman, directed by Tamilla Woodard May 15-27 In a cottage surrounded by endless siege, at the dawn of Modern Capitalism, a motley group of women tell tales, pick nits, and stretch out the last bits of sustenance til the Market reopens.

Bodies They Ritual, by Angele Hanks, directed by Knud Adams June 2-13

A Santa Fe sweat lodge lets loose what’s bottled up in a group of Texan ladies who have gathered for a birthday celebration. Will any of them taste that deep, deep spirituality only to be found in the American Southwest?

The Woman’s Party, by Rinne Groff, directed by Tara Ahmadinejad June 19-July 1

1947 is the year that the savvy politicos of the National Woman’s Party finally get the ERA passed— once they quash that insurgency. Or oust the old guard. Failure is Impossible.

Rest in Peace

Suddenly dancing The Madison in The Boys in the Band: Robin De Jesus, Michael Benjamin Washington, Andrew Rannells, Jim Parsons

Mart Crowley, 84, pioneering playwright of The Boys in the Band, which had a triumphant Broadway debut on its 50th anniversary in 2018.

Coronavirus Update: Responding Theatrically. #Stageworthy News of the Week. As local news of the spread of the coronavirus grows more alarming (with Governor Cuomo having declared a state of emergency in New York…

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fenicerinnovata · 6 years

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Bruce and Jasmina interview previous Villa owners!

Jasmina Tesanovic and Bruce Sterling are currently writers in residence in the "Vigna di Madame Reale," a baroque villa built in Torino during the 1650s. In this post, Jasmina and Bruce are interviewing the original patroness and the interior designer of the villa.

"Madama Cristina," Cristina Maria di Borbone-Francia, is Duchess of Savoy, Princess of Piedmont and Queen of Cyprus (1606-1663). Her master builder, chief dramatist and long-time companion is the Count Filippo San Martino d'Aglie (1604-1667).

JT: Your Majesty, and Signor Count, thanks for letting us write our novels in your beautiful hillside villa! We're the "Globalisti a Torino," and we met each other in Torino, and we got married. So it's wonderful to be here in your palace, which is the site of your famous Turinese romance.

BS: We're also grateful that you were somehow able to return from the dead in order to talk to us.

Fd'A: That feat was not easy. I haven't appeared as a ghost in Torino since the late 1970s.

MC: I haven't been seen in Torino since the night that I died, and I flew across the River Po in a flaming carriage drawn by four flaming horses.

Fd'A. I saw Her Majesty performing that spectral feat, by the way. Because I was living in this villa at that time, and this is the place where she last came to me, in her flaming ghost carriage.

MC: I wanted to bid farewell to him, in the special place where we were most happy.

JT: That is so romantic! (she chokes up) That makes me want to cry!

BS: (handing her a tissue) You two hardly seem dead at all, to us two. I'm from Texas, and I can see that the two of you are living presences in this city. Especially you, Madama Cristina. The San Salvario district has a big, long street called "Madama Cristina." An excellent street! Really nice shopping!

MC: I command you to address me as "Your Most Serene Highness."

BS: What?

MC: This is a royal audience! A reigning monarch must be addressed in a polite and courtly fashion, such as: "If it would please Your Most Serene Highness to offer us your wisdom on the following topic," and then, and only then, do you presume to pose any question to me.

BS: But we're journalists! This is an interview! We can't engage in polite, elaborate Savoyard court rhetoric. The people need to know the facts!

MC: I know what a newspaper is! We had a newspaper in Savoy. One only, and it was controlled by a Jesuit.

JT: Your Most Serene Highness, may I presume to ask if you read that newspaper?

MC: You are a foreign woman from the Balkans, is that not so? Yet you're also a writer? You are a woman, who writes?

JT: Yes! Yes I am!

MC: Then I command you to read "Astrae," by Honoré d'Urfé. It is the best novel ever written at my court. It has a thousand pages, so the court ladies can read it aloud to each other, all winter long. It is a romance, so you are sure to like it.

BS: Count Filippo, what do you think of that romance novel?

Fd'A. I'm not a novelist. I'm a man of action. I create festivals, choreography, costumes, opera, ballet, and tournaments. And architecture of course. I did a lot of urban planning.

BS: So, you were pretty much the one-man government of all Savoy, then.

Fd'A (nodding) At Her Majesty's command, of course.

BS: Yet you don't have any street named after you. I've noticed that Prince Maurizio and Prince Tommaso, who were bitter rivals of yours — they both have streets in modern Torino. But not you.

MC (warningly) Sir, you are pressing on his sore spot.

BS: Count Filippo, let's be frank. You were the court favorite of your Duchess here, her secret lover and basically the powerful Prime Minister of all Piedmont. Yet there seems to be some shadow over your political achievements as a statesman. The Turinese should have properly named a whole city square after you.

Fd'A. My San Martino family, they have their street named in Torino.

BS: But not you. It's about the scandalous royal romance, isn't it? You two were in a settled, intimate relationship, but you never married. Because she's a royal Bourbon princess from France, the sister of Louis XIII, while you were just a modest Piedmontese country gentleman. But you shared a bed in this villa, against all propriety. Is that why you were denied your proper fame and glory?

Fd'A: Look here, presumptuous foreigner: you may think you understand Turinese baroque politics, but you have it all wrong. I don't need any fame and glory. Her Majesty already has all that -- she was born into that condition! As for me, I manage the grandeur and magnificence. I design the glorious sets, I choreograph the dancing, the fireworks, and the public festivals, but personally, I'm modest and humble. I'm like a Capuchin monk, almost.

BS: You don't appear very humble. You have beautiful lavender silk clothing and all kinds of gold rings and royal medals.

Fd'A. Ridiculous! This color isn't "lavender!" This is a special tint which is "gridelino" or "mauve gray." It's Her Majesty's own signature color! As her minister, I always dress in "Cristina Gray."

JT: We've noticed that your big villa here is full of that 'gridelino' color.

Fd'A. Because I decorated it myself! Of course, the Vigna di Madame Reale doesn't look as grand today as it did when I managed it. I gave Her Majesty huge formal gardens, a band-stand, a dance-floor, and her own zoo.

MC (to JT) He is so nice to me.

JT: I can see that.

MC: He is so charming. And so handsome, too. The "Bel Filippo," they called him. Every woman in my court was in love with him.

JT: That must have been troublesome.

MC: Yes, I had to put up with a lot of trouble to keep him always at my beck and call, but he was worth it. Filippo d'Aglie is the most entertaining man in the world. He was the greatest creative genius of Baroque Turin. He was inventing ballet, and also opera, just for me. He could play ten musical instruments and write poetry for me in four languages.

Fd'A. All part of my day's work, Your Majesty. It was my privilege to serve you and my native realm, the Duchy of Savoy.

MC: You can see how good he is.

JT: Yes. I married a guy who is sort of entertaining, but he's Texan. In your age, all the Texans were naked savage cannibals.

MC: Your Texan still seems rather rude and brutal. You should make him sit up straight and comport himself more like a gentleman. Does he speak any Latin?

JT: Not one word of Latin! I'm a literary translator, but Texans are terrible at languages. He's writing a book about you, but if this villa was still in Baroque Turin, maybe he could clean out the palace stables for you. Other than that, a Texan would be no good at all.

MC: Well, you seem a bit better than him. My father-in-law, Duke Carlo Emmanuel, had a chance to become King of Serbia. Then I would be the Queen of Serbia, and your people would have been my loyal subjects.

JT: Really?

MC: Why not? My sister was Queen of Spain, my other sister was Queen of Britain. I was Queen of Cyprus, even though I never saw Cyprus. A small, primitive Balkan country like yours would be easy to conquer. Serbia just needs better administration. Then Serbia would be less ugly and backward, and more grand and magnificent, like Savoy.

BS: Your Most Serene Highness, that's some impressive political acumen.

MC: I pick good servants. The key to governance is delegation. Giovanni Botero, the geopolitical strategist of Savoy, was the best political thinker in the world.

BS: I don't know much about Giovanni Botero. I've seen his street in Torino, though. It's right downtown.

Fd'A. You must read Botero's treatise, "On the Grandeur and Magnificence of Cities." That was our manifesto for Turin. Everything we built here, every map, every street, every citadel and artillery firing station -- it all relates to that plan.

BS: Wow! Thanks a lot, Filindo! That's a great tip!

MC (to Fd'A): He knows that my pet name for you was "Filindo." How does he know that?

Fd'A. From books, probably. Books can outlast great buildings, sometimes. Not very often, though.

MC: Filindo, why must we suffer as fictional characters? Isn't it enough, for you and me, that we suffered as historical characters?

Fd'A. Your Majesty, I was just thinking that myself.

MC: Every relation between mortal man and woman has a sadness to it, because it must end. Journalists, I must dismiss you. This audience is at an end.

JT: Oh no! Please! You can't! We were just getting started!

BS: There's so much that we still need to know! What about the time you were kidnapped? Did you really start your love affair during the Black Death? And what about the Compagnia di San Paolo?

JT: It's too late! They've dissipated into air, like spoken words... There's nothing left of two of them, but one mauve gray fog...

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