Drama Desk News

64^th Annual DD Awards Show will be presented by Broadway Brands

January 28, 2019: Broadway Brands, publisher of Broadway News and Broadway Briefing, and the Drama Desk jointly announced today that Broadway Brands will present the Drama Desk Awards (www.DramaDeskAwards.com) beginning with the upcoming 2019 ceremony. The 64th annual event will take place on June 2, 2019 at 8:00p.m. at The Town Hall. The cut-off for nominations will be April 24, 2019, and nominations will be announced April 25, 2019.

2018 Hamptons International Film Festival Winners

Congratulations to the 2018 Hamptons International Film Festival.
And The Winners Are:

Ille Arts @ Elizabeth Dow Home

Photograh by Robin Rice in Paris 1997 “Cafe de Flore”

Sara De Luca curates a two-photographer exhibition.

August 26, 2018: On Saturday August 25th Elizabeth Dow Home, 14 Gingerbread Lane, in East Hampton hosted the opening reception for a two-photographer exhibition featuring works by Robin Rice and John Smith, curated by Sara De Luca, Director of Ille Arts Gallery.

The Originalist ****

Edward Gero, Tracy Ifeachor

MONSTER ON THE BENCH: THE ORIGINALIST

By: Samuel L. Leiter

July 19, 2018: Who would have thought a play about an ultra-conservative Supreme Court justice, especially one as reviled by liberals as the late Antonin Scalia (1936-2016), could rivet a New York audience for an intermissionless hour and 50 minutes and even snare the self-righteous Solon some sympathy? But, despite its flaws, that’s what John Strand’s The Originalist actually does, no small share of the credit going to Edward Gero for a performance that captures Scalia’s bulky appearance and oversize personality with startling authenticity.

Frost/Nixon @ Bay Street

Harris Yulin stars in Frost/Nixon, a smart revival of Peter Morgan’s powerful face-off between Richard Nixon and TV personality, David Frost.

July 2, 2018: The standing ovation at the opening night performance of Peter Morgan’s powerful face-off between former President Richard M. Nixon and TV personality, David Frost at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor was a strong sign of approval for the smart revival. Harris Yulin stars as the former president in the entertaining play directed by Sarna Lapine.

Chita Rivera @ Feinsteins/54Below

Chita Rivera

Chita Rivera in a unique solo concert

The unrivalled Broadway icon and two-time Tony Award winner revisits moments from her legendary career, showcasing the artistry and history that has made her a star of the Great White Way and beyond. Chita is accompanied by her long-time music director Michael Croiter with Gary Adler (piano) and Jim Donica (bass).

Fire and Air X, or Betty Shabazz vs The Nation *

James Cusati-Moyer Nijinsky “Fire and Air”

By: Isa Goldberg

A fitting metaphor for our times, Rock, Scissors, Paper is a zero-sum game. One man wins and the other loses, so the outcome is nought. It’s a strictly competitive game.

In Terrence McNally’s new play, Fire and Air, at Classic Stage Company, the elements that connect are equally deadly to one another. Air, the symbol of new life, loses its breath when fire destroys it.

Shadowlands ***1/2

Dan Kremer, Sean Gormley, Daryll Heysham, John C. Vennema “Shadowlands.”

For some reason English scholars seem to have a predilection for writing novels for young people. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, was a mathematician and Anglican deacon best known as the author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. J.R.R. Tolkien was a philologist immortalized by The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. And his friend, C.S. Lewis, was a medievalist and theologian beloved by children for The Chronicles of Narnia.

Describe the Night ** Twelfth Night

Danny Burstein, Zach Grenier, Tina Benko “Describe the Night”

By: David Sheward

Mixing myth, urban legend, conspiracy theory, and historical fact, Rajiv Joseph creates a weird tapestry of truth and lies in his new drama Describe the Night at the Atlantic Theater Company. Set in various parts of the former Soviet Union and Europe over nearly a century of political turmoil, this overwhelming saga asks hard questions on the relationships between government and media, regular citizens and dictators, and how people manage to live through decades of upheaval. As in his Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo and Guards at the Raj, Joseph depicts individuals caught up in the tide of history, swept along by both fanciful and real events.

A Christmas Carol

Paul Bolger will perform the classic at West Hempstead Public Library Sunday, December 17 at 2pm

In what is becoming a Holiday tradition, stage actor Paul Bolger will perform Charles Dicken’s A CHRISTMAS CAROL playing all the parts in a solo interpretation that he adapted from the Dicken’s classic. This gifted actor is sure to put a smile on your face and send home with renewed joy for the spirit of the season. Paul has been performing the seasonal favorite for the past 25 years at schools and special needs communities throughout the country. Sunday, December 17^th at 2pm DOWNSTAIRS @ West Hempstead Public Library 500 Hempstead Avenue.

Annie ****

Annie Revival Makes for a Very Merry and Jolly Tinsel-coated Revival at Paper Mill Playhouse

By: Ellis Nassour

The holiday season has arrived for Paper Mill Playhouse audiences with a gaily-wrapped Christmas present under a tinseled tree. It’s the sumptuous revival of Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin, and Thomas Meehan’s Tony-winning Best Musical Annie. Just as they pulled a rabbit out of their collective hat this time last year with the North American premiere of The Bodyguard, producing artistic director Mark Hoebee and managing director Todd Schmidt, have done it again with a sterling production of “the world’s best-loved family musical” – one filled with whopping sentiment, hilarity, and beloved tunes fit for the entire family.

Torch Song ***

Mercedes Ruehl, Michael Urie

By: David Sheward

When Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song Trilogy was nominated for a Best Play Tony Award in 1983, presenter Diahann Carroll wasn’t even allowed to accurately describe the tender, hilarious play. While giving a detailed synopsis of each of the other nominees, her copy for Torch merely summarized it as being “about love and the merciless mayhem loves wreaks.” When the play unexpectedly won, producer John Glines sent shockwaves across America by thanking his male lover. (I remember Johnny Carson made a joke about it on The Tonight Show the following evening.) Even the show’s TV commercial covered up its then-controversial content. Producers were afraid if Straight John and Jane Q. Public knew the show was about an unapologetic gay drag performer’s quest for a long-term relationship and an extended family, they’d shy away.

Valerie diLorenzo, November 18, 2017

Legs Diamond @ 54 Below

Peter Allen (far right) and the company of the Original 1988-89 Broadway Production of “Legs Diamond”

The Original Broadway Cast INCLUDING CHRISTINE ANDREAS, BRENDA BRAXTON, BOB STILLMAN and more in
LEGS DIAMOND 30^TH ANNIVERSARY REUNION CONCERT

FEINSTEIN’S/54 BELOW (254 West 54 Street NYC), Broadway’s Supper Club, presents the Original Broadway cast of the much heralded musical in Legs Diamond 30^th Anniversary Reunion Concert on Sunday, December 3 at 7:00 pm and 9:30 pm.

Friends! the Musical Parody ****

By: Iris Wiener

Could this musical BE any more fun? Nope. Friends, the hit NBC show of ten years, is ripe for riffing, and who better to take it on than parody masterminds Tobly and Bob McSmith, the clever writers behind Showgirls! The Musical! and Bayside! The Musical!? Whether you’ve simply caught the sitcom in reruns or you have pined for the day when Ross and Rachel would finally get together, this musical is a hysterical send-up of all that you loved to hate (or hated to love) about the 90s, and the cheese-filled archetypical tropes that defined comedic television.