The Playgoer: Today's Roundup

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Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Today's Roundup

-What a true Broadway hit in 2009 looks like: Wicked grosses $2mil in one week.

-Timberlake Wertenbaker accuses the London critics of being too drunk to appreciate her latest play. (Whether the play merited better or not, I do indeed try to abstain from booze pre-theatre if I'm reviewing. Save that for the writing.)

-The story behind the woman behind the play behind the musical behind the movie: read about Maurine Dallas Watkins, playwright of the original (non-musical) Chicago and So Help Me God, currently being resurrected by The Mint.

-Did you know the real life Fela Kuti died of AIDS? Funny that on Broadway, "Fela!" does not.

-The Obamas had their Joe Turner night. The Clintons--The 39 Steps??? Well it is pretty white. And kinda over. (Actually the reason is more random: "current 39 Steps understudy Nisi Sturgis’ grandfather is Bill’s former mentor." Check out Broadway Buzz's slideshow, too.)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

FELA! is a fun show. Alas, it soft-pedals a lot of politcs and the AIDS issue -- strange given Jones's apparent politics and experience. I was disappointed in these oversights when I saw it off-Broadway; I can only imagine that the issues are treated even more lightly on Broadway.
For an excellent discussion of Fela and AIDS, Mark Schoof's article from a decade ago:

http://www.villagevoice.com/1999-11-09/news/part-2-a-tale-of-two-brothers/

Anonymous said...

not sure how to make the link hot - but here's all of it, at least. (you'll have to glue the two parts back together when you put it in your browser. or perhaps, Playgoer, you can turn it into a hot link?)

http://www.villagevoice.com/
1999-11-09/news/part-2-a-tale-of-two-brothers/