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☆ There’s a Bright Spot in New York Theater. It’s Not Where You Think.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-11 | by ( Michael Paulson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At the same time, New York’s Off Broadway nonprofits, long essential seedbeds for many of the nation’s most acclaimed playwrights, are shedding staff, programming and even real estate. But there is an unexpected bright spot this season. Commercial Off Broadway, a small sector of New York’s theatrical economy and one that has for years been somewhere between difficult and dormant, is back in business. “Oh, Mary!,” a madcap comedy that imagines Mary Todd Lincoln as a daffy alcoholic, is selling out nightly at a 295-seat theater in the West Village, and is likely to transfer to Broadway this summer. Eddie Izzard’s solo “Hamlet” did well enough at a 199-seat theater in Greenwich Village that it relocated to a 349-seat house in the East Village, and next is planning runs in Chicago and London.

Persons: Mary !, Mary Todd Lincoln, Eddie Izzard’s, ” Organizations: Broadway Locations: West, Greenwich, East, Chicago, London

☆ Critical Role's heartbreak prince helped make 'Dungeons & Dragons' cool. Now he's coming for the gothic horror gaming scene.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Critical Role recently released "Candela Obscura," a gothic horror roleplaying game. AdvertisementIn October, Critical Role, a crew of eight self-professed "nerdy-ass voice actors," played their long-running "Dungeons & Dragons" game at a sold-out Wembley Arena. These qualities make O'Brien ideal for stepping into the game master role for "Candela Obscura," Critical Role's new gothic horror game, and he's leaning hard into the tragedy. AdvertisementIt's also one of the more punishing gaming systems he's played in, O'Brien told me during our video call. Mercer, the team's designated game master, is the one who crafts the narrative and controls how the story develops.

Persons: Liam O'Brien, —, Matthew Mercer, O'Brien, I've, It's, he's, Twitch, Mercer, — O'Brien, — Taliesin Jaffe, Imari Williams, Aimee Carrero, Alexander Ward —, Taliesin Jaffe, Alexander Ward, Julius Caesar, Irish, Martin McDonagh, Spenser Starke, Rowan Hall, Aabria Iyengar, Starke, Mary Shelley, it's, Amazon, Marisha Ray, Travis Willingham, Ashley Johnson, Sam Riegel, Laura Bailey, Matthew Mercer Robyn von Swank Organizations: Service, Wembley, Darrington Press, Hasbro's, Hasbro, CR Locations: Europe, Ireland, New York, Mercer, Starke

☆ Nerd world's most famous faces are out to conquer the gothic horror gaming space — and their heartbreak prince is here to get the job done
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Critical Role recently released "Candela Obscura," a gothic horror roleplaying game. These qualities make O'Brien ideal for stepping into the game master role for "Candela Obscura," Critical Role's new gothic horror game, and he's leaning hard into the tragedy. AdvertisementIt's also one of the more punishing gaming systems he's played in, O'Brien told during our video call. Mercer, the team's designated game master, is the one who crafts the narrative and controls how the story develops. "I always prefer complicated narratively satisfying endings to a neat little happy ending," O'Brien told me.

Jesse Green’s Best Theater | Unforgettable ExperiencesJESSE GREENYear of the DramedyIf 2023 was a tragedy in the world, on New York stages it was a dramedy year, highlighted not only by serious plays with great jokes, but also by flat-out comedies with dark underpinnings. Its residents included an unemployed man in his 50s, his barely-holding-on mother, a pregnant woman, two refugees — and us. Seated adjacent to the facility’s dingy common room, we became, in the playwright’s own staging, fellow residents. But if the others eyed us like we might steal a precious sandwich, we could blithely leave when the play was over. The New York Theater Workshop audience, too, learned a great deal, as the questions bedeviling so many relationships — the complexity of consent and the meaning of control — played out before us in this perfectly timed hot-button play.

Persons: Jesse Green’s, Alexander Zeldin, ”, Henrik Ibsen, Jessica Chastain, Nora, Jamie Lloyd’s, Amy Herzog, Chastain, Liliana Padilla, —, gorgeously, Rachel Chavkin, Steph Paul Organizations: Armory, Zeldin, bros, New York Locations: New York, York City, Norway, New York City

☆ ‘The Half-God of Rainfall’ Review: Basketball Under the Heavens
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Juan A. Ramírez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Turning verse into action is tricky, especially with ideas as lofty as the ones in Inua Ellams’s epic poem “The Half-God of Rainfall,” now appearing in theatrical guise at New York Theater Workshop. The poem is a melodious, sky-high tale of a basketball superstar born as a result of a celestial contest between the Greek and Yoruba gods of thunder, Zeus and Sango. But the stage adaptation, which opened on Monday, runs into some flaws that, while not fatal, strand this Nigerian writer’s work in the mortal realm. To Hera’s (Kelley Curran) defeated disdain, Zeus rapes Modúpé (Jennifer Mogbock), a Nigerian woman, and soon the mixed-race half-god Demi (Mister Fitzgerald) is born. Demi’s growing celebrity eventually lands him face to face with Zeus, providing a chance to avenge his mother.

Persons: Jason Bowen, Michael Laurence, Kelley Curran, Modúpé, Jennifer Mogbock, Demi, Mister Fitzgerald Organizations: New York Theater, Golden State Warriors Locations: Nigerian

☆ When Broadway Went Dark, Two Strangers Found Love
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Valeriya Safronova | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Throughout it all, Ms. Bonnick and Mr. McDonnell leaned on each other. That summer “was one of the ways I knew and felt very confident that the relationship was built to last,” Mr. McDonnell said. For Mr. McDonnell, the month of July carries particular significance. On July 2, 2008, when he was 13, Mr. McDonnell almost drowned at Jones Beach. “Last July, I knew I wanted to be married to her and I didn’t want to wait much longer.”

☆ Three Years Into Covid, We Still Don’t Know How to Talk About It
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Jon Mooallem | Photographs Ashley Gilbertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +53 min

It will play out and reverberate for years or decades, Hagen told me. “The pathological normal,” Hagen calls it: a patchwork of homespun, bespoke realities, each one invested in a different story about what exactly happened when Covid ruptured the story of our lives. garb.”More than once, life seemed to be attaining “an uncanny resemblance to normal life,” as one man put it. But because we don’t totally understand where that experience has delivered us, we don’t know the right gloss to give it. “The days are strange,” one public-school teacher told Milstein toward the end of his first interview, in May 2020.

☆ Unicorn indie-film studio A24 is in talks to buy the Cherry Lane Theatre, New York's oldest off-Broadway theater
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Cherry Lane Theatre was put back on the market in 2021 after a previous sale fell through. The purchase comes as Hollywood increasingly looks to the theater world for IP and talent. A24, the Oscar-winning studio behind indie hits like "Uncut Gems," "Midsommar," and "Moonlight," is in talks to buy the Cherry Lane Theatre, New York City's oldest continuously running off-Broadway theater, according to a person familiar with the matter. The Cherry Lane was put back on the market in November 2021 after a deal to buy the theater for $11 million fell through amid disagreements over the price. Representatives from the Cherry Lane Theatre and A24 declined to comment on any prospective sale.

☆ Kevin Spacey denies Anthony Rapp's allegation and testifies about 'terrifying' upbringing as the son of a 'neo-Nazi'
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms | Daniel Arkin | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

In a significant development Monday, the judge overseeing the trial tossed out Rapp's claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said that claim "repeats and re-alleges" Rapp's allegation of battery. The actor testified that he "certainly had a degree of shame" about being gay because he grew up with his father's hateful views. Spacey is expected to rebut Rapp's allegation of sexual misconduct on Monday afternoon following a roughly hour-long lunch break. Rapp testified that Spacey invited him to a party at his apartment.

☆ Longest running show on Broadway, 'Phantom of the Opera' to close
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-16 | by ( Danielle Broadway | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

“Phantom” is a staple within the Broadway world with over 70 major theater wins and 13,733 performances since its debut in 1988. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera” is based on the classic novel by Gaston Leroux and was originally directed by Harold Prince. “Phantom” tells the 19th century story of aspiring opera singer Christine Daae who is taught by the mysterious Phantom to hone her vocal skills. However, things take a dark turn when the Phantom chooses Christine as his muse, and she falls in love with an arts benefactor named Raoul. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Danielle Broadway; Editing by David GregorioOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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