Is it Necessary to Study Women in Musical Theatre? My students react…
At the beginning of this semester, I posed two questions for the students to engage in after the first unit. In Unit 1, we looked at the actual numbers of gender disparity on Broadway. Once you see the numbers, you realize that this gender gap is much much bigger than you think specifically on creative teams.
And when you look even closer, you realize this gap is even wider for People of Color and other underrepresented groups.
Below you will read the reactions from the students. What is your reaction? What do you believe? You can respond in the comments to join the conversation if you would like.
New Musicals with Impact
Culture shifting stories and voices that encompasses BIPOC, transgender, queer, disabled, and other under represented stories and writers.
The Erasure of Black Excellence in 1970s Musical Theatre
Broadway still has a lot of work to do. Its cake is still vanilla, albeit with more sprinkles of color than in the past, but it’s still very much vanilla. And this also includes its history. I’ve seen first-hand the white-washed telling of musical theatre history and specifically the lack of coverage of black musicals of the 1970s. Some incredibly successful black Broadway shows were produced in the 1970s against the odds of whiteness, the racism of the white critics, and the struggles of seedy 1970s Times Square.
Five Important Stories About South Pacific You Didn’t Know…
1. Rodgers, Hammerstein and Logan worked on South Pacific for just over a year before it opened. Also, it was the first work that RnH wrote and produced.
2. Joshua Logan, director, wrote the book to South Pacific with Hammerstein and then was screwed out of the “author’s royalties”
3. Dorothy Rogers (Richard Roger’s wife) drummed up volunteers for Blood Drives on the stage of the Majestic Theatre
4. South Pacific transferred from the Majestic Theatre to the Broadway Theatre in 1953
5. Hal Prince met Stephen Sondheim at opening night of South Pacific
How Many Broadway Shows Have You Seen?
One of the question of a decade: how many Broadway shows have you seen?
I get that question asked a lot, mostly by my students or from people who have never been to New York City. While, I haven't seen as many of some of my friends in New York City, I feel like I have conquered Broadway in the last decade with some fantastic fanaticism. Since the day I saw my first Broadway show, June 2nd, 2000, I've been hooked.I'll do a detailed analysis in a different post, but I did put how much I paid and the totals for each show and category. It's a very interesting list and one I'm proud of! Here's to the next 150 shows!
Theatre Review: "Without You" @ NYMF 10/07/2010
Without You, a new one-man show written by and starring Anthony Rapp, played to sold-out audiences at the New York Musical Theatre Festival. I was lucky enough to grab a ticket to a late-night performance on Thursday, October 7th, 2010.
Reflecting Back on RENT
Ever since I was 17, when I heard the cast recording for the first time, I've wanted to play Mark. The role spoke to me in a way that no other role has. To this day, there still hasn't been any roles that radiate to me as much as Mark in RENT. I became obsessed. Even though I lived on the West Coast, I was a bonafide Renthead. I listened to the cast recording almost everyday. I bought the vocal selections when they came out and sang every song over and over. I learned how to play all of the songs on the piano. I was completely obsessed. It became my dream to play the role of Mark on Broadway.