A queer Afro-Latina actor won an Oscar. A Deaf actor won an Oscar. A woman won Best Director for the second consecutive year. Let's not let that be overshadowed. Let's honor and celebrate that.
I think I need to put this as plainly as I can, and I apologize for shouting: PEOPLE WHO WORK IN THE LIVE PERFORMING ARTS AREN'T JUST 'NOT WORKING' – THEY ARE *PREVENTED* FROM ENGAGING IN THE WORK AND CAREERS FOR WHICH THEY WERE TRAINED.
Just a reminder to everyone that "The Great Gatsby" enters the public domain at 12 am on Friday. Get your revisionist stage adaptations, including musicals, started now!
Norman Lear lived to 101. Bob Hope: 100. George Burns: 100. Carl Reiner: 98. Phyllis Diller: 95. Don Rickles: 90. Still with us: Mel Brooks is 97. Dick Van Dyke is 97. Bob Newhart is 94. Suggests there's something invigorating and valuable in a lifetime of making people laugh.
I just read of the passing of Christopher Plummer at age 91. Keep your Captain von Trapp – for me he was a brilliant Iago opposite James Earl Jones's "Othello" on Broadway some 40 years ago. Sorry to learn of his final bow.
So
@laraspencer
has apologized for her comments about Prince George and ballet via Instagram. I say that until it's on air on
@GMA
, with the same audience who heard her original statements, it's meaningless.
"Hands out"? "Even Broadway actors"? These are people and families in distress. Live performing arts comprise a major industry brought to its knees. Do not dismiss what we do or our importance to the economy. This is shameful,
@nytimes
.
Evidence of why
@IanMcKellen
has been one of my theatrical heroes for four decades. His message to audiences on missing a performance as KING LEAR yesterday.
"Somebody crowd me with love
Somebody force me to care
Somebody let come through
I'll always be there
As frightened as you
To help us survive
Being alive."
– Stephen Sondheim
1930-2021
I hope
#JesusChristSuperstarLive
proves to all concerned, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that live audiences are essential to making live theatre on TV work.
THE ARTS ARE NOT EXPENDABLE, NOR ARE THE TENS OF THOUSANDS WHO WORK IN THE LIVE PERFORMING ARTS AROUND THE COUNTRY. MAKE NO MISTAKE, THIS IS AN IMPORTANT INDUSTRY, LIKE AIRLINES, LIKE LIKE PRO SPORTS. OTHER INDUSTRIES RELY ON THE ARTS TO DRIVE THEIR BUSINESSES.
Ahem,
@FilmUpdates
. It's not a "stage adaptation." It's a play. Meaning it was written for the stage. Films are the adaptations. This is pretty basic stuff.
As you watch the
#TonyAwards
, keep in mind that there are people and politicians who want to prevent both students and adults from performing some of the very plays nominated and honored tonight and elsewhere. We must speak out loudly for art & expression and against censorship.
Actually, I think
@cnn
should decline to feature any guest whose commentary is constrained by the very person they have been booked to speak about. Jounalistic Integrity calls for this.
Last night, The Door McAllen Church in McAllen TX committed a blatant copyright violation by performing and live-streaming their own production of
@HamiltonMusical
, which is not licensed for any productions. They changed text and tacked on a sermon including anti-LGBTQ message.
THOSE WHO WORK IN THE ARTS ARE NOT SECOND CLASS CITIZENS. THEY ARE YOUR NEIGHBORS AND FRIENDS, THEY ARE RESIDENTS OF THE CITIES AND TOWN IN WHICH THEY WORK AND LIVE, PUMPING DOLLARS INTO THE ECONOMY AND OFFERING THEIR TALENTS TO ENRICH THE LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY.
YES, THERE IS ONLINE CREATIVITY, BUT MUCH OF THAT IS VOLUNTEER, CREATIVE ARTISTS LITERALLY BURSTING TO SHARE THEIR WORK WITH YOU AS BEST THEY CAN, MOSTLY FOR FREE. UNTIL SUMMER 2021, THEY HAVE TO TRY TO GET WORK IN OTHER FIELDS TO PAY BILLS AND FEED THEIR FAMILIES.
Someone on this subway car is blasting the original Broadway cast recording of “Into The Woods” through their EarPods loud enough for me to hear, making me want to 1) let them know I support them in their musical theatre passion and 2) warn them about the dangers of tinnitus.
Yes, I’m wearing an N95. Yes, I sent my staff home. Yes, my eyes are watering. Yes, it’s like science fiction, but it’s real. Please everyone: take it seriously, take care, and be safe.
ASK ANYONE WHO OWNS A RESTAURANT OR A PARKING GARAGE OR A SHOP NEAR A THEATRE HOW THIS HAS AFFECTED THEIR BUSINESS, EVEN IF THEY'VE BEEN ALLOWED TO REOPEN. THEY'LL TELL YOU HOW HARD IT IS TO STAY AFLOAT WITHOUT THE ARTS DRIVING TRAFFIC TO THEM.
I will return to my normal voice to say that everyone, whether they love the live performing arts or not, must recognize that this is no small industry, no frivolity. We are just like everyone else in this country, we work for our livings, we have regular lives.
WE DON'T NEED PICTURES OF DARK MARQUEES – THOSE ARE BUILDINGS. WE NEED OUR POLITICIANS, OUR LEADERS, OUR MEDIA TO MAKE THIS NOT ABOUT EMPTY REAL ESTATE, BUT ABOUT WORKERS IN CRISIS. NO GLITZ, NO GLAMOR, NO GREASEPAINT. PARENTS, CHILDREN, CAREGIVERS, WHO ARE LEFT HIGH AND DRY.
Today's theatre shoutout goes to understudies, standbys, swings, and covers, who are as educated, trained, talented, and capable as the people for whom they may substitute. They deserve nothing but respect, appreciation, love and applause, whether they go on or wait in the wings.
This is lunacy and must be stopped: “Under Senate Bill 1142, if just one parent objects to a book it must be removed within 30 days. If it is not, the librarian must be fired and cannot work for any public school for two years.”
In The Heights: I was either crying or grinning and often both at the same time throughout. Not kidding. So much to say. But for tonight, thank you
@Lin_Manuel
, thank you
@quiarahudes
, thank you
@jonmchu
. I needed that. We all need that.
#InTheHeights
IT'S NOT AS IF THEY CAN JUST SHIFT TO OTHER FIELDS, ESPECIALLY AT A TIME WHEN UNEMPLOYMENT IS HIGH. KEEP IN MIND: WITHOUT WORK, THEY LOSE HEALTH INSURANCE, JUST WHEN IT IS PERHAPS MOST NEEDED. IF THEY CAN KEEP IT, IT COSTS A LOT, WHEN THEIR INCOME HAS DROPPED TO NOTHING.
I am seeing a number of obituaries for Angela Lansbury which neglect to mention her 2022 Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement and just want to remind everyone of it, because her first love was the stage and by god did the stage love her back.
And by the way: the people who may survive this best are people of greater or independent means, and consequently elitism within the field will be further privileged at a time when we are poised to truly embrace equality and representation in the field.
Today’s theatre shoutout is for parents: who take kids to shows, see their kids in shows, support their love of theatre & the drama programs they're in, who understand when theatre becomes an educational pursuit & a profession – & those in the field we share with their families.
Reminder that the Tony Awards were created to honor the memory of Antoinette Perry, an actor who went on to direct 19 Broadway shows, in addition to volunteer leadership at The Wing during WWII. She is at rest in The Bronx. I paid my overdue respects with a visit last summer.
The live performing arts will, eventually be back, but without targeted, meaningful support, that return will be ever harder, ever slower. And how many people might we lose in the interim? Not just in the field, but in this life. The arts are, always, about people. Thanks.
As Shakespeare wrote, "If you prick us, do we not bleed?" We are all in this together, we are all fundamentally the same, no matter how we have chosen to make our way, our lives, in this world. The arts need compassion – and help.
It's Anton Chekhov’s birthday. Long for the life you don’t have. Engage in unrequited or doomed love. Yearn for Moscow. Praise art. Drink vodka. If you introduce something in the first act, be sure to use it before you finish. Write sad comedies. Inspire other artists.
This is not about shows shutting down. This is about people fighting to stay afloat, like so many others in the country, in the world. I'm not saying to elevate us above others in need, but please remember that those in the live performing arts have the same needs. And we hurt.
Note for musical theatre Twitter, amidst an international crisis: Anatevka is located in Ukraine. Perchik was from Kyiv. “Fiddler on the Roof” may be fiction, but places are not and the people are under threat in real life.
I'm not quite an hour into the movie “RRR” on Netflix and I'm not certain I can stand quite this much fun in a single sitting. I know I have to dash out to grab some popcorn and Raisinets to keep watching.
@petermarksdrama
INTERIOR. NIGHT.
Wide shot.
A cell gate is slammed shut in the foreground, while the interior, in blue light, is out of focus, until it shifts to reveal a figure in an orange jumpsuit, huddled in the corner, long hair amiss on balding pate. For the very first time, he is afraid.
Three years and 899,000 views ago,
@Lin_Manuel
brought forth upon 46th Street a new vision of
@HamiltonMusical
, conceived in parity, that all actors are created equal, at
#Ham4Ham
"No one's gonna hurt you
No one's gonna dare
Others can desert you
Not to worry, whistle, I'll be there
Demons will charm you with a smile
For a while
But in time
Nothing can harm you
Not while I'm around."
– Stephen Sondheim
1930-2021
If everyone in the live arts don't get meaningful support to make it through this, they will return even more stratified and exclusionary than before. I'll go into that further in another thread. Thx again.
Treating the performing arts, whether commercial or not-for-profit, as if they are a frivolity looking for a handout diminishes accomplished professionals around the country. Using the arts as a flip coda to a political lede is insulting,
@nytimes
.
“I don’t ever want to take live theatre for granted again. Ever.” —
@Lin_Manuel
in his curtain speech at
@HamiltonMusical
tonight. (Photo by me; couldn’t take pix in theatre)
If I ran the world, 100 million people would watch a live musical together once a year, and during intermission, some folks would come out and play a 10-minute football game.
Remembering Hal Prince, born on this day in 1928, whose influence on musical theatre is incalculable.
She Loves Me
Cabaret
Company
Follies
A Little Night Music
Candide
Pacific Overtures
On The Twentieth Century
Sweeney Todd
Evita
Merrily We Roll Along
Phantom of the Opera
Parade
Had a great time watching “RRR” last night, so what’s my follow up? Could be in same vein or total change of pace. Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu are my only streaming choices.
Sending my thoughts and my love to everyone at
@CompanyBway
and ASSASSINS at
@classicstage
who must and will go on tonight in the wake of Stephen Sondheim’s passing. But what greater tribute than to sing his songs? They will be sung forever.
Minor rant: every time I see theatre people tweeting about reopening Broadway, I'm planning to add a corollary tweet, a reminder – all theatre is in the process of reopening, not simply Broadway.
Today’s theatre shout-out goes to anyone who will report to a theatre today — including seven Broadway shows — to bring a show to eager audiences craving the electric thrill of live performance. Thank you for giving up a quiet day for many people for the entertainment of others.
"Hard to see the light now
Just don't let it go
Things will come out right now
We can make it so
Someone is on your side
No one is alone."
– Stephen Sondheim
1930-2021
Dear America: please get vaccinated as soon as you can, so that we can all see
@Lin_Manuel
&
@quiarahudes
's
@intheheights
together in movie theatres as it was meant to be seen. Thank you for your cooperation.
Note: if you’re finding my Twitter account for the 1st time because of this thread, know that my primary goal is to build up theatre and those who make it and love it. But I’ll always stand for the rights of theatre artists against those who would manipulate or steal their work.
And Andrew Rannells makes a “Boys in the Band” joke that flies over the heads of the majority of parade viewers. But not the drama club kids, past and present.
Today is the first day of my life that I awake to a world without Stephen Sondheim in it, but I take comfort in knowing that however long I live, I will never be in a world without his words and his music.
Update:
@nytimes
has removed the word "Even." But the sting lingers. People who work job to job, in a field that will be the last to come back from the pandemic, are hardly the same as banks.
Among the lessons to be learned from viral spread of news about the scofflaw “Hamilton” in McAllen TX: 1) artists deserve to be & must be compensated for their work, whether novices or household names, and 2) if you think you can get away with something, well, you will be found.