All in Odds & Ends

The Five Enemies of Broadway Musicals

The Five Enemies of Broadway Musicals

Mark Robinson
Odds & Ends, Music That Makes Me Dance

My guess is that, if you are reading this piece, you have an affection (or at least an appreciation for) Broadway musicals. What's not to love: infectious music, larger-than-life characters, transformative and/or eye-opening stories. Musical theatre, for many people, is the ultimate entertainment experience. 

Though many of us like to revere musicals and dissect them for their intricacies, there are other people out there who despise this genre of theatre and do their best to diminish its integrity. Today's blog explores the varying "types" who make it their personal mission to diminish that thing we love.

The Standing Ovation Crisis: When Too Much Is Just Too Much

The Standing Ovation Crisis: When Too Much Is Just Too Much

Mark Robinson
Odds & Ends, Music That Makes Me Dance

When the curtain comes down on a Broadway play or musical, we sure hope to have had a good time and that our two-hours wasn’t wasted on a painful night of theatre. When the cost of a Broadway theatre ticket is so monumentally high (prohibitive, even), it seems almost essential that we get our money’s worth. Otherwise, how are we to justify the expense of taking the gamble on the next show? We had better stand up for that curtain call and clap just as hard as we can, no matter what our feelings about the actual show. We saw “Broadway” and that is a major life event, right?

Star Wars and Broadway

Star Wars and Broadway

Mark Robinson
Odds & Ends, Cinematters

In case you have missed it somehow, a few weeks ago a little movie called Star Wars: The Force Awakens opened in the movie theatres and it has been getting a lot of buzz. I decided to look at the stage credits of the actors in the Star Wars franchise and was surprised (or perhaps, not surprised) to find that many of these actors have appeared on Broadway. Today’s blog is a celebration of those actors who inhabited the characters of “a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away” and who also came down from the stars to light up Broadway.

Noel, Tallulah, Cole, and Me: A Memoir of Broadway's Golden Age –The Book You Need to Read

Noel, Tallulah, Cole, and Me: A Memoir of Broadway's Golden Age –The Book You Need to Read

Mark Robinson
Odds & Ends, Music That Makes Me Dance

Those of us who love musical theatre are always looking for that next amazing book that offers us a special look into the making of Broadway musicals and the exciting lives that help create them. An unlikely book has emerged that I am confident that many of you are going to want to read. Noel, Tallulah, Cole, and Me: A Memoir of Broadway's Golden Age by John C. Wilson, edited with commentary by Thomas S. Hischak and Jack Macauley is the intriguing autobiography of a man that you might not know much about, but who helped shape classic musicals of the Golden Age of Broadway.

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