All in Odds & Ends

Broadway Musical Must-Haves For the Best Holiday Gifts

Broadway Musical Must-Haves For the Best Holiday Gifts

Mark Robinson
Odds & Ends

Tomorrow is Cyber Monday, the day that is supposed to be the equivalent of Back Friday, but instead of leaving home and mingling amongst the throngs to buy gifts, we sit at home in our jammies with bed head and order gifts online. I prefer this way of shopping. As a theatre writer and enthusiast, I have been compiling a list of things I will most assuredly be buying for my theatre friends this year. These are some of my favorite must-haves of the recent year that I know will light up some faces this Christmas morning. 

Hamilton, Pence and the Socially Conscious Musical

Hamilton, Pence and the Socially Conscious Musical

Mark Robinson
Odds & Ends

You would have to be living under a rock if you are not aware that our Vice President Elect, the monstrously bigoted Michael Pence of Indiana, the man who has done everything to mock minorities and spit in the face of gay rights, attended the Broadway musical Hamilton recently. THE Hamilton that tells the story of our forefathers in an artistic stroke of revisionist history that employs diversity in its casting to underline the disparity in crediting everyone who helped to shape America. Kudos to the cast of the production who gently and respectfully schooled His Royal Highness on his hypocrisy by actually welcoming him for coming and suggesting he might learn something. Once again the power of musical theatre had the potential to change minds and open eyes. As Vice President Elect Pence left the theatre, he was booed by people who didn’t like the way he thinks and it had to be a hard pill swallow for this poor, misunderstood wolf in Christian clothing.

War Paint or War Horse?

War Paint or War Horse?

Mark Robinson
Odds & Ends

As many of my readership know, one of my favorite topics to write about is Broadway poster art. I love an effective and efficient piece of graphic art that can entirely sum up a show in one memorable image. The Broadway poster art is the image that invites the audience to buy tickets, and stays with them long after they part the theatre. That is why it is essential that Broadway poster art get it exactly right. It’s part of a show’s marketing and its legacy

Broadway and SNL: Ten Broadway Stars Who Should Host

Broadway and SNL: Ten Broadway Stars Who Should Host

Mark Robinson
Odds & Ends, Stage To Screen, Tube Tied

With Lin-Manuel Miranda poised to host Saturday Night Live, our nation’s most well-known and enduring sketch comedy show, I thought it might be interesting to suggest a few other faces from the Great White Way who would make fabulous hosts of the show. Broadway stars so seldom get the opportunity to show off their comedic talents to a larger viewing audience than the mere numbers a Broadway theatre can hold. Many great television and movie comedians of yesteryear have also spent time on Broadway AND appeared on SNL. But who of the contemporary theatre world would be good for a night of riotous laughter and a great opening monologue? Though it is very unlikely to happen to many (Hamilton is, after all, a national phenomenon and pop culture anomaly that has lifted Miranda and Hamilton into the stratosphere of iconic stardom), here are a few Broadway stars who I think would be up to the challenge:

Live from New York, it’s Saturday night… starring… 

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