Mar 10

Mar 10 My Fair Lady: What Does the Perfect Cast Look Like?

This week we received some exciting news via Lincoln Center announcing that Bartlett Sher will be directing My Fair Lady for LCT’s Vivian Beaumont in 2018. My Fair Lady has not returned to the Broadway stage since Richard Chamberlain and Melissa Errico starred in a 1993 revival, and that production was not exactly embraced as definitive. Bartlett Sher is a master of staging in the Beaumont’s space, a luxuriously open thrust where the audience wraps around the playing area. He has mined many magical moments on this stage, probing the possibilities of the space with productions of The Light in the Piazza, South Pacific, and The King and I. My Fair Lady is an elegant show, one of the wittiest and most-intellectual of Broadway musicals (based on George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion), featuring a lush and literate Lerner and Loewe score. How can we not be excited to see how Sher marries this sparkling property with the space where he works his best magic?

Mar 8 TV Theme Songs: The Soul of a TV Show

Mark Robinson

Tube Tied

Television theme songs (and the opening credits sequences designed to accompany them) are an art form that is seldom given the careful study it deserves. In fact, theme songs are not as prevalent as they once were, producers opting to jump right into the story with the credits playing over the opening scene. Something is lost in this abrupt start of a television show, a bit of magic that may not be essential, but that certainly transports us with its melody and lyrics.

Mar 6 The Ten Most Contemptible, Despicable, Vile, and Completely Delicious Disney Villains

Mark Robinson

Second Star to the Right

Disney fans: we all love our princesses from Ariel to Tiana, we drool over our dashing heroes, and laugh at all the loyal and loveable sidekicks. But if we were to be honest, it is the villains in Disney movies that get us most-excited. And why not? They are some of the most beautifully drawn of all the animated characters, they always have epic moments of evil, and they always keep the balance in Disney movies, saving the stories from becoming too sticky sweet.

Mar 5

Mar 5 Musical Theatre Auditions: What You Are Doing Wrong and Right

Mark Robinson

Music That Makes Me Dance

Auditioning for musical theatre can be a daunting, stressful, enjoyable, exhilarating, adrenaline- inducing experience all rolled into one short bid to secure yourself work as a performer. Dedicated musical theatre performers are always looking for ways to improve their auditions as singers, actors, and dancers. Having been on both sides of the table as an actor and a director, I have looked at this issue from two perspectives. Having consulted with other casting directors over the years, a pattern has emerged in what we directors most-want actors to be ready for when they enter that audition room. Here are some items that focus on the singing and acting do’s and don’ts you may (or may not) have thought about, but that will hopefully lead to a more successful audition experience for you.

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