CMU School of Drama


Tuesday, October 27, 2009

NFTRW Weekly Top 5

Here are the top five comment generating posts from the past week:

Microphones in Broadway Plays

WSJ.com: "On stage at the Broadway revival of Neil Simon's 'Brighton Beach Memoirs' are seven actors—and 23 hidden microphones. The new musical 'Fela!' has 80 speakers hung around the theater, and mic transmitters embedded in a character's tap shoes. And during one song in 'The Phantom of the Opera,' actors choose whether to sing along—or just mouth the words—to a prerecorded vocal track.
With theater producers increasingly reliant on revenues from touring shows playing spaces with as many as 4,000 seats, more shows are being rigged with miniature mics and high-tech sound systems to project the performances to the far reaches of the theaters."

‘Shrek the Musical’ to Close Jan. 3 on Broadway

NYTimes.com: "“Shrek the Musical,” the DreamWorks film studio’s first attempt to compete with Disney on Broadway, will close Jan. 3 after 441 performances, its producers said on Wednesday."

Costume designer Susan Tsu works her magic for production of "Jekyll & Hyde"

Post Gazette: "Susan Tsu's hands never stop working as she speaks.



She has just begun to knit a scarf to be used on stage two days hence for City Theatre's 'Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde.'
The production's costume designer says she couldn't find a scarf or a shawl (she's made one of those, too) that was right for the pseudo-Victorian setting. 'But that's all right,' she says. 'I'm a fast knitter.'"

More Delays Expected for Spider-Man Musical

NYTimes.com: "The new multimillion-dollar Broadway “Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark” is now expected to start previews and open this spring later than scheduled, because of weeks of production delays and ongoing difficulties recruiting additional investors for the show, according to executive involved in the production."

When Pixar came to visit...

Berkeley Rep Blog: "...it was awesome!
Over the years, we in the Berkeley Rep costume shop have had some interaction with the tailors at Pixar. Kathy, our tailor, has an excellent book on tailoring odd bodies that they took guidance from during Ratatouille. Needless to say, a bond was formed between our shop and theirs."

1 comment:

Addis said...

I am actually rather surprised to discover that Shrek will be closing. I spent a lot of time in line at TKTS and there were tons of families looking to get tickets to Shrek. Disney has always been a center for family entertainment but Dreamworks seemed to be providing a healthy competition for them. I think the biggest problem with the show was its location. There's something about family shows, especially when they are geared more towards kids, that do not bode well on long runs in one place. I'm sure if they took the tour on the road they were see a bigger turn out for sure.