'Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark' - a review

NJ.com: "One unwritten rule of Broadway is that critics wait until shows are officially open to review them. Another, though, is that shows won’t stay in previews — thereby delaying reviews — for unreasonably long periods of time.

Variety Reviews - Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

Variety: "After 10 playing weeks and some $12,500,000-worth of tickets, the attractions of 'Spider-Man' are still in the spectacular physical production, and if the audience at Saturday's matinee preview was not standing and cheering, they still could be described as warmly appreciative. It's a work in progress, and creator Julie Taymor has been making changes through the preview period, and is reportedly planning to continue to rework the musical numbers (within the framework of the existing music and lyrics). Weaknesses lie with the book, music and lyrics, a kiss of death for most musicals; Taymor and her producers seem to think this a minor flaw, and initial box office returns suggest they might be right.

'Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark': Aerial scenes thrill, sets soar but songs and dialogue are dull

NYDailynews: "The show must go on - but what about opening night? This was supposed to be a review of 'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark' following a gala opening at the Foxwoods Theater on 42nd St. But producers postponed the official opening until March 15. After more than 60 preview performances, 'Spidey' is still a work in progress, they say.

Beautiful, Brainless ‘Spider-Man’ Is Still Inert: Jeremy Gerard - Bloomberg

Bloomberg: "There were two showstoppers during the 65th preview of “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” on Saturday night, and they weren’t songs.This was meant to be the weekend critics came, though the producers of this elaborately afflicted musical once again postponed opening night until March 15.

'Spider-Man' deftly spins substance, spectacle

USATODAY.com: "NEW YORK — Broadway's Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark won't open until March 15, but by now you've probably heard a few rumblings. The $65 million collaboration between U2's Bono and The Edge and celebrated director Julie Taymor has seen its opening pushed back several times. Injuries also have made news, not to mention comic monologues.

Theater review: 'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark' at Foxwoods Theatre

Los Angeles Times: "Well, it turns out there is a valid reason the producers of “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” have been keeping critics at bay. Julie Taymor's $65-million, accident-prone production, featuring an erratic score by U2’s Bono and The Edge, is a teetering colossus that can’t find its bearings as a circus spectacle or as a rock musical.

'Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark' is dazzling at times and disappointing at others

NYPOST.com: "Giving a blank check to Bono, The Edge and Julie Taymor to create a musical seemed like a brilliant idea, once upon a time. U2’s worldwide success and the director’s track record (“The Lion King,” the Met’s “The Magic Flute”) meant that their “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” could have rebooted Broadway the way “The Dark Knight” galvanized Hollywood’s superhero films.

Fill in the Blanks in a Times Review of Broadway's 'Spider-Man'

NYTimes.com: "Directions: Fill in the blanks in the first several paragraphs of “Good vs. Evil, Hanging by a Thread,” Ben Brantley’s review of the trouble-plagued Broadway musical, “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.”

'Spider-Man' on Broadway: No superpowers needed to sniff out this stinker

washingtonpost.com: "NEW YORK - If you're going to spend $65 million and not end up with the best musical of all time, I suppose there's a perverse distinction in being one of the worst.

‘Spider-Man - Turn Off the Dark’ at Foxwoods Theater - Review

NYTimes.com: "Finally, near the end of the first act of “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark,” the audience at the Foxwoods Theater on Saturday night got what it had truly been waiting for, whether it knew it or not.

Theatre Review: Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

National Post: "It’s tough to determine the most ludicrous moment in the new Spider-Man musical. Is it the scene where Spidey wages a battle to the death with an oversized blow-up doll, which looks as though it had been filched from the local dollar store? Or maybe it’s that awful sequence where a “geek chorus” of adolescents gets confused over the difference between Free Willy and free will — and futilely waits for us to laugh. Or perhaps it’s when something large and creepy-crawly gets a blast from a can of Raid, or the equivalent thereof.

'Spider-Man' Review: 'Chaotic, Dull and a Little Silly'

The Hollywood Reporter: "Official opening is not until March 15, but following repeat postponements and what feels like 30 years of previews, The Hollywood Reporter is observing the previously scheduled opening of Feb. 7 with this review. The capitalization hiccups, cast reshuffles, technical glitches and series of injuries have been too exhaustively chronicled to require a recap here. But the big shock when sitting down finally to assess this $65 million web-slinging folly, is what a monumental anti-climax it turns out to be.

Walt Disney’s Production Diagram

Chart Porn: "A testament to what a genius Walt Disney was, his 1943 production process diagram is a Harvard MBA’s wet dream that beautifully lays out the flow and departments.

Okay, it’s official: State arts agencies are in trouble

Createquity.: "This week has been a bad one for beleaguered state arts agencies. First, after much sabre-rattling, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback followed through with his threat to eliminate the Kansas Arts Commission on Monday, with the plan to transfer its responsibilities to a new nonprofit and provide a token $200,000 one-time appropriation to help with the transition. (This is down from $1.1 million the agency received two years ago.) Worse, unlike other governors who have tried to do the same, he did the dirty deed by executive order, meaning that the bar is much higher for arts advocates to reverse the decision. They basically have to convince the Republican-controlled Kansas Legislature to override the Governor’s order within 60 days of the decision.

Young adults and college grads heading back to Pittsburgh

popcitymedia.com: "A new study by a Brookings demographer shows where the young adults and college graduates are heading to start their 'real world' lives. Instead of moving to smaller metro areas, they are going for larger cities and college towns. Pittsburgh makes the list, now gaining a younger population instead of losing it.

Special FX artist adds spark to 'Lonesome West' at Playhouse Rep

postgazette.com: "We know the drill when it comes to Martin McDonagh's Leenane Trilogy plays -- eruptions of violence are imminent. Shooting a gun and the resultant damage to create a nightmarish scenario can be a nightmare to re-create, night after night. Enter Steve Tolin, owner and operator of Tolin FX, a Pittsburgh-based special effects design and fabrication shop.

Argentinian dance troupe 'Tango Inferno' tangos with passion

post-gazette.com: "It may be cold outside, but things are about to heat up inside the Byham Theater, Downtown, when the Tango Fire Company of Buenos Aires brings the spice and sophistication of 'Tango Inferno' to town Saturday as part of the Pittsburgh Dance Council's 2010-11 season.

Stunt Woman Sustains Severe Head Trauma on 'Justified' Set

Backstage.com: "A stunt woman was taken to a hospital with severe head trauma after being hit by a vehicle on the set of 'Justified' last week, TMZ.com reported Thursday.

How the Egypt Crisis Has Shut Down Show Business

Backstage.com: "The political crisis in Egypt has had a devastating impact on the entertainment industry in the country that has been called the 'Hollywood of the Middle East.' 'Everything is shut down; life is at a standstill,' producer Marianne Khoury, who runs MISR International Films ('September 11,' 'El Medina') with her brother Gabriel, told The Hollywood Reporter. 'People are glued to their TVs.'

Arts Council England Chair: Budget Cuts Will Fundamentally Change Us

The Stage : "Arts Council England chair Liz Forgan has claimed she is “worried” about calls from government for ACE to cut 50% of its running costs over the next three years, warning that it will mean “drastic change” for the organisation.

Orlando Mayor Slams New Arts Center Project Over Poor Management

OrlandoSentinel.com: "Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs said Thursday that it's not too late to revive the stalled downtown performing-arts center, but it won't happen without eliminating what she called serious financial and management problems that have been hidden from the public.

NFTRW Weekly Top Five

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

A SawStop Killer?

The Wood Whisperer: "A recent article on USA Today’s website states that the Consumer Products Safety Commission is on a mission to prevent debilitating tablesaw injuries. The goal? To require saw-makers to include “flesh-detecting technology” in their tablesaws, much like they are now required to include riving knives. The driving force behind all this is Steve Gass, the patent lawyer and inventor of SawStop. Regardless of how one feels about Sawstop, the company or the technology, it seems that most folks view government intervention as a major negative. As responsible saw owners, most of us know that proper training and safe practices are the best way to prevent accidents.

Posted by David at 2/07/2011 02:08:00 PM <-- Comments Here!

Cirque du Soleil: A Very Different Vision of Teamwork

Fast Company: "The success of Cirque du Soleil, however, is not based on unbridled creativity. The diverse team brings a wealth of creative ideas to the initial development phase, but thereafter it's about discipline and hard work. Taking a production from concept to stage takes years. Kà--showing at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas--took four years and cost $165 million to conceive, cast, design, train, and produce.

Posted by David at 2/07/2011 02:06:00 PM <-- Comments Here!

The Super Bowl's bloated, chaotic spectacle

Salon.com: "Every January, the president gives a State of the Union address, and a few weeks later, network TV follows, quite accidentally, with its own equivalent: the Super Bowl. In a culturally and politically fragmented culture, it's the biggest (and maybe only) remaining example of true broadcasting, a televised event whose appeal cuts across geographical, political and class lines and that a solid majority of the country watches, discusses and (most important) participates in emotionally. And if you look at the entire evening -- the game itself, the play-by-play commentary, the network promos, and most important, the ads -- you get what always seems, with hindsight, like a Rorschach of the country's psychological state, even if it looks like just another bloated and chaotic TV event while you're watching it.

Posted by David at 2/07/2011 02:05:00 PM<-- Comments Here!

It’s Not A Contest

American Theatre Wing: "So am I confessing to shocking gaps in my theatre knowledge or boasting of unique and often short-lived opportunities in my theatergoing history? After all, the first list is unquestionably distinguished, loaded with classic, while the latter contains a few obscurities, leans towards the 20th century and cites many famous actors.
I’m really just trying to make a point, which is that unless you treat theatergoing as a chore, with a checklist to be completed, you are perfectly likely to miss some of “the big ones” and equally likely to have some singular experiences along the way.

Posted by David at 2/07/2011 02:02:00 PM <-- Comments Here!

‘Les Miserables’ gets a new take after 25 years

Chicago Sun-Times: "Here is the crucial question when it comes to “Les Miserables”: Why even think of tinkering with the classic original production of the musical? After all, the show has endured in its original form for just over a quarter of a century now. And it has amassed an altogether staggering list of statistics, including the following:

Posted by Dale at 2/07/2011 02:09:00 AM <-- Comments Here!

Joyce Sloane: One-woman history of the Chicago theater renaissance

WBEZ: "The life of Joyce Sloane, who died Thursday night at the age of 80, reads like a one-woman history of the Chicago theater renaissance. The Producer Emeritus of Second City also co-founded Victory Gardens Theater, the League of Chicago Theaters and the Joseph Jefferson Awards Committee. And she only narrowly missed co-founding Second City itself, having devoted a mere 50 years to the 51-year-old comedy fountainhead.

Attendance is not the only measure of demand

Createquity.: "If you’ve followed theater blogs even casually over the past week, you will have heard about NEA Chair Rocco Landesman’s comments on oversupply of performing arts in his address to the #newplay convening at Arena Stage in Washington DC. Trisha Mead is a Portland arts marketer who broke the story, got quoted (sloppily, without context) in the New York Times, and has been the only blogger, to my knowledge, to get a direct response from Landesman so far. But if you want a more complete view of Landesman’s thoughts, it may be more useful to start with the NEA blog. In fact, if this concerns you, please do read Landesman’s post on the official blog. It may help you avoid hyperbolic hyperventilation. You can also follow #supplydemand on Twitter and participate in the conversation as it unfolds.

A SawStop Killer?

The Wood Whisperer: "A recent article on USA Today’s website states that the Consumer Products Safety Commission is on a mission to prevent debilitating tablesaw injuries. The goal? To require saw-makers to include “flesh-detecting technology” in their tablesaws, much like they are now required to include riving knives. The driving force behind all this is Steve Gass, the patent lawyer and inventor of SawStop. Regardless of how one feels about Sawstop, the company or the technology, it seems that most folks view government intervention as a major negative. As responsible saw owners, most of us know that proper training and safe practices are the best way to prevent accidents.

SawStop Pushing To Become Mandatory On Table Saws

Tool-Rank.com: "ProTool Reviews and The WoodWhisperer both have some great articles about SawStop, a new rival flesh detecting table saw safety system, and what the Consumer Product Safety Commission can do to help lesson table saw injuries.

Cirque du Soleil: A Very Different Vision of Teamwork

Fast Company: "The success of Cirque du Soleil, however, is not based on unbridled creativity. The diverse team brings a wealth of creative ideas to the initial development phase, but thereafter it's about discipline and hard work. Taking a production from concept to stage takes years. Kà--showing at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas--took four years and cost $165 million to conceive, cast, design, train, and produce.

The Super Bowl's bloated, chaotic spectacle

Salon.com: "Every January, the president gives a State of the Union address, and a few weeks later, network TV follows, quite accidentally, with its own equivalent: the Super Bowl. In a culturally and politically fragmented culture, it's the biggest (and maybe only) remaining example of true broadcasting, a televised event whose appeal cuts across geographical, political and class lines and that a solid majority of the country watches, discusses and (most important) participates in emotionally. And if you look at the entire evening -- the game itself, the play-by-play commentary, the network promos, and most important, the ads -- you get what always seems, with hindsight, like a Rorschach of the country's psychological state, even if it looks like just another bloated and chaotic TV event while you're watching it.

Production Manager - Williamstown Theatre Festival

The Producer's Perspective Classifieds: "The Williamstown Theatre Festival seeks a Production Manager. The Production Manager reports to the Artistic Director and coordinates with the General Manager, Producer, and Director of Finance and Administration.

Enhancing Productivity By Communicating Effectively

Lifehack: "Untold hours of productivity are lost every month due to simple misunderstandings and communication breakdowns. For some reason, many people seem to have a tough time organizing their thoughts and communicating their desires to their co-workers and employees.
I’m constantly amazed at the number of people who seem to have forgotten the basics of composing a written thought. Even some college grads have no grasp on how to speak/write in a way that moves a project forward.

It’s Not A Contest

American Theatre Wing: "So am I confessing to shocking gaps in my theatre knowledge or boasting of unique and often short-lived opportunities in my theatergoing history? After all, the first list is unquestionably distinguished, loaded with classic, while the latter contains a few obscurities, leans towards the 20th century and cites many famous actors.
I’m really just trying to make a point, which is that unless you treat theatergoing as a chore, with a checklist to be completed, you are perfectly likely to miss some of “the big ones” and equally likely to have some singular experiences along the way.

Learn the Basics of Photoshop in Under 25 Minutes

Lifehacker: "Photoshop is an incredibly powerful but also intimidating application. If you've wanted to start using Photoshop but didn't know where to start, we'll be teaching you the basics all week long.

Stage Manager, Technical Director, Production Manager- Arizona Broadway Theatre

The Producer's Perspective Classifieds: "Ensuring that all technical and management needs are satisfied for all productions and events. Planning and producing a detailed production calendar (with deadlines) in consultation with the stage manager, and keeping department and designers in adherence to schedule. Overseeing the entire production process and all technical departments from concept to closing, maintaining the vision and quality of each production as established by the Producers. Managing the production budget as set by the Producers and abiding by the company’s financial systems.

Toronto’s Soulpepper theatre embraces new business model

The Globe and Mail: "What’s the biggest economic problem with the way non-profit theatres operate in North America? The inflexibility of inventory. Soulpepper Theatre Company artistic director Albert Schultz thinks he has the fix, however. Over the past 12 years, Schultz and his colleagues have built the classical company up from a two-play summer season to a year-round operation with its own Toronto venue. For its 2011 season it’s upping its productions to a whopping 17 from last year’s 12

Theater review: ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ from Orlando Shakespeare Theater

Orlando Sentinel: "Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is comedy as light as the wings of the fairies that populate the story. So when director David Karl Lee populates the gossamer-thin plot with pratfalls, sight gags and references to Lady Gaga, a curious unevenness arises.

Theater conference seeks a common development pipeline for new plays

Washingtonpost.com: Marking its emergence as a center for asking big questions about the future of American theater, Arena Stage brought together more than 100 writers, directors and artistic managers from across the country this week to brainstorm on a topic central to the theater's survival: how to reform a piecemeal development system and get the best new American plays onto as many stages as possible.

Witty double feature looks inward

The Pitt News: "Narration is the silent workhorse of storytelling. Although it usually goes unnoticed, it is both the mediator and most important character in a story. Narration controls how we receive the sequence of the story, what information is available to us and how we will perceive characters and events. While narration is usually content with its humble background role, sometimes it takes on too much flair to be ignored. That is the case in both plays currently being offered as a two-fer by Pitt Repertory Theatre. “Authorial Intent” and “The Well of Horniness” are plays that derive their value not from their content but from the forms in which they reach us.

‘Les Miserables’ gets a new take after 25 years

Chicago Sun-Times: "Here is the crucial question when it comes to “Les Miserables”: Why even think of tinkering with the classic original production of the musical? After all, the show has endured in its original form for just over a quarter of a century now. And it has amassed an altogether staggering list of statistics, including the following:

Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?

StarTribune.com: "Steppenwolf and the Goodman battle for top-of-heap status in Chicago's varied theater world.

The Time of Your Life

Pittsburgh City Paper: "Though Point Park Conservatory Theatre's production of The Time of Your Life has several fine features, it must be said that by evening's end you do feel as if you've become a grave-robber.

The Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre's lineup includes 2 debuts

Post Gazette: "Dancers will open the 42nd season in October with 'Peter Pan.' Canada's Royal Winnipeg Ballet premiered this work by choreographer Jorden Morris in 2006. PBT has performed 'Peter Pan' in the past, but its next showing at the Benedum Center, Downtown, will mark the Pittsburgh debut of Mr. Morris' version.

The real Dracula returns: PBT presents the classic gothic romance just in time for Valentine's Day

Post Gazette: "It's almost Valentine's Day, the time of year for crimson roses, heart-shaped candies, candlelit dinners -- and Count Dracula?
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre thinks the blood-thirsty Casanova isn't just for Halloween.

Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre's 2011-12 season brings 'Streetcar' premiere

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Fresh takes on familiar stories and returning popular repertoire will animate the five productions of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre's 2011-12 season.
The company, which has enjoyed four consecutive years of balanced budgets, plans to add four or five performances to the run of its production of 'The Nutcracker,' set in Pittsburgh by artistic director Terrence S. Orr.

Finding Neverland, Directed and Choreographed by Rob Ashford, Will Premiere at La Jolla Playhouse

Playbill.com: "Finding Neverland, the musical about the children who inspired J.M. Barrie to create Peter Pan, will get its world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse in the 2011-12 season. Scott Frankel (music) and Michael Korie (lyrics), the songwriting team of Grey Gardens, will write the score.

Backstage on Broadway, Sports Fan Abound

NYTimes.com: "WITH “Lombardi,” a surprise hit, and the new revival of “That Championship Season,” sports has an unusually prominent place on the Broadway stage this Super Bowl week. It’s an odd twist since people often presume that sports and theater exist in mutually exclusive universes. Not so, many actors, playwrights and directors insist. “Sports fans are not as pervasive in terms of quantity in the theater world,” said Thomas Sadoski, a co-star of “Other Desert Cities,” now at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. “But we make up for that with the depth of our fanaticism.”

‘That Championship Season’ Cast on Male Bonding

NYTimes.com: "DONE for the day, the five actors in the new Broadway revival of “That Championship Season” kicked back in a Chelsea rehearsal room recently and shared wine and beer as they talked about their all-male ensemble, career choices, and the legacy of “The Lost Boys” and “24.”

David Lindsay-Abaire Returns Home With ‘Good People’

NYTimes.com: "THE playwright David Lindsay-Abaire, who won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for “Rabbit Hole,” grew up in South Boston — Southie, as it’s known. Southie, the setting of his much anticipated Broadway follow-up, “Good People,” is a neighborhood of narrow streets and small houses jammed together on a peninsula jutting into Boston Harbor and cut off from downtown by an old shipping channel. Even to some Bostonians, growing up here is a little like growing up on the moon. They know the place mostly from gritty movies set there, like “Good Will Hunting” and “The Departed.”

‘Spider-Man’ Becomes the Punch Line of Broadway

NYTimes.com: "Joan Rivers gave a suggestion to the director Julie Taymor the other night: “Hire a stunt person to fall on someone every three or four weeks — that’ll keep audiences showing up.”

7 Tips for Using Your LinkedIn Profile to Land Great Projects

FreelanceFolder: "LinkedIn may not have the name recognition of Facebook or the popularity of Twitter, but what it does have is the reputation as one of the most effective social networking services for freelancers. Boasting more than 80 million users and counting, LinkedIn has something for everyone, from writers to designers, from podcaster to vbloggers.

'Madagascar Live!' makes tasty theatrical dish for youngsters

Post Gazette: "'Madagascar Live!' is an engaging bit of real theater for kids, with a well-paced plot (even if everybody already knows what that is), well-cast and nicely costumed characters (even if they already are licensed plush toys), and some rollicking song-and-dance numbers that invite the audience, too, to get temporarily wild.

A tribute to Belarus rebels

Post Gazette: "As anti-government protests engulf Egypt, a revolt of a quieter kind is playing out in Pittsburgh and other cities.
These dissidents are from Belarus, formerly part of the U.S.S.R., and now a hard-line dictatorship led by Alexander Lukashenko since 1994.
Mr. Lukashenko fears these rebels so much he's had them arrested, fired from jobs and beaten, and has threatened their families.
Their crime? They're actors, members of the Belarus Free Theater.

Belarus troupe getting exposure worldwide

Post Gazette: "Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko's efforts to silence the Belarus Free Theater Company have backfired. Now the exiled troupe is getting exposure around the world, said co-founder Natalia Koliada.
Reached in Chicago Tuesday where the company is performing at the Goodman Theater and Northwestern University, Ms. Koliada said she has scheduled appearances into 2012, with tours that will include Europe and South America.

Actor Fritz Klein strives to be an honest Abe Lincoln

Post Gazette: "Fritz Klein was working as a landscaper on the big island of Hawaii when a director asked him to play Abraham Lincoln in a community theater production.
'I was on the thin side. I had a top hat and tails,' Mr. Klein recalled during a telephone interview from his home in Springfield, Ill.
Mr. Klein, who is 6 feet 4, not only accepted the role, for the past 30 years, but also he has embraced it. He stars in the orientation film at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in the 16th president's hometown, where he has lived since 1982. Last month alone, he made 22 appearances.

'Madagascar Live' turns onscreen action into real-life experience

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "'Madagascar Live' -- the musical stage version of the popular 2005 film and its 'Escape 2 Africa' sequel -- features the story's favorite characters as they embark on an exotic adventure. Kids and adults can see Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe, Gloria the Hippo, King Julien, the crafty Penguins and more. The characters will play out the original story in a 90-minute version onstage, backed by lively music, Hoppe says.

Public Theater season blends humor, thought-provoking drama

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "A classic drama first performed in 5th century B.C. Greece and a new drama that won the 2010 Tony Award for best play are among those planned for the Pittsburgh Public Theater's 2011-12 season at the O'Reilly Theater, Downtown.
The six-play season begins with a new staging of 'Electra' (Sept. 29-Oct. 30), Sophocles' blood-smeared tale of a family bent on murder, revenge and adultery. Ted Pappas, producing artistic director of the Pittsburgh Public Theater, will direct Frank McGuinness' adaptation of the classic tragedy.

Review: City Theatre's 'Marcus' is rewarding, but challenging

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Whether you're renewing your acquaintance with some of Tarell Alvin McCraney's characters or meeting them for the first time, the experience is as challenging as it is rewarding.
'Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet,' which opened Friday night at City Theatre, is the third play in McCraney's 'The Brother/Sister Plays' trilogy.

Review: Audience responds to Tchaikovsky's genius

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Every few years, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra plays Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1. On Friday night, the orchestra played it yet again, this time under the umbrella of a Tchaikovsky Festival.

Game Face: L.A. Noire Brings Actors' Full Performance to Gaming

Fast Company: "Throughout the history of video games, the industry has had an inferiority complex when compared to Hollywood. And each year some developers create games that are more serious and more story-oriented, as if to say, 'See? We aren't just kids' toys? We can be Art too!' Last year, Heavy Rain took up that cinematic mantle. This year, it will be L.A. Noire.

New plays find support in Chicago

Variety: "This winter, the blizzards in Chicago aren't solely of the meteorological variety. The city's also in the midst of a blizzard of new plays.
The current spike in activity reps a startling peak for a town that has established itself over the past few years as a fertile field of new non-musical fare, including Pulitzer and Tony winner 'August: Osage County,' Pulitzer winner 'Ruined' and the Broadway-bound 'Detroit.'

PPT: From Greek tragedy to Coward-ly wit

Post Gazette: "Ted Pappas calls his lineup of six plays for the Pittsburgh Public Theater's upcoming season 'simple, selfish and exciting,' a mix of the artistic producing director's favorites and a sampling of contemporary drama.
'There are about 20 plays I want to direct before I die and I'm going to do three of them in one year,' Mr. Pappas said.

August Wilson Center launches play readings series

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "The monthly reading series will alternate readings of August Wilson's plays with those of new and emerging playwrights. Actors and celebrities from the area and across the nation will participate in the readings.

Review: Pittsburgh Opera offers superb 'Rinaldo'

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Pittsburgh Opera does some of its most valuable programming with the young professional singers of its resident artists program. Case in point: Saturday evening, the opera began a run of four performances of George Frideric Handel's 'Rinaldo' at the Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School, Downtown.

Review: Wacongo Dance Company invites audience into performance

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "For Saturday night's 'Heart for Congo' benefit -- supporting a grassroots education project in the struggling central African country -- the traditional Congolese dance and drum troupe was on the floor among the people.

True Grit: Exclusive Costume Featurette

Clothes on Film: "This is a really interesting bit of video, exclusive to Clothes on Film (for about five minutes). It is a snapshot look at the costume design work of wonderful Mary Zophres for the Coen Brothers’ version of True Grit.

3 Things You Should Read Before You Attend HEDDATRON

Steppenwolf Theatre Company Blog: "Let’s get this out of the way first: Heddatron is kind of like dramaturg candy. When Jonathan Green (Heddatron’s director and Sideshow’s Artistic Director) approached me about the piece, I couldn’t help but jump at it: how could I say no to spending the next three months reading about Robots, Henrik Ibsen, and the Singularity? It’s been a grand time, and I’ve had the chance to read a lot of really fascinating things so I thought I’d share my reading list: the top three things you should read (or at least skim) before seeing Heddatron!

Everybody’s talking about Google Art Project

Technology in the Arts: "Is Google Art Project setting a new standard for the online art world, or is it all just hype? Since its release a few days ago, the public has taken its first stroll through the project’s virtual galleries and in general, first impressions have been enthusiastic.

Joyce Sloane: Mother of Second City Joyce Sloane dead at 80

chicagotribune.com: "Joyce Sloane, the beloved maternal powerhouse of The Second City, and the woman who found and nurtured such comedy giants as John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Chris Farley and Bill Murray, died Thursday, according to Kelly Leonard, the vice-president of The Second City.
According to her daughter, Cheryl, Sloane died peacefully, while in bed. She was 80.

Asked and Answered: Can I use a famous movie line in my new screenplay?

The Law Offices of Gordon P. Firemark: "Lines from movies are, in most cases, neither protected by copyright nor in the public domain. Although technically, a line from a movie could be protected by copyright, it’s rare that it actually happens.

What Rocco Landesman Should Talk About Next

NYTimes.com: "Rocco Landesman probably doesn’t need a new nickname, but it’s tempting to give him one anyway: Cowboy Mouth. With thanks to Sam Shepard and Patti Smith, the authors of a play of that title, it seems a useful handle for the outspoken chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, whose fondness for cowboy boots was well known when he was the head of Jujamcyn Theaters.

Mikado-gate: MCT Community Theatre deals with backlash over Palin quote

Nickell’s Bag: "On Sunday night, MCT Community Theatre wrapped up its two-week run of Gilbert & Sullivan’s satirical operetta, “The Mikado,” with a frolicking performance at its home theatre on East Broadway in Missoula.
On Monday morning, MCT executive director Michael McGill set about the hard business of mending all that had gone awry over the weekend, when word spread across the Internet that MCT’s production advocated the beheading of former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

WGA Members Approve 'Pattern of Demands'

Backstage: "In a joint statement, WGA West president John Wells and WGA East president Michael Winship said, 'This overwhelming support from our joint membership is a powerful mandate for our negotiating committee as it moves forward toward the next MBA [Minimum Basic Agreement].'

N.Y. Labor Department to Change Child Performer Rules

Backstage: "The New York State Department of Labor will make 'significant changes' to a controversial set of proposed regulations governing child performers, according to a department spokesperson. Leo Rosales said today that the volume of feedback the department has received regarding the regulations prompted a decision to revise them. He declined to enumerate the specific changes.

The Indienomics of Casting

Backstage: "When SAGIndie was born in 1997, only about 23 percent of movies at the Sundance Film Festival were produced under the Screen Actors Guild's low-budget agreements. In 2011, that number was close to 97 percent. SAGIndie national director Darrien Michele Gipson is proud of that statistic, and it's easy to understand why. It's a good indicator of how well she's doing her job.

Advocacy for the Arts – Do it now, or stand in a bread line later

TheatreFace: "Recent announcements for the government to down-size and slash budgets on both a National and State level have had a chilling effect on the arts community. Plans to kill departments like the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) fly in the face of logic when the other announced goal is to improve the quality of education and better prepare a workforce that is competitive on an international scale.

Edgewater High School in Orlando Gets New Building, New Gear with PRG and Elation

Stage Directions: "I did all of my performing in high school either in the school gym or the cafetorium, so any place with a dedicated space always seemed incredibly luxurious. Edgewater High School in Orlando, Fla., recently opened a new $83-million arts building with a dedicated auditorium equipped with an advanced professional lighting system from Elation Professional. And from the sound of it (the auditorium’s ceiling had caved in), they needed it. Production Resource Group Orlando handled the install, and the kids will reap the benefits.

CPSC wants to stop daily table saw amputations

USATODAY.com: "As pressure to address debilitating table-saw injuries builds, the head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission says she will call in the power-tool industry and the safety standards group to find out why more hasn't been done to address the problem.

CPSC Chief Wants Improved Table Saw Safety

Popular Woodworking: "It isn't often that a woodworking topic makes national news, but today's USA Today carries just such a story. While not charting a specific course of government action, CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum was quoted by the paper as saying 'The safety of table saws needs to be improved in a way that prevents school children in shop class and woodworkers from suffering these life-altering injuries.' At the core of this discussion is the technology developed for the SawStop by its inventor Stephen Gass, who is mentioned in the article in reference to an estimate that table saw injuries cost the economy $2 billion a year.

CPSC Considers New Ruling in SawStop Technology

Professional tool reviews for the average Joe: "We get pretty opinionated when we talk about table saws and laws dealing with mandatory technologies, so this article, though based on a recent move by the CPSC to address the problem of table saw safety and SawStop technology in particular, is going under our 'Editorial' category. We're all about safety. We love safety. And the statistics (though the study is not cited) that show there are an average of 10 finger amputations per day due to consumer use of table saws just wrecks us. I mean, that's a lot of damage and certainly something that would be good to address.

Unfinished (Show) Business

TheatreFace: "In recent weeks, much has been made of the fact that the producers of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark have been charging what some are calling unforgivable sums to see previews of a multi-million dollar spectacle that still seems as if it has more than a few demons to wrestle with. Everyone knows by now about the acrobatics that have proven to be tragically dangerous. According to several commentators, furthermore, the story’s still a hopelessly jumbled mess. How dare they expect people to pay big bucks for a show that’s in such a shambles?

Art Deco Footlights

props: "I recently finished up a number of footlights for a company called Punchdrunk for their upcoming New York production of Sleep No More. Their Boston production used traditional shell-shaped footlights; for this update, the stage had a giant art deco backdrop whose shape would be mirrored in the footlights.

Lauren Gunderson: Countrywide, Free Theatre Stands up to Dictators

Huffington Post: "This grassroots landslide of events was prompted by the spotlight shown on BFT's founding members who were jailed and denied the right to perform after protesting Belarus's president in December 2010. There was doubt that BFT would make their scheduled New York City performance dates at The Public's Under The Radar Festival. After smuggling themselves across the border all four members arrived safely in New York and performed their 'urgently political' work to great reviews.

#SupplyDemand: It’s all a matter of perspective

24 Usable Hours: "Ok, I can’t resist. I know you haven’t heard from me in months and months (I survived an 80 day trip around the world btw! More on that coming soon), but I wanted to submit a few thoughts on the #supplydemand discussion inspired by this talk by NEA Chair Rocco Landesman (note that this particular discussion begins around 42 minutes in, and is mentioned several times again later).

Sapsis Rigging Builds Home for Last Supper Clone

Stage Directions: "The Park Armory in New York City is a challenging venue—it’s essentially a great big warehouse that’s more than 100 years old. Finding pick points for your rigging is nigh impossible, so often you end up having to build a structure inside the structure. We’ve written about installs there in the past, and Sapsis Rigging continues to do great things in the space. They recently built the support structure for a multimedia exhibit that was a clone of the replica of the Refectory of the Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan that displays da Vinci’s famous Last Supper mural.

National Black Theater in Harlem Is Threatened by Debt

NYTimes.com: "In 2002 the National Black Theater, a cultural anchor of Harlem, invited the owners of Nubian Heritage, a growing beauty-care company with an African pedigree, to invest in its sprawling building at Fifth Avenue and 125th Street.

Public Theater's Executive Director Is Departing

NYTimes.com: "Andrew D. Hamingson has resigned as executive director of the Public Theater after only two-and-a-half years as the company’s top financial executive, citing personal issues, Mr. Hamingson and the Public’s board chairman, Warren Spector, announced on Wednesday afternoon.

Basic PTM - Estimating

A student asks:

Hi David,

[my partner] and I were wondering if there is a specific number we should use as our budget for building the rocket flat. The sheet doesn't list one, and we need it to calculate our consumable allowance for each unit element sheet.

Also, the sheet gives a technical drawing and an artistic one. The artistic drawing includes additional lighting elements; should those be included in our estimates?

David says:

You don't need to know the overall budget to apply a consumables allowance.

I had meant to give you an available budget though. Let's do this:

$500 Materials

2 "crew", 2 days, 10 hours per day
1 "helper", 1 day, 4 hours

Build from the tech drawing.

Slice of Life - Carnegie Mellon Alumni

Carnegie Mellon University: "Young alumni and university speakers present on topics such as developing a 30 second pitch, transitioning from students to professionals, lifelong budgeting and more. This unconference is free for Carnegie Mellon students and young alumni.
Come to as many or as few sessions as you like.

A Lesson from Vegas (@CES)

AutomatedBuildings.com Column: "I wouldn’t have expected it but Carnegie Mellon University had a booth at CES. The booth was a showcase for some ongoing innovation projects at the University. One of the projects was a novel integration of personal medical devices designed to enhance medical care through near-continuous monitoring. My daughter Julie is one of the students working on the system so I had a chance to get some background on it. As I understand it, a primary focus of the project in recent times has been user interface and user interaction design.

Chris Werner: Q&A on TAP: The Show

Live Design: "Chris Werner designed the lighting for TAP: The Show, at Hersheypark in Hershey, PA, which won a few trophies at this year’s IAAPA Brass Ring Awards last November: winner of The Heartbeat Award and runner-up in it’s budget category for Best Overall Production. In all, Werner lit five of the 40 shows that made it into the finalist level for their individual budget categories... Live Design chats with Werner about his lighting design for TAP: The Show

VIDEO: Costumes Aboard The Royal Caribbean Fleet

Live Design: "Check out this behind-the-scenes look at the costume department for Royal Caribbean Cruises, with over 4,000 costumes in use (courtesy of Royal Caribbean).

Master Classes Focus On Spider-Man On Broadway

LiveDesign: "Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark will be the featured musical for the 2011 BLMC (Broadway Lighting Master Classes), as all attendees and sponsor will attend this ground-breaking new musical on Wednesday, May 25. LD Don Holder will present an in-depth critique of his lighting designs on Thursday, May 26 in a special session at Sardi’s, the famed Broadway restaurant

CMU Researchers to Develop Comedian Robot

azorobotics.com: "They are focusing on building efficient personalities for day-to-day human-robot communication, enabling robots to comprehend and express charm and hilarity. They are also investigating applications and effect of such robots in daily lives.

Behind the Scenes

Voice Tribune: "Joe Massey was 26 when he began working at The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts as a stagehand just one month before it was to open with a star-studded gala. “We were averaging about 100 hours a week,” he said.
Massey has never forgotten the long hours and hard work or the interesting, inspiring and sometimes odd occurrences that sometimes happened behind the scenes.

Tech Tussle: Vfx unionization

Variety: "At last week's Academy visual effects bakeoff, Acad governor Bill Taylor introduced the evening by noting that the seven films still in the Oscar race earned more than $3.3 billion in box office and employed 2,800 artists on six continents.

An artless redefinition of adequate

NashuaTelegraph.com: "It’s not every day you get a Grammy-nominated artist testifying against proposed legislation in the state capital. But when Goffstown singer-songwriter Judy Pancoast heard about a bill that would make music education optional in the state’s public schools, she wanted her voice to be heard.

American Conservatory Theater eyes Mid-Market site

SF Gate: "The American Conservatory Theater is taking a serious look at expanding into San Francisco's Mid-Market district, something many say could be the beginning of a transformation in the area.

NFTRW Weekly Top Five

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

College not just about academics

The Tartan Online: "Last week, the editorial board of The Tartan wrote a response to a USA Today article concerning a student’s first two years at an American university. The USA Today article reports that 45 percent of students involved in the study it referenced showed no significant gains in learning during their first two years of college and also that students spend less time studying than they did a few decades ago. The Tartan responded that these first two years should be used as building blocks for later study and that, “if the majority of the nation’s college students are unable to get anything out of their first two years, perhaps a re-evaluation of the way students structure their time is necessary.”

Posted by David at 1/31/2011 01:44:00 PM <-- Comments here

'Spider-Man' keeps multiple balls in the air

Variety: "It's well-established that Broadway tuner 'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark' will have obliterated the record for total preview performances by the time the musical is scheduled to open, March 15, after a series of delays. Creatives have repeatedly assured theatergoers that work is being done to hone the show in advance of opening while making sure that record doesn't grow.

Posted by David at 1/30/2011 08:24:00 PM <-- Comments here

Plays & Reality TV

thestar.com: "Jersey Shore, live on stage? Not quite. Or at least not yet. Movies and television routinely blur the line between fantasy and reality. But innovative stage companies are only beginning to explore the possibilities of what might loosely be dubbed “reality theatre.”

Posted by Dale at 1/29/2011 02:48:00 AM <-- Comments here

Kill Your To-Do List

FreelanceFolder: "We’re all well acquainted with the concept of the to-do list. Whether or not we get along with them is another matter entirely.
Sometimes to-do lists just don’t cut it, and at the end of the day, the checked boxes are buried amongst all the empty ones. Well, gee, if that isn’t a morale boost, I just don’t know what is.
In this post, I’ll discuss a to-do list alternative–The Single Day Schedule. I’ll explain how freelancers can use this better system to become more productive.

Posted by David at 1/28/2011 03:13:00 PM <-- Comments here

The Pomodoro Technique:

Stepcase Lifehack: "If you spend any time at all researching life hacks, you’ve probably heard of the famous Pomodoro Technique. Created in the 1980s by Francesco Cirillo, the Pomodoro Technique is one of the more popular time management life hacks used today. But this method isn’t for everyone, and for every person who is a passionate adherent of the system, there is another person who is critical of the results.

Posted by David at 1/31/2011 01:40:00 PM <-- Comments here

The Bigelow Effect - Why We Care

Women and Hollywood: "Why do we care about women’s presence in the awards race? Specifically, why do we care so much about a woman getting nominated for best director? That is a great question raised in an very well-written piece by a young woman director named Lindsay on the website Canonball. One thing she asks is if we have been left out of the awards for so long, why should we as women change what we do in order to fit in?

Posted by David at 1/31/2011 01:39:00 PM <-- Comments here

Smithsonian: Smithsonian's chief regrets hasty removal of controversial video

latimes.com: "G. Wayne Clough, the Smithsonian Institution's chief executive, said Thursday that Republican House leaders' threats of budgetary consequences factored into his Nov. 30 decision to remove a video from a National Portrait Gallery exhibition of work done primarily by artists who are gay and lesbian.

Ouzounian: Woody Harrelson to bring Hitler play, Bullet for Adolf, to Toronto

thestar.com: "Actor Woody Harrelson will return to the stage in Toronto to direct and star in an original play that revolves around a gun that was meant to be used to kill Adolf Hitler.The Academy Award nominee had success in this city in 2003 and 2004 as director of a production of This Is Our Youth, about disaffected young people during the Ronald Reagan era. The newest project is Bullet for Adolf, which Harrelson co-authored with Frankie Hyman. He’s bringing it to Toronto with the same partners he worked with for This Is Our Youth: Marcello Cabezas, Derrick Chua and Corey Ross.

College not just about academics

The Tartan Online: "Last week, the editorial board of The Tartan wrote a response to a USA Today article concerning a student’s first two years at an American university. The USA Today article reports that 45 percent of students involved in the study it referenced showed no significant gains in learning during their first two years of college and also that students spend less time studying than they did a few decades ago. The Tartan responded that these first two years should be used as building blocks for later study and that, “if the majority of the nation’s college students are unable to get anything out of their first two years, perhaps a re-evaluation of the way students structure their time is necessary.”