Can the Spider-Man musical turn disaster into triumph?

The Observer: "It could turn out to be the biggest disaster in Broadway history. During its eight years in development, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark saw its budget swell from $25m to a reported $65m, making it far and away the most expensive musical of all time. After finally opening for previews in November – amid reports of egos as outsized as the show's ambitions – a welter of well-publicised accidents and cast departures caused further delays and only added to the already mythical proportions of its ill fame. When people talk about the Spider-Man story in years to come, perhaps it won't be Stan Lee's Marvel comics creation they'll be referring to, but rather the Broadway musical from 2011.

'Hair' brings the 1960s to Heinz Hall

Post Gazette: "In the end, you're invited onstage to join the tribe in a celebration of the tune-in, turn-on, drop-out musical 'Hair,' but not before you're hit with a reminder that the peace and love generation was born out of an unpopular war and a drafted American military.
Sorry to start with such a downer, man.

Winners chosen in Public's Shakespeare contest

Post Gazette: "Monday night, the 17th annual Pittsburgh Public Theater's Shakespeare Monologue & Scene Contest attracted an enthusiastic audience that cheered as familiar names tore the Bard's passions to tatters, among them Antony, Rosalind, Falstaff, Hermia, Shylock, Juliet, Bottom and those three notorious witches.
There were some lesser-known contestants, too, including Lady Anne, Pistol, Adriana, Trinculo, Phebe, Launce, Joan of Arc (almost unrecognizable in Shakespeare's anti-French version) and Jacques, never so well known as his famously self-satisfied speech about the seven ages of man.

Exploring medicine through dance

Post Gazette: "Bodies go through changes, and the 'body' at the heart of contemporary ballet company Bodiography is no exception.
When artistic director Maria Caruso -- who also heads the dance department at La Roche College -- founded the troupe in 2000, the name referenced the company's mission to be a collective of diverse body types, she said.

Review: McDonough's 'Lonesome West' is riotous entertainment

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "The Irish town of Leenane is a great place to visit. But it's a bit of a challenge to live there.
People have a way of dying there, in ways that are as horrifying as they are humorous.
'The Lonesome West,' playwright Martin McDonagh's third play in the Leenane Trilogy, revisits the town in which he set 'The Beauty Queen of Leenane' and 'A Skull in Connemara' with yet another tale of people who are as impulsive, violent and alarmingly funny.

Winners announced in annual Shakespeare contest

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Lovers, warriors, rude mechanicals, witches and others vied Monday night for a winning spot in the Pittsburgh Public Theater's 17th Annual Shakespeare Monologue & Scene Contest.

Magic/Bird, Basketball-Themed Play by Eric Simonson, Aiming for Broadway in 2012

Playbill.com: "Fran Kirmser and Tony Ponturo, the producers of Lombardi, which is currently running on Broadway at Circle in the Square Theatre, announced Feb. 17 that they are embarking on their next Broadway collaboration, Magic/Bird.

Bring It On: The Musical Will Kick Off National Tour in L.A. in the Fall

Playbill.com: "Bring It On: The Musical, the new, high-energy stage production about the world of competitive cheerleading, is rallying for a national tour that will launch this fall at the Center Theatre Group's Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.

Regina Taylor’s ‘Trinity River Plays’ Begin at the Goodman

NYTimes.com: "Midway through the second of the three “Trinity River Plays” at the Goodman Theater here, a small moment takes place that is hauntingly familiar to anyone with an elderly parent.

‘Book of Mormon’ From Trey Parker and Matt Stone

NYTimes.com: "NOT long into Act I of “The Book of Mormon,” a new Broadway musical comedy written and composed by Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Robert Lopez, two young Mormon missionaries arrive in Uganda after an arduous journey from Salt Lake City, during which they have suffered a cramped flight and the theft of their luggage.

Carpetbagger: A Rare Look Inside Pixar Studios

Vimeo: "Melena Ryzik gets a rare behind-the-scenes look at the Pixar Studios complex in California.

Barcode-to-Bibliography App Makes College Ridiculously Easy

Fast Company: "It's almost not fair to those who've already graduated. A new app from some University of Waterloo undergraduates makes that 'works cited' page a cinch.

Would Shakespeare Have Survived Today's Copyright Laws?

Techdirt: "Last year, when author Scott Turow (whose books I actually liked very much) took over as head of the Authors Guild, we noted that his obsession with 'piracy' was misplaced, and probably not in the best interests of the authors he represented. We also posted a compelling response to Turow. Rather than take the time to understand the arguments and the data on this subject, it appears that Turow and the Authors Guild are doubling down on the 'but... but... piracy!' argument, along with a good heaping of 'the government must do something!'

Want to be a sound designer?

TheatreFace: "Until the last few years, if you wanted to do theatre sound and get a degree or emphasis in audio, you had to make due in undergrad with special projects style courses and practical experience, and then apply to one of the theatre masters programs with an audio emphasis, or find a fine arts program that offered audio instruction. Sound is just beginning to be taught in general undergraduate programs as a mainstay of the curriculum, and it will be a long while yet before it's as basic as intro to lighting or costuming. In many ways, audio is still the 'baby' of theatre fields, even though sound has been with theatre in one form or another since its inception.

'August Wilson: Pittsburgh Places' guides play fans to inspiring Hill District sites

Pop City: "If anyone has made actual Pittsburgh places famous throughout the world, it's not the Steelers or Andy Warhol or any businessman or politician but rather playwright August Wilson, whose 10 theater creations, set mainly in the Hill District, continue to bring this area back to life.

Pop Filter Hot Pick: Q is for Quantum, 20 Years and One Fabulous Bash

Pop City: "Plays without borders: For two decades, grassroots company Quantum Theatre has been producing compelling site-specific productions within some of the city's most alluring settings—from cemeteries and steel mills, to empty pools and even a former porn theater.

10 Income Tax Terms All U.S. Freelancers Must Learn

FreelanceFolder: "If you’re a freelancer in the U.S., then you’ve probably either just completed your income tax return early, or you (like many of us) are still in the process of completing it before the April deadline.
This post is for those of you who are still working on your tax return.
The income tax return of a freelancer is notably different from the income tax return of a corporate employee. Whether you’ve been freelancing for a long time, or just started freelancing, you should take note of the differences.

How to Respond to an Angry E-mail (and Not Let it Destroy Your Career)

BNET: "It’s a fact of modern work life that at some point you’re going to be on the receiving end of an angry e-mail. It may come from your boss, a co-worker, an employee, a client, or even a stranger. It’s usually unexpected, and it frequently causes shock, hurt feelings, and anger.

Chairs for Tea

Props: "Back in 2007 when I was working at the Santa Fe Opera, we were mounting a new opera called Tea: A Mirror of Soul. It had a heavy Asian influence, with scenes taking place both in Japan and in China. I was given a drawing of a chair, which they needed nine copies of.

5 Ways Zipcast Will Turbo-Charge Your Career

Fast Company: "SlideShare is dropping a nifty little creation into the world of webconferencing software today. The company's new product, Zipcast, is a new tool for holding online meetings, and its ease of use and price (free, for many uses) may soon steal users from GoToMeeting and WebEx, the reigning kings of the space.