Monday, June 4
Get tagged! New Stage Collective preps for its regional premiere of Keith Haring musical “Radiant Baby” by chalking entrances to Fringe shows (yeah, that’s what those chalk babies are about), and don’t be amazed if you find yourself wearing one of 3,000 “Chalk Dust Man” stickers.
New Stage chief and show director Alan Patrick Kenny says the guerilla- and grafitti-style is to get folks into the spirit of the show and invite people to go online to chalkdustman.com to “find out what Keith was about.” And of course to buy tickets to the follow-up to acclaimed “The Goat or Who Is Sylvia?” You’ll also find a blog where everybody invlolved with the show is entering like crazy.
“Radiant Baby” plays June 21-July 15, for reservations and information call the box office at 513-621-3700 (and don’t panic if it takes a little time to get a call back) or go online at www.newstagecollective.com.
Tuesday, June 5
Only three more performances, tonight through Thursday, of Fringe charmer “Calculus: The Musical!” You can always download the lyrics, but it just won’t be the same without show creator Marc Gutman and musician/singer/actress Sadie Bowman performing them.
I bumped into Gutman at Know, where he was handing out programs for “I Take It Back.” As I suspected, he did do his song lyrics while he was teaching math but says the kids didn’t all ace math, which is hard to believe.
I’m happy to report that Gutman and Bowman are working on three other projects: a prequel, “Pre-Calculus: The Musical!” (which will also cover basic trig); a show about algebra; and one about a Danish astronomer whose name I didn’t catch.
I went online and figured out that it was Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) who sounds like he deserves a musical: Brahe found a super nova, spotted a comet and figured out it was in space not Earth’s atmosphere and made seminal calculations of the orbits of the planets – without a telescope.
What makes Brahe even more cool is that he had a nose made of gold because he lost most of his real nose in a duel about mathematics. I SO hope this show is ready for next year’s Fringe.
Wednesday, June 6
Countdown to Tony: “Company” actress Kristin Huffman (she plays Sarah) has been writing a series at BroadwayWorld.com about the experience of making the musical, starting at Playhouse in the Park.
Let’s join her on Valentine’s Day, 2006: “I decided that my character, "Sarah," is really the hostess of the bunch of personalities on stage and so throwing a Valentine's Day party in my hotel suite for the cast seemed a natural.
Everyone brought a Valentine's treat and my mom helped me make a cute cake to share and we all wore red or pink. This is truly a wonderful 'company' of people and the party seemed to be a very bonding event. At the end, after almost everyone had left, John Doyle answered a big question of mine that I know had been on everyone else's mind too. Not one to hold back when I need to know something, I asked him about the future plans for this show and how it might all work out. Not one to hold back from answering a question honestly, he gave me the scoop. There are many Broadway producers coming to see our show here in Cincinnati.”
You can read all Huffman’s entries at BroadwayWorld.com.
Thursday, June 7
Countdown to Tony: There’s a terrific interview with Raul Esparza by Tom Nondorf at Playbill Online. A front runner for Lead Male Performance in a Musical for his bravura turn as alone-to-alive Bobby in “Company,” you can find the entire interview under “Leading Men.”
Here’s a bit of it:
Q: Prior to Company, you said your favorite roles were in tick, tick…BOOM! and The Normal Heart. Where does Company now fit in?
Esparza: I would say this is the best work I've ever done because I think I am a better actor through this process than I've been before, and I'm also learning to sing better than I've ever sung and taking it really seriously. I've applied myself to learning stuff. tick, tick…BOOM! and The Normal Heart were such immediate experiences that nothing is going to take the place of that. That's because they were plays for and about the people we were performing them for.
Company is similar….personally, it is really challenging, and I feel like I am getting better, and that's really rewarding to me….when I hear people crying at the end or laughing — there's a moment of laughter after "Being Alive" that happens every night. It's a relief and it releases something in the audience where you hear everyone kind of happy for Bobby and happy for themselves. I think it's really hopeful, and I love telling that story. I keep having moments every night where I go, "I can't believe I'm doing this." So I would say that so far I feel like this is the top of something. Now, I don't know what the hell I'm going to do [next]! [Laughs.]
Friday, June 8
Cincinnati has Shakespeare in the Park(s)! Cincinnati Shakespeare Company sends a free mini-“Much Ado About Nothing” to parks around the region – from Middletown to Williamstown – for your picnicking pleasure. It starts ronight with a weekend of performances at Seasongood Pavilion in Eden Park. Check the CinStages calendar for upcoming dates.
Saturday, June 9
The fourth annual Cincinnati Fringe Festival wraps. Where did the time go? Fifteen shows to choose among on this final day, starting at 2 p.m.
Where in the world is Joe Kovacs? The fabulous Cincinnati-born puppeteer joins Madame (crotchety, bejeweled and potty-mouthed rod puppet who had her own TV show a few decades back) aboard the Tylenol PM float in the L.A. Pride parade this weekend. (Madame making Tylenol jokes, the mind boggles.) Kovacs is spending the month on the West Coast with dates for “A Comeback from Abroad” starring Madame in El-lay before heading up to San Francisco and an engagement at the Empire Plush Room.
Back home in New York, Madame and Kovacs have a live-on-stage date with Joy Behar of “The View” in December.
Sunday, June 10
TONY, TONY, TONY: The live broadcast of the Tony Awards begins at 8 p.m. tonight. No matter where you’re watching, make sure you’re cheering on “Company” as Best Musical Revival, Raul Esparza as Leading Actor in a Musical (see above) and John Doyle as Director of a Musical (although Doyle’s gonna get thumped by Michael Mayer of “Spring Awakening,” which will be Best Musical of 2007.
If “Company” wins as Revival, watch for Playhouse in the Park producing artistic director Ed Stern among the happy folk on stage. “Company” was, of course, born at Playhouse last spring before transfering to Broadway in November 2006. (The annual Playhouse tour to London was scheduled to accommodate Stern’s potential trip to Radio City Music Hall.)
If you’re looking for a party atmosphere to enjoy Broadway’s big night, Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati hosts its sixth annual Tony Awards Live Broadcast Party starting at 6 p.m. in the East Club Room at Paul Brown Stadium.
For all information call the theater at 513-421-3555.
Jackie Demaline
