A Love Letter to Broadway

The magic of Broadway and off-Broadway theatre is intoxicating to me.  From the actual theatre houses to the performers to the behind the scenes mechanics of putting up and running a show, the whole experience affects me to my very core.

This is my love letter to Broadway.  Join this theatre nerd on my journey into the wonders and joy of the theatre going experience.

Whether you’re coming from Uptown or Downtown, the Eastside or Westside, as you make your way to the theatre, you get swallowed up into the hustle of Times Square and the atmosphere is electric. The streets fill with an eclectic mix of people bustling to their theatres surrounded by a cacophony of street music, bucket drummers, corner evangelists, vendors, excited chatter, car horns, and the occasional argument by someone who just got taken in a game of three-card monte. (more…)

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Tags: "Annie Get Your Gun", "Avenue Q", "Blood Brothers", "Bye, "Long Day's Journey into Night"
Posted Jun 1st 2009 at 6:39 am in Entertainment | 146822No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jshaffmaster/2009/06/01/a-love-letter-to-broadway/A+Love+Letter+to+Broadway2009-06-01+13%3A39%3A29Jane+Shaffmaster

‘Avenue Q’ Can’t Get Over George Bush

What do you do when you lose a punchline? While Will Ferrell and Robin Williams try to squeeze every last joke out of an administration that left office over a month ago, Late Night hosts struggle to find something funny about the new guy. (In other news, Rich Little is still doing an impression of Richard Nixon.)

Two weeks ago, I did a story about how the Broadway show “Avenue Q” held a contest to find a lyric as funny as “George Bush is only for now.” Calls to the theater assured me that keeping the lyric Presidential wasn’t even an option. Your Mother in Law, This Show, Prop. 8 and Recession were the lines the producers were hoping to pay off. (more…)

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Tags: "Avenue Q", Avenue Q lyric contest, Rich Little, Robin Williams, will ferrell
Posted Mar 6th 2009 at 7:47 am in Entertainment, Politics | 7247869 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/tslagle/2009/03/06/avenue-q-update/%27Avenue+Q%27+Can%27t+Get+Over+George+Bush2009-03-06+15%3A47%3A27Tim+Slagle

Broadway Street With Two Left Sides: ‘Avenue Q’

My friend Jane Shaffmaster gave me a call. Jane’s loved musicals since she was young enough to play the lead in “Annie” and spends a greater percentage of her annual income on Broadway than most heavy-duty Christians tithe every year. She was perusing the latest news on Playbill and was quite dismayed that political satire wasn’t affected by The Change. Like most on our side, Jane is fairly good humored about Republicans being the butt of jokes, but she expects those jokes to be distributed evenly across partisan lines.  A play called “Avenue Q” was rewriting its script to reflect the new administration but like most satirists*, they refuse to mock the new President.

“Avenue Q” is a puppet show for adults.  A song called “For Now” has the puppets reassure each other that most things in life are temporary, like hair and sex. Until recently, one of those temporary things was “George Bush.” Knowing that Obama was to be shortly inaugurated, the producers and writers were perplexed for a replacement. I know it should be obvious to everyone else, but Broadway producers don’t think like you and I. So they threw a contest to decide a better verse. (more…)

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Tags: "Avenue Q", Barack Obama, broadway, Lyric Contest
Posted Feb 16th 2009 at 8:23 am in Entertainment, Politics | 4663435 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/tslagle/2009/02/16/avenue-q-the-street-with-two-left-sides/Broadway+Street+With+Two+Left+Sides%3A+%27Avenue+Q%272009-02-16+16%3A23%3A47Tim+Slagle