“Prop 8: The Musical” on the Great White Way

Variety is reporting that as part of a fundraiser for multiple same-sex marriage organizations, “Hairspray” composer Marc Shaiman’s satirical “Prop 8: The Musical” will be staged live.  The event called “Defying Inequality” will be performed on a dark night on the set of “Wicked” at the Gershwin.  The star-studded Internet video was released in response to the Scott Eckern episode in which Marc Shaiman was a central figure. 

I’m sorry, but this is just bad writing.  I think I’ve been pretty fair on these pages about giving liberal writers their due when they are talented and create great work.  I’m glad Mr. Shaiman had years and years of royalties from the Broadway run of “Hairspray” (not to mention the modestly successful movie version) because I really think he’s jumping the old hammerhead with this thing.  At this point, Mr. Shaiman seems to be wrapping himself in a rainbow flag and beating the Prop 8 drum like Pete Best on a bad night at the Cavern Club.  (more…)

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Tags: broadway, marc shaiman, prop 8, scott eckern, Theatre
Posted Jan 27th 2009 at 9:10 am in Celebrity News, Entertainment, Politics | 31850108 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sright/2009/01/27/prop-8-the-musical-on-the-great-white-way/%22Prop+8%3A+The+Musical%22+on+the+Great+White+Way2009-01-27+17%3A10%3A20Stage+Right

Life Upon the “Wicked” Stage

Wicked, the smash international stage hit, is a phenomenon and triumph of luck, pluck and virtue for it’s primary creator: composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz. Schwartz made a revolutionary cultural impact on American Theatre with his 1971 Off-Broadway hit Godspell. He followed quickly with his Broadway debut Pippin which was known primarily for the over-powering staging and choreography of Bob Fosse, but over the years, his score has gained new-found respect. A revival of Pippin debuts this week at Los Angeles’ Mark Taper Forum. Then came his next musical The Magic Show with 70’s magician Doug Henning and with those three hits running simultaneously it seemed Stephen Schwartz was on track to be the next great American Composer.

But, even though he continued to write quality work, including scores for animated features like Prince of Egypt and lyrics for Pocahontas and Hunchback of Notre Dame, his Broadway bona fides faded away in memory as a relic of the 70’s. Those inside the industry know that Schwartz continued to be active and involved in the industry and tirelessly encouraged the development of new writers and new musicals through his work with ASCAP. He traveled the country and selflessly helped young composers with their dreams. He is a true hero of the American Theatre and you have to really search far and wide to find anyone who would say anything bad about him. Stephen Schwartz is a “mensch” and he deserves the success he is now enjoying with the mega-hit that is Wicked. (more…)

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Tags: broadway, stephen schwartz, Theatre, wicked
Posted Jan 20th 2009 at 12:00 pm in Entertainment, Politics | 2445718 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sright/2009/01/20/life-upon-the-wicked-stage/Life+Upon+the+%22Wicked%22+Stage2009-01-20+20%3A00%3A48Stage+Right

In Defense of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber

While we’re in the business of revealing secrets from the entertainment industry, let me add a whopper for you all to chew on:  Most people who work on Broadway hate Andrew Lloyd Webber.

That’s right.  Despite creating more employment and wealth than any single person over the past three decades, the genius behind Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Cats, Starlight Express and Phantom of the Opera is secretly (and sometimes not so secretly) reviled.

When I first experienced the anti-ALW bias, it was all about his music.  Just like being a PC person or a Mac person, or a Beatles person or a Stones person, you were either an Andrew Lloyd Webber person or a Sondheim person.  Within the snobby theatre parties his shows were labeled as too commercial or his songs too repetitive.  While ALW wrote a show about Jesus and Joseph and an adaptation of T.S. Eliot poems, Sondheim wrote about Georges Seraut, Sweeney Todd and presidential assassins.

ALW was too simple and accessible, Sondheim was challenging and esoteric.  While ALW was temperamental and demanding, Sondheim was friendly and engaging.  And, not coincidentally, while ALW’s shows ran for years and years and made fortunes and sold-out, Sondheim’s shows rarely recouped investment.  (more…)

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Tags: andrew lloyd webber, broadway, cats, phantom of the opera, sondheim
Posted Jan 16th 2009 at 4:00 pm in Celebrity News, Entertainment, Politics, Uncategorized | 2108942 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sright/2009/01/16/music-of-the-knight-in-defense-of-sir-andrew-lloyd-weber/In+Defense+of+Sir+Andrew+Lloyd+Webber2009-01-17+00%3A00%3A03Stage+Right

Memo To ‘Rent’ Characters: Get a Job

The lights came up at the Nederlander Theatre at intermission.  My girlfriend, at the time, turns to me and says, “Well, what do you think?”.  We had just seen the first half of RENT, the groundbreaking, 1996 grunge-rock musical based on Pucini’s La Boheme.  For a synopsis, read this.  I gave her my usual response which she had learned to tolerate by now…  “Well, I think it’s brilliant.  I mean, there’s barely a set so the crew must be really small.  It’s a seven piece band.  The cast is about the same size as A Chorus Line so the payroll is nice and tight.  Those costumes look like they are dragged in the alley before the show so the wardrobe crew must be only three or four people.  Other than the drag queen, there aren’t any wigs to maintain.  And this thing they’re doing with same-day, $10 tickets is creating such an amazing “Event” atmosphere at the theatre… it’s a marketing dream!  The Nederlanders gave them this theatre for free, since it hasn’t been booked since Lena Horne in 1982…  They can run this thing for a decade and they’ll recoup in about three months.  I love it!”.

It’s true, I can’t see a show anymore without trying to figure out the capitalization and weekly running costs by mid-way through the 1st act… it’s a gift, and a curse.

So, she rolls her eyes and says, ”I mean, what do you think of the story, the music, the characters….  Are you enjoying the show?”.

(more…)

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Tags: broadway, giuliani, musical, new york, rent
Posted Jan 15th 2009 at 1:50 pm in Entertainment, News, Politics, Uncategorized | 2013369 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sright/2009/01/15/memo-to-rent-characters-get-a-job-new/Memo+To+%27Rent%27+Characters%3A+Get+a+Job++2009-01-15+21%3A50%3A37Stage+Right

Actors Equity Association: Hostile Work Environment

You hear the stories about the DMV worker asked to remove an American Flag from their cubicle, and the secretary forced to not have a bible on her desk, or the fireman who can’t have a Hooters calendar up at the firehouse.  They all make the headlines and they contribute to the somewhat sanitized work environments now pretty standard in corporate America due to H.R. weenies scared of the ever-annoying “Hostile Work Environment” law suit.

It brings to mind the day I had to meet at the LA Actors Equity Association (AEA) offices to negotiate some special provisions for a show I was hired to manage.  AEA is the union for stage actors and for all you Hollywood types who just deal with SAG, consider yourself lucky that at least you deal with a PROFESSIONAL operation. 

To get to the conference room at the AEA office, I walked down the length of their front offices with a pool of desks on the left and a wall full of office doors down the right side of the corridor.  The offices were for various representatives hired to enforce different contracts based on size of theatre and geographic location this side of the Mississippi.
(more…)

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Tags: actors' equity, actors' union, broadway, hostile work environment, political cartoons
Posted Jan 14th 2009 at 11:50 am in Entertainment, Politics | 1845726 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sright/2009/01/14/actors-equity-association-hostile-work-environment/Actors+Equity+Association%3A+Hostile+Work+Environment2009-01-14+19%3A50%3A49Stage+Right

The Broadway Season I’d Like To See

The horrifying news that Susan Sarandon will make her Broadway debut this Spring (because Broadway isn’t left ENOUGH?) has gotten me to thinking… Instead of Ms. Sarandon, and Rosie O’Donnell and Alec Baldwin & Jessica Lange (in the SAME play, no less) why can’t a Broadway season contain actors who are not so excruciatingly annoying?  I’m not even saying actors who are center/right in their politics — but how about actors who just focus on acting and, when off-camera, acting with class?

Here’s my wish-list for that season, in a perfect world…

(more…)

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Tags: broadway, bruce willis, kelsey grammer, patricia heaton, robert duvall
Posted Jan 13th 2009 at 7:36 am in Celebrity News, Entertainment | 1657751 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sright/2009/01/13/a-broadway-season-id-like-to-see/The+Broadway+Season+I%27d+Like+To+See2009-01-13+15%3A36%3A50Stage+Right

Calling All Center-Right Playwrights: Put Up, Or Shut Up.

Although Big Hollywood is still in its infancy, a recurring theme seems to be running through the posts and the comments:  (paraphrasing)

“Stop bitching about the left in show business, go out and make a new reality with your own creativity and get those butts in the seats.  That’s the only way to change things!” 

And as a conservative, it’s hard to argue with that kind of “pull yourself up by the boot straps” kind of thinking. 

Now, I recognize that it’s difficult to just write a screen play and make a movie.  But, the fact of the matter is, theatre is much different.  It actually IS pretty easy to get something up on the boards and seen in an obscure venue.   Writers in LA have always known that the small, “99-seat” or “Equity Waiver” houses are a perfect venue for getting their ideas on their feet.  But, it’s also a labor of love and rarely ends up producing real, tangible dividends. 

(more…)

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Tags: broadway, conservative writer, leftist, Theatre, view-point
Posted Jan 10th 2009 at 2:30 pm in Entertainment, News | 1363316 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sright/2009/01/10/put-up-or-shut-up/Calling+All+Center-Right+Playwrights%3A++Put+Up%2C+Or+Shut+Up.2009-01-10+22%3A30%3A05Stage+Right

Prop 8: I’m Spartacus! No, I’m Scott Eckern!

That’s what I felt like yelling during last November’s horrifying public shaming of a theatre executive in California.  Scott Eckern, the Artistic Director of Sacramento Music Theatre, was forced to resign after the public revelation that he donated $1,000 to the Prop. 8 campaign.  I felt like calling all of my friends in the theatre industry and saying “I’M SCOTT ECKERN!”  I felt like responding to all of the e-mails I received from my colleagues urging me to join the drive to remove him from his post by saying:  “I’M SCOTT ECKERN!”  “If you take him, you should take me! ” Like all those slaves standing in solidarity with Spartacus.  I was also an executive in the industry with similar views.  There but for the grace of God….

But I didn’t stand up and shout.  I didn’t because I am a coward.  I didn’t because I have children and a mortgage and I might need the next job that comes along so I keep my mouth shut.

But make no mistake, there are many of us working in the theatre industry and the spectacle that was Scott Eckern’s ouster was terrifying and enraging to us.  Many readers of Big Hollywood suggest that as long as we are effective in our jobs and we “put butts in seats” then we should have the courage to speak out and fight for our beliefs even if we are a minority in a hostile environment….  I hope this morality tale speaks to you…

I was fortunate enough to witness this witch-hunt from inside the Facebook bubble that helped create it.  You see, one of my friends, actress Susan Egan, circulated an open letter to all of her friends.  And then her friends circulated it to their friends and well, by now you know what happened.  Her letter has been reported many times and she seems proud of her involvement in this episode.  She actually wrote her initial letter and then, within 24 hours wrote a follow-up.  The full text of Susan Egan’s original letter can be found here.   Her follow-up letter is harder to come by, but it contains much more revealing information.  In the spirit of “full context” I include the entire second letter here:  (my comments follow below)

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Tags: broadway, proposition 8, same sex marriage, scott eckern, susan egan
Posted Jan 9th 2009 at 9:14 am in Media Criticism, Politics | 1192561 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sright/2009/01/09/im-spartacus-no-im-scott-eckern/Prop+8%3A+I%27m+Spartacus%21++No%2C+I%27m+Scott+Eckern%212009-01-09+17%3A14%3A52Stage+Right

Enter, Stage Right.

It was a cold November evening in 1994 when I shut off my television and went to a board meeting of a Los Angeles service organization for theatre owners and producers.  I had just heard the news that for the first time in almost 50 years, both houses of congress would be under the leadership of the Republican party, MY party.  I remember vividly feeling the hope and optimism that for the first time in my life, the Speaker of the House would have the same party affiliation as I had, and my father had. 
 
There was a spring in my step walking to the board room.  In the back of my mind I wondered to myself if I should violate my vow of silence about politics in front of colleagues whom I did not have full faith and trust in.  Surely this sweeping victory signified that it was “ok” to vote Republican.  Surely now I could admit that I had some sympathy for a more center-right perspective on politics.  Yes, I’ll mention it during the wine and cheese portion of the meeting…
 
I opened the door and realized that I was not at a board meeting, I was at a funeral.  Everything but black armbands.  It was silent.  People speaking in hushed tones.  Grim faces.  Not the usual revelry.  And trust me, on any other normal occasion, if you get a bunch of theatre people in one room and open a bottle of wine, a party starts.  Not tonight.  The meeting was quietly called to order and before the president of the board could announce the agenda, a marketing executive from a prominent non-profit theatre in Los Angeles proclaimed:  “Well, I don’t know why we’re even bothering having this meeting since our whole country is going to Hell as of tonight!”.  It was at this moment I realized that I had absolutely nothing in common with ANY of my colleagues. 

(more…)

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Tags: broadway, Theatre
Posted Jan 7th 2009 at 6:40 pm in Media Criticism, Politics | 1076141 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sright/2009/01/07/enter-stage-right/Enter%2C+Stage+Right.2009-01-08+02%3A40%3A54Stage+Right

Coffee Is For Conservatives

The American Theatre world was rocked last year by playwright David Mamet’s confession in the “Village Voice” headlined:  “Why I am no longer a ‘brain-dead liberal”.

Some of us saw it coming.

You need only recall Mamet’s 1992 masterpiece “Oleanna” to see that he was already feeling deeply affected by the left’s intolerant and stifling political correctness and the witch-hunt mentality of sexual harassment manifested by the insidious “hostile environment” charge.  You remember 1992…  the “Year of the Woman”?  The fall-out of the Clarence Thomas hearings?  At the time, NY Times critic Frank Rich (yes, before he was telling us how to run our country, he was merely telling us what plays to see) said at the time:

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Tags: broadway, mamet, Theatre
Posted Jan 7th 2009 at 3:45 pm in Celebrity News, Media Criticism | 1056133 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sright/2009/01/07/coffee-is-for-conservatives/Coffee+Is+For+Conservatives2009-01-07+23%3A45%3A02Stage+Right