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Jonah Goldberg put it best: Oh, Dear Lord.

The musical debuted in Germany back in January:

Barack Obama and his dramatic ascent to power has inspired a raft of books and articles. Now a German musical is set to pay an all-singing, all-dancing tribute to the world’s most powerful man. Hope! will soon premiere in Frankfurt.

Wearing a knitted cardigan and crooning into his microphone, Barack Obama paces around the stage, wooing Michelle with a love song. In another number, now clad in a suit, Jimmie Wilson who plays Obama, struts up and down, clasping his mike and leading a euphoric gospel chorus of “Yes We Can.”

No word on whether or not ”Hope!” is still playing or if there have been any updates to the musical with Michelle singing “Life as First Lady is Hell.” Or the somber ballad “We Know We Promised 8%,” the show-stopper “My Negatives Are as High as an Elephant’s Eye,” or the Faustian closing number “Welcome to ObamaCare.” (more…)

Larry Gatlin recalls learning about the story of Cynthia Ann Parker’s 1836 capture by Comanches during a hunting trip with fellow crooner Red Steagall.

“Being a Texan I had grown up knowing a little bit about it … not a lot and not enough,” Gatlin tells Big Hollywood. He got an earful that day from Steagall, and inspiration quickly struck.

“I told Red back then, ‘that’s a Broadway musical,’” says Gatlin, a solo country star and member of the Gatlin Brothers.

“Quanah,“ a musical based on the Parker story, is having a world premiere stage reading at Pace University  through Jan. 24 at Schaeberle Studio Theater.

Parker was kidnapped at the age of 9 by a band of Comanches. Typically, the kidnappers would do horrible things to young women, like use hot sticks to disfigure them so they were unsuitable as mates. But one of the young Comanches protected her and made sure she was raised by his family as one of their own. The two later became husband and wife. (more…)

The New York Post ran a story this weekend with a very encouraging headline: RIGHT TURN ON B’WAY? Michael Riedel’s article revolves around two new plays that are being shopped around for a home.  One is a one-man play about Ronald Reagan.

“Reagan” is a one-man play that doesn’t portray the 40th president as a fascist. It’s by Lionel Chetwynd, whose scripts for television and film include “The Hanoi Hilton,” “Color of Justice,” “Kissinger and Nixon” and “DC 9/11: Time of Crisis.” ….  Chetwynd declined to comment on “Reagan,” except to say with a laugh, “It will change lives and the course of history.” A copy of an early script portrays Reagan as thoughtful, determined, sly (when necessary) and winning. Talking to the audience from the main room of his California ranch, Reagan explains his journey from FDR Democrat to conservative Republican. Along the way, he offers a spirited defense of conservative principles. At least three top directors have passed on the play because, says a source, “They can’t stand Ronald Reagan.”

The other play cited is “Girls in Trouble (Formerly Three Abortions)” by Jonathan Reynolds.

In “Girls in Trouble,” Reynolds presents a balanced view of pro-lifers while taking some swipes at the NPR crowd. The play ends with a harrowing confrontation between two women — one pro-life, the other pro-choice — that’s not for the squeamish. “Thus far, its claim to fame is that it’s been turned down by all the theaters in New York,” Reynolds says of his play. “It was commissioned by the Long Wharf, but they wouldn’t put it on. There was a theater in the suburbs of Washington, DC, that said they wanted to present the ‘other side’ of the abortion debate. But when they read it, they said it would “infuriate our audience.” Oskar Eustis, the head of the Public Theater, told Reynolds that his staff “didn’t go for it,” but that he would take a look at it himself.

(more…)

There is a problem with the American Theatre.

The vast majority of plays produced on our stages are intimidating, antagonistic and often downright offensive to 50% of Americans.  I know this because I am one of them and I see that half of the country votes like I do.

This is not to say these plays aren’t entertaining; many of them are.   The actors are often terrific–one of this country’s rich artistic resources is its acting community.  Ditto for our directors, designers and the crews who execute these artists’ visions. (more…)

This week’s Sunday Matinee is dedicated to Hollywood.

Because it’s Oscar Sunday and the whole world is focused on the Kodak Theatre and the red carpet parade about to happen, it seems fitting that Broadway throws Hollywood a bone today.  Also, considering every other Broadway show these days seems to be a staged version of a popular movie, (“Shrek”, “Wedding Singer”… Really?) it seems appropriate to shine a little light on a Broadway Musical that has been adapted to film.  (more…)

1964’s Fiddler on the Roof (Book by Joseph Stein; Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick; Music by Jerry Bock) is a timeless classic of the traditional musical theatre format and reflects the tumultuous times of America in the 1960’s better than Hair could ever dream of doing. You better not be thinking: “What? Fiddler on the Roof? THAT old chestnut!!???!!” Today, I hope to enlighten you on the resounding voice contained within Fiddler and its relevance to the past century, this century and centuries to come. Fiddler demands respect, and despite the myriad of amateur and school productions you’ve probably had to sit through over the past thirty years (as well as the somewhat misguided but beautifully filmed movie version), its original form is actually one of the more sophisticated, influential and artistic achievements in the American musical theatre.

As I did last week, I like to start Sunday Matinee with a little-known fact: Many people know that Fiddler is based on a play written by Arnold Perl called, Tevye and his Daughters, based on Shalom Aleichem’s story, Tevye the Milkman. But, the title “Fiddler on the Roof” as well as the iconic imagery of the Fiddler used in the production does not come from that original source material. It comes from a series of paintings by Marc Chagall, the foremost Jewish/Russian painter of the 20th Century. Several of his paintings utilized the fiddler image to represent the precarious life of the Jews living in Eastern Europe at the time. The creative team of Fiddler recognized the powerful and poetic imagery and used it not only in the text of the show, but also set designer Boris Aronson used Chagall inspiration for the original Broadway production’s scenic elements as well. (more…)