EXTRA CRITICUM

Rob Lowe wastes 9 hours a day in the makeup chair

This People magazine "didja know" item is insane. Rob Lowe is playing former TV news star Drew Peterson for a Lifetime reboot:

To play the 57-year-old former Illinois police sergeant — jailed since May 2009 on charges he drowned his third wife, Kathleen Savio — the chameleon-esque actor, 47, goes through a nine-hour transformation every day.

There's a downside to operating "in the black."

With the recent announcement that the 39-yr. old Intiman Theatre in Seattle would abruptly halt its 2011 season in order to regroup and avoid fiscal catastrophe, there's been much talk in the blogosphere about runaway spending, artistic hubris and impossibly high deficits throughout America's regional theatre landscape.

In the late '80s and throughout the '90s I ran a small experimental opera company in Boston called New Opera Theatre Ensemble. During my tenure at N.O.T.E. one of my proudest boasts was that the company had operated "in the black" since its inception. The recent demise of several theatre companies across the country due to financial woes has shined the spotlight anew on this issue. And, although I do agree with those who argue that fiscal discipline is essential, as I look back on our small experiment in Boston, I actually think one of the drags on the company was that we never allowed ourselves the kind of growth that can only come by running a small and manageable deficit.

Vermont is calling. Do 2 sets of friends doing shows constitute a trend?

Okay. So, my dear pals Jenny Bacon and Stephen Barker Turner, a power couple of brilliant actors to rival the Barrymores (although, were they brother and sister or husband and wife? I can never keep that straight...), are performing together in Harold Pinter's Betrayal up in Weston, Vermont this month. And I can't wait to see them.

And now I find out two more talented friends of mine -- Chris Arruda and Sandi Carroll -- will also be appearing in Vermont. Also this month.

Is the universe sending me a message? Either way, if you think you might be in Vermont in July and would like to check out one of Pinter's greatest plays or an evening of clown silliness, here's some more info on both.

Cartoon: Summer Blockbusters

 

Ya Gotta Have a Gimmick: Green Theatre Collective

A press release arrived recently from Massachusetts' Green Theatre Collective, announcing their eco-friendly production of Shakespeare's As You Like It in... drumroll... a public park!

I know what you're thinking. And I thought the same thing. Didn't Joe Papp do this in the 1950s? What's the big deal? But this group takes their moniker a little bit further by eschewing costly (and environmentally destructive) sets and lights by performing al fresco by daylight. Check out their website if you plan to be in the vicinity of Newburyport, MA this summer. Here's some of the juiciest copy from their Mission Statement:

News or Advertising? NPR's MORNING EDITION "investigates" safety drills at Mississippi Nuclear Reactor

Listening to NPR's Morning Edition today, I heard the following story, an audio tour of a safety simulator of the control room at a Mississippi nuclear reactor. Is this really news? Or is it bought-and-paid-for advertising for the nuclear energy lobby. Check this out:

Please name our cable access show.

This picture was taken by my pal David Heath yesterday at a family BBQ. We immediately saw its potential as a promo shot for a very unusual local cable access show. Care to name it? (Useful info: co-hosts from L to R are: Rolando and Coco.)

A Bit of the Old Ultra-Violence

I’m reading The Film That Changed My Life: 30 Directors on Their Epiphanies in the Dark by Robert K. Elder. I’m enjoying it and I'll write a post about the whole book here soon. But I came across a passage I wanted to share. Here Elder and the fine director John Dahl (Red Rock West, The Last Seduction, Rounders, You Kill Me) discuss one aspect of the film that changed Dahl’s life, A Clockwork Orange.

Why wasn't THE SHAGGS a hit?

I am one of those annoying New Yorkers. You know the type. They know about a show forever -- or at least the duration of its run -- and they can't be bothered to actually go see something until the eleventh hour. I'm ordinarily not that guy. But for some reason with The Shaggs: Philosphy of Life, I became that guy. And so it is with great sadness that I write today, on the show's closing night, to let you know that if you"re one of the millions who missed this show, you missed a masterpiece. And I'm left wondering why. Why wasn't this show a hit?

Is the answer as simple as the fact that it's a very dark musical? I don't think so. If that were sufficient explanation, then Next to Normal would not be a big Broadway hit. I'm afraid the answer may run deeper.