Welcome to TheaterMania's Weekend Report, where you'll find recent news stories from the New York theater scene and beyond.
The Best Theater of 2019: Little to Sing About, Plenty to Praise /
While this year’s musical scene was underwhelming, new plays, revivals and first-class talent gave theatergoers lots to enjoy.
On Broadway and across America, it’s the same old story: Large-scale musicals are in a long-term slump. I saw only two new musicals of quality, “Hadestown” and “Soft Power,” this past year, and both of them were distinctly unconventional small-scale productions.
Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang speaks of Chinese-American relations, fragility of American democracy at panel on “Soft Power” /
Photo by SARAH-JAYNE AUSTIN COLUMBIA DAILY SPECTATOR
“Asian American performers never walk onto an empty stage.”
“That space,” professor of English and comparative literature Denise Cruz went on to say, still quoting from New York University associate professor Karen Shimakawa’s book, “National Abjection,” “is always already densely populated with phantasms of orientalness through and against which an Asian-American performer must struggle to be seen.”
On Tuesday, Dec. 3, Tony Award-winning playwright and associate professor in playwriting at Columbia’s School of the Arts David Henry Hwang spoke in Kent Hall about the creation of his musical “Soft Power,” with composition and additional lyrics by Jeanine Tesori, BC ’83, which premiered at New York’s The Public Theatre in fall 2019. The event was sponsored by the department of East Asian languages and cultures.
Celebrate 61 Years of Flower Drum Song /
The Richard Rodgers-Oscar Hammerstein II classic, directed by Gene Kelly, opened at the St. James Theatre December 1, 1958.
Nine years after South Pacific opened on Broadway and seven years after The King and I, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II saw their Flower Drum Song premiere on Broadway at the St. James Theatre December 1, 1958. A musical about life in San Francisco's Chinatown, the cast included Pat Suzuki, Juanita Hall, Ed Kenney, and Jaco Soo.
“Flower Drum Song was what Oscar Hammerstein II referred to as a ‘lucky hit,’" says Ted Chapin, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Chief Creative Officer. "It was contemporary, sassy, and in its 1958 way, bold. Those associated with the original production have become a family and have often gathered in reunions. When the revival was done in 2002, new members of the family were welcomed in. It’s nice to feel such warmth still emanating from the show. I wish it a very happy anniversary.”
Adapted into a film in 1961, the show wasn't revived on Broadway until 2002, in a heavily revised production written by David Henry Hwang and starring Lea Salonga and Jose Llana.
AN EVENING WITH DAVID HENRY HWANG /
In a public reading by David Henry Hwang, the playwright opens with, “If you don’t fail from time to time, you’re not working hard enough…every success has some drops of poison in it and every failure comes with gifts.” Students and faculty members gathered and filled the Crystal Cove Auditorium to enjoy a night of paying homage to the timeless Asian American playwright on Nov. 14. With this, our Asian American Theatre Company on campus, Theatre Woks, performed a stage reading of selections from some of Hwang’s most famous writings, including: “M. Butterfly,” “F.O.B” and “Chinglish.”
Camille A. Brown Joins Upcoming Aida Revival /
The developmental presentation will be directed by Schele Williams, who was part of the original cast.
Tony-nominated choreographer Camille A. Brown, currently represented Off-Broadway with the critically acclaimed revival of for colored girls... at The Public Theater, has joined the creative team for a developmental presentation of the Disney musical Aida.
The presentation will be helmed by Schele Williams, associate director of Motown the Musical, who was part of the original Broadway production of Aida (originating the role of Nehebka and part of the ensemble), with choreography by Brown.
Aida, which features a book by David Henry Hwang, Linda Woolverton, and Robert Falls, music by Elton John, and lyrics by Tim Rice, premiered on Broadway in 2000. Falls directed the production, which starred Heather Headley in a Tony-winning performance.
Jeanine Tesori and David Henry Hwang's Soft Power to Record Cast Album /
The recording will feature the cast of The Public Theater's Off-Broadway premiere, led by Conrad Ricamora, Francis Jue, and Alyse Alan Louis.
Soft Power, which recently completed its Off-Broadway debut at The Public Theater, will record a cast album, to be released by Ghostlight Records in spring 2020.
Co-commissioned and co-produced with Los Angeles' Center Theatre Group, Soft Power features a book and lyrics by David Henry Hwang and music and additional lyrics by Jeanine Tesori.
Jeanine Tesori and David Henry Hwang Marc J. Franklin
The album will feature the performances of the complete Off-Broadway cast, led by Conrad Ricamora as Xuē Xíng, Francis Jue as DHH, and Alyse Alan Louis as Zoe and Hillary. Rounding out the company are Billy Bustamante, Jon Hoche, Kendyl Ito, Austin Ku, Raymond J. Lee, Jaygee Macapugay, Daniel May, Paul HeeSang Miller, Kristen Faith Oei, Geena Quintos, Trevor Salter, Kyra Smith, Emily Stillings, Emily Trumble, and John Yi.
Aida Revival to Receive Developmental Lab in Spring 2020; Camille A. Brown Signs On as Choreographer /
A new production of Disney's Aida just might be written in the stars. A revival staging of the early-2000s musical will get a developmental lab presentation from March 9-20, 2020, according to an Equity casting notice. The previously reported revival is to be directed by original cast member Schele Williams; Tony nominee Camille A. Brown has newly joined the creative team as choreographer.
Featuring a Tony-winning score by Elton John and a book by Linda Woolverton, Robert Falls and David Henry Hwang—based on the opera by Giuseppe Verdi—Aida centers on the love triangle between the Egyptian captain Radames, his fiancée Princess Amneris and her enslaved handmaiden, the Nubian princess Aida, whom Radames loves but does not believe he can be with.
Photo Flash: Asia Society And The Santa Fe Opera Present David Henry Hwang And Huang Ruo's M. BUTTERFLY Opera Working Rehearsal /
Asia Society's inaugural Contemporary Art Triennial of Asia, in partnership with the Santa Fe Opera, kicked off its pre-opening programming on Nov 20, 2019 with a sold-out exclusive world preview of the much anticipated new opera M. Butterfly.
Executive Chair of the Art Triennial, Dr. Agnes Hsu-Tang and her husband, Oscar Tang, a trustee of Asia Society, hosted a pre-performance reception for a delegation of board members from the Santa Fe Opera at the Asia Society in New York. Many board members from the Met Opera and Asia Society, including Betsy Cohen, Met Opera Treasurer and Asia Society Vice Chair, and her husband Ed Cohen, the President and CEO of the New York Philharmonic Deborah Borda, Met Opera's Assistant General Manager Diane Zola, and President of the Juilliard School, Damian Woetzel, were also in attendance.
Odds & Ends: New Musical Soft Power Will Receive Original Cast Album & More /
New Musical Soft Power Will Receive Original Cast Album
The cheered new musical Soft Power, which recently concluded a twice-extended run at off-Broadway's Public Theater, will be preserved on an original cast recording, Ghostlight Records announced today. Featuring a book and lyrics by David Henry Hwang and music/additional lyrics by Jeanine Tesori, the musical centers on a Chinese executive who is visiting America and falls in love with a good-hearted U.S. leader. The musical's cast was led by Alyse Alan Louis, Conrad Ricamora, Billy Bustamante, Kendyl Ito, Francis Jue, Austin Ku, Raymond J. Lee, Jaygee Macapugay, Daniel May, Paul HeeSang Miller, Geena Quintos, Trevor Salter, Kyra Smith, Emily Stillings, Emily Trumble, Jon Hoche, Kristen Faith Oei and John Yi. The cast album will be released in spring 2020.
David Henry Hwang and The Democracy Project at Federal Hall /
Guggenheim’s Spring 2020 Works & Process Series to Preview Revivals of West Side Story and Company, Intimate Apparel Opera, More.
The Guggenheim has unveiled its slate of offerings for the spring 2020 Works & Process Series, including a sneak peek at the upcoming Broadway revivals of West Side Story (directed by Ivo van Hove) and the Marianne Elliott-helmed Company.
In addition, a February performance will highlight the new chamber opera adaptation of Intimate Apparel from Lynn Nottage (Sweat) and Ricky Ian Gordon (Morning Star). A moderated panel ahead of the premiere of The Metropolitan Opera’s Agrippina will provide insights from the production by the creative team and cast.
Inside the Making of the Deeply Meta Choreography for Off-Broadway’s Soft Power /
Alyse Alan Louis and the Cast of Soft Power (Joan Marcus).
Tony-nominated choreographer Sam Pinkleton shares the YouTube videos, dance labs, and rehearsal room tactics that built the flashy old-school style for the musical within a play.
To say Sam Pinkleton’s process of choreographing Soft Power was unconventional would be an understatement. Then again, when has Pinkleton, a Tony nominee for Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, ever been conventional? And yet, he packs the dance in the Public Theater’s new “play within a musical” with gobs of conventional musical theatre movement.
That’s because Soft Power is a subversive, ambitious new piece of theatre using American musical tradition to question cultural appropriation, the relationship between East and West, and democracy’s worth. The satire follows the fictional David Henry Hwang, who is writing the book to an American-style musical set to premiere in China, and the Chinese producing executive Xue Xíng, who wants him to make that musical more Chinese. When David is stabbed, he enters a dream state where he instead writes a musical about the run up to and immediate aftermath of the 2016 Presidential election. We enter that musical world, a show in which Chinese newcomer Xue Xíng tries to teach Hillary Clinton about democracy (much like, say, Mrs. Anna teaches the King of Siam about ruling his East Asian kingdom).
Edison High to stage ‘Tarzan’ on Nov. 22-23 /
RICHMOND — The King of the Jungle will swing into action at Edison High School when “Tarzan” hits the stage.
The school’s vocal music department will stage two performances of the musical in the auditorium on Nov. 22-23 under the direction of Dani Carroll. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the show starts 7:30 p.m., while tickets cost $5 for students and $8 for adults.
The play was originally produced on Broadway by Disney Theatrical Productions with music and lyrics by Phil Collins and the book by David Henry Hwang.
Photo Flash: George Takei Stopped by SOFT POWER at The Public /
Conrad Ricamora who plays Oliver in the ABC Series "How To Get Away With Murder" has been jetting back and forth across the country filming the final season of the show and also starring in the new musical "Soft Power" written by David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori at The Public Theater in NY. Over the weekend, an old friend, George Takei stopped by to see the show and congratulate him backstage along with Playwright David Henry Hwang and the cast.
Stephen Schwartz, Andrew Lippa and More Attended 'And the Tony Award Goes To…Celebrating TheatreWorks at 50' /
Emmy, Grammy, and Tony-winning composer Stephen Schwartz ("Wicked," "Pippin," Disney's "Pocahontas", DreamWorks's "The Prince of Egypt") performed "For Good" from Wicked at "And the Tony Award Goes to...Celebrating TheatreWorks at 50," paying tribute to TheatreWorks Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley.
Stars of stage and screen, playwrights, composers, and supporters of TheatreWorks Silicon Valley came together Saturday, November 2, 2019 to celebrate the acclaimed regional theatre at And the Tony Award Goes To...Celebrating TheatreWorks at 50, a once-in-a-lifetime event honoring the company's half-century and its 2019 Regional Theatre Tony® Award. Some 480 guests attended extraordinary event which raised nearly $800,000 for TheatreWorks marking it the most attended and most successful fundraiser in the company's history. Guests appropriately gathered in the heart of Silicon Valley at Mountain View's Computer History Museum for cocktails, dinner, and a lively auction, then proceeded to the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, where a stellar array of TheatreWorks alumni returned to pay tribute to its history through words and music.
Also on hand were Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and American Theatre Wing chair David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly, Yellow Face, Aida, Soft Power), and Drama Desk and Emmy Award winner, multiple Tony nominee Željko Ivanek (Damages, Madam Secretary, Cloud Nine, The Pillowman), who offered heartfelt remarks highlighting their long relationships with TheatreWorks. Tony nominated Broadway composer Andrew Lippa (The Wild Party, The Addams Family, Big Fish) also received an ovation as he performed selections from his musicals developed at TheatreWorks. Broadway composer Paul Gordon, another Tony nominee (Jane Eyre, Daddy Long Legs, Jane Austen's EMMA, Being Earnest) who has debuted several hit productions at TheatreWorks, introduced a song from the upcoming holiday production of his Pride and Prejudice-which will mark TheatreWorks's 70th world premiere-performed by its leading lady, Mary Mattison.
Conrad Ricamora Is Ready to Be a Leading Man /
Conrad Ricamora in rehearsal for the "Soft Power." (Photo by Joan Marcus. Photographed at New 42nd Street Studios.)
Why is he doing ‘Soft Power’ in New York while filming ‘How to Get Away With Murder’ in Los Angeles? Because he finally gets to play the hero.
In the early 2000s, actor Conrad Ricamora was playing a Chinese character in a local community theatre production of Anything Goes. During the first week of rehearsal, the director asked him, “Can you be more Chinese?” Ricamora is half Filipino, half white.
Starring in Soft Power at the Public Theater (through Nov. 17). A new musical by David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori, Ricomara also starred in Soft Power last year in Los Angeles and San Francisco. He plays Xuē Xíng, a Chinese entertainment producer who wants David Henry Hwang (played by Francis Jue) to write a musical about China that can play on Broadway. The country is after soft power, something America has in spades, which Xuē defines as “our ideas, inventions, culture,” which can “change the way people think.”
M. Butterfly [SOLD OUT] /
Exclusive working rehearsal presented with the Santa Fe Opera.
Asia Society and the Santa Fe Opera’s 2020 Season proudly present the exclusive working rehearsal of Huang Ruo and David Henry Hwang's new opera, M. Butterfly. Based on Hwang’s 1988 Tony Award-winning and Pulitzer-Prize finalist Broadway play, M. Butterfly is the story of Rene Gallimard, a French diplomat who carried on a 20-year love affair with Song Liling, a Peking opera star with an astonishing secret that leads to Gallimard's professional and personal ruin. The story’s many parallels with Puccini’s well-known Madama Butterfly are echoed in the new opera’s music, composed by the celebrated young Chinese American composer Huang Ruo. With Kangmin Justin Kim (countertenor) as Song Liling and David Bizic (baritone) as Rene Gallimard.
SEEING MYSELF ONSTAGE /
In light of the show’s focus on Asian-American representation, we asked the company of Soft Power when was the first time they saw themselves represented on stage.
I honestly don't know that I have ever truly felt represented on stage before Soft Power. In other shows that I've seen or even been in, there's usually an element of otherness in those representations--whether it's portraying Asians as foreigners, as historical characters, and/or tokenism.
In ‘Soft Power,’ Hillary Clinton Sings and Dances to Keep Democracy Alive /
Alyse Alan Louis as Hillary Clinton in 'Soft Power,' running at The Public Theater.
Joan Marcus
David Henry Hwang’s “play with a musical” investigates why we’re addicted to our political system — even if it nearly kills us.
“Musicals can be very tricky,” Jeanine Tesori explains. “Because when you deliver something and you put a beautiful string section underneath it, it sways you. It sways you because of the physics of music, and the overtone series and the ways that music is embedded inside the science of being alive.”
American theatre NYC roundup /
Soft Power by David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori, currently running at the Public Theater through Nov. 17 ($100). In this send-up of The King and I, a Chinese entertainment producer meets Hillary Clinton and teaches her a thing or two about politics.