anything goes broadway: Temmuz 2012

Lauren Edman – It’s Always The Quiet One
2012, Lauren EdmanAt first listen, Lauren Edman’s It’s Always The Quiet One might seem like a musical autobiography that’s full of contradictions. It that’s your first impression you might want to listen again. In a world full of superficial pop music, Edman digs deep. Exploring the worlds perceptions of a ‘quiet person’ in direct contrast to her sense of self, Edman gets deep into her own psyche while navigating the musical pathways between trip-hop and shoegaze. Sparse, ethereal arrangements both frame the songs and leave Edman’s voice and presence exposed to the world. It is a brave artistic effort that succeeds on chutzpah and musicality.Edman has a sweet, plaintive voice with just a hint of edge to it; the high school wall flower that finally speaks during graduation week and makes everyone uncomfortable with how much she’s been paying attention all these years. Edman’s focus is turned inward on It’s Always The Quiet One, however, examining her own emotions, motives and insecurities. On “Wasting”, E dman explores self-doubt in the context of gorgeous ambience. The vocal harmonies she builds around herself have to be heard to be fully appreciated. “Slate” sets up an interesting juxtaposition between the arrangement and Edman’s voice. The almost clockwork piano style nearly sounds programmed, whereas Edman’s voice is passive and sweet. The theatrical sense here is compelling, as an implication of events out of her control wash by Edmans in her ‘quiet’ state. “Be The Light” explores the mindset of a loner who knows how to break free but stays confined to their own inner restrictions. This is a through the looking glass moment, standing on the precipice of setting oneself free while negotiating the inherent discomforts. This struggle resolves in “Sweet Girl”, with Edman breaking out of her shell. There’s an almost apologist air to this, but only for the discomfort she’s caused others. It’s very clear that the quiet girl is here to stay. The energy in this song changes as well, an uptick from the quiet aesthetics that span much of It’s Always The Quiet One. Edman doesn’t so much get louder as she injects more energy into her electronic muse, achieving a sense of dynamic that is too often missing from electronic pop.Perhaps the big struggle on It’s Always The Quiet One is that the album climaxes too early. “Sweet Girl” is a being is becoming moment. In a movie, you would expect such a character breakthrough to lead to the realization of a goal, dream, etc. There would be some sort of payoff for the main character or narrator. That payoff never comes on It’s Always The Quiet One. Edman offers up a series of musical doodles that are more afterthought that aftershock. “Red Wings”, “Desperate Times” and “Silent” simply slide by the listener. Edman shows signs of life on “This Is It”, but they are mere sonic echoes. “She’s Not Here” is an attempt to celebrate the rite of passage that has occurred in “Sweet Girl”, but it is too far disconnected by time and musical experience to have the impact it might have otherwise.In spite of all of this, there really isn’t a weak song on It’s Always The Quiet One. It’s simply that Edman starts out with a quietly theatrical sense and the feel of a story in development, but then drops listeners half way through for a series of scattered sidebar illuminations that don’t resonate with the progression she starts with. It’s clear that Lauren Edman has a talent for building sonically pleasing songs from the electronic ether, and her voice is sweet, but with just enough of an edge to keep it interesting. There is a talent, however, to building an album that involves more than simply writing songs, but the ability to put them together in a way that flows and makes sense. Edman loses that sense part way through It’s Always A Quiet One. It’s not a fatal error, but it does make the listening experience a bit disjointed.Rating: 3 Stars (Out of 5)Learn more about Lauren Edman at www.laurenedman.com. It's Always The Quiet One is available from the e-tailers below, as well as through the Wildy's World Amazon.com store.

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Wildy's World auctions - American Cancer Society

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Keep your eyes open beginning June 1, 2012!

Wildy's World is teaming up with a host of Independent and established artists to offer up some interesting auctions on eBay to raise money for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life.

Auctions will include the opportunity to have a song written for yourself, about a subject of your choosen, or for someone you love from a host of independent artists, many of whom have been reviewed here on this blog. To date I have confirmed participation from Kati Mac, John Mueller of Winter Dance Party, Andy Hawk, The Spanish Channel, Missed You At The Show, The Blisterz, BFF, Jodi Shaw, Skyler, Key Dragon, Deborah Crooks, Amanda Belardinelli, These Curious Thoughts. Crown Point Band, Steve Haggard and Beth Whitney. I also have initial indications of interest from 18 additional artists who want to auction off a song for the winning bidder to shape, as it were.

In addition, several artists have stepped forward with items to raffle off. Confirmed thus far are Marian Call, Styx, Ron Hawkins (Lowest of the Low), Winter Dance Party, Jerome Lee, Andy Hawk and Lee Alexander.

So keep your eyes on the eBay profile amherstcds beginning June 1, 2012. Profits from these auctions will benefit the American Cancer Society, with a couple of the auctions splitting the proceeds between the American Cancer Society and other charities/projects. Each will be specified in the auction listing.

This will be a great opportunity to win a one-of-a-kind auction from some of your favorite independent artists and help the American Cancer Society make a world with more birthdays!

And if you're an artist who'd like to participate in one of these auctions, it's not too late! Drop me a line at wildysworld@gmail.com. If you'd just like to make a donation to The American Cancer Society on behalf of Wildy's World, you can donate through Wildy's personal Relay For Life page. Have a wonderful day, and be well!

...wildy

Wildy's World Auctions to benefit The American Cancer Society

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Wildy's World writer/editor Wildy (will-dee) Haskell will be participating in the Relay For Life in Geneva, NY on July 28-29, 2012. As part of the fundraising efforts for that event, Wildy's World has reached out to a number of the artists we've worked with in the past. Throughout June and July of 2012, we will be offering a number of unique, one-of-a-kind auctions on eBay.

Our first auction, going live on Friday, June 1, 2012 at 8:00 PM EDT, is the opportunity to have a song written at your request by New York City singer/songwriter Kati Mac.

Kati Mac is an internationally known artist with five albums spanning and twenty-year career, and her work has been featured on such television shows as General Hospital, The Guiding Light and Sunset Beach. While the auctions hasn't kicked off yet, you can view it already. Kati Mac's song auction will on eBay under item #221038586203. All auctions can be viewed once they go live under the seller id wildysworld.

This once in a lifetime opportunity is only the first of many. To date over thirty artists have signed up to write a song in this fashion. We've also received some great memorabilia from several artists, with several more promising items. So stay tuned... you never know what might be coming next!

Wildy's World Auctions (American Cancer Society)

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Greetings fellow travelers!

Yes, there are more reviews coming. I’ve been a bit slow on that front of late asI have been putting much of my spare time into fundraising for the AmericanCancer Society’s Relay for Life! I haveabout 60 or so reviews in the can, most of them handwritten; all just waitingfor me to find time to type them out.

Yes.

But right now Wildy’s World is engaged in an excitingproject! We reached out over the pastcouple of months to the artists we’ve worked with over the past several years, andmany have been gracious enough to offer their time and talent for song auctionson eBay (seller ID wildysworld). Theidea is simple: The highest bidder fromthe auction gets to fill out a short survey telling the artist what they wouldlike their song to be about. The artistthen takes that information and interprets it how they will. The winner will then receive a recording ofthe song via email.
The recording is expected to be a demo – clean but notnecessarily the finished product you might hear on an album. Some artists are going further than thisbased on the time and resources available to them.

Even some of the artists who do not have time to engage inthe songwriting project are contributing. One artist is donating a cover song – winner gets to pick the song, anysong, and the artist will interpret it. Still others have donated or promised to donate signed items, rare CDs,artwork, etc. I’ve even added a fewsigned items I’ve personally received over the past four or so years to themix.

As of this morning there are seven auctions live on eBay,and I would highly encourage you to check them out! All proceeds will be donated to the AmericanCancer Society through my Relay For Life Team, the Cave Crashers. And even if you don’t want to participate inthe auction, but want to make a donation on my behalf, you can do so through mypersonal Relay for Life page here.
Here are the auctions currently live. All are for original songs written by theartist named:

KatiMac (NYC) - Ends today

JohnMueller (Buddy Holly of Winter Dance Party) – End 6/9/12

BenjaminRussell (Canada) – Ends 6/10/12

AndyHawk (Hamilton, VA) – Ends 6/11/12

TheSpanish Channel (Brooklyn) – Ends 6/12/12

MissedYou At The Show (Manchester, UK) – Ends 6/13/12

TheBlisterz (Albany, NY) – Ends 6/14/12

The following auctions are forthcoming, with the start datelisted. All auctions are for originalsongs to be written, unless otherwise specified.

BFF (6/8/12)
Jodi Shaw (6/9/12)
Skyler (6/10/12)
Zak Smith Band (6/11/12)
KeyDragon (6/12/12)
The Amplifires (6/13/12)
The Modern Airline (6/14/12)
Randy Stern (6/15/12)
Joshua Jesty (6/16/12)
Deborah Crooks (6/17/12)
Mar Harmon of Music With Mar (6/18/12)
Jerry Falzone (6/19/12)
Brian Pounds (6/20/12)
Styx – Signed Electric Guitar (6/21/12)
The Energy Commission (6/22/12)
Jeneen Terrana (6/23/12)
Halie Loren – Cover song (6/24/12)
Aurical (6/25/12)
John Byrne (6/26/12)
Ron Hawkins of Lowest Of The Low – An original oil painting of Bjork (6/27/12)
Joel Dobbins (6/28/12)
Trout Fishing In America – Signed T-Shirts (6/29/12)
Amanda Belardinelli (6/30/12)
These Curious Thoughts (7/1/12)
Crown Point Band (7/2/12)
Steve Haggard (7/3/12)
Kaitlin McGaw (7/4/12)
Shane Lamb (7/5/12)
Amos Lee – Signed, rare CD (7/6/12)
James Scott Fant – 7/7/12
Beth Whitney – 7/8/12
Pat Flanakin – 7/9/12
Brother Joscephus – 7/16/12
Phoebe LegÃ©re – 7/18/12

As you can tell, we still have some dates to fill between7/10 and 7/17/12. If you would like toparticipate in an auction, please contact me at wildysworld@gmail.com. I also have some items to be scheduled,including signed items from Val Emmich, Kristoffer Ragnstam, Lee Alexander(promised), Marian Call (promised), John Mueller and Stars Go Dim.

Bid early, bid often, and tell everyone you know. Once again, all proceeds will go the AmericanCancer Society, so it’s all for a good cause!

WE'VE MOVED!

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As we've been promising all week, SHOWBUZZDAILY has set up fancy new digs in another part of the internet. If you're viewing this site via a preexisting bookmark, please type the url www.showbuzzdaily.com in your browser, and it'll take you to our new location...then re-bookmark us once you're there, of course.
We promise it'll be worth the journey--the site has a terrific new design and fresh content waiting for you at www.showbuzzdaily.com, so come join us!

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8 Temmuz 2012 Pazar

Fern - Hopping Into Easter with Fern

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Fern – Hopping IntoEaster With Fern
2012, Fern’s Music/Fern Forest EnterprisesFern is a musician, songwriter and educator who writes andplays songs for children ages 0 to 7. Long recognized for the quality and energy in her songwriting, Fern’swork has been trumpeted by Boston radio stations WERS and USA Today. Fern has six children’s albums under herbelt, and entertains children all throughout New England. Fern’s latest effort, Hopping Into Easter With Fern, brings the usual blend ofsentimentality, intelligence and snappy songwriting that has characterizedFern’s recording career thus far. Together with her sidekick, Charlie the six foot tall chipmunk, Fernenchants her listeners with a personable style and a sense of childishwonder. Fern kicks things off with a song about the Easter Bunny andhow he gets all over the world on Easter Eve. The speculative folk-country number lists through many of the travel optionsof the hallowed hare, ultimately settling on magic as the means. At just under two minutes this is a lightsnack that kiddos will enjoy. “PowderPuff Bunny” is a funny little tune that celebrates the multi-colored eggs theEaster Bunny leaves on Easter number. It’sa catchy number that will have the pediatric set dancing about, and will likelydrive parents bonkers by the third listen. Fern digs into a jazzy version of “Peter Cottontail”, complete withfinger snaps and some pretty snazzy piano work.It’s off to the islands for “The Chocolate Bunny”, with Fernspinning the tale of one piece of Easter booty to a reggae beat. Fern deconstructs her chocolate bunny rightbefore our very ears, ending up with the inevitable tummy ache. It’s a cute number that kids willappreciate. “The Easter Duck’s Parade”has romper room cadence of the sort that has pervaded children’s albums for thelast three or four decades. The bouncyfeel will keep little ones interested, and the real live duck sounds add someamusement. “Little Peter Rabbit” goesfor a repetitive build, repeating key phrases while exploring new actions forthe song’s subject. This one is aimed atthe younger portion of Fern’s audience, and the older kids will be gettingantsy before the song is half over. “Here Comes Spring” is done in classic folk song style withperhaps just a touch of Appalachian flavor. The repetitive nature of the song may wear on some listeners, but from afolk song perspective this is fairly standard. “Pretty Flowers – Just For You” is a sweet little children’s ballad, andis perfectly written for Fern’s audience. There’s an air of lullaby here, and Fern’s builds in some great atmospherein the dual piano/synthesizer arrangement. “Eggbert, The Easter Egg” takes on a vaudevillian style in thearrangement, while sounding like the sort of cutesy novelty children’s tunethat Dr. Demento might have played in his prime. It’s a cute little number that sounds like itshould accompany a Rankin & Rankin television special. Fern closes out her celebration of Easterwith “The Egg Hunt”, speculating on whether all the eggs have been found. It’s a catchy closer that the kids willappreciate.Fern, along with her friend Charlie the Chipmunk, gets heraudience. That’s a fact that’s veryapparent on Hopping Into Easter with Fern. She displays that enigmatic je ne said quoithat makes a local or regional children’s favorite what they are. At the same time, Fern’s voice could be atough sell, to a wider audience. Thepersonality and charisma that Fern displays on Hopping Into Easter With Fern is unmistakable, but her tone andpitch both have their rough spots, and vocal purists just won’t be able to lastlong here. The kids will love the music,of course, and just like artists such as Raffi and Sharon, Lois and Bram beforehere, the songs will occasionally drive parents out of their minds. But Fern is the real deal, and she survivesand thrives among the toughest music connoisseurs for one reason – she’s real.There’s nothing fake or contrived here. In this way, Fern finds her own moments of musical beauty.Rating: 3.5 Stars (Out of 5)Learn more about Fern at www.fernsmusicforkids.com.

Lauren Edman - It's Always The Quiet One

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Wildy's World auctions - American Cancer Society

Wildy's World Auctions to benefit The American Cancer Society

Wildy's World Auctions (American Cancer Society)

5 Temmuz 2012 Perşembe

Wildy's World auctions - American Cancer Society

Wildy's World Auctions to benefit The American Cancer Society

Wildy's World Auctions (American Cancer Society)

Art Decade - Western Sunrise

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Art Decade – Western Sunrise
2012, Eldest Only RecordsBoston rockers Art Decade team up with award winning producer Dan Hannon (Manchester Orchestra, Aaron Shust) to record their debut album, Western Sunrise.Art Decade kicks things off with “A Lie”, an ambitious breakup song that can only be defined as orchestral rock. The arrangement here is a thing of beauty, full of a deep musicality but maintaining a distinctive hard edge. It’s a sonic landscape you’ll be happy to revisit, and a near-perfect opener. “Western Sunrise” starts out like a balladeer’s tale, but soon breaks into a heavy progressive rock sound complete with strings. Ben Talmi is outstanding on lead vocals, and the voices in harmony around him are perfectly fit. Listeners will be blown away a sound that’s equal parts Yes, The Moody Blues, Polyphonic Spree and Break of Reality.“I Try” finds Art Decade holding back just a bit on a solid album track. The melody stands out, confined as it is in the gentility of the arrangement. “Raspberry Universe” is a sonically expansive instrumental that sounds like the score of a spy thriller. Manic and volatile, Art Decade is at their most unpredictable here. Scaling things back for “Dandelion Tea”, Art Decade sounds more in synch with the mellow edge of Radiohead. The ambling melody drifts steadily, but never loses coherence as it stumbles across an unusual and appealing sonic landscape.“Breeze” is a dreamy orchestral number with a light, lilting feel. The song has a melancholy air that’s inescapable. “Weapon” finds Art Decade moving to the edge of dance music with an over-the-top, campy rocker. Talmi reaches a bit too far past his comfortable vocal range here, but the effect in nonetheless entertaining. Art Decade kicks it up a notch on “Steam Punk Sticker War”, using a dark guitar/bass sound as a contrast to the group’s buoyant vocal harmonies. “Daydream” features the sort of chorus that stays with you for days, the primary hook buried deep in your aural pleasure center. The simply complex arrangement seems like a light confection but is much deeper than it first appears.Art Decade gets into the Beatles/Queen school of song construction with the musically multi-faceted “Kids And Kings”. What starts out as a simple arrangement wrapped with a metaphor and gorgeous vocal harmonies becomes a complex cavern of musical ideas that wends its way around your brain. Modern comparisons include Tally Hall and Tool, with Art Decade falling about half way in between. Western Sunrise sets with “The Impossible”, an expansive piece of musical poetry. Art Decade blows listeners away with a complex weave of sounds that is challenging and sonically appealing even at the unmanageable running time of 6 ½ minutes.Every day a new band is born, and each one embraces a genre that has come before as the core of its sound. Some bands are content with recreating sounds without adding a thing to them, while some add to the mix but choose to stay true to the roots of their style. Occasionally a band transcends the sound they are born of and creates something new and exciting. The jury is still out on Art Decade. But they’re knocking on the door of transcendence at times during Western Sunrise. Much as the album title implies, Art Decade reorders the musical universe on an album that is frequently incredible, an occasionally genius. Do not miss this one.Rating: 4.5 Stars (Out of 5)Learn more about Art Decade at www.artdecade.com. Western Sunrise is available through the e-tailers below.

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Bree Rose - Breakthrough [EP]

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Bree Rose – Breakthrough
2012, Iafelice Publishing Bree Rose Iafelice has been lighting up New Jersey stages for a few years now with pop/punk acts such as Rockit and The New Royalty. Showing composure on stage that belies her seventeen years, Bree Rose also sallies forth with a voice that’s been compared to Avril Lavigne and Katie Perry. I get the comparison, but there is something in the wonderful clear tone and ice edge that runs through the middle of Bree Rose’s voice that has the potential to raise her above either artist. We see hints of this on Bree Rose’s solo debut EP, Breakthrough. Kicking things into gear with “Wake Of Our Reckoning” keeps the energy high on an Evanescence-style rocker, with Bree Rose showing Amy Lee-like vocal tendencies while pouncing her way through a challenging vocal line. “Hands Up” is wound up and wrapped up in electronic sounds, and is perhaps a bit overdone in this regard. The song itself is well-written, and allows Bree Rose to show off the contrasts in her voice; lyricism and edgy power dance around each other here, giving no quarter and asking none in kind. Bree Rose’s pop sensibility is flawless. Bree tones it down a bit on “I’m Not Afraid”, regaining some composure but not losing any of her dynamic appeal. The song itself is a bit bland compared to the rest of the material on Bree, sounding a bit more pop radio oriented and safe. “Breakthrough”, Bree Rose offers up an easily digestible piece of alt-pop with great pop sensibility and a memorable chorus. The sonic filling is aurally appealing, as Bree Rose pulls you along in an active, energetic love song that gets stuck in your brain. Bree Rose delivers on a stark, Cimmerian beauty with the ballad “Just Until You Bleed”. The song construction here is intriguing, blending guitar, bass, drums and strings to create a gothic hard pop sound that you’ll be thinking about and returning to for some time. Out of all this rises a memorable chorus; the sort that might just find its way through to commercial radio and stick around for a nice vacation on the charts. Through it all Bree Rose is just on the edge of some emotional precipice; madness? Perhaps. It doesn’t matter; what does is the overall effect – amazing. Safe might work for airplay, but Bree Rose excels the most when she doesn’t play there. That ability to hang on the knife’s edge and completely lose one’s self in a vocal performance is the borderland between a great vocal performance and a legendary one. It’s often next to impossible to capture that dynamic in the studio, but Bree Rose dances with it on “Just Until You Bleed”. Bree’s voice is a pleasure to listen to even when she isn’t all the way out there and Breakthrough is aptly titled; for this is the sort of breakthrough that leads to big, big things. Rating: 4.5 Stars (Out of 5) Learn more about Bree Rose at www.facebook.com/breerosemusic.Amazon MP3 iTunes

Please note that the Amazon.com prices listed above are as of the posting date, and may have changed. Wildy's World is not responsible for price changes instituted by Amazon.com.

4 Temmuz 2012 Çarşamba

"Medieval Play" Isn't One for the History Books

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It’s usually not a good thing when your favorite part of a show is its scenery. That’s the way I felt after I saw Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark and that’s the way I felt when I walked out of Medieval Play, the new Kenneth Lonergan comedy that is running at The Pershing Square Signature Center through June 24.
And there’s another similarity between those shows: both are built around smart and intriguing ideas that got overwhelmed by the self-indulgence of their creators.
Lonergan made his name with such plays as This is Our Youth and Lobby Hero about modern-day slackers, well-meaning but aimless and apathetic young men usually working in dead-end jobs. He’s kept the character type in this new work but he’s radically changed the setting. Medieval Play takes place in 14th century Europe during the wars between rival popes.
The play's protagonists are Sir Ralph (Josh Hamilton) and Sir Alfred (Tate Donovan) two knights-for-hire caught up in the decades-long conflict. At times, they are like Hamlet’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, side players to the main action who provide comic commentary on the goings on. And at others, they are versions of Waiting for Godot’s Vladimir and Estragon, everymen wrestling with the big existential stuff like faith in God and loyalty to one’s friends. Sounds promising either way, right?
Alas, neither promise gets fulfilled. The problem is that Lonergan is so busy showing off how much he knows about the period and making himself laugh that he loses all perspective. The moral questions get trampled and the same jokes get hit over and over and over again. An adept director might have helped but Lonergan serves as his own director and allows his playwright to frolic unbridled.
The show’s main conceit is that the medieval characters talk like today's hipsters. Anachronisms, profanity and scatological behavior abound. Saints drop F-bombs. A couple engages in a long, bare-butts sex scene. One of the knights decides to take a dump on stage. And everyone makes meta references about their times and ours.
It’s the kind of stuff that might be funny for about five minutes in a “Saturday Night Live” skit but Lonergan stretches it out for nearly three hours. Whole rows of people fled during intermission at the performance I attended. Those of us who soldiered on fell into conversations during the break and afterward on the way out of the theater in which the word “sophomoric” could be heard echoing from one group to the next.
As usual, the cast is game, particularly the six who play a dizzying variety of roles from noblemen and saints to peasants and whores. Heather Burns stands out as an officious saint Catherine of Siena, who often serves as the show's narrator, providing the historic context and filling the audience in on all the research that Lonergan did.
I’ve always been fascinated by the Middle Ages and so those were almost my favorite parts. The only thing I liked better was set designer Walt Spangler’s simple but witty Candlyand version of the medieval European landscape and its castles. Some of the stuff he came up with really made me laugh and did it without trying too hard.

"Love Goes to Press" isn't Front-Page Material

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At some point, almost every frequent theatergoer has probably thought “I should write a play.” Unlike most of us, journalists Martha Gellhorn and Virginia Cowles went ahead and wrote one. The result is the romantic comedy Love Goes to Press that is playing at the Mint Theater Company through July 22.

The Mint, as theater fanatics know, specializes in works by playwrights who have been forgotten and those of well-known writers that have been overlooked. Gellhorn, the best known of the play’s two writers, falls into the latter category.
Although a legendary war correspondent who covered conflicts ranging from the Spanish Civil War in 1936 to the U.S. Invasion of Panama in 1989, she is probably still best known as Ernest Hemingway’s third wife. And while she published 17 books and scores of articles, Love Goes to Press is her only play and hasn't been done in 65 years.
It was a hit when it opened in London in 1946 but a Broadway production the following January lasted just five performances. The New York Times' Brooks Atkinson dismissed it as "a fairly routine story about affairs of the heart that need not detain you this morning."
The plot, which borrows liberally from its authors’ lives, centers on two intrepid female reporters covering World War II. Annabelle (Gellhorn’s surrogate) and Jane (the substitute for Cowles who was also an accomplished war correspondent) are old buddies who turn up at a press encampment near the Italian front.
With sisterly support from one another, they scheme how to get closer to the action so that each can report the big story she's pursuing. At the same time, Jane finds herself dealing with romantic overtures from the British pr officer who runs the camp but believes a woman’s place should be in the home. And Annabelle has to contend with the Hemingway stand-in who is her ex-husband, double-dealing rival who uses dirty tricks to beat her on stories and the guy she still loves.
Gellhorn and Cowles wrote their play as a lark, telling themselves that they could sell it to the movies and set up an annuity for their old age. They threw it together in a few days and there is a kind of slapdash quality to Love Goes to Press. Still, it’s great to see a war story where the gals get to be the swashbucklers who outwit their male competitors and break hearts in the process.

The design team has paid excellent attention to period detail and special kudos must go to Jane Shaw’s sound design. But, alas, the rest of the production isn't as tip-top. The direction is indecisive and the acting is uneven. Still, everyone appears to be having fun. And you may too, particularly if you read up on Gellhorn’s backstory before you go.
It may also amuse Mint regulars to see that Annabelle is played by Heidi Armbruster, who played another Gellhorn-inspired character in The Fifth Column, Hemingway's only play, which the Mint produced back in 2008 (click here to read my review of that one). It undoubtedly would amuse Gellhorn to know that, even with its faults, her play is better than his.

The Best Way to Celebrate Independence Day

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No post today. Instead I’m kicking back and will be celebrating the birth of our country with my annual viewing of the pretty good movie version of the really great Tony-winning musical 1776. And I urge you to give it a try too (click here to take a peek at its famous opening number, "Sit Down, John") cause it’s hard to think of a happier way for a patriotic theater lover to have a Happy 4th of July.

It's Raining Free Tickets: Congratulations To Latest SOB Contest Winner!

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It's Raining Free Tickets: Congratulations To Latest SOB Contest Winner!

Remember how much I told you I loved Rain - A Tribute To The Beatles?

Today, I'm thrilled to send a lucky Steve On Broadway reader to see the show. Congratulations to Eleah Burman from New York, New York, who has just won two free tickets to see Rain - A Tribute To The Beatles at Broadway's Neil Simon Theatre!

Eligible entries for this SOB Contest needed to subscribe to this blog, follow me on Twitter (and then retweet one of my contest messages) and follow me on Facebook.

Congratulations again, Eleah!

Thank you to everyone who entered the contest. By subscribing to Steve On Broadway, you'll automatically be entered in all future contests!

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

In keeping with the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations that unfairly discriminate against bloggers, who are now required by law to disclose when they have received anything of value they might write about, please note that I have received nothing of value in exchange for this post. However, in conjunction with SpotCo, two tickets for Rain: A Tribute To The Beatles will be given away to one lucky reader. http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

Hard To Imagine It's Been Thirty Years

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Hard To Imagine It's Been Thirty Years

It really is incredibly hard to believe it was 30 years ago today that John Lennon was murdered.

Millions of us were shocked to learn the tragic news in this highly surreal fashion. The evening of December 8, 1980, hit virtually everyone around the world so extraordinarily hard. Suddenly that evening, it didn't matter if you were a fan of The Beatles or Lennon. The idea that such a creative genius who espoused peace could be gunned down so violently broke our collective hearts.

Lennon's untimely death marked the end of an era, even as he had just attempted to begin a new one for himself.

The musical icon had just emerged from a self-imposed "exile" to help raise his young son Sean. On November 17, 1980, just three short weeks prior to his murder, he and his wife Yoko Ono released the incredibly hopeful "Double Fantasy," his first studio recording in five long years.

While the recording would quickly climb to number one on the Billboard charts and go on to earn him a posthumous Grammy for 1981 Album of the Year, for those of us who purchased the recording, we were haunted by the back cover image showing Lennon and Ono outside the Dakota Apartments, just steps from where this man of profound peace met his violent end.

Rest in peace, John Lennon. Thirty years later, we're still trying to imagine the type of world you envisioned.

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

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anything goes broadway

11 Temmuz 2012 Çarşamba

A Hard Look at Stage Diversity Dos and Don'ts

"Medieval Play" Isn't One for the History Books

"Love Goes to Press" isn't Front-Page Material

"The Best Man" is Still a Winning Ticket

"Harvey's Whimsy Didn't Totally Work on Me

10 Temmuz 2012 Salı

The Dowsy Chaperone - London - May 13, 2007

Jerry Springer, The Opera - London

Broadway's Lost Treasures 1

Broadway's Lost Treasures II - 2004

Free Software

9 Temmuz 2012 Pazartesi

Lauren Edman - It's Always The Quiet One

Wildy's World auctions - American Cancer Society

Wildy's World Auctions to benefit The American Cancer Society

Wildy's World Auctions (American Cancer Society)

WE'VE MOVED!

8 Temmuz 2012 Pazar

Fern - Hopping Into Easter with Fern

Lauren Edman - It's Always The Quiet One

Wildy's World auctions - American Cancer Society

Wildy's World Auctions to benefit The American Cancer Society

Wildy's World Auctions (American Cancer Society)

5 Temmuz 2012 Perşembe

Wildy's World auctions - American Cancer Society

Wildy's World Auctions to benefit The American Cancer Society

Wildy's World Auctions (American Cancer Society)

Art Decade - Western Sunrise

Bree Rose - Breakthrough [EP]

4 Temmuz 2012 Çarşamba

"Medieval Play" Isn't One for the History Books

"Love Goes to Press" isn't Front-Page Material

The Best Way to Celebrate Independence Day

It's Raining Free Tickets: Congratulations To Latest SOB Contest Winner!

Hard To Imagine It's Been Thirty Years