A solid 3.5 stars for my first celebrity-memoir-audiobook of 2020. Andrew Rannells is funny, and I’ve really enjoyed him in every major role I can remA solid 3.5 stars for my first celebrity-memoir-audiobook of 2020. Andrew Rannells is funny, and I’ve really enjoyed him in every major role I can remember him in, so this was a no-brained. Plus, listening to it on the drive back from a trip to NYC added an extra layer of “Oh I kind of vaguely know where that is and what he’s talking about!� and you can’t go wrong with a small dose of unearned smugness to accompany your reading material, so really, a joy all around. ...more
This book is absolutely batshit. I definitely got this from Audible thinking it was Seth Rudetsky’s memoir of his time in Broadway’s inner circles, buThis book is absolutely batshit. I definitely got this from Audible thinking it was Seth Rudetsky’s memoir of his time in Broadway’s inner circles, but it did not turn out to be such. The story is definitely...shaped?...by the author’s memories, experiences, and insider knowledge, but Rudetsky’s life story it ain’t. I hope. The main character isn’t super likable for most of the book, and I’d like to keep liking Seth.
As a theatre person, I loved all the random tangents and diversions into the nuts-and-bolts of how a Broadway show (the fictional “Flower Child� which frankly seems delightful and I’d definitely go see it if it were real) gets mounted. It’s comforting to know that Broadway shows also have terrible tech rehearsals! And sitzprobes are totally a thing even though everyone I know thinks I made it up! The plot is paper-thin, though, and the relationship saga was a little much by the end. Also, I’m pretty sure Rudetsky’s narration is 65% responsible for the two-day headache I had while listening to this.
But I’ll forever be thankful that this book got me and Molly through an interminable 12-hour drive up the entire state of Florida, America’s penis, so I’m going to give this book an extra half star for that alone. ...more
Just when you think to yourself, "Hey, this could be a neat little piece of non-traditional theatre to explore with my high schoolers!" you read the pJust when you think to yourself, "Hey, this could be a neat little piece of non-traditional theatre to explore with my high schoolers!" you read the phrase "The sex and bear sounds reach a climax" and you're like...damn.
I actually really, really liked this script and would love to see it staged somewhere. The story, such as it is, revolves around a group of people who take a vow of silence at a remote spiritual retreat in the woods. Each character is searching for something--and I mean "searching" in the most non-literal, existential way possible. (There's a fairly hefty set of character descriptions that precede the play itself, which is interesting because it's not information to which the audience is privy--it's meant for the actors to use as backstory to enrich their performance. I wonder how that plays out to a non-reader, viewer only.) The most prolific voice is that of the unseen guru/teacher leading the retreat, who, it becomes clear, is also looking for something. The teacher talks...a lot...but the rest of the characters are left to more or less experience the retreat in silence, which makes for a unique reading experience (and what I would assume to be a unique viewing experience as well.)
Yeah, I dug it. Just not sure this is producible at the high school level....more
The thing that hit me hardest while reading this play? 9/11 is now a thing people write plays about.
The synopsis of Yankee Tavern suggests that this The thing that hit me hardest while reading this play? 9/11 is now a thing people write plays about.
The synopsis of Yankee Tavern suggests that this is a show about the conspiracy theories that sprung up in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks, and while it certainly is, it’s also about the broader ideas of truth, fact, and belief. How (and maybe a little bit why) we look so hard for reasons not to believe what’s plainly in front of our eyes.
But as I type that previous sentence, I’m not sure to what I am referring: the accepted narratives, or the “coincidences� and cast-aside information that conspiracy theorists use to counter those narratives. I’ve always bought into the narratives...but are the coincidences really so coincidental? I both love and hate that this play is making me think about how we come to accept what is true as the Truth-with-a-capital-T. That said, I’m not about to turn full Tinfoil Hat, but like...what if we’re wrong? Steven Dietz’s play is nothing if not thought-provoking.
Concept aside, the characters are a little muddled and the central conflict feels rushed both in its inception and its conclusion, but this one made me think, for sure. 3.5 stars....more
Fair warning: I’ll be going on a script reading tear in the next few weeks, trying to get a handle on next year’s competition season earlier than, oh Fair warning: I’ll be going on a script reading tear in the next few weeks, trying to get a handle on next year’s competition season earlier than, oh let’s say, the week before auditions 🙄
Appropriate by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is a fast moving read and a story I think I’d love to see on stage. It borrows heavily from the “estranged family gathers at the deceased (m/p)atriarch’s house to hash shit out� trope, but it uses a really interesting plot device to get us there, and the story plays out in a thought-provoking fashion (while cleaning out their father’s neglected southern plantation home, three siblings stumble on an album with old photos showing the bodies of African Americans who have been lynched. None of them can believe their dad would own such a horrific item, and the mental gymnastics they go through trying to explain its presence in the home is fascinating and exhausting.) The play ruminates on what to do with a familial history we might not be proud of, and how to reconcile what we *thought* we knew of a person with shocking information that emerges posthumously. And within that, the playwrights brings us to the intersection of private and public history in an uncomfortable—but necessarily unavoidable—way. I dug it, a lot.
It’s heavy for a high school, but I could see myself exploring this one for a production some day, whether next year or farther into the future....more
I mean...some of the language here is really beautiful and moving. And on the whole, I'm not anti-absurdism--I find it fascinating in a "WTF is this bI mean...some of the language here is really beautiful and moving. And on the whole, I'm not anti-absurdism--I find it fascinating in a "WTF is this batshit nonsense are those assholes in garbage cans the entire damn play and why do I love this?!" kind of way. But Ruhl's reimagining of the Orpheus/Eurydice myth feels incomplete, like a draft that could benefit from some meaningful conversations with friends or editors who you trust to give it to you straight. When you consider that the author wrote this play as a way to cope with her father's death (a fact I lifted straight from some other GoodReads reviewers), the text's purpose becomes somewhat clearer, proving, as always, that context matters. But in my opinion, that doesn't quite save it from being a bit of a twisty, incoherent mess, albeit with a few really bright spots of stunning wordplay and turns of phrase.
(As always, I read scripts with the question, "Could I direct this?" in mind. And--to be fair, unrelated to Ruhl's craft as a playwright--midway through this one I literally laughed out loud thinking how my community would react to seeing this piece onstage, which is as much about where I'm directing as my youth and inexperience as a director. When the talking stones came out and then the father sat in a room made of string, it was like I could hear the seats in the theatre slamming up as patrons got up and left 😂)
Finished this awhile ago, as this is our 2017 entry into the IHSA Drama competition. I love the form of the play, the acting challenges it presents, aFinished this awhile ago, as this is our 2017 entry into the IHSA Drama competition. I love the form of the play, the acting challenges it presents, and the weight of its message. I don't think plays do all that well on paper, and the Green tragedy definitely suffers for being flattened onto the page, but I am excited to produce this one. ...more
Plays like this are literally the reason I hate reading plays. The synopsis on the back sounded so interesting, but within two pages I knew this was gPlays like this are literally the reason I hate reading plays. The synopsis on the back sounded so interesting, but within two pages I knew this was going to be a disappointment. "Show, Don't Tell!" came to mind so many times I could have been teaching an intro creative writing class in my own brain. The characters were flat, with essentially nothing but their accents and turn-of-the-century slang terms for various ethnic immigrants to distinguish one from the next, and the plot moved so quickly, all sense of dramatic tension was gone. Two stars for some very interesting staging options presented, but not much else....more
I am probably what you would call "casually obsessed" with Hamilton (I'd like to note I originally typo-ed that as "Jamilton" which I think is fabulouI am probably what you would call "casually obsessed" with Hamilton (I'd like to note I originally typo-ed that as "Jamilton" which I think is fabulous and not fully inaccurate.) I have a proclivity for avoiding trends that are "sweeping the nation" out of some lingering adolescent obstinancy, but I teach and direct high school theatre: there was no avoiding this one, and at a certain point, I just gave in. Yes, it is brilliant. Yes, Lin-Manuel Miranda deserves every accolade and award that's been flung his way--and likely a whole host more. Hamilton is layered and nuanced and exciting and all sorts of other wonderful descriptors. I've been listening to it non-stop (heh) and I've got large chunks of it memorized and yadda yadda yadda. So I'm definitely the target audience for this book, an annotated, picture-laden printing of the libretto of the musical that's turning the world upside down (heh heh, you can't make me stop.)
And while "An annotated, picture-laden printing of the libretto" is an objectively accurate description, subjectively it does nothing to capture how your spirit feels when you read it. The "chapters" interspersed throughout the song lyrics, which vary from ruminations on hip-hop to the trouble with designing the show's period-"appropriate" costumes, reminded me how much I love theatre. That's a really, over-simplified explanation, but it will have to do. So much of the joy of theatre, for me, is in the collaboration, is in working with many like-minded (and sometimes very opposite-minded) individuals to create something that wasn't there before. It's in watching a kid take his turn in the spotlight, but also in helping an ensemble understand their significance to a show. And it's in creating a world that you become intimately familiar with, hoping that others will come to embrace that world with half as much passion. (If I had it in front of me, I would quote the entire last paragraph of the section on tech weeks. When I read it, I audibly gasped and put the book down--I will never look at an opening night crowd in the same way.)
Sometimes you read something at the right time and it becomes everything to you. This was the longest school year of my life, and I have to start planning almost immediately for next season, but there are many gems I'll return to in the Hamil-tome to remind me why this is important work we do. (I think I just put myself on the same level as Lin-Manual Miranda. I don't really mean that, but I also kind of think, hey, he did high school theatre...he probably gets it.)...more
Aww. Peter and the Starcatchers. What a lovely but stressful experience it was to adapt this novel into a script for GI. And now I never want to thinkAww. Peter and the Starcatchers. What a lovely but stressful experience it was to adapt this novel into a script for GI. And now I never want to think about it again, at least for another 5 years....more
CP2018. This is alarming in its beauty and quiet tragedy. What can I say, I’m a sucker for Leonard’s style. The Diviners is no different: its theatricCP2018. This is alarming in its beauty and quiet tragedy. What can I say, I’m a sucker for Leonard’s style. The Diviners is no different: its theatricality is beautiful and complex, not at all as straight-forward or simple as it seems. This much is true: it’s got layers I’m still peeling back.
I have no idea what I want to do with it, how I want to approach it, and for once I’m thrilled by the way the story will challenge me instead of dreading it. I always claim to be “process over product� and I think I mostly practice what I preach, but I know I get caught up in my own perfectionism sometimes. Maybe this production will mark a turn away from ego and back to storytelling.
I will say, though, I wish like hell that I enjoyed reading plays more—there is just something about their flatness on the page that is so off-putting to me. And really, I mean all plays, even the masterpieces and the ones I end up fan-girling over. Is here a way to appreciate the act of script-reading? It’s arguably one of the more important parts of my “side-gig� yet *inarguably* my least favorite. Seriously, somebody help me. ...more
I think this is probably closer to 3.5 stars for me. Not a bad read by any means: the concept and originality get high marks, although the execution lI think this is probably closer to 3.5 stars for me. Not a bad read by any means: the concept and originality get high marks, although the execution left something to be desired (turns out that a 300+ page novel narrated entirely by a figment of a 9-year-old child's imagination can be repetitive and stilted...who knew?) Still, despite its flaws, there's something really compelling here. Even as the story took a turn for the dramatic and Budo--the narrator--waxed poetic over his woes about his own existence for the thousandth time, I was still moved to tears by both the climax and the denouement (if you're wondering if I feel pretentious for using that word, the answer is that I don't. Not even a little.) The prose leaves something to be desired, but I'll give the novel the bump to 4 stars because there are some really lovely moments.
This has moved to the top of my list of pieces to adapt for GI next year....more
May 2017 Update: I feel like this didn't hold up to my 4.5 star review from 2014, but reading this with an eye towards adapting it into a GI piece gaveMay 2017 Update: I feel like this didn't hold up to my 4.5 star review from 2014, but reading this with an eye towards adapting it into a GI piece gave me a different focus. I think I'm going to give it a go; there are some less savory pieces I'll be able to leave behind but will continue to grapple with them as I process what A's story is really all about.
**4.5 stars**
Despite a few mis-starts with this one, I ended up rather flying through it on this tail end of my bonus four-day weekend. David Levithan's concept is highly original; while I suppose the body-shifting idea has its roots in science fiction, I personally appreciated that it didn't go too far into that genre, beyond the essential mechanics of how both A and his "hosts" react to the intrusion. Sci-fi's just not my thing, never has been, so I'm glad to see that the focus of the novel is on human relationships and identity. He certainly doesn't shy away from heavy ideas, but I like that they are rooted in A's very confusing (but very real) desire for love and connection--one he/she is unlikely to achieve, given the circumstances.
If I had any complaints about the book, it would be these: first, Rhiannon bought into what A told her awfully quickly. It felt a little unrealistic, but then again, there's not really a realistic basis of comparison. I wonder if that's more of a comment on her personality and her own desire to find a legitimate "spark" with someone, given the relationship she's in at the beginning of the novel. I mean, A tells her some pretty fantastical stuff, and it just seemed to go over really smoothly.
And secondly, the Nathan/Reverend Poole-as-antagonist part fell a little flat. I think Reverend Poole's revelation to A upped the ante, philosophically, about A's role in the world, and I also get the need to have something pressing against A, some force to deal with. It's not that I didn't value that part of the story, it's that I wanted more from it. It served part of its purpose, but in my opinion, not quite all of it.
Between this novel and Will Grayson, Will Grayson, I think I'm ready to dive in to whatever else David Levithan has to offer (and apparently, there's quite a bit of it.) Even though it was a fast read, the story stays with you, and I'm still mulling over some of the "less traditional" scenarios Levithan writes. Even if it's a little sexy at times, I can see recommending this to a student and feeling just fine about it....more
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