This post was originally published on NY Times - Theater

Written by: Laura Collins-Hughes

Dear Extremely Famous Friend of the American Theater,

You’ve been on my mind a lot lately. I realize the pandemic has turned life upside down, but you’ve gone so quiet that I’ve started to wonder if you ever truly meant it — if all the times you spoke of your love of the stage, if every time you reminisced in an interview about how profoundly it shaped you, you were just … what? Following a script? Trying to fit in with your cast mates while you briefly returned to the theater, this time as a star?

This post was originally published on Playbill - Features

Written by: Marc J. Franklin

Following its world premiere at Two River Theater and a subsequent Off-Broadway run at Signature Theatre, Be More Chill opened at the Lyceum Theatre March 10, 2019. The production, directed by Stephen Brackett, played 23 previews and 168 performances before closing August 11, earning a Tony nomination for Best Original Score.

This post was originally published on NY Times - Theater

Written by: Matt Stevens and Jeremy Fassler

Ellyn Marie Marsh was getting ready to appear in a new off-Broadway musical last year when the pandemic struck, theaters were shut and her work evaporated.

This post was originally published on Playbill - News

Written by: Bethany Rickwald

Dress Circle Publishing releases of The Untold Stories of Broadway, Volume 4, the latest in a series by theatre historian and producer Jennifer Ashley Tepper, March 9. In celebration of the release, Playbill is presenting exclusive video of stars featured in the book reading each other’s theatrical tales. Check out Tony winners George C. Wolfe and Joe Mantello above.

This post was originally published on Playbill - News

Written by: Dan Meyer

Waitress is “hajimeyo” (or, “opening up”) again—this time in Japan. Check out footage from the first Japanese-language production, which opened March 9 at Tokyo’s Nissay Theatre, above.

This post was originally published on Playbill - News

Written by: Dan Meyer

The National Asian American Theatre Company has commissioned five Asian-American female playwrights—Jaclyn Backhaus, Samantha Chanse, Mia Chung, Naomi Iizuka, and Anna Moench—to write monologues for characters no younger than 60 years old. Each monologue will be at least 30 minutes long, and all five will be performed together as a piece entitled Out of Time.

This post was originally published on NY Times - Theater

Written by: Jason Zinoman

Last month, I walked through the lobby of a comedy club and started to make small talk with a neon jellyfish. This may sound like a trippy, pandemic-induced dream, but it’s actually the latest experiment in live entertainment online.

This post was originally published on Playbill - Features

Written by: Ryan McPhee

The arts and culture industries remain largely at a standstill in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, affecting millions of workers in an already delicate ecosystem. The Broadway Community Project, from industry veterans Greg Schaffert, Tiffani Gavin, Situation Interactive, and Playbill, was developed to shed light on the myriad fields and roles that go into making the curtain rise.

This post was originally published on Playbill - Features

Written by: Marc J. Franklin

With the ever-changing nature of Broadway, the memory of seeing a show can become a collector’s item in its own right, just as much as a cherished Playbill.

This post was originally published on NY Times - Theater

Written by: Michael Paulson

An immersive audio adaptation of José Saramago’s dystopian novel “Blindness” will be among the first productions to open in New York City since the coronavirus pandemic shuttered theaters a year ago.