Results tagged “fredebb”

Lots of Broadway spectacles that promise “FUN!" amount to bloated, tuneless exercises in excess and enervation. So the New York premiere of Curtains, a murder-mystery musical comedy, serves as a rare example of all that can go right when a talented team of seasoned pros trust the time-tested basics of catchy songs, stellar dancing and breezy storytelling. And it’s a sign of how starved audiences are for solid musical theater that they roared with laughter at one-liners that were sometimes merely serviceable and exploded with applause after chorus numbers that would have been de rigueur for the Broadway of yesteryear.

DISCUSSION: The one and only, legendary Kirk Douglas will be talking with Columbia undergraduate film studies director Annette Insdorf tonight. The 90 year old has a thing or two to say about life, and some stories about his own (the man survived a helicopter crash, for goodness sake), so listen up youngins.

It's an ending fitting for Broadway, except in this case, Broadway is East Tremont Avenue. The students at Lehman High School will be able to perform their high school musical, Chicago, when city officials intervened on their behalf. Their sob story about being served a cease-and-desist by the guardians of Chicago's rights and licensing struck a chord in the hearts of many who realized it would be a great press op: Saving the drama club hearts of youngster pitted against Broadway money men. We love a good story, too, but Lehman High School's actions seem more disingenous, for example, their 24 year old drama teacher Anthony Cerini transcribed the movie - plus found some stuff on the Internet and wrote some of the script on his own - for them to use in the musical. Well, then, hey, that's original material - but poor Fred Ebb must be rolling in his grave (hey, someone needs to get a quote from John Kander!) And just where is the music coming from? After we conducted an informal straw poll of drama club geeks, they were shocked and upset that Lehman never asked for permission, as that's what makes and breaks many high school productions each year (and why lots of schools do Peter Pan).

It's high school musical time (and not just the Disney kind) but one Bronx high school has to put its production of Chicago on ice. Why? The school didn't bother to get the rights to the show, not to mention a clause that says the musical cannot be performed 75 miles within Broadway. You know, lest tourists find their way to the Bronx and want to buy tickets for a high school production. The company that represents the authors (John Kander and Fred Ebb), the Samuel French Inc., issued a "severe" cease-and-desist to the Herbert H. Lehman High School, disappointing the students who had been working on the show for months. The Daily News spoke to students who said they and teachers were crying. Principal Robert Leder said, "I'm partly guilty in that I never, ever thought of asking for permission - never ever." Hmm, let's hope the Samuel French officials don't look at Lehman high's previous musicals - what if they've been performing other musicals without permissions?

Plus the week in full.

It's up to you, New York, New York.

News comes that Catherine Zeta-Jones and Queen Latifah will perform at the Oscars, but not Renee Zellweger. Apparently she declined, and, Ms. Zellweger, we thank you for that. She even admitted not wanting to sing - in a Guardian article, she said, "I was not going to sing for anybody besides my dogs when I'm in the shower, and then Rob Marshall comes along and that was it." Damn you, Rob Marshall! I like Renee a lot, but the "can't sing" thing is bugging me out. CZ-J and QL will be performing the only original song from Chicago, "I Move On," which the original Chicago musical creators, Fred Ebb and John Kander, wrote specifically for the film. Elvis Mitchell described Zellweger: "[her] float-like-a-butterfly voice doesn't triumph over her my-left-foot dance skills"