This week, I got the change to do a Q&A with Ohio State MurdersTony nominated sound designer, Justin Ellington (For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/ When The Rainbow Is Enuf) and here’s what he had to say:
Q: What drew you to this play?
A: Adrienne Kennedy, Kenny Leon and Audra McDonald for starters. I have been a fan of Ms. Kennedy’s writing and had the opportunity to compose and sound design for her most recent play, He Brought Her Heart Back In A Box (2018). Her writing, rich imagination and particular construction of story is intriguing, bold and delicate and offers a welcomed challenge for me.
Q: What is the most exciting part about working with Audra McDonald?
A: First time working with Mrs. McDonald actually. I am excited to tell this story with a truly superb group of people. Having the pleasure to share space and collaborate with Audra McDonald, Kenny Leon and this creative team will forever be cherished.
Q: What is your process like?
A: Before I start making any sound, I do a lot of listening. I listen to the cast and their collective rhythm, I listen to the descriptive words and phrases used by my director and collaborators. I take all of that information along with my own life experiences and start building the sonic world of the play. I tend to make more than enough material so that my director can have options to choose from. Once we find “it”, the work because implementing these ideas into storytelling. It should be stated that most theaters DO NOT have a sound system in house, so a huge part of the process is designing a speaker system that can support the sonic storytelling needs.
Q: Who in the theater world has been an inspiration to you?
A: Freddie Hendricks, Kenny Leon, Kent Gash, Dwight Andrews. I can name so many others because I am inspired by each new group of people I work with, but these four gentleman have showed me some of the possibilities this theater world has to offer and how my talents can work within this arena.
Q: What’s your favorite restaurant in the Theater District?
A: Ohh this is not an easy question, but if I had to pick one, I am a big fan of Hummus Kitchen on 9th Ave between 51st and 52nd.
Q: What do you like to do when you’re not at the theater?
A: I have really fallen in love with photography over the years and when I am not in tech or preparing for a show, I like to get out of the city and access some of the amazing offerings mother nature has for my camera to capture. Also, I am always writing music and spending time in the music industry working with various artist and producers.
Q: What other projects are you working on this season?
A: Soon after Ohio State Murders opens, I will be in La Jolla working on a premiere production of The Outsiders which has been made into a musical.
Congratulations to the cast and crew who go into their first preview on Friday 11/10!
Based on the 1996 Nicholas Sparks novel and the 2004 Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling film, The Notebook may be one of the most surprisingly successful and genuinely touching musical adaptations in recent history. It tells the story of two lifelong lovers, Allie and Noah, from teenage meeting through the end of their lives, framed through the memories Older Noah must recount to Alzheimer’s patient Allie from the titular notebook. The musical not only elevates the source material, but stands on its own as a uniquely grounded and heartbreakingly beautiful piece of theatre. Ingrid Michaelson has made her debut into musical theatre scoring seamlessly, crafting a luscious, cohesive, soaring soundscape that takes us on the journey of these two lovers.
The stellar cast includes Jordan Tyson and John Cordoza (both wonderful new talents as younger Allie and Noah), Joy Woods and Ryan Vasquez (as middle Allie and Noah), and Tony Winner Maryann Plunkett and John Beasley (as older Allie and Noah). The marvelous effect of this structure being that the different aged counterparts can sing simultaneously in each other’s thoughts and memories, creating genuinely heartbreaking moments. Directed by Michael Grief and Schele Williams, The Notebook is ready to be a Broadway hit.
The theatre has always been a place of inspiration and invention. From the stories that we tell to the increasingly innovative ways we tell them, the theatre has continued to flourish and evolve throughout the centuries.
However, with the advent of digital streaming and the unforeseen impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the theatre – and Broadway in particular – are facing a rocky road ahead.
The good news is that there is still time to do what the theatre has always done: adapt.
Frozen on Broadway musical canceled because of COVID-19 outbreak at St. James Theatre. (Photo by Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket/Getty Images)
Global Shutdown
When the world shut down in the spring of 2020, the creators, casts, and crews of Broadway were forced to reimagine the theatergoing experience. Concerts, plays, musicals, and more took to the digital sphere with virtual performances; helping audiences stuck at-home experience the bright lights of Broadway.
In fact, during this period, people everywhere discovered that they could access a wide variety of experiences from the comfort of home: online shopping, video streaming, gaming, socializing, and so much more.
This was already a trend prior to 2020, but the pandemic accelerated digital development and led to a massive influx of services designed to make the desire to stay home more sustainable.
Needless to say, there will always be a demand for in-person experiences and interactions, but there is also a lot to be said for the convenience of having the outside world come directly to your doorstep.
Embrace the Change
Prior to the pandemic, digital streaming was becoming increasingly popular with seemingly every media company creating their own exclusive platform and content. This caused a major disruption in the movie theater industry that was only exacerbated by the global shutdown.
Even as COVID-19 restrictions and stay-at-home orders became more lax and were eventually lifted, movie theaters failed to see the return of audiences that they would have liked.
In fact, several movie studios including Universal Pictures and Walt Disney Pictures have continued to release top-priority films either exclusively on their respective streaming platforms or simultaneously with the wider theatrical release.
This has given audiences the option of going to the theater or streaming the most anticipated films remotely.
Falsettos on BroadwayHD
Critics of this film release strategy consider it a cannibalization of the film’s potential box office take. However, while the direct profit from ticket sales may have taken a hit, streaming services themselves are seeing an increase in subscribers, viewing hours, and overall engagement.
This strategy also has meant that more audiences have had exposure to films, television series, and other content that they normally would not.
Newsies on Broadway
Broadway’s Broader Audience
Broadway has always had a difficult time obtaining mass appeal primarily due to its geographical limitations. Even if potential theatergoers had general interest and consideration for attending any specific show, there is always a barrier to overcome.
Travel costs, schedules, and more become prohibitive for many consumers as they opt instead for the convenience of in-home viewing. However, instead of writing these audiences off, there is an opportunity to meet them where they are.
The idea of broadcasting musicals into movie theaters and televisions is far from revolutionary. The movie musical and live television special have enjoyed their own successes in the past, but as audiences continue to “cut the cord” and shift from traditional appointment viewing to mobile and digital streaming, it has become essential that Broadway do the same.
Media companies like BroadwayHD have already started this process. However, their business model prevents the casual viewer from experiencing their productions as a result of its focused appeal in the oversaturated market of streaming platforms.
By partnering with major media companies like NBCUniversal, ViacomCBS, and Warner Bros. Discovery, Broadway has an opportunity to tap into existing audiences and subscribers.
This would provide shows with an opportunity to reach entirely new audiences and to raise awareness of up-and-coming Broadway talent giving them immediate exposure to a much wider fan base.
Ultimately, nothing will ever compare to the thrill of live, in-person theater – the connection with an audience, the energy, the spectacle – but there is a huge opportunity for Broadway to seize; not simply out of a necessity for continued growth but to expand and promote a love of theater like never before.
For many musical theater devotees, PARADE exists only in their minds, through the Original Broadway Cast recording. Now, Leo Frank’s story takes center stage at this New York City Center gala production led by Tony Award winner Ben Platt and Michaela Diamond. Anchored by a sensational orchestra (led by the musical’s Tony Award winning composer, Jason Robert Brown), this production, rehearsed in just eight days, confirms stager Michael Arden’s rise as one of the most exciting new artists in the American musical theatre, a capstone for him after his imaginatively reinterpreted productions of “Once On This Island” and “Spring Awakening”. An impressive ensemble of 30 actors brings this powerful but sad story to vivid life…. In today’s times, with antisemitism on the rise, the story of a Jew wrongfully convicted in a post-Confederate South, holds an elevated sense of profoundness for the audience. This production of PARADE, which only runs thru the weekend, deserves to be seen.
It’s every Broadway fan’s favorite time of year… the start of the World Series!
While not every theater goer is an avid watcher of baseball, it may be one of the most represented sports on stage. Here are just a few times baseball has been featured on Broadway.
Damn Yankees
Probably the most known Broadway show centered on baseball is Damn Yankees. The 1955 musical comedy, book by George Abbot and Douglas Wallop and music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, follows Joe Boyd, a middle-aged baseball fan who makes a deal with the devil to help his favorite team, the Washington Senators, defeat the New York Yankees. The original Broadway production starred legend Gwen Verdon and was choreographed by Bob Fosse (both of whom won Tony Awards for the production). The show won the 1956 Tony Award for Best Musical and in 1958, the musical was adapted into a film featuring many members of the original Broadway cast. The musical was revived at the Marquis Theatre in 1994 starring Victor Garber and Bebe Neuwirth as the dynamic duo, Mr. Applegate and Lola.
Considerably less successful than Damn Yankees, Allen and Ruby Sully Boretz’s The Hot Corner opened in January of 1956. This farce comedy about a minor-league manager trying to get back to the major leagues ran for a measly 5 performances before closing. The play was directed by and starred Sam Levene, who originated the role of Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls.
The First
In 1981, The First opened at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. The musical, book by Joel Siegel and music and lyrics by Robert Brush and Martin Charnin, depicts the life of the first black player in major league baseball, Jackie Robinson. Closing after 31 performances, the musical was the Broadway debut of Tony Award winner and Broadway veteran David Alan Grier.
Baseball plays an important role in August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize winning drama, Fences. Troy, a middle-aged trash collector in Pittsburg, had ambitions of being in the Major League, but was unable to get in due to his troubled past and the color of his skin. When his son receives a college football scholarship, Troy’s past clouds his judgement, further separating him from his son. The original Tony winning production opened in 1987 starring James Earl Jones and had a Tony winning revived in 2010 starring Denzel Washington (Both leading men won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor).
Take Me Out
Most recently, baseball appeared on Broadway in the 2022 2nd Stage production of Take Me Out. The 2022 Tony winning revival will be returning to Broadway this fall for a limited engagement. Richard Greenberg’s play, which premiered in 2002, explores themes of racism and homophobia in sports. Among the returning cast is Jesse Williams and Tony Award winner Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Performances begin October 27 th at the Schoenfeld Theatre.
So, even if 42 nd St. feels more at home to you than Yankee Stadium, there’s always a way to catch America’s favorite pass time.
Three of the theatre’s most inventive, inspired and award-winning artists will return to the stage in the Broadway premiere of Pictures From Home, which brings to vivid theatrical life a comic and dramatic portrait of a mother, a father and the son who photographed their lives. Based on the photo memoir by Larry Sultan, adapted to the stage by Sharr White (The Other Place, Annapurna), starring Nathan Lane, Danny Burstein and Zoë Wanamaker and staged by award-winning director Bartlett Sher, Pictures From Home will evoke memories of childhood, parenthood, and the vicissitudes that comprise familial relationships.
Pictures From Home will begin previews on Tuesday, January 10, 2023 at Studio 54 on Broadway (254 W 54 th Street) and officially open on Thursday, February 9, 2023 for a strictly limited engagement. The creative team and ticketing information will be announced at a later date.
Even Hillary Clinton is [successfully] jumping on the hot Mystery bandwagon today, as audiences seeking great ‘Whodunits’ stories are steadily growing in abundance. So, in honor of her upcoming Broadway debut for Ohio State Murders, Adrienne Kennedy takes our top spot. See who else we ranked and why!
Lately, Whodunits are all the rage. From books to famous podcasts to Netflix to HBO to the theater and the theatre, mystery content and suspenseful storytelling is showing no signs of losing steam with audiences anytime soon. Maybe it’s the promise of escapism wrapped in thrills and oftentimes chills, that viewers find so enticing. Whatever the allure, mystery writers have provided a solid niche that has satisfied the itch of readers seeking a surprise since at least the 1800s.
Keep reading for our countdown of who we’d pick to be the top ten women writers for mystery.
1. Adrienne Kennedy
Born in Pennsylvania, 91 year old author and playwright, Adrienne Kennedy is best known for her early work of Funnyhouse of a Negro. In 2022, Kennedy won a Gold Medal award for Drama from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, solidifying her incredible career and trajectory to Icon status. Kennedy’s plays draw on the past, both her own and outside events, and address the struggles of race, sex and individuality. Kennedy often relies on metaphors and narrative fragments that can leave audiences reeling and wanting more. As a playwright, she consistently centers Black women in her incredible storytelling. Her Broadway debut, at 91 years young, with Ohio State Murders, stars six-time Tony winning Audra McDonald, and will offer a nail-biting suspense thriller like no other, this November at the stunning James Earl Jones Theatre. Get your tickets now, as the play is sure to be a hypnotic success.
1890 – 1976. Born in the UK in 1890, Agatha Christie became, and remains, the best-selling novelist of all time. Christie is known for her popular 1966 detective novels and 14 short story collections, as well as the world’s longest-running play, The Mousetrap. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and a billion in multiple translations.
Photograph: Peter Jones/Corbis/Getty Images
3. Patricia Highsmith
1921 – 1995. Patricia Highsmith was born in Fort Worth, TX and later died in Switzerland. Highsmith is an American novelist and short story writer best known for her psychological thrillers. The author delves into the nature of guilt, innocence, good and evil wrapped in beautiful backdrops. Her most famous works to-date are Strangers on a Train, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and Carol, to name a few.
Photo credit: Heidi Jo Brady
4. Gillian Flynn
Born in Kansas City, MO, Gillian Flynn is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, Gone Girl, for which she wrote the Golden Globe–nominated screenplay and film starring Ben Affleck and more Hollywood A-listers. Flynn has since released the The Times bestsellers, Dark Places, Sharp Objects, and even a novella, The Grownup. A former critic for Entertainment Weekly, she lives [and writes] in Chicago with her husband and children.
5. Ngaio Marsh
1895 – 1982. New Zealand born, Ngaio Marsh, is best known internationally for her 32 detective novels published between 1934 and 1982. Along with Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham and Agatha Christie, Marsh has been classed as one of the four original “Queens of Crime” – a group of female writers who dominated the genre of crime fiction in the Golden Age of the ‘20s and ‘30s.Several of Marsh’s novels feature her other loves—the theatre and painting. A number of her works are set around theatrical productions (Enter a Murderer, Vintage Murder, Overture to Death, Opening Night, Death at the Dolphin, and Light Thickens).
6. Ruth Rendell
1930 – 2015. Born in the UK, Ruth Rendell is a British writer of mystery novels, psychological crime novels, and short stories and was perhaps best known for her novels featuring Chief Inspector Reginald Wexford. Rendell initially worked as a reporter and copy editor for West Essex newspapers. Her first novel, From Doon with Death (1964), introduced Wexford, the clever chief inspector of a town in southeastern England, and his more stodgy associate Mike Burden. The pair appear in more than 20 additional popular novels thereafter.
Photo by Eric Vorenkamp
7. Dorothy Salisbury Davis
1916 – 2014. Born in Chicago, Dorothy Salisbury Davis was an accomplished writer in the crime-fiction genre. She was nominated eight times for the renowned Edgar Award for Best Novel, and eventually served as the president of the Mystery Writers of America group in 1956. Davis is well known for such works as A Gentle Murderer, and A Gentleman Called. She continued working with literary organizations, such as Sisters in Crime, until her death in 2014.
8. Margaret Maron
1938 – 2021. Born in Greensboro, NC, Margaret Maron’s 1992 novel, The Bootlegger’s Daughter, is part of her famous Deborah Knott Series. She is also one of the founders of Sisters in Crime, an organization that helps and encourages women mystery writers and includes the likes of fellow writer Dorothy Salisbury Davis.
9. Charlotte Armstrong
1905 – 1969. Born in Michigan, the Edgar Award-winning Charlotte Armstrong was one of America’s finest authors of classic mystery and suspense. The daughter of an inventor, Armstrong attended college at Barnard, in New York City. After college she found work at the New York Times and the Breath of The Avenue magazine. For a decade she wrote plays and poetry, and though she had work produced on Broadway and published in The New Yorker, Armstrong was unsatisfied. In the early 1940’s, she began writing suspense. The Unsuspected (1945) and Mischief (1950) were both made into films–the latter was renamed “Don’t Bother to Knock”, starring Marilyn Monroe, Richard Widmark and Anne Bancroft. A Dram of Poison (1956) won the Edgar Award for best novel that year.
PHOTO: SYNDICATE BOOKS
10. Margaret Millar
1915 – 1994. Born in Canada and died in California, Margaret Millar was well-known for her suspenseful writing style and shocking novel endings. Beast in View, a novel that won the 1956 Best Novel honor for the Edgar Award clearly shows why. This psychological thriller was also adapted into an Alfred Hitchcock Hour TV episode.
With so many incredible female mystery writers throughout our time, this list wasn’t easy to breakdown and rank. But that’s a great problem to have thanks to a huge, insanely talented pool of both old and newer contenders steadily pumping out hard-to-beat stories and characters that we can’t get enough of.
Be sure and see Adrienne Kennedy’s debut masterpiece, Ohio State Murders, for all the thrilling twists and turns on Broadway, beginning November 11.
All week long, we celebrate the life and legacy of Angela Lansbury. Here are tributes, stories, memories and the love we remember.
Today: Jefferson Mays, Phylicia Rashad, Jeffrey Richards, Molly Ringwald, Michael Rupert, Matthew Byam Shaw, Phillipa Soo, Richard Thomas
JEFFERSON MAYS
“I performed with her in Jeffrey Richards’s 2012 revival of Gore Vidal’s THE BEST MAN at the Schoenfeld. Even though the combined ages of everyone above the title was around 500 years she was always, somehow, the youngest person in the rehearsal room and on stage —it was like performing with a 14 year old with the acting chops of an 87 year old. Play was always the thing with Angela. I remember hiding from her backstage during performances and she’d always hunt me down and hit me with her cane. I was first mesmerized by her in BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS, (which she graciously condescended to discuss with me as a child in my 50’s), but my favorite role of hers was Mrs Lovett in SWEENY TODD — In the early 80’s, I checked the album out of my hometown public library every two weeks for the better part of a year. And, of course, my favorite photo is of her, resplendent in medieval dress, tucking into a big hamburger with Basil Rathbone at the Paramount commissary while filming THE COURT JESTER. Pure Angela!”
PHYLICIA RASHAD
I was privileged to work with Angela Lansbury in “Murder She Wrote.” She was wonderful! Warm and personable, professional, and oh so kind. Her eyes were filled with light. She was filled with light and love. I treasure her memory.
JEFFREY RICHARDS
“For my memories all are exciting My memories all are enchanted My memories burn in my head with a steady glow”…those are the lyrics from the hauntingly beautiful Jerry Herman song which Dame Angie (as I called her) sang so memorably in “Dear World” I had the privilege of presenting her in “Blithe Spirit” and “Gore Vidal’s The Best Man”…one word captures what she meant to me and to so many of us Class.
MOLLY RINGWALD
What a legend. I don’t believe we ever met. I think I would’ve remembered, and I wasn’t lucky enough to have seen her onstage since I grew up a California kid, but of course I know her film career. Let me think about it. I have many connections TO her (I did a film with Len Cariou who was in Sweeney Todd on Broadway) and She was the great aunt of my friend Ally Sheedy’s son. Off the top of my head, I would have to say the Manchurian Candidate always blows me away. Especially the fact that she was playing Laurence Harvey’s mother when they were almost the same age.
MICHAEL RUPERT
Angela Lansbury, in all the times I saw her on stage, made me want to constantly work to be better, to be truly committed to the work at hand and to be a real professional. She made the theater an amazing profession by example. My favorite performance of hers Mrs.Lovett in Sweeney Todd. Though, Elvis Presley’s doting mother in Blue Hawaii is a close second.
When I was a young teenager, I moved to NYC from California to be in a Broadway show, The Happy Time. For my performance, I got a Tony nomination. The day of the Tony Awards show, we gathered for rehearsal and camera blocking at The Shubert Theater, where the televised awards were to be presented that year. At some point in the afternoon, I was sitting alone in the house, watching everything that was happening, when Audrey Hepburn (who was a presenter that year) came and sat beside me and started quietly chatting, asking to know all about me, my career and what show I was in, etc.. Then Angela joined us. And she seemed to be as genuinely interested in my young life in the theater as Ms. Hepburn. They both made a 16-year-old making his Broadway debut feel like a true member of the theater and acting community. And made him feel very special that day.
MATTHEW BYAM SHAW
Angela Lansbury had the grace, intelligence and enormous talent which made her a true star and a joy to work with. She had an unstoppable mix of charisma and empathy which made her beloved by the public and colleagues alike. Her family political history in the British Labour movement rooted her in the proper principles of decency, respect and fellowship which shone through in her work and elevated her further.
MY favorite Angela performance from stage (and/or screen)? As a small boy I was besotted with Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
After her triumph on Broadway she enjoyed the same great success with Blithe Spirit here in London at the Gielgud with such humility and delight. It was intoxicating and made the company and all of us at Playful Productions determined to have the best time possible with a great legend in our midst.
PHILLIPA SOO
Though I never met Angela Lansbury, her portrayal as the voice of Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast is one of most distinct voices I can recall from my childhood. It was familiar, like a warm hug. What an icon. She has lived the exemplary life of an artist.
RICHARD THOMAS
I believe she had the perfect career. Long and varied in all mediums. Success both artistic and commercial. Delicious performances laced with wit, warmth and occasional creepiness. And an unswerving loyalty to the theater.
I can never get Mrs. Lovett out of my mind. She’s always there, inviting me to have a pie.
We shared the same neighborhood and enjoyed many conversations in that orbit. I never played with her, but knew her and revered her as a colleague. And she was a truly lovely person. Here’s to Angie!
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Topdog/Underdog, is receiving a first-rate, totally enthralling revival at the Golden Theatre on Broadway. Anchored by sensational performances from its two stars, Corey Hawkins and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and directed by Kenny Leon, the play focuses on two brothers, aptly named Lincoln and Booth. Both are driven by their obsession with three-card monte and haunted by their past which inevitably forces them to come to grips with their history and their connective tissue. Watching Hawkins and Abdul-Mateen reflect on the hustle, exposing what it means to be family, makes for a truly riveting two handers. The surprise of the evening comes from Hawkins who graces the audience with his soul stirring vocals…leaving us wondering is a musical on his horizon? Once again Kenny Leon proves he is a master at honoring the writer’s words, trusting his actors to deliver them and providing his audiences with a winning evening at the theater.
