This is a new project in a select few ways. The director is the same, the music director is the same, two of the actors are the same, but the show is now completely different. Benj Pasek and Justin Paul have been hired to completely overhaul the script and score and start from scratch. With what they’ve done so far I couldn’t be more impressed. The sounds are tight, the style is riveting, and the music ebbs and flows with the action just like it should. However, there are still going to be changes, just like any new work. The cast is in the process of frantically learning the whole score for a sing-thru early next week for the newly minted composers and everyone else to hear. Only the first act was presented officially to anyone during the workshop this past summer at the 5th Avenue.

I can quell your ever-growing fears and simply say: This will be a kick ass show.

And now for your viewing pleasure… the Leg Lamp…

Copyright 5th Avenue Theatre

Next up on the 5th Avenue’s stage is The Drowsy Chaperone, opening on the 29th of October.  

Read the SHREK article on NYtimes.com: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/theater/01arts-SHREKLOSESON_BRF.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Go and experience this incredible piece of art, Intimate Exchanges by Alan Ayckbourn.  You’ll marvel at not only the script itself (about 750 pages long with over 16 hours of dialogue between the two actors), but the veteran performances of R. Hamilton Wright and Marianne Owen.  

Intimate Exchanges runs Thursday through Sept. 14 

ACT Theatre, 700 Union St.

Tickets: $10-$55; 206-292-7676 or acttheatre.org

A Schedule of the alternate endings and their corresponding nights can be found here: https://www.acttheatre.org/TicketsPlays/IntimateExchanges-schedule.aspx?prod=1014

AND a great interview with each of the artists: https://www.acttheatre.org/TicketsPlays/IntimateExchanges-Interview.aspx?prod=1014

The ENTIRE project is shrouded in secrecy.  Justin and I went to the 5th on a whim to see if we could watch a bit of tech and we were told things were very tight in the house and on the project.  Nobody in the office could go in and watch either.  

[This random whim coming from last year's production of Lone Star Love which... wait, what happened to that show?  Randy Quaid and Robert Cuccioli were in that... hmm anyway.  I was able to watch a bit of tech and walk around and ask questions about the production.  Not so for Shrek]

Christopher Sieber will be playing Lord Farquaad in the show, and he tells the PI that he’ll be the character’s correct 4’11″ self on stage.  But that’s all he’s allowed to say.  

For those of you who haven’t discovered the myspace fan page with 4 of the songs from the musical posted PLEASE give a listen!  Let them and everyone know what you think.  

http://www.myspace.com/shrekthemusicalfans

In a rather serendipitous turn of events, Justin and I saw the Paramount’s production of “A Chorus Line” on Wednesday, August 6th.  After arriving at the Cheesecake Factory for a bite to eat we were asked by our Linguine-esque waiter if we were attending the show that night.  We both kind of looked at each other and back at him and he expounded.  I called the Paramount, there were tickets left AND student rush available for $25.00 [Always a good idea for any show].  We enjoyed our lovely linner / dunch of bread, butter, and pasta and trekked over to the theatre an hour before the show.  Student Rush applies for any and all seats at the Paramount so we scored two eighth row tickets right of house and sat next to those poor unfortunate souls who paid upwards of $75.00 for their tickets.  

This was Justin’s first time seeing the show live so with cherry popped, hands held, we embarked on the journey of 17 dancers making their way through the ever-familiar audition process.  

It was an incredible production with a wall of sound filling the space with every chorus number, beads of sweat flying with every move, and hardly a dry eye in the house after Nikki Snelson’s [Cassie] Music and the Mirror.  

A beautiful production that relies on the story and the actors working their asses off to fill the space.  

The ONE thing that bothered both Justin and I was the newly-donned tagline for the musical

A Chorus Line - The Best Musical.  Ever.

Well, that’s just not true and I think we can all agree on that.  Applause will always hold that spot in our hearts.  

For those of you who were able to see it, consider yourself lucky.  This cast was very tight, very concise, and very invested.  Not always the case for touring casts.  

“My job is to reinvent the ‘Shrek’ story for the theater — not to copy the film,” says theatrical designer Tim Hatley, onstage at the 5th Avenue Theatre.

A VERY stimulating article from the Times giving a behind-the-scenes peek at the upcoming production, it’s design elements, and Shrek’s quest to remain true to the original book by William Steig [from which the movies were based].  The article includes a great overview of the artistic team and their vision for the show.

Of course, the show is already scheduled to open on Broadway December 14th of this year in one of the Shubert Houses, but it’s currently in it’s pre-Broadway preview at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, WA [WOOT].  

Great images of the props and set included!  Check it out and grab your tickets!

New York Times article about the Guthrie’s production of Little House On the Prairie The Musical.  Interviews director Francesca Zambello about the necessity of this type of musical in our current political state.  

“We show the dark side of life too, the foreign Swedes and Norwegians coming into the heartland, which reminds us of the immigration crisis today,” she added. “And the lessons Laura learns: near the end, Ma sings a song called ‘Wild Child,’ telling Laura to embrace that side of herself, that it’s O.K. for a girl to be who you are, be different, be independent while still drawing on her family.”

He talks with Melissa Gilbert who played Laura in the original series years ago, but now steps up into the Mother’s role.  She talks about her experiences with the series and what it was like working on stage.  

Ms. Gilbert said she feels deeply protective of the story and had told Karen Grassle — who played Caroline on television — that hers were “big shoes to fill.”

Also talks with Kara Lindsay [Laura] and Sara Jean Ford [Nellie Oleson] about their training and getting to perform on the Guthrie Stage.  It continues to cover the journey from the original idea to the Guthrie Stage with Joe Dowling [Artistic Director of the Guthrie in Minneapolis] picking up the show and launching it into it’s current 12 week run.  

> Two Stunning Production Photos included in the article

This article outlines the thick financial journey of the musical from idea to Guthrie to Broadway… HUGE quotations around that last one, the article even confirms it.  They are anticipating a National Tour, not necessarily a Broadway booking.  With 12 weeks at The Guthrie, it’ll be a while before it heads anywhere.  

Though it must be said – the production is solid in that demographic.  I was fortunate enough to attend the first night of previews and let me tell you, I fought tooth and nail to get into that seat.  I bugged the office staff until they knew my name about returned / cancelled tickets and I got on while I was on my way to Minneapolis from Winona, MN.  I figured the Gods of Theatre would shine down and let me in, and I’m glad they did.  The theatre was packed with older women and their daughters, and their daughters too.  It was the perfect opening night audience, and by the look of it that type of audience is filling the house every night.  

Anyway, this article is pretty technical to read but it really gives a great background as to who is involved in the process of getting the musical financially stable.