President Obama Surrounded by Security and ARTISTS

We all watched it and I can only believe we have all been moved. The last line from my favorite movie, The Shawshank Redemption, echos in my mind, "I hope."

What struck me most though in his inauguration ceremony was not the wall to wall crowds of hopeful and inspired citizens, not the wall to wall security phalanxes and guards, not the back to back to back entrances or arguably the most powerful politicians in the world.

What struck me most was that for this most important and historic event, President Obama was surrounded by ARTISTS. Aretha Franklin (legendary singer), Itzhak Perlman (Violin), Yo-Yo Ma (Cello), Gabriela Montero (Piano), and Anthony McGill (Clarinet). All artists at the height of their careers and at the height of their abilities to express their talents. And again, "I hope."

"I hope" that we will understand the need for the support and expansion of the arts for our children and for our whole society. As we have seen on Wall Street, capitalism without oversight is ripe with corruption and creates a society that only focuses on profits and short term gains. We cannot continue to go down that road. We need education and discipline. And the arts represent that in so many ways. Just try to be an accomplished musician without discipline. Just try to write a play or musical without a keen respect for education.

In our capitalistic market and society, "I hope" to continue to find brave and forward thinking investors that are willing to take a chance on art. It is so important to have it in our society, the President was compelled to surrounded himself with experts at creating it.

dreampeddler

West Side Story Review in Variety

Well you don't get much better reviews than the one they published in VARIETY. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing this show that holds a special place in my heart. I did a tour of this show a while back and it was an incredible experience. It was directed by one of the original cast members, Alan Johnson, and it was the first time a director demonstrated to a cast that every word, every dance step, every high note was written by the authors with a specific acting intention. This is not a show to use your own musical riffs (no pun intended), show off your own dancing style (stop popping the hip, Cassie), or improv your acting. It is all on the page so just don't screw it up. Who'd have thought that journey would actually be freeing as an actor? No worries about if you're "feeling" it or not, just do it! And when it is done right there is no other show like it.

The show opens in NYC in February and we'll see if the NYC critics love it as much as VARIETY did! I hope so.

dreampeddler

Gloom and Doom on Broadway

Well it has been a while since I have posted and it is mainly because the news has been so heartbreaking about all the closings of shows. Many friends and associates are out of work and the prospect of new shows is certainly smaller in number. (Click here for the list of closings in January from BroadwayWorld.com)

But do not lose hope! There are new shows on the way (West Side Story and Minsky's should be good) and those shows that do stay open will have less competition for their ticket prices. And maybe, just maybe, ticket prices just might start coming down - or at least producers are certainly going to have to get creative in their marketing to pry out patron's money from tightened purse strings and wallets.

But theater will rebound. It always does and the reason is this: we need it. Theater, more than any other entertainment form, has been with us from the very first storytellers were spinning their tales over the open flames near the cave dwellings. As a whole, we humans need to have both artistic expression and the communal experience of sharing our collective conscious. This challenging time will provide for an explosion in the quality of upcoming productions as we hopefully rid ourselves of the selfish consumer spend, spend, spend, morally and spiritually bankrupt society we have become. Reflection and a return to necessity will be a good dose of medicine for us all to take, and what better place to swallow your dose than in the theater!

So get writing, or get acting, or get producing, or get to the theater! It will be a powerful couple of years ahead.

Dreampeddler