Les Miserables tells the story of Inspector Javert pursing Jean Valjean, a frenchman on the run for two decades, when Valjean finds himself in the middle of the June Rebellion in Paris. Plenty of high profile names have been tossed around when a film adaptation of the musical Les Miserables was announced last year. Amanda Seyfried, Taylor Swift and Lea Michele were vying for Eponine and Cosette. Amanda Seyfried is playing Cosette, the illegitimate daughter of a struggling factory worker. Much to the surprise of the theater community, Taylor Swift was offered the role of Eponine over Lea Michele who had previously played the role. It was announced this week that Samantha Barks will play the role. She currently plays Nancy in the UK tour of Oliver! Rounding out this start studded affair is Hugh Jackman (Jean Valijean), Russell Crowe (Inspector Javert), Anne Hathaway (Fantine), and Helena Bonham Carter (Madam Thenardier). Tom Hopper, director of The King’s Speech and Elizabeth I is directing the film.
Principal photography will begin in March of this year with a scheduled release date of December 2012. As a fan of the musical and a film student that knows all too well how long it takes to make a movie, there is no way they can do the show justice with a six month turn around between shooting and the release date. Many theatergoers are worried that the high profile names attached to the project will overshadow this story. Only time will tell. *Article originally posted here
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![]() WHERE/WHEN: February 4th from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m in PED 205. **PLEASE NOTE THAT CALLBACKS WILL BE HELD 8:30 to 10:00 p.m. THE SAME DAY. Sign up in the Drama Center PREPARE: For auditions, please prepare a 2-3 minute contemporary monologue (either comedic or dramatic). Also, please be prepared to sing a short a-capella section of a pop song that shows off your fierce forward-placed Broadway belt. You may be asked to dance to a late 80′s pop song (and by “may”, we mean “probably will”). SPEECH AND DEBATE by Stephen Karam, a wickedly dark comedy with an edge, tackles the age-old issues surrounding the difficult transition a teen entering into adulthood. CHARACTER BREAKDOWN *Please note: The roles of Solomon and Diwata have been cast. HOWIE, 18 – an out-of-place hipster from Portland who dreams of getting out of Salem. His online relationships (as BlBoi) unearth some rather interesting points about the adults in his town who may, or may not, be what they say they are. TEACHER/REPORTER, 40s (Female) – Solomon’s teacher who prohibits him from writing about anything salacious or subversive while dealing with his interrogation; Jan Clark, a reporter from The Oregonian who comes to observe the team’s rehearsal at a most inopportune time. There are several voice-overs in the production so we are also looking for people to record Solomon’s father, Diwata’s mother, radio announcer, and Howie’s father. *The role of the teacher/reporter is traditionally played by one actress, but the role may be split between two actors. Directed by Zach Kaufer Stage Managed by Kathryn Lochert Costume Design by Sarah Bedo Scenic Design by Victoria Tam Lighting Design by Ariana Burrell Sound Design by Kelsi Halverson Casting by Kylie Sparks PERFORMANCES:Village Gate Theatre (tentative times) April 25th, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. April 26th, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. April 27th, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. *Article originally posted here The Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists labor unions representing onscreen talent in Hollywood. They are trying to merge after years of budding heads within the industry. SAG covers principal actors and background talent. AFTRA covers radio, television, stunt people, voice over actors, television announcers and singers. When the unions started, television did not exist and all of the other areas were separate from one another. Now, actors perform in television, film, voice over and online creating a confusing mess of dues and rules. When AFTRA began coving television, tv consisted of news shows. Now with cable programming, actors are on tv along with broadcasters, blurring the line between the two unions. With the advent of the internet and then webseries, no one has jurisdiction. To eliminate the confusion, the two unions are finally close to merging, creating one mega union. Ballots are being sent out in February to members of each union to vote on the merger, with an answer sometime in March. What will the new name be if the merger passes? The longest acronym ever: SAG-AFTRA.
How does this affect you? Dues will increase if you were part of one union before. However, if you are not part of the union, you can join through AFTRA’s “open door policy.” Anyone with $1,600 can join AFTRA right now, and if the proposed merger is voted through, then you will be grandfathered in and automatically become a part of SAG-AFTRA. If you wait until after the unions merge, then the three voucher rule still applies. The one issue still unresolved is pension and health plans, since both unions have very different rules. Read full article at Deadline *Article originally posted here ![]() READING COMMITTEE Our season is about to get started, and we need students to be a part of our reading committee to help us choose what plays will be a part of our Spring 2012 Season. Please fill out an application in the DRC if you are interested and meet the following requirements: REQUIREMENTS: MUST HAVE BEEN APART OF OR WORKED WITH BNT BEFORE AND CANNOT BE SUBMITTING A PLAY FOR THIS SEASON. The meeting will take place on Sunday, February 5thfor approximately 4 hours. We would love your input on making our play selection!!! CALLING ALL PLAYWRIGHTS If you have a play or scene or sketch that you’re dying to see performed, submit it! We accept one-act plays of all genres, no longer than 30 minutes in duration. All submissions should be sent electronically to our Literary Director, Brien O’Loughin, at [email protected]. Be sure that your submission is sent in PDF format with the title of the play as the file name. DO NOT include your (the playwright’s) name anywhere in your submission. There will be a BNT box in the DRC where you can get a submission cover sheet, fill it out, and turn it right back in so we’ll know what play(s) are yours. Selected playwrights will need to be open to re-writes and suggestions. There will also be a mandatory 2-week workshop. We encourage involvement from ALL USC STUDENTS, regardless of major. So anyone can submit! The submission deadline is FRIDAY, February 3rd. Be aware that the DRC closes at 5pm, so if your cover sheet is not received by then, your play will not be considered for this season. DIRECT YOUR OWN ONE ACT If you have a talent for directing, or have always wanted to try it out, BNT is for you! We interview all students for their chance to direct their own original student written play; all you have to do is fill out the Directing Application located in the DRC. There will be a BNT box in the DRC where you can get a Directing Application, fill it out, and turn it right back in. We will contact you further about setting up an interview. We encourage involvement from ALL USC STUDENTS, regardless of major. So anyone can submit! The submission deadline is FRIDAY, February 3rd. Be aware that the DRC closes at 5pm, so if your application is not received by then, your application will not be considered for this season. BOARD OF DIRECORS BNT is now accepting applications for our BOARD OF DIRECTORS! Interested in leadership opportunities? Wanting to get some behind-the-scenes theatrical experience? Here’s your chance to work first-hand in creating our next season of original works as well as many seasons yet to come!! We’re looking for people interested in: ASST. LITERARY DIRECTOR ASST. TECHNICICAL DIRECTOR ASST. MARKETING DIRECTOR ASST. PRODUCING DIRECOTR STAGE MANAGEMENT All applications are due in the DRC by 5pm on FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3RD!! Interviews for applicants will take place the following week (February 6- 12). DRC= Drama Center ALL APPLICATIONS DUE FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3rd by 5PM. *Article originally posted here It was just announced that The Book of Mormon is coming to the Pantages Theatre September 5, 2012. This new musical was nominated for 13 Tony Awards last year, winning 9. The show was written by the creators of South Park, Trey Parker and Robert Lopez and the music was written by Matt Stone, known for Avenue Q.
The Book of Mormon is a religious satire that follows two Mormon missionaries as they travel to Uganda, Africa to try and spread the word of God but have trouble connecting with the Africans who are more concerned with AIDS, poverty and famine than the Book of Mormon. The musical took 7 years to develop and premiered on Broadway in March 2011. *Article originally posted here ![]() A lot of buzz surrounds Spring Awakening opening next week. The show sold out in 36 hours, even before posters were printed, prompting the show to add a seventh performance (Thurs Feb 2 at 11pm) to try and accommodate all of the reservations. A huge reason for the interest in the show is that USC is one of the first college’s given the rights to produce the show. Before this it was only professional theaters and touring companies. Madelyne Heymen is the director of the 17 person show. She was chosen by the producers, Manny Prieto and Patrick Phillips after sending out an open call to the facebook world asking for people interested in working on the show. They had an overwhelming response from all majors particularly interested in being choreographers. The cast is an eclectic group from theater majors to computer engineers to chemistry phd candidates and a few graduate students. Manny Prieto is also production designing the show, meaning he is designing the set, costumes and lights (and never sleeping again). Recent graduate Jordan Schames is assisting on lights and Madigan Stehly and Kate Harrow are the technical directors. Jannelle Mammini and Kelly Ciurczak are the choreographers. Manny was drawn to the show because of the “the way [it] uses music to express feeling and emotion.” It is a very different type of musical that “speaks to [a] certain generation” through a more “rock alternative sound.” Cardinal Theater Productions began last spring when Manny and Patrick decided to produce a show for the fall semester. Over the summer they read dozens of plays and musicals, applying for the rights of Avenue Q, Bloody Andrew Jackson, and Spring Awakening. As you may have guessed Spring Awakening won. Because it is such a huge undertaking, they decided to push the show to the spring semester so they could have ample time to prepare. The Musical is based on the play Spring Awakening by German playwright Frank Wedekind. The play explores different views on sexuality, homosexuality, suicide, religion, abuse, education, and peer pressure, issues we still struggle with today. The play was written in the 1890s and premiered in 1906. It can be extremely depressing but very relevant to current issues. The musical premiered on Broadway in 2006, receiving eleven Tony Award nominations. The musical was written by Steven Sater and music by Duncan Sheik. The original Broadway cast included Jonathan Groff (Melchior) and Lea Michele (Wendla) most famous for playing Jesse St. James and Rachel Berry on Glee respectively. This following paragraph is solely because I am interested in lighting and fascinated by how the crew is going to pull off such a light heavy show in a very limited space. So if you care nothing about nerdy technical stuff, skip ahead. The Massman Theater is a beautiful blackbox space but has many limitations. The space has a limited inventory of lighting instruments and only 36 dimmers (usually only 32 work). How do you put on a musical with limited space, inventory and power sources? LED lights. The show has 20 plus LED lights that only use 30 watts per light instead of 1000 watts per light. This allows Manny to plug more lights into each dimmer. With this solution the show has more channels than dimmers. There will still be traditional theatrical lighting such as fresnels and pars. This is the first ISP I know of to use mostly LED lights for their show. Performance Schedule Thursday Feb 2 8pm and 11pm Friday Feb 3 at 8pm and 11pm Sat Feb 4 at 2pm and 8pm Sun Feb 5 at 2pm RSVP for Thurs 11pm at [email protected]. Limit 2 tickets per person. There will also be limited day of seating but there will be NO late seating or floor seating. Each day the show posts pictures and videos from rehearsals leading up to opening night. *Article originally posted here I’m sure many of you have heard about the controversy surrounding George Lucas’ new film Red Tails. The film tells the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first all African-American fighter pilot team during WWII. They established African-Americans in the military both competent and a necessity to winning the war. It took George Lucas 23 years to get this film made, finally giving up on making it through the studio system and funding it himself with a $58 million budget. After the film was completed, he spent an additional $35 million for marketing and distribution because the studios still refused to back the film. We live in a diverse world and have a black president, yet Hollywood refuses to acknowledge the changes in the world. Like the views of the military during WWII, Hollywood does not believe that there is market for films with a majority black cast, and in turn ,no way of making money. If there is no market than why is every Tyler Perry film financially successful and liked by audiences? Or must the African-American be dressed in drag to make a profit? In response to Hollywood’s ignorance of this film, an Occupy Red Tails movement was started online, encouraging moviegoers of all races to support this film and send a message to Hollywood: WE WANT TO SEE DIVERSITY ONSCREEN. Prominent celebrities spoke out in support of the film. Tyler Perry thanked George Lucas “for having the courage to do this [because] movies starring an all African-American cast are on the verge of becoming extinct.” I saw the film Friday at the Grove and was impressed by the turnout. The theater was half full at 1pm with an array of ages and races. Spoiler Alert: The audience applauded during the Red Tails first mission when they killed 10 fighter planes and a German base. At the end of the film, when the Tuskegee Airmen were shown decorated with honors, the audience actually stood up and cheered. If we really are as narrow-minded as Hollywood thinks, than why are audiences having such a strong reaction to the film? I usually don’t watch action movies but I did enjoy the film. It was refreshing to see an educated black cast. Most of the Tuskegee Airmen came from educated, middle class families and graduated college, many with the intention of becoming doctors and lawyers after the war. The film provided a nice history lesson from an often unheard of point of view. And for you action movie fans, there are plenty of aerial battles and things blowing up. So far, we have proven Hollywood wrong by opening number two at the box office this weekend behind Underworld. To date the film has grossed $19.1 million with an A- on CineScore. *Article originally posted here Check Out the Trailer: ![]() Cardinal Theatre Production’s “Spring Awakening” announced this morning they have added another show. Alongside their February 2nd through 5th run, a new show will run on Thursday, February 11th at 11pm. RSVPs for the show begin this Friday at 10am with a limit of 2 seats per son. For more information about the announcement or to RSVP for the show, visit Spring Awakening on facebook: Spring Awakening on Facebook Play review posted here *Article originally posted here ![]() The Drowsy Chaperone begins in blackout with a man in a chair saying “I hate theater.” A chuckle escapes from the audience as they are sucked into this crazy musical world. The man (Thomas Krottinger) is a fan of The Drowsy Chaperone the musical and acts as commentator and audience member throughout the show, breaking the fourth wall. As he begins to play the songs from the musical on the record play, the audience sees what the man in the chair is imagining as he listens. Drowsy is set in the 1920s during the time of prohibition. Janet Van De Graaf (Carrie St. Louis), successful and famous showgirl, is ending her career to marry Robert (Patrick Moynihan), the love of her life. Per tradition, the bride is not allowed to see her fiancé on their wedding day, so it is the job of the drowsy chaperone is (Olivia Lane) to keep Janet away from Robert until the wedding. As her name suggests, the chaperone is drunk and constantly drinking throughout the day. The owner of the theater (Steven Miller) where Janet performed is threatened by gangsters (who are dressed as pastry chefs) to stop the wedding or else the theater’s funding will stop. Crazy antics ensue with dazzling musical numbers (choreographed by Matthew McFarland) where a threat from the pastry chefs turns into a fun musical number with jazz hands. The theater owner asks Adolpho (Cole Cuomo), the Latin lover, to seduce Janet and stop the wedding. Adolpho mistakenly seduces the drowsy chaperone in a hilariously, clumsy pasodoble. I won’t completely spoil the ending but the show ends with a group musical number, along with many other things happening during the song. The entire cast gave amazing performances. Thomas Krottinger stole the show as the man in the chair. He is onstage the entire show, and never misses a beat from commenting on the scenes to just actively staying engaged and reacting to what is occurring onstage. Cole Cuomo receives the memorable line once again with “Adolpho,” just as funny as his “I understand” from last spring’s musical On the Town. Haley Willis plays the ditzy, yet hilarious and endearing Kitty. Ben Rudolph (George, the best man) and Patrick Moynihan (Robert, the groom) perform an amazing tap number akin to Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor in Singin’ in the Rain. The whole production is directed by DJ Blickenstaff. The set is one of the most elaborate I have seen in the Massman Theatre. It is a full set with 4 different entryways and plenty of unexpected gags from a multi-purpose refrigerator to a plane suddenly appearing. There is wood floor for the entire set that helps enhance the spectacular tap number. The lighting really enhanced the show with varied looks for each musical number (lighting design by Madighan Stehly). It is especially impressive when considering the limited number of dimmers and lighting instruments in the space. There was even a follow spot, which is typical of a musical, but not one is such a small space. The follow spot operator (Alex Underwood) did a great job changing focus mid song without it being distracting. Drowsy is a perfect show for musical lovers and cynics. The show continually comments on itself and acknowledges the saccharine quality of some of the songs and some of the unrealistic plot devices. At points the man in the chair is saying what the cynic is thinking, making it even more enjoyable. I wasn’t able to mention everyone by name in the article, but the entire creative team put in a tremendous amount of work and presented a very entertaining show. *Article originally posted here This past week Disney announced plans to turn Into the Woods into a film with Rob Marshall (Memoirs of a Geisha) attached as director.
Rob Marshall is familiar with movie musicals, having directed the 1999 remake of Annie and the 2002 remake of Chicago. Into the Woods is the 1987 musical written by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine. The show weaves together all of the classic fairy tales from Little Red Hood to Cinderella to Rapunzel into a darker story, closer to that of the Grimm Brothers and Hans Christian Anderson. No cast is attached yet. If you can’t wait for the movie to be released, there is a filmed version of the musical when it was on Broadway. *Article originally posted here |
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