NYCPlaywrights May 25, 2024
30 views
Skip to first unread message
NYCPlaywrights
May 25, 2024, 5:03:07 PMMay 25
to NYCPlaywrights
Greetings NYCPlaywrights
*** FREE THEATER IN NYC ***
A COMEDY OF ERRORS
The Public Theater's Mobile Unit's Bilingual Musical Adaptation
Touring across all five boroughs / De gira por los cinco distritos
May 28 – June 30, 2024
90 minutes / 90 minutos
Welcome to The Public Theater’s Mobile Unit and our production of William Shakespeare’s THE COMEDY OF ERRORS, adapted by Rebecca Martínez and Julián Mesri, a modern reimagining of the classic trope of twins and mistaken identity that has captivated screens and stages for decades. This unique musical adaptation weaves a beautiful story of mistaken identity, family separation, and joyous reunion.
https://publictheater.org/productions/season/2324/go-public/mobile-units-the-comedy-of-errors/
*** OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYWRIGHTS ***
The Science Playwriting Competition brings science and theatre together for the dissemination of scientific knowledge through an intriguing lens — providing inspiration for plays that lead to exciting ways of learning about science. Rooted in artistic expression, the best science plays can be exceptional works of art that aesthetically convey scientific concepts, potentially resulting in further explorations in both disciplines. In this way, science and theatre may learn from each other, through their common goals of investigating and gaining an understanding of the significance of science and how the world works.
***
Are you a budding Playwright? Would you like to have your work performed on a London stage?
We are looking for a series of ONE ACT, 12 -15 PAGES, 3 CHARACTER fictional stage plays (please only submit your work if it fits this criteria).
This is a fantastic opportunity for new and emerging playwrights to have their work produced by an exciting company.
Chosen by Rebound Productions and a panel of collaborators, the plays will be judged on:
Stethoscope Stage 2024
Ten-mintue plays and Five-minute monologues (personal narratives) addressing the following prompt:
With unsettling statistics around maternal mortality rates in the United State of America and stories such as those of Kyira Adele Dixon, Serena Williams, and most recently Kate Cox at the forefront of press and national conversations, the SS 2024 festival theme reflects on maternal health and effective — or ineffective — communication between women and their healthcare providers. Write a narrative in the form of a ten-minute play or five-minute monologue that explores this timely subject.
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION about these and other opportunities see the web site at https://www.nycplaywrights.org ***
*** JUKEBOX MUSICALS ***
If you’re humming along to Buddy Holly, blaring Green Day, or dancing to Demi Lovato, you probably feel as far, in musical terms, from the Broadway stage as possible, but you are in fact a lot closer to performing musical theatre than you may think. Jukebox musicals have been around since the 1950s, taking popular songs and weaving them into a plot to create a full-length stage show. However, ‘Jukeboxes’ are often overlooked or disregarded by theatre professionals for being too simplistic and undeserving of the title of ‘musical’. I, on the contrary, would argue that jukebox musicals deserve far more credit than they receive and that they have served as essential contributors and creators of the thriving musical theatre scene we know today.
The first popular jukebox musical was ‘An American in Paris’, released in 1951, featuring Gene Kelly dancing to music by Ira and George Gershwin. However, jukebox musicals existed solely on the screen, rather the stage, for over twenty years until ‘Bubbling Brown Sugar’ debuted in 1976. It really wasn’t until ‘Mamma Mia!’ hit the stage in 1999 that jukebox musicals took off. The 2000s and 2010s witnessed an absolute explosion of jukebox pieces coming to stage and becoming household names.
So, what is it about jukebox musicals that people shun so much?
More...
https://www.calliopeartsjournal.com/post/don-t-rock-the-jukebox-why-jukebox-musicals-deserve-more-credit
***
Theatre critics are at war. Locked in a bitter struggle stretching back more than two decades. A battle that all signs suggest we are losing … miserably.
The foe: the jukebox musical.
OK, maybe I’m being a bit overdramatic with that framing. But some critics hold such contempt for the genre — which recycles existing songs, usually by pop superstars, and spins (or worse, shoehorns) them into a theatrical narrative — that it certainly seems they are leading a crusade against the rising tide of pop musicals.
Take Jesse Green, chief theatre critic of the New York Times, who once said the biographical jukebox musical is “the cockroach of Broadway. It has a small head, a primitive nervous system and will probably outlast the apocalypse.” Ouch.
More...
https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/stage/what-the-rise-of-the-jukebox-musical-says-about-the-future-of-commercial-theatre/article_712e397a-d4bf-11ee-b616-df3d6e9cb067.html
***
The greatest strength and greatest weakness of the Jukebox Musical is that members of the audience may have heard these songs before, especially if they are popular ones. As a strength, that means that they can easily work as emotionally shorthand if they're already associated with a certain mood in pop culture, bolstering the narrative of the work. As a weakness, audience members could have strong memories related to these songs that can cause Mood Dissonance. For example, the cool rock song you chose to emphasize the hero's He's Back! moment could end up reminding one audience member of their first college breakup, another of a deceased family member, or another of some old phone ad, diminishing the intended emotional impact of the scene. In the worst case scenario — and why they are frequently met with criticism as a concept — the songs are inserted with no context at all or with completely misunderstood or inappropriate applications, but this can be an advantage in more comedic productions.
More...
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/JukeboxMusical
***
The jukebox musical can be an embarrassing phenomenon: a living, breathing pop-music wax museum. It can be pandering and disingenuous, fostering a dynamic that the Times has called “ovation-by-coercion.” It can repackage your happiest memories as a Vegas revue, making great pop songs watery with orchestration and brassy with “American Idol”-style belting. And ever since “Mamma Mia” popularized the genre, in 2001, the jukebox musical has begun to take over. Its dominance seems especially painful in light of the worthy composers doing terrific original work now. In an ideal world, Broadway would have more musicals scored by Stephen Trask, the “Hedwig” punk genius. It would feature the music of Dave Malloy, the composer of “Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812,” “Beowulf,” and other delights; Mark Mulcahy, the pop wizard behind Ben Katchor’s wonderful oddball musicals, including “The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island”; Michael Friedman, of “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” and Civilians fame; and Jason Loewith and Joshua Schmidt, the composer and lyricist who adapted the brilliant “Adding Machine”—which, while I’m at it, should have transferred to Broadway and stayed there, instead of closing after a few tantalizing months at the Minetta Lane in 2008.
More...
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/lets-rock-defense-jukebox-musicals
***
These are the jukebox musicals we need! For this list, we're looking at those artists that need musicals set to their tunes. We may even have a plot idea or two up our sleeves as well. We've included musicals like Panic! At the Disco, George Michael, Coldplay, Madonna and more! Which artist do you want to see musicals set to their tunes?
#10: Panic! at the Disco
Honestly, with the neo-baroque sound of their first album, you could have a musical written exclusively around those songs. But Panic! has experimented with many sounds throughout their crazy career, and for their fans, it has been a wild ride. Why not put that adventure into one giant, insane musical with each of their sounds being its own act? It could follow one man’s journey through lands of music, a “Gulliver's Travels” for the modern and more maniacal age. But let’s just skip Pretty. Odd., okay?
More...
https://www.watchmojo.com/articles/top-10-jukebox-musicals-we-need
***
Broadway audiences have been singing and dancing along to the hit songs of jukebox musicals for years — and the genre is showing no signs of slowing down. Some jukebox musicals have more staying power than others (see: the success of Mamma Mia! and Jersey Boys versus the "they made that?" forgettability of Viva Forever!), but they generally have a built-in audience of diehard fans of the original music artist. Here are dozens of jukebox musicals that will have you grooving (or at the very least, bobbing your head) to some of the most unforgettable tunes ever written.
More...
https://ew.com/theater/jukebox-musicals-broadway/
***
SCOTT HELLER Jesse, it was nice seeing “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” with you the other night. Am I right that we both left with our heads spinning? I almost think you became a convert to the joys of the jukebox musical!
JESSE GREEN Nothing could cause that conversion, but then “Smokey Joe’s” is only a jukebox in the most rudimentary sense. It is not, like many of these shows, biographical; it does not apply an invented story to an existing song catalog; it does not pour sanctimony and Brylcreem over the top. It’s a revue — and, as I was surprised to find — a good one. The singers were sensational and were allowed to do what sensational singers can: Make drama out of their voices.
BEN BRANTLEY I haven’t seen this incarnation (though I now want to), but I did review the original Broadway production two decades ago, and thought it was a harbinger of worse to come.
ELISABETH VINCENTELLI Is it worth starting with how we define the jukebox musical? You could argue that there are lots of Sondheim jukebox musicals, but they are usually called “revues,” which is a way to avoid a certain stigma.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/29/theater/jukebox-musicals-broadway.html
*** FREE THEATER IN NYC ***
A COMEDY OF ERRORS
The Public Theater's Mobile Unit's Bilingual Musical Adaptation
Touring across all five boroughs / De gira por los cinco distritos
May 28 – June 30, 2024
90 minutes / 90 minutos
Welcome to The Public Theater’s Mobile Unit and our production of William Shakespeare’s THE COMEDY OF ERRORS, adapted by Rebecca Martínez and Julián Mesri, a modern reimagining of the classic trope of twins and mistaken identity that has captivated screens and stages for decades. This unique musical adaptation weaves a beautiful story of mistaken identity, family separation, and joyous reunion.
https://publictheater.org/productions/season/2324/go-public/mobile-units-the-comedy-of-errors/
*** OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYWRIGHTS ***
The Science Playwriting Competition brings science and theatre together for the dissemination of scientific knowledge through an intriguing lens — providing inspiration for plays that lead to exciting ways of learning about science. Rooted in artistic expression, the best science plays can be exceptional works of art that aesthetically convey scientific concepts, potentially resulting in further explorations in both disciplines. In this way, science and theatre may learn from each other, through their common goals of investigating and gaining an understanding of the significance of science and how the world works.
***
Are you a budding Playwright? Would you like to have your work performed on a London stage?
We are looking for a series of ONE ACT, 12 -15 PAGES, 3 CHARACTER fictional stage plays (please only submit your work if it fits this criteria).
This is a fantastic opportunity for new and emerging playwrights to have their work produced by an exciting company.
Chosen by Rebound Productions and a panel of collaborators, the plays will be judged on:
- Originality
- Plot
- Storytelling
- Writing technique
- Enjoyment
Stethoscope Stage 2024
Ten-mintue plays and Five-minute monologues (personal narratives) addressing the following prompt:
With unsettling statistics around maternal mortality rates in the United State of America and stories such as those of Kyira Adele Dixon, Serena Williams, and most recently Kate Cox at the forefront of press and national conversations, the SS 2024 festival theme reflects on maternal health and effective — or ineffective — communication between women and their healthcare providers. Write a narrative in the form of a ten-minute play or five-minute monologue that explores this timely subject.
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION about these and other opportunities see the web site at https://www.nycplaywrights.org ***
*** JUKEBOX MUSICALS ***
If you’re humming along to Buddy Holly, blaring Green Day, or dancing to Demi Lovato, you probably feel as far, in musical terms, from the Broadway stage as possible, but you are in fact a lot closer to performing musical theatre than you may think. Jukebox musicals have been around since the 1950s, taking popular songs and weaving them into a plot to create a full-length stage show. However, ‘Jukeboxes’ are often overlooked or disregarded by theatre professionals for being too simplistic and undeserving of the title of ‘musical’. I, on the contrary, would argue that jukebox musicals deserve far more credit than they receive and that they have served as essential contributors and creators of the thriving musical theatre scene we know today.
The first popular jukebox musical was ‘An American in Paris’, released in 1951, featuring Gene Kelly dancing to music by Ira and George Gershwin. However, jukebox musicals existed solely on the screen, rather the stage, for over twenty years until ‘Bubbling Brown Sugar’ debuted in 1976. It really wasn’t until ‘Mamma Mia!’ hit the stage in 1999 that jukebox musicals took off. The 2000s and 2010s witnessed an absolute explosion of jukebox pieces coming to stage and becoming household names.
So, what is it about jukebox musicals that people shun so much?
More...
https://www.calliopeartsjournal.com/post/don-t-rock-the-jukebox-why-jukebox-musicals-deserve-more-credit
***
Theatre critics are at war. Locked in a bitter struggle stretching back more than two decades. A battle that all signs suggest we are losing … miserably.
The foe: the jukebox musical.
OK, maybe I’m being a bit overdramatic with that framing. But some critics hold such contempt for the genre — which recycles existing songs, usually by pop superstars, and spins (or worse, shoehorns) them into a theatrical narrative — that it certainly seems they are leading a crusade against the rising tide of pop musicals.
Take Jesse Green, chief theatre critic of the New York Times, who once said the biographical jukebox musical is “the cockroach of Broadway. It has a small head, a primitive nervous system and will probably outlast the apocalypse.” Ouch.
More...
https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/stage/what-the-rise-of-the-jukebox-musical-says-about-the-future-of-commercial-theatre/article_712e397a-d4bf-11ee-b616-df3d6e9cb067.html
***
The greatest strength and greatest weakness of the Jukebox Musical is that members of the audience may have heard these songs before, especially if they are popular ones. As a strength, that means that they can easily work as emotionally shorthand if they're already associated with a certain mood in pop culture, bolstering the narrative of the work. As a weakness, audience members could have strong memories related to these songs that can cause Mood Dissonance. For example, the cool rock song you chose to emphasize the hero's He's Back! moment could end up reminding one audience member of their first college breakup, another of a deceased family member, or another of some old phone ad, diminishing the intended emotional impact of the scene. In the worst case scenario — and why they are frequently met with criticism as a concept — the songs are inserted with no context at all or with completely misunderstood or inappropriate applications, but this can be an advantage in more comedic productions.
More...
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/JukeboxMusical
***
The jukebox musical can be an embarrassing phenomenon: a living, breathing pop-music wax museum. It can be pandering and disingenuous, fostering a dynamic that the Times has called “ovation-by-coercion.” It can repackage your happiest memories as a Vegas revue, making great pop songs watery with orchestration and brassy with “American Idol”-style belting. And ever since “Mamma Mia” popularized the genre, in 2001, the jukebox musical has begun to take over. Its dominance seems especially painful in light of the worthy composers doing terrific original work now. In an ideal world, Broadway would have more musicals scored by Stephen Trask, the “Hedwig” punk genius. It would feature the music of Dave Malloy, the composer of “Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812,” “Beowulf,” and other delights; Mark Mulcahy, the pop wizard behind Ben Katchor’s wonderful oddball musicals, including “The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island”; Michael Friedman, of “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” and Civilians fame; and Jason Loewith and Joshua Schmidt, the composer and lyricist who adapted the brilliant “Adding Machine”—which, while I’m at it, should have transferred to Broadway and stayed there, instead of closing after a few tantalizing months at the Minetta Lane in 2008.
More...
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/lets-rock-defense-jukebox-musicals
***
These are the jukebox musicals we need! For this list, we're looking at those artists that need musicals set to their tunes. We may even have a plot idea or two up our sleeves as well. We've included musicals like Panic! At the Disco, George Michael, Coldplay, Madonna and more! Which artist do you want to see musicals set to their tunes?
#10: Panic! at the Disco
Honestly, with the neo-baroque sound of their first album, you could have a musical written exclusively around those songs. But Panic! has experimented with many sounds throughout their crazy career, and for their fans, it has been a wild ride. Why not put that adventure into one giant, insane musical with each of their sounds being its own act? It could follow one man’s journey through lands of music, a “Gulliver's Travels” for the modern and more maniacal age. But let’s just skip Pretty. Odd., okay?
More...
https://www.watchmojo.com/articles/top-10-jukebox-musicals-we-need
***
Broadway audiences have been singing and dancing along to the hit songs of jukebox musicals for years — and the genre is showing no signs of slowing down. Some jukebox musicals have more staying power than others (see: the success of Mamma Mia! and Jersey Boys versus the "they made that?" forgettability of Viva Forever!), but they generally have a built-in audience of diehard fans of the original music artist. Here are dozens of jukebox musicals that will have you grooving (or at the very least, bobbing your head) to some of the most unforgettable tunes ever written.
More...
https://ew.com/theater/jukebox-musicals-broadway/
***
SCOTT HELLER Jesse, it was nice seeing “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” with you the other night. Am I right that we both left with our heads spinning? I almost think you became a convert to the joys of the jukebox musical!
JESSE GREEN Nothing could cause that conversion, but then “Smokey Joe’s” is only a jukebox in the most rudimentary sense. It is not, like many of these shows, biographical; it does not apply an invented story to an existing song catalog; it does not pour sanctimony and Brylcreem over the top. It’s a revue — and, as I was surprised to find — a good one. The singers were sensational and were allowed to do what sensational singers can: Make drama out of their voices.
BEN BRANTLEY I haven’t seen this incarnation (though I now want to), but I did review the original Broadway production two decades ago, and thought it was a harbinger of worse to come.
ELISABETH VINCENTELLI Is it worth starting with how we define the jukebox musical? You could argue that there are lots of Sondheim jukebox musicals, but they are usually called “revues,” which is a way to avoid a certain stigma.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/29/theater/jukebox-musicals-broadway.html
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages