(WARNING: I'm about to rant about politics. I don't do it very often, as I like to keep my opinions to myself, but I had to vent. If you want, you can skip the rant that follows and go straight to the theatre stuff, I won't mind)
...but I can't help looking at what is happening in the gulf with the BP Oil Disaster (let's call it what it is, because I think "spill" is too nice a word for it) and it just angers me to no end. I'm sure you've all seen the pictures of the oil covered pelicans and other equally distressing pictures from the clean up efforts. I've been following with not too much interest until this morning when my brother Sean told me he'd heard that a BP exec said "I want my life back" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTdKa9eWNFw). He wants his life back? He made over $4 million last year in total compensation (http://www.themorningsun.com/articles/2010/06/08/opinion/srv0000008481929.txt) at one of the biggest, most profitable companies in the world, and he's feeling inconvenienced by the fact that we want answers about what is being done to clean up the mess and how BP is going to compensate the people whose whole livelihoods have been taken away by this disaster? Some of the people affected by this probably don't make even 1/100th of what he makes and he's complaining? I'm astounded by this...
And one more thing I wanted to share regarding the upcoming midterm elections: I found the following op-ed piece in the New York Times and I have already tweeted it and posted a link on my Facebook, but I wanted to share it here as well. Yes, it's true, I have left-leaning tendencies, but like many people, I can see value in what both sides are supposed to stand for. I make no secret that I voted for Gore, Kerry and Obama, and I will say that I'm a little scared about November. Read this piece and ask yourself, do you really want big corporations like BP and all those big banks that caused the financial disaster of 2008 to win in November so they can go unregulated and run amok like before? Do we really want to tell all those people in gulf coast, "oh well, better luck next time"?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/24/opinion/24krugman.html
NOW BACK TO YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED THEATRE BLOG....
I know I haven't posted in a while, but it happens when you get busy. However, I have a couple of things on my theatre radar at the moment. The first of which is the Tony Awards, which air this Sunday, June 13 at 8 pm on CBS. I hadn't had much interest until a few years ago, when I got my first chance to see a Broadway show. Since then, I try to watch to see what's going on on Broadway and I've had the good fortune of seeing several Tony Award winning productions in the past few years on various trips to the Big Apple. However this year I have no idea what's good and what's not because I haven't had the chance to see anything, but part of me is rooting for American Idiot (I grew up with Green Day). If I get my homework done like a good boy, I plan to watch, and perhaps even blog about it if I get the chance. Go to www.tonyawards.com for more info.
Speaking of awards, but with a more local twist, Encore Michigan, the best site for local theatre info, has announced its annual Wilde Awards, which will be handed out on September 1 at the Gem in downtown Detroit. Alas, I have no nominations, but considering I all but took the year off to pursue my Masters, it's not surprising! But seriously, there are some fantastic people up for awards this year and my home away from home theatre, The Jewish Ensemble Theatre received a few nominations, including best comedy for The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, best actress in a comedy for Kate Willinger for the same show, best actress in a drama for Sarab Kamoo in The Blank Page (a show I did Sound Design for), plus 6 more nominations (see http://www.encoremichigan.com/article.html?article=3099 for a complete list). So congrats to the theatre that gave me my professional start! I look forward to seeing who wins what.
And speaking of the JET, I also thought I would post their season here as well:
The G-d of Isaac by James Sherman, Oct 6-31
Sonia Flew by Melinda Lopez, co-produced with Performance Network in Ann Arbor, directed by David Wolber, Dec 8 - Jan 2
Modern Orthodox by Daniel Goldfarb, Jan 19 - Feb 13
New Jerusalem The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza at Talmud Torah Congregation: Amsterdam by David Ives, Mar 16 - Apr 10
The Model Apartment by Donald Margulies, May 11 - Jun 5
Not sure yet what I'll be working on due to the expanded season at the school, but I hope to work on all of them. I will keep you posted as I look to climb back into the local theatre scene after taking the past year off.
I'll be posting again soon with info on the summer production of Seussical the Musical that I'm involved with (Lighting, Sound, and Co-Scenic) and with what's happening with the school's productions of The Diary of Anne Frank, West Side Story, and Honk!
See you all soon!
Jim
