B'way Update: Appropriate Moves, Etc.

Michael Esper, Corey Stoll and Sarah Paulsen
in Appropriate.
Credit: Joan Marcus

As predicted in a previous post, the Second Stage revival of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' Appropriate will be moving from the Hayes Theater (to make room for Paula Vogel's Mother Play) to a limited run at the now-vacant Belasco Theater (after How to Dance in Ohio closed) from March 25 to June 23. The entire company will repeating their roles, except for Elle Fanning who has a scheduling conflict. Her replacement for the role of River will be announced in the coming weeks. The transfer will increase the play's chances at the Tony Awards. There still has not been a ruling if the production is a revival or a new play since the work was previously seen Off-Broadway at the Signature Theater in 2014 where it won an Obie Award. The Tonys only consider Broadway shows.

This means all the theaters on Broadway will be occupied at the end of the season--expect one. The Lyceum has no prospective tenant since My Son's a Queer (But What Can You Do?), Rob Madge's autobiographical solo show from the West End, has postponed its Broadway run there. The piece is expected to open during the 2024-25 season. 

Kristin Chenoweth

Queen of Versailles Musical: Tony and Emmy winner Kristin Chenoweth will reunite with her Wicked composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz in the new Broadway-bound musical, Queen of Versailles, based on Lauren Greenfield's 2012 documentary on socialite Jacqueline "Jackie" Siegel and her quest to build the largest private home in America. Queen of Versailles begins performances at Boston's Emerson Colonial Theater on July 16 to play through Aug. 18. Oscar winner F. Murray Abraham (Amadeus, The White Lotus) will play Jackie's husband, "Timeshare" king David Siegel. 

Featuring a book by Lindsey Ferrentino (Ugly Lies the Bone, Amy and the Orphans) and direction by Tony nominee Michael Arden (Parade, Once on This Island), The Queen of Versailles will explore the cost of fame, fortune, and family.

10 Reasons to Watch Voyage of the Damned on Pluto

Here's a list of reasons you should watch Voyage of the Damned (1976) on Pluto: 

Oskar Werner and Faye Dunaway in
Voyage of the Damned.

1. It's free.

2. it's stuffed with stars.

3) Lee Grant copped an Oscar nomination for her hair-snipping scene.

4) it features one of Orson Welles' I-need-cash-to-finance-my-next big-unfinished-movie performances. Welles plays a Cuban financier who haggles with Ben Gazzara over the amount of bribery money it will take to allow the Jewish refugees into Havana. In one of the few spontaneous and off-the-cuff moments of the film, Welles is sitting in a horse-drawn carriage with a slim, attractive young woman (obviously a paid mistress). Victor Spinetti is pleading with Welles for the lives of his two little daughters, stuck on the ship. The mistress is reading a magazine. In the middle of this emotional scene, Welles turns to her and says, "Why don't you wear your glasses?"

5) Oskar Werner in an obvious toupee and Faye Dunaway wearing a monocle.

6) Julie Harris weeping. She's probably thinking, "I have four Tony Awards and I have to do this crap?" (She hadn't won the fifth one yet. It was for The Belle of Amherst in 1977).

7) Wendy Hiller suffering nobly after her husband Luther Adler dies.

8) James Mason threatening Jose Ferrer

9) Katharine Ross as a prostitute. Also the extremely tacky red walls in the Havana brothel. The whole milieu is a riot with someone looking like Hermione Gingold as the madame.

10) A very young Jonathan Pryce as a former inmate at a concentration camp.

The picture was good for a sloshy, late 70s dish of TV-movie-level melodrama but be ready to tolerate countless commercial interruptions for Alfa Romeos.

Oscar Nominees: Creator, Guardians, Perfect Days, etc.

In the quest to see all the Oscar-nominated films, I'm down to categories like Visual Effects and Sound (remember when they had a separate category for sound effects editing? What happened to it?) But in these fields, we have mostly action epics which I didn't bother seeing during the summer. When I had a house in upstate NY and before COVID, we used to go to these kinds of pix all the time, just to get out of the house. I do love a good sci-fi or superhero flick and have enjoyed most of the Marvel Universe and Star Wars franchise. (I get Disney + with the Hulu Plus Live TV package so I may as well watch them since I'm paying for it.)

Madeline Yuna Voyles and friend in
The Creator
Credit: 20th Century Studios

The Creator (Nominated for Sound and Visual Effects/Seen on Hulu): Almost every shot in this massive sci-fi blockbuster contains a visual effect with half the cast being transformed for their roles as simulants or robots. There's also lots of huge spaceships and explosions. The premise has great potential: in the year 2070, AI-powered lifeforms based in Asia are at war with the humans-only West--read imperialist, jingoheaded USA. Parallels to the Vietnam War are obvious. The hero (John David Washington, Denzel's son) has been recruited to seize an AI superweapon which can control all technology and destroy mankind. Turns out the weapon or asset is in the form of a child. The reluctant hero's stake: his wife is somewhere behind enemy lines. The only way he can find her and save humanity to retrieve the sim-kid. The visuals are stunning, but the action gets kinda repetitive after a while. Plus there are continuity issues where the action doesn't make sense. 

Theater World and Drama Desks on the Same Date!

Uh-oh. Two major NY theater awards will be held on the same date. It was just announced the 78th annual Theater World Awards will be held on Mon. June 10. Yesterday the Drama Desk Awards had announced the same date for their 69th annual accolades. However, the Theater Worlds which are given for outstanding Broadway and Off-Broadway debut performances, listed 7PM as their start time. Last year and the year before, the DDs were held in the afternoon, so things may work out for winners who wish to attend both ceremonies. Neither event has listed a venue. Hopefully they will be close to each other so double attendees will have a short trip and time for a bite to eat.

B'way Update: Amy Ryan in for Tyne Daly in Doubt

Amy Ryan will replace
an ailing Tyne Daly in
Doubt: A Parable

Oscar nominee Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone) will assume the role of Sister Aloysius in Roundabout Theater Company's revival of John Patrick Shanley's Doubt: A Parable. She takes over for Tyne Daly who was hospitalized last Friday and must withdraw from the production while she receives medical care. While Daly's condition was unspecified, it was reported she is expected to make a full recovery. Ryan's first performance will be Tues. Feb. 13 and the opening has been pushed back to March 7. In the interim, Sister Aloysius will be played the understudy, Tony nominee and Drama Desk winner Isabel Keating (The Boy from Oz).

“With respect and admiration for Tyne, we wish her the best and a quick recovery.  We are grateful that Amy Ryan said yes – in a quick minute – to join our company and take on the role of ‘Sister Aloysius.’  We deeply appreciate Isabel Keating, who remarkably stepped in with a day of rehearsal and allowed us to get the production up on its feet during this first week of performances,” notes director Scott Ellis.

The cast of Doubt: A Parable also stars Tony & SAG Award winner Liev Schreiber as “Father Flynn,” Quincy Tyler Bernstine as “Mrs. Muller,” and Zoe Kazan as “Sister James.”

Ryan has received a SAG Award as part of the ensemble for Only Murders in the Building and was nominated for Tony Awards for A Streetcar Named Desire and Uncle Vanya, both Roundabout productions.

B'way Update: Drama Desk Sets Dates for Awards

The 68th Drama Desk Awards will be presented on Mon. June 10 it was announced by DD Co-Presidents Charles Wright and David Barbour. Nominations will be announced on April 29 (the day before the Tony nominations come out on April 30). Details and venues will be announced in the coming months. Productions must have opened by April 25. The DDs are the only NY-based theater awards to consider Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway productions in each of its multiple categories.

As was the case last year, the performing categories will be gender-neutral with twice as many candidates as the former gendered categories. Voters, the Drama Desk membership composed of about 100 NY-based theater critics, editors and journalists, will vote for two nominees and there will be two winners in each category. 

The ceremony will be produced by Staci Levine, as she did last year. At the 2023 ceremony, the winners were announced in advance.

The 2023-2024 Drama Desk Nominating Committee is composed of: Martha Wade Steketee (Chair; freelance: UrbanExcavations.com), Linda Armstrong (New York Amsterdam News), Daniel Dinero (Theater Is Easy), Peter Filichia (Broadway Radio), Kenji Fujishima (freelance: Theatermania), Margaret Hall (Playbill), and Charles Wright, ex-officio.

More Oscar Nominated Films

Here are more Oscar nominated films seen in recent days in the eternal quest to view all of them before the big ceremony on March 10. So far I've got most of the major categories covered. The only acting nominee I am missing is Danielle Brooks in the musical version of The Color Purple. But I did see her do the role on Broadway. There are only two films apparently unavailable--Animated Featured Robot Dreams and Documentary Feature To Kill a Tiger. The former might be coming to Hulu soon and you can only see the latter if you sign up for some Canadian streaming platform, but it might pop up somewhere. Here's a rundown of the latest Oscar contenders viewed:

Nimona

Nimona (Nominated for Animated Feature/Seen on Netflix): At first I was resistant to this sci-fi/fantasy based on a graphic novel. The title character is a shape-shifting teen who comes to the aide of a knight wrongfully accused of killing the queen in a weird futuristic/medieval kingdom. The knight happens to be gay but that doesn't seem to be a bad thing in this fantasy world. The bad thing is the knight is lowly born and not an aristocrat, that's his reason for being an outcast. That and suspicion of regicide or regina-cide. Nimona's outsider status is her weird power. The two unlikely allies bond in a quest to find the real culprit. It struck me as too woke and full of "teachable moments" (Not that I am against woke, but it felt forced here with everyone being totally accepting of the gay aspects of the characters, but not of their class.) It did kinda grow on me. Nimona's character was annoyingly overenthusiastic from the start but as we learn her backstory, she emerges as multidimensional. The animation is fun, particularly as Nimona changes her form and during the chase and battle scenes.