Media Morsels 10.15.10


  • Bloody Bloody Bits
    Jax Rox on Broadway! This week, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson celebrated its official opening on Broadway. Here, some Bloody Bloody treats to celebrate Big Block of Cheese Day finally arriving:
  • The Shows Will Go On
    Playbill.com often runs an “Ask Playbill.com” feature in which readers can submit theatre related questions. In turn, Playbill.com contacts experts in the field to answer the question. I found this week’s question interesting: How do Broadway revival producers go about obtaining the rights to a show? Ted Chapin, a representative of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization (which holds the licenses for and represents about 1/3 of the musicals in the canon) says it basically comes down to who wants the rights and who has the rights. For example, if a well-respected man (or woman – just couldn’t resist the Kinks reference), say a Michael Mayer, wants to revive On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (which he will this season at the Vineyard Theatre), he can contact the show’s representatives and ask permission. Since he is a director who boasts a stellar track record (Millie, Spring Awakening, American Idiot), the representatives are likely to oblige. If, on the other hand, some unproven talent, or someone who has proven to be not very talented, wants to revive On a Clear Day, the show’s reps are more likely to withhold permission. Read the Playbill article for a full explanation.


  • Joe Iconis at Joe’s Pub
    Good news theatre and music fans: Joe Iconis’s ReWrite will play Joe’s Pub on November 6 at 9:30. (Though it was announced on Tuesday, I got my tickets last week! Thanks, Joe’s Pub weekly email!) This is yet another opportunity to catch what I’m sure will be a great, rousing production of a musical from the very talented Iconis. Tickets and reservations are sure to go fast so call today! Visit Joespub.com for more information.


  • Reviewing Re-viewing
    Over at the AV Club, staff writers took on the question of what movies or TV shows are better the second (or third or fourth) time around. As you probably know, dear reader, I’m definitely a repeat viewers some things, American Idiot, for example. With American Idiot, it’s partly because with a show, as opposed to a movie or TV show, you can only watch it (experience it, really) while it’s on the boards. Once the show closes, you can’t just pop it into your DVD player whenever you want. But it’s also partly because there’s so much going on that it’s difficult to catch everything the first time. For the same reason, I love re-watching Aaron Sorkin work, especially Sports Night and The West Wing. Every time I watch “How Are Things in Gloca Morra” (Sports Night, season one, during which the folks at CSC are waiting for the tennis match that wouldn’t end to end), I discover some delicious nuance in Sorkin’s language or some terrific attention to detail I’ve never noticed before. Same with “17 People” (The West Wing, season two – it’s a master class in story telling). What do you like re-watching? What’s better after a second viewing? What’s worse? Leave your answers in the comments section below.


  • Award Season
    You know how much I love award season. This week on The Wrap, contributor Steve Pond discusses early Oscar contenders, or rather early buzz and angles for possible contenders. Among the buzz that Pond ventures to debunk: The Social Network nabbing a Best Original Screenplay nod instead of one for Best Adapted Screenplay. Pond notes that while Sorkin, Fincher and producers are trying to distance themselves from The Accidental Billionaire, the Facebook book has widely been reported as the inspiration for Sorkin’s script, and, more damning, in the opening credits of the movie, it states that the script was based upon the Billionaire book. Depending upon the competition, one category could spell an easier win than the other. In my humble opinion, of course, this doesn’t matter: Sorkin should be nominated and win – heck, in both categories!


  • Hockadoo!
    Memphis’s favorite couple, Montego Glover and Chad Kimball, has re-upped their contracts for another year. The Tony nominated stars, who’ve been with the show through several incarnations over the last five or so years, will now play in the show through September 2011. This is a long time for actors – particularly lead actors – to stay with a show (or to stay with a show in the same role and in the same city). I’ve observed that more often, actors are with the show for a year (if the show is successful enough to run that long) and if they extend it’s for another six months-ish. (To wit: Johnny left Spring Awakening (on Broadway) after one year; Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele left six months later.) This isn’t a complaint, mind you. Glover and Kimball are fantastic in their roles. And now they’ll be fantastic through September 2011!


  • Romeo + Juliet on the Small Screen?
    It was announced this week that ABC is developing a Romeo + Juliet series. I’m not on board with this. Well, I’m skeptical, really. I love Shakespeare. I like Romeo + Juliet. (I particularly liked watching Leo as Romeo back in the 90s.) But a TV series? In fair Verona, where they’ll lay their scene? I just don’t know how you make a TV series with any life expectancy out of something with a well known ending. Yes, we watch movies of Romeo + Juliet or even movies “based on a true story” (like The Social Network), knowing quite well how it’ll end. But I think with The Social Network and other films of its ilk, the exciting part is/was that while we know where it started and where it ended, we’re fully fuzzy on the details. What will be revealed in the details in this series? Will we meet Rosaline? Will Mercutio impart any more plagues on the houses? And, most importantly, will Sampson be allowed to bite his thumb at his enemies on prime-time television?
Happy Opening, Bloody Bloody Populists!

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