TDF Stages Archive
An online theatre magazine
Read about NYC’s best theatre and dance productions and watch video interviews with innovative artists
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Keep Yours “Lears” Open
By MARK BLANKENSHIP
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What Are People Saying About “Outrageous Fortune?”
By MARK BLANKENSHIP
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Shaping the Sound of “Night Music”
On one hand, there’s Stephen Sondheim, whose score for this tale of sometimes-requited love is considered one of his most elegant. Carr is responsible for how Sondheim’s music will be played. Among other things, he decides which instruments will play which notes and suggests the pace, volume, and intensity of every number. These decisions determine how Sondheim’s music will be translated from the
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New York City Ballet’s Kathryn Morgan
By LAUREN KAY This past October, Kathryn Morgan graduated from the corps de ballet to soloist with the New York City Ballet. Her unusually mature sense of drama, lithe legs and breathtaking use of her upper body made her a clear (if young) choice for promotion. Having shot through the ranks in just three years, […]
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Building Character: Bill Heck
By MARK BLANKENSHIP Welcome to Building Character , TDF's ongoing series about actors and how they create their roles. ________________________ Plenty of actors talk about the “journey” they take with a character, but Bill Heck’s voyage is especially epic. For seven installments of Horton Foote’s nine-play opus The Orphans’ Home Cycle , now playing at […]
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“Wicked” Good Time
By Daniel Gillen Based on my experience at the musical Wicked , audio description may help increase the visually-impaired community's interest in largely visual forms of entertainment. This is especially true of musical theatre. The music may be pleasing and agreeable to the ears of one with or without vision, but when there is no […]
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What Does It Mean to Be “Under the Radar?”
By MARK BLANKENSHIP If you’re seeing shows at this year’s Under the Radar festival and you happen to notice a theme, then please let Mark Russell know. Sure, he’s the artistic director and producer of this annual round-up of new theatre, co-presented by the Public, but he never curates around a particular idea. “Sometimes I […]
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Adding Up to “Zero”
By MARK BLANKENSHIP Zero Mostel was a man of the theatre, so he may have realized his life was like a play. Yes, he originated iconic roles in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Fiddler on the Roof , but he also got blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee. […]
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Get Into the “Groovaloo”
By MARK BLANKENSHIP Spend two seconds with a music video or a Gatorade commercial, and you'll see hip-hop dancing. Hoofers who pop and lock, flip and bounce, and freeze on the tips of their toes are an everyday part of the pop culture routine. Seeing an ad, however, is not the same as understanding a […]