The producers of Hamilton have agreed to give the musical’s original cast members an unspecified share of the profits, which are reportedly some half a million dollars a week and sure to grow, given the planned new productions. More than two dozen cast members had hired labor lawyer Ronald H. Shechtman, and they were given support by a Twitter feed #Stand4Ham, which ran the photograph above after the announcement.

“This should be a real moment of celebration for any actor who feels powerless,” Actors Equity president Kate Shindle said.

Off-Broadway Amidst The April Avalanche

With the normal April avalanche of Broadway openings beginning later this week, it seems a good time to herald the shows being presented Off-Broadway by resident theaters that, in the words of critic Michael Feingold, have been enriching our lives with non-new plays. A selection:

Romeo and Juliet, @PublicTheaterNY‘s Mobile Shakespeare Unit, starting today, through May 1 pic.twitter.com/5YoRwddhWb — New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) April 11, 2016

Stupid F–ing Bird (Chekhov) through May 8, and The Ding Dong (Feydeau) through May 15. @PearlTheatreCo pic.twitter.com/3uh9XqR5Ze — New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) April 11, 2016

East Side Stories festival,new plays about #LowerEastSide,

Reception tonight

through May 1@metplayhouse pic.twitter.com/nL1enQcIVi — New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) April 11, 2016

The Week in New York Theater Reviews

Hamilton the Revolution — review of the book and 14 photographs from it.

Nathan The Wise

The Father

The Week in New York Theater News

Matilda will close January 1, 2017, having played almost 1,600 performances.

Anastasia, a stage musical inspired by the 1997 animated film,plans a 2016-17 Broadway run sometime after it appears this summer at the Hartford Stage Company. The musical has a book by Terrence McNally, music by Stephen Flaherty an lyrics by Lynn Ahrens. (the writer of Ragtime)

Daniel Radcliffe returns to the New York stage in “Privacy” at the Public Theater July 5-August 7.

“Inspired by the revelations of Edward Snowden, and drawing on dozens of exclusive interviews with the country’s top journalists, politicians and academics, Privacyexplores our complicated relationship with technology and data through the funny and heartbreaking travails of one lonely guy arriving in the city to figure out how to like, tag and share his life without giving it all away.”

Special Tony Awards this year honor theater lawyer Seth Gelblum vocal coach Joan Lader and costume shop owner Sally Ann Parsons

She Loves Me extends four weeks, through July 10,

Vineyard Theater’s 2016-2017 Season includes a new musical by John Kander and Greg Pierce, and new plays by Nicky Silver and Gina Gionfriddo

Charles Mee’s The Immortals, three plays on Matisse,Picasso,Van Gogh. FREE at Brave New World Rep, opening May 12.

Taylor Mac has become Here arts center’s playwright in residence for three years (at fully salary), thanks to one of the National Playwright Residency Program grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Howlround.

“Lost” 1924 Marx Brothers Musical, I’ll Say She Is, found once again, May 28-July 2 at the Connelly Theater.

Jed Bernstein abruptly left his job as president of Lincoln Center after little more than two years, saying he wants to return to (Broadway?) producing

Theater-related film news:

Barbra Streisand in (re)negotiation to film Gypsy

Denzel Washington definitely doing Fences with Viola Davis

RIP Anne Jackson, 90, classic stage star with husband Eli Wallach (who died in 2014)

Week in Theater Reads

“My job is the same if I’m making a new musical or making a play for sixty-five people or doing a live television broadcast. The job is to take care of the actor…” – Tommy Kail, director of Hamilton, Grease Live, and two Off-Broadway plays this season.

Acting and activism are intertwined “As an actor you have to activate a scene… It’s not about you in a scene. If you’re acting by yourself, the scene’s bad.. When I teach acting and also when I teach activism that is what it is: You become an activator or an activist and you try to affect other people in a positive way~Diane Rodriguez,

In our culture, art is often defined as useless, writes Sarah Ruhl, who tried to make her play useful.

“I have a community organizing background—I worked for the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee when I was in high school. So I just started making theatre, and making the community that I wanted to live in, and many, many years later, people described that as audience development, or community engagement, but for me it was about making a world. And I didn’t find many texts when I looked at the canon, so I began to write and edit and document.”~ Democratizing the Arts, Aesthetic Practice, and the Relationship to Community Change: A Conversation with Roberta Uno

“Spectacle replaces meaning, noise erases nuance. Intricate and challenging melodies are replaced with ever more simplistic chords. We have less and less patience for anything more….[The aim of theater] has always been the same: not only to help explain and elaborate on our world, but more importantly, to sharpen our abilities to experience it fully…[Soho Rep] can—amid the noise, the clutter, the rage, and the impatience—make more of a difference now than ever.”~How Theatre Can Bring Us Back to Our Senses by Tim Blake Nelson

What if we in the arts are the people standing between the fall and survival of a civil society? And what if the only way to save that society is—imperiled as we are—to disengage entirely from the economic model that brought us to this brink? ~ The Servant Economy by Todd London

Why Broadway is so white: Real Estate, Nepotism and David Mamet

Oddities and Ends

What it’s like to be on Broadway when you’re not in ‘Hamilton’

This contest leaves out fact that #PatrickBateman is a serial killer. Will the winner get decapitated? https://t.co/INVHsSlmPx — New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) April 11, 2016

Designer ties, dinner reservations and a show. Want a day in #PatrickBateman‘s shoes? https://t.co/CszdhrAGf3 pic.twitter.com/Qw4RgsaJpM — American Psycho (@APtheMusical) April 11, 2016

60 Minutes on American in Paris director and choreographer Christopher Wheeldon

Kelli O’Hara’s last day in The King and I

An unforgettable year and a heartbreaking day. I love you King and I, quite extraordinarily. 💕💕💕 @KingandIBway pic.twitter.com/8HuVthO3Gd — Kelli O’Hara (@kelliohara) April 17, 2016

Click on cover above to learn more about the book and/or to purchase it.

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