Broadway was one of the winners of the 86th Academy Awards. Bobby Lopez won the EGOT — only the 12th person in history to win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony in competitive categories – for co-writing “Let It Go” from Frozen, with his wife Kristin Anderson Lopez.

Here is Idina Mendez’s performance of Let It Go

(Scroll down to see a video of Bobby Lopez singing it.)

If John Travolta introduced Idina Menzel as ‘Adela Dazeem,” Menzel — better known to her Broadway fans — was just one of the many presenters and performers that were veterans of Broadway, from Samuel Jackson to Bette Midler. So were some of the winners. Catherine Martin, who won a Tony for designing La Boheme on Broadway, won two Oscars for “The Great Gatsby” last night.

And Cate Blanchett, winner of the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role, thanked “every single member of the Sydney Theater Company.”

In other theater news: Audra McDonald is coming back to Broadway, Rosemary Harris is going to be in a new Tom Stoppard play

This Week in New York Theater

Monday, February 24, 2014

10 Lessons for Theater, from the third annual TEDxBroadway, my article in Howlround

The theater experience is not just on the stage~ Diane Paulus

Engage the audience in innovative ways

Consider crowdfunding — David Drake

Don’t punish the digitally connected Dexter Upshaw of The Apollo Theater

Make the neighborhood your lobby – Craig Dykers of Snohetta

Collaborate — @LopezBobby, @DoctorYao

Understand the connection between the arts & the sciences~ Ainissa Ramirez

Realize new forms of entertainment have changed would-be audiences~ Gabe Zichermann

Bobby Lopez’s “talk” was a 15-minute concert.

Lopez’s Oscar win for Frozen song makes him only the 12th person in the competitive #EGOT club (people who have won at least one each of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony in competitive categories.)

Dominique Morisseau has won the $100,000 Kennedy Prize for a play inspired by US history, for her “Detroit ’67” about the Detroit riots.

For five dollars, Lorenzo Thione, the producer of “Allegiance,” will give you first dibs on the opportunity to buy tickets to a show that ‘doesn’t really exist,” according to the AP. Thione’s Allegiance Priority Access Pass is one of the producer’s innovations, this one to prove interest in the show.

“Getting back onstage seemed like a good idea….Then Shia LaBeouf showed up.” – Alec Baldwin

Like House of Cards on Netflix? Its creator Beau Willimon has a new play, Breathing Time, performed by Fault Line Theater March 21 through April 13, at Teatro IATI

64 East 4th Street. “Jack and Mike are bankers – one reckless and larger than life, the other responsible and grounded….Fate brings them together on a day in New York that sends shock waves through their lives.”

“Actors leave shows for better offers elsewhere — a fact of theater life that doesn’t make it any easier.”

Fun Home cast, including Judy Kuhn and Michael Cerveris reunite to perform at Barnes and Noble (150 E 86) March 13 to mark the release of their two-disc CD by PS Classics.



My review of Kung Fu

Fans of Bruce Lee, the martial artist and actor who died four decades ago at age 32, are likely to be delighted at the sheer physical excitement of ”Kung Fu,” which has opened at the Pershing Square Signature Theater starring Cole Horibe, a contestant in 2012 in the TV show “So You Think You Can Dance.” ….Those looking for live theater at a bargain will be similarly pleased: the initial run of “Kung Fu,” as all Signature shows, is just $25. Those of us, however, who are long-time admirers of the playwright, David Henry Hwang, are more likely to be disappointed.

Full review of Kung Fu

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Back on Broadway! Audra McDonald as Billie Holliday in revival of Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill opens April 13 at Circle in the Square

Rosemary Harris in a new Tom Stoppard play, Indian Ink, opens Sept 28 at @RTC_NYC ‘s Laura Pels Theater

Why support young theater companies during bad times? That’s exactly when to do it, says David Byrne, artistic director of the UK’s New Diorama in Game of theatres: armouring our young companies for the fight ahead

Holly L Derr @hld6oddblend decries The Myth of the American Theater Pipeline but also in the process knocks NYC. (I protest in comments section)

Secrets of the Metropolitan Opera ( a door for horses, ceiling covered in gold, room full of guns, forbidden floor, etc) http://bit.ly/1hORCit

New leads for Pippin April 1: Kyle Dean Massey as Pippin, Ciara Renee as lead player.

How a libel against Philip Seymour Hoffman’s playwright pal David Bar Katz led to a boon for the theater community — The Relentless Award

26

National tour of Annie will be non-Equity, directed by Martin Charnin, who knocks recent Broadway production

Director Jack O’Brien speaks about arts education March 13 as part of new Lincoln Center series, Next Stage

Profile of “almost a boy genius” Alex Timbers, 35, director of Pee Wee, Here Lies Love, and now Rocky

27

Special issue of Critical Stages on “alternative” criticism (blogs, Twitter) from around the world.

“I thought, am I going to die?…But dancing teaches you how to focus” injured Spider-man cast member Daniel Curry

Bobby Steggert writes “my very first published piece” about coming out to his parents; his role in Mothers and Sons

James Franco celebrates John Steinbeck’s birthday with a selfie

“The free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world.” Steinbeck on life

What makes a play universal? (hour-long Howlround Twitter chat)

A “universal” play is 1 that exhibits: 1.accuracy in capturing human emotions & behavior. 2. clarity in its presentation #newplay — Jonathan Mandell (@NewYorkTheater) February 27, 2014

For 20 years, Adrian jakson explains, Cardboard Citizens Theater Company has been engaging hard-to-reach audiences, especially the homeless http://bit.ly/1dFwi7K

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February quiz

The “Berlin Wall” between commercial and nonprofit theater has fallen.

March 1

Oscar Meet Tony: Academy Award Nominees’ Broadway Connections: Complete list of the Oscar nominees — and which of them have worked on Broadway

Broadway, Off Broadway and Off Off Broadway Openings in March, 2014

When a show turns out to be longer than advertised, have you ever felt “Wow, I’m getting more for my money!’?

@NewYorkTheater only if it’s a good show — Aray Montalvan-Till (@thearay) March 2, 2014

@NewYorkTheater hell no. Usually feel misled and that the people behind the production dropped the ball or don’t care about their audience. — Daniel Bourque (@Danfrmbourque) March 2, 2014

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