The Afternoon Report, Friday, May 18, 2012

May 18, 2012


Brought to you by Boneau/Bryan-Brown
Friday, May 18, 2012

Today’s Tweets:
click on hyperlinked items for more information

Samuel G. Freedman writes about religion in @SALESMANBway in the @nytimes • • • Catch the Excitement at the Winning Off-Broadway Opening of COCK @cockfightplay • • • Ready for a Fight? Get an Inside Look at Off-Broadway’s COCK @cockfightplay • • • COCK opens to rave reviews; new block of tickets now on sale at the Duke on 42nd Street. @cockfightplay via @sharethis • • • Thanks to @kendavenport for the @COCKfightplay candy dish! • • • Gina Gionfriddo’s #RAPTUREBLISTERBURN begins previews at @phnyc tonight. Break a leg all! • • •  [RT DanHarmon] Enjoy the finale(s)! I’m at intermission of JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, still amazing, still my favorite musical ever • • •

A User’s Guide to Finding Storage Space in the Cloud
New York Times/Personal Tech – by  MICKEY MEECE

One day, you’ll gather the grandchildren around you and tell them wondrous tales of life before cloud computing: how you used to put information, photos and music on a floppy disk, a memory card or a USB fob to carry it from one device to another. You’ll tell them how it was called sneakernet because you had to physically move the data.

They will look at you funny, pat your hand and continue to take personal cloud storage for granted.

Now, however, you can be forgiven for thinking it is a bit of a marvel. A number of companies store your data free and make it accessible to whatever device you are using, wherever you are, as long as you have Internet connection.

For those using thumb drives and external hard drives, think of cloud storage as just another way to back up data, but on a remote server. Add in the ability to synchronize and the service becomes even more appealing.

What is different now is the ability to synchronize seamlessly across multiple devices: computers, laptops, smartphones and tablets. And of course, as Google, Microsoft, Dropbox and others compete for your business, the sheer amount of data to be shared and stored continues to expand.

Here is how to start using it right now.

To read this article in its entirety, click the link below
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/17/technology/personaltech/a-computer-users-guide-to-cloud-storage.html

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The New York Times’ Samuel G. Freedman on DEATH OF A SALESMAN

May 18, 2012

The Broadway revival of Arthur Miller’s Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece DEATH OF A SALESMAN, directed by Mike Nichols, opened March 15, 2012 at the Barrymore Theatre to critical acclaim.  The production has won the 2012 Drama League Award for Distinguished Revival of a Play and the 2012 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Revival of a Play.  Nominated for five Drama Desk Awards and seven Tony Awards, the production stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as Willy Loman, Linda Emond as Linda Loman, and Andrew Garfield, making his Broadway debut as Biff Loman. The strictly limited engagement runs through June 2 only.  Samuel G. Freedman writes about the most nominated play of the season in the New York Times.

The New York Times

On Religion – Since the Opening Curtain, a Debate: Is Willy Loman Jewish?

By Samuel G. Freedman

May 18, 2012

A Yiddish play with the title “Toyt fun a Salesman” opened at the Parkway Theater in Brooklyn early in 1951. As most of the audience recognized from the name alone, the show was a translation of Arthur Miller’s drama “Death of a Salesman.” It seemed a mere footnote to the premiere production, which had completed its triumphal run on Broadway several months earlier, having won the Pulitzer Prize.

Even so, a theater critic in Commentary magazine, George Ross, declared of the Brooklyn version, “What one feels most strikingly is that this Yiddish play is really the original, and the Broadway production was merely Arthur Miller’s translation into English.”

History, it must be said, has not exactly ratified Mr. Ross’s judgment. In an enduring way, however, he framed a penetrating question about Miller’s masterpiece, which has echoed from the 1949 debut to the celebrated revival now on Broadway. Is Willy Loman Jewish?

…

The current production — widely lauded and nominated for seven Tony Awards — has been most notable for its fidelity to Miller’s original intent. It uses the set design and musical score from the original production, and it indelibly portrays Willy’s drift between present and past, between reality and memory and fantasy. Miller’s original title for the play, after all, was “The Inside of His Head.”

The producer Scott Rudin was interested enough, though, in the matter of the Loman family’s roots to assemble a research folder of critical and biographical essays grappling with the Jew-Everyman debate. “It’s so much a play about someone who wants to belong to the largest thing he can belong to — a fantasy of America,” Mr. Rudin said in a recent interview. “And he’s become deracinated from his background in the process.”

Mike Nichols, the director of the current revival, came to the United States as a Jewish refugee child from Nazi Germany. What he has seen in Willy is not the intensity of the immigrant generation of Jews, with its fervor for education, but the worship of materialism by the second generation, those disparaged in Yiddish as being “alrightniks.”

“Willy has no forebears,” Mr. Nichols said in an interview this month. “He’s not from any country. He has no holidays of any religion. So you have to assume Miller’s making a point. We who are struggling to sell enough have to drop everything — religion, nationality, family. There is nothing except, as Willy puts it, being known and being well-liked.”

To read the rest of the feature, follow the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/19/us/on-religion-since-the-opening-curtain-a-debate-is-willy-loman-jewish.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all.

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Roundabout’s Harvey begins previews tonight on Broadway

May 18, 2012

Preview performances begin tonight for Roundabout Theatre Company’s (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) Broadway premiere production of Mary Chase’ Harvey.

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) in association with Don Gregory, is thrilled to present the new Broadway production of Mary Chase’s Harvey starring Jim Parsons (Elwood P. Dowd), Jessica Hecht (Veta Louise Simmons), Charles Kimbrough (William R. Chumley, M.D.), Larry Bryggman (Judge Omar Gaffney), Carol Kane (Betty Chumley), Peter Benson (E.J. Lofgren), Tracee Chimo (Myrtle Mae Simmons), Holley Fain (Ruth Kelly, R.N.), Angela Paton (Mrs. Ethel Chauvenet), Rich Sommer (Duane Wilson), Morgan Spector (Lyman Sanderson, M.D.) and directed by Scott Ellis.

Performances of Harvey will begin on May 18th, 2012 on Broadway at Studio 54 (254 West 54th Street) with the official opening set for June 14th, 2012.  The limited engagement is scheduled to run through August 5th, 2012.

Harvey was first brought to the Broadway stage in 1944 and was directed by Antoinette Perry.  The play won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1944, and its initial run lasted for four years—1,775 performances.  James Stewart assumed the role of “Elwood” from Frank Fay in the 1944 production and originated the role in the 1970 production as well as the film adaptation in 1950.  Helen Hayes played “Veta” opposite Mr. Stewart in the 1970 production.

Parsons stars as one of modern theatre’s most lovable characters, Elwood P. Dowd. Charming and kind, Elwood has only one character flaw:  an unwavering friendship with a 6-foot-tall, invisible white rabbit named Harvey.  In order to save the family’s social reputation, Elwood’s sister Veta (Jessica Hecht) takes Elwood to the local sanatorium. But when the doctors mistakenly commit his anxiety-ridden sister, Elwood — and Harvey—slip out of the hospital unbothered, setting off a hilarious whirlwind of confusion and chaos as everyone in town tries to catch a man and his invisible rabbit.

Harvey, ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY   |   Leave a comment   |   Bookmark or Share

COCK opens to rave reviews; new block of tickets now on sale at the Duke on 42nd Street

May 18, 2012

The Royal Court Theatre’s Olivier Award-winning play COCK opened to rave reviews last night and has just announced a new block of tickets is now on sale. Written by Mike Bartlett, directed by James Macdonald and starring Jason Butler Harner as M, Amanda Quaid as W, Cory Michael Smith as John and Cotter Smith as F, COCK is playing Off-Broadway at The Duke on 42nd Street, a NEW 42nd STREET project, 229 West 42nd Street.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

“Cockfight Play” is not the title of the terrific, tense little comedy by Mike Bartlett that opened on Thursday night at the Duke on 42nd Street. Its real name, which is only one syllable, is unprintable here, and “Cockfight Play” is being used in advertisements in family newspapers.

Yet there is occasionally truth in even the subterfuges of advertising. And as it happens, the publicized title is an accurate description for the experience of this feisty, hypnotic and oddly energizing exercise in emotional carnage, which has been directed (by James Macdonald) and acted (by a four-member ensemble) with a brute focus that suggests to-the-death battles of penned animals.

-Ben Brantley, The New York Times

Click here to read the entire review.

TIME OUT NEW YORK

Bisexuality is the no-man’s-land of erotic identity: a shifting zone that can inspire distrust or even mockery from partisans in the homo or hetero camps. Often it’s considered a dodge by the self-deluded and semicloseted, or else it’s sanctioned by straight men to vicariously enjoy lesbian spectacles. Mike Bartlett’s Cock isn’t really about the bi lifestyle. Although John (Cory Michael Smith) begins an affair with W (Amanda Quaid) while briefly separated from M (Jason Butler Harner), the real theme is sexual power. John loves being loved, even if it drives his paramours into violent agonies.

-David Cote, Time Out New York

Click here to read the entire review.

NEW YORK POST

Never mind its provocative title: “Cock” is about love. Things get complicated as people fall in and out of it,

but this wonderful 90-minute show renders the emotional mess with great simplicity.

-Elisabeth Vincentelli, New York Post

Click here to read the entire review.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

A cockfight is a contest between two gamecocks, often conducted in a circular arena called a cockpit. That partially explains the wry title and unusual staging of Mike Bartlett’s edgy play, “Cock,” but of course, there’s more to it.  While much of the focus is on confrontations among characters in a love triangle, the thoughtful, Olivier Award-winning play, which premiered in London in 2009, is more deeply about the folly of forcing someone to limit his sexual identity.  The painfully funny, intense production that opened Thursday night off-Broadway at The Duke on 42nd Street is crisply staged by James Macdonald, who also directed the London show.

-Jennifer Farrar, Associated Press

Click here to read the entire review.

When John and his boyfriend take a break, the last thing he expects is to suddenly meet the woman of his dreams.  Now he has a big choice to make.

Tickets for COCK are available by calling The Duke on 42nd Street Box Office at 646-223-3010 or online at www.Dukeon42.org Box office hours are Tuesday-Fridays from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM, Saturdays from 12:00 PM to 8:00 PM and Sundays from 1:00 PM to 7:00 PM.

The performance schedule is Tuesday through Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 2pm and 8pm, and Sunday at 3pm and 7pm.

Click here to watch a sneak peek at the production.

For more information about COCK, visit www.CockfightPlay.com.

www.CockfightPlay.com

#     #     #

Follow COCK on Facebook and Twitter

** If your publication will not allow you to print the title as “Cock,” we suggest you print the following:

“_ _ _ _” (The Cockfight Play)

OR

“_ _ _ _” (www.CockfightPlay.com)

Tags:    |   Cock   |   Leave a comment   |   Bookmark or Share

The Afternoon Report, Thursday, May 17, 2012

May 17, 2012


Brought to you by Boneau/Bryan-Brown
Thursday, May 17, 2012

Today’s Tweets from BBB
Follow us on Twitter – http://twitter.com/BBBway
Click on any hyperlinked  item for more information:

STAGE TUBE: Frankie Valli on the Upcoming JERSEY BOYS Movie! @JerseyBoysInfo via @sharethis • • • JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR’s Josh Young on His ‘Bad Kid’ Past, Tony-Nominated Present & Blissfully Wedded Future • • • Ystrdy, we had some excellent cookies from the new HK store @Schmackarys delivered to us by @KevinThomasG schmackarys.com #mmmcookies • • • Why the play “COCK” doesn’t use sets, costumes, or even touching — TDF STAGES. via @http://twitter.com/#!/TDFNYC • • • Mike Bartlett’s new play, COCK, opens tonight at the Duke on 42nd Street. @Cockfightplay via @sharethis • • •


Twitter: Here’s How to Hide Your Tweets from Google
Mashable – by SAM LAIRD

Want to keep your tweets among your tweeps and hidden from any old Google searcher? Twitter has some tips for you.

The microblogging company’s @Support account on Wednesday tweeted out a link to a help center page for Twitter users who want to keep their posts a bit more anonymous on Google. Given Twitter’s high rank in Google Search, it’s likely that your profile there will be among the top results for your name.

The first suggestion for more anonymity? Change your username or listed actual name on Twitter. So, for example, if you use a profane @ handle, but your given name is listed in your profile settings, that could be a problem during your job search as recruiters Google you to see what comes up.

You can also protect your tweets in your accounts settings but that may not be a perfect fix, as Twitter points out. All tweets posted before you went private will still remain public in search engines (including Twitter’s own search).

To read this article in its entirety – click the link below
http://mashable.com/2012/05/16/twitter-google-search-results/

The Billboard Charts ~ Issue Date: 2012-05-26 Continue reading →

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NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT Will Get a Cast Recording on Shout! Factory Distributed by Sony

May 17, 2012

The Tony-nominated Best Musical NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT will get an Original Broadway Cast Recording on the Shout! Factory label to be distributed by Sony. The album will be recorded at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Long Island City, NY on May 20th and 21st. The release date will be announced soon. The album will be produced by six-time Grammy® nominee Robert Sher.

Nominated for ten Tony Awards including Best Musical, NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT features music and lyrics by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin and a book by two-time Tony Award-winner Joe DiPietro, starring two-time Tony Award-winner Matthew Broderick and four-time Tony Award nominee Kelli O’Hara. The critically acclaimed new Broadway musical comedy, directed and choreographed by three-time Tony Award-winner Kathleen Marshall, had its official opening on April 24 at the Imperial Theatre (249 West 45th Street).

This new musical features a veritable hit parade of iconic George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin songs, and some unknown gems in their catalog, including “Someone to Watch Over Me,” “I’ve Got to Be There,” “Sweet & Lowdown,” “’S Wonderful,” “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off,” Fascinating Rhythm,” “But Not for Me,” “Blah, Blah, Blah” and many more. NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT follows Billie Bendix (Kelli O’Hara), a bootlegger who meets wealthy playboy Jimmy Winter (Matthew Broderick) on the weekend of his nuptials. Mayhem ensues.

Nice Work If You Can Get It   |   Leave a comment   |   Bookmark or Share

Mike Bartlett’s new play, COCK, opens tonight, Thursday, May 17, at the Duke on 42nd Street

May 17, 2012

The Royal Court Theatre’s Olivier Award-winning play COCK opens tonight, Thursday, May 17.  Written by Mike Bartlett, directed by James Macdonald and starring Jason Butler Harner as M, Amanda Quaid as W, Cory Michael Smith as John and Cotter Smith as F, COCK is playing Off-Broadway at The Duke on 42nd Street, a NEW 42nd STREET project, 229 West 42nd Street, on Thursday, May 17 (previews began May 1).

Click here to watch a sneak peek at the production.

“One of the most distinguished pieces of theatre to hit the London stage in the past year.  Arresting.”

The Observer

“Smart, prickly and rewarding view of sexual and emotional confusion.  Impressive.”

Evening Standard

“Compelling.  Written with toe-curling frankness, wry humour and gut-wrenching precision.  The hottest piece of new writing at the moment on the London stage.”

The Stage

COCK is produced by Stuart Thompson, Jean Doumanian and the Royal Court Theatre. They are joined by William Berlind, Scott Delman, Dena Hammerstein, Jon B. Platt, Scott Rudin, Ted Snowdon, True Love Productions.

The design team for COCK is comprised of Miriam Buether (Scenic and Costume design), Peter Mumford (Lighting Design) and Darron L West  (Sound Design).

When John and his boyfriend take a break, the last thing he expects is to suddenly meet the woman of his dreams.  Now he has a big choice to make.

Tickets for COCK are available by calling The Duke on 42nd Street Box Office at 646-223-3010 or online at www.Dukeon42.org Box office hours are Tuesday-Fridays from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM, Saturdays from 12:00 PM to 8:00 PM and Sundays from 1:00 PM to 7:00 PM.

The performance schedule is Tuesday through Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 2pm and 8pm, and Sunday at 3pm and 7pm.

For more information about COCK, visit www.CockfightPlay.com.

www.CockfightPlay.com

#     #     #

Follow COCK on Facebook and Twitter

** If your publication will not allow you to print the title as “Cock,” we suggest you print the following:

“_ _ _ _” (The Cockfight Play)

OR

“_ _ _ _” (www.CockfightPlay.com)

Tags:    |   Cock   |   Leave a comment   |   Bookmark or Share

The Afternoon Report, Wednesday, May 16, 2012

May 16, 2012


Brought to you by Boneau/Bryan-Brown
Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Breaking News

‘Salesman’ Revival on Broadway to Turn a Profit
ArtsBeat Blog/NYTimes.com – by Patrick Healy

The Broadway revival of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman,” starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, will recoup its $3.1 million capitalization this week, just 14 weeks into its run, the producers said on Wednesday.  That is a notably swift achievement for a show that has seven performances a week instead of the standard eight. Those missing performances translated into more than $1 million in unrealized revenue, based on an analysis of the ticket sale grosses for the show; it grossed $9.8 million in its first 13 weeks.

To read this article in its entirety, please click the link below
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/16/salesman-revival-on-broadway-to-turn-a-profit/

Today’s Tweets from BBB
Follow us on Twitter – http://twitter.com/BBBway
Click on any hyperlinked  item for more information:

New CafeMom episode #7 “On Broadway with Kids Starring Parents of MAMMA MIA!“ • • • JERSEY BOYS kicks off Six Flags theme park partnership. @JerseyBoysInfo via @sharethis • • • Want a cookie? @BOOKOFMORMONBWY gave people in the cancelation line some tasty treats. #photoofweek • • • RT @Bubbles2828: #flixel Fun at the Broadway League Road Conference • • • Get a Sneak Peek at COCK, the Thrilling New Off-Broadway Play @cockfightplay • • •

Apple Moves Toward Larger iPhone Screens
Wall St. Journal/Technology – by LORRAINE LUK & JURO OSAWA

The new iPhone that Apple Inc. is expected to unveil this year is likely to have a larger display than its current models have, with the company ordering bigger screens from its Asian suppliers, people familiar with the matter said.

The new screens measure at least 4 inches diagonally, the people said, compared with 3.5 inches on Apple’s latest model, the iPhone 4S. Production is set to begin next month, the people said. Analysts have predicted that the next iPhone will come out in the fall.

Apple declined to comment.

The people said Apple is working with several screen makers on the new phone, including South Korea’s LG Display Co., Japan’s Sharp Corp. and Japan Display Inc., which was created last month by three Japanese companies and the government.

Apple is facing intensified competition from Samsung Electronics Co. The South Korean company, the world’s biggest cellphone maker, recently unveiled a flagship smartphone with a 4.8-inch display, one of the largest smartphone screens available.

As Apple prepares for a launch of a new iPhone later this year, people familiar with the situation say the company is planning for a larger screen. Above, the Apple store in Hong Kong.

The iPhone has had a 3.5-inch screen since the line made its debut in 2007.

Apple also has stuck with one size for its iPad tablet but is testing models with screens smaller than the current 9.7-inch display. Other manufacturers have produced a range of sizes.

To read this article in its entirety, please click the link below
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052702303360504577407610487811698-lMyQjAxMTAyMDEwNjExNDYyWj.html

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Watch New Episode #7 “CafeMom” series “On Broadway with Kids Starring Parents of MAMMA MIA!”

May 16, 2012

Watch the latest episode #7 of CafeMom Studios “On Broadway: With Kids – Featuring the Parents of MAMMA MIA!” – the exclusive online series that opens a rare and personal window into the lives of the cast and crew of Broadway’s hit musical who also happen to be parents.

The new series, which airs every Wednesday, follows the day to day adventures of Jennifer Perry (“Rosie”), David Beach (“Harry Bright”), Monica Kapoor (ensemble) and Irene Bunis (Wardrobe Supervisor) and offers an intimate look into the lives of show people who are also raising families beyond the footlights. Quintessential New Yorkers trying to balance it all while putting on one of Broadway’s longest running hit musicals eight times a week.

Episode 6 – Backstage at MAMMA MIA! with Jennifer Perry

Jennifer Perry is one of the Stars of MAMMA MIA! on Broadway. In this episode, we follow her through her intense daily routine as she prepares to step on the Broadway stage!

A working mom’s job is never done, but what’s life like for moms who work under the bright lights of Broadway? We take you backstage and into the lives of these hard-working, high-stepping moms (and dad) from the cast of the hit musical, MAMMA MIA!

Now celebrating its 10th smash year at Broadway’s Winter Garden Theatre, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus’ global smash hit musical MAMMA MIA! has become one of the most successful musicals of all time anywhere in the world and the 10th longest running show in Broadway history.

MAMMA MIA, MAMMA MIA LAS VEGAS, MAMMA MIA MOVIE, MAMMA MIA PRAGUE, MAMMA MIA! AUSTRALIA, MAMMA MIA! LONDON   |   Leave a comment   |   Bookmark or Share

JERSEY BOYS kicks off Six Flags theme park partnership

May 16, 2012

Beginning Memorial Day Weekend, Broadway’s blockbuster musical JERSEY BOYS, the Tony, Olivier and Grammy Award-winning Best Musical, will sponsor Six Flags Great Adventure’s newly-themed Adventure Alley section. Complete with a retro vibe, Adventure Alley will feature four new rides including SkyScreamer, a 24-story extreme swing ride, plus three rides that offer classic, family thrills.

JERSEY BOYS opened on Broadway to critical acclaim on November 6, 2005 at the August Wilson Theatre. The show is currently playing in New York; Las Vegas; London; Auckland, New Zealand; in cities across the U.S. on two National Tours, a production will open in Singapore in November 2012, and will now lend its iconic sound to Adventure Alley as its songs will play every hour on the hour.

In addition, JERSEY BOYS fans can look forward to a special day devoted to the musical, expected to take place at the park July 2.

For more information and to order passes, call 732/928–1821 or visit the web at www.sixflags.com

Tickets to JERSEY BOYS are available by calling Telecharge.com at (212) 239-6200, (800) 432-7250 outside the NY metro area, online at Telecharge.com, and at the August Wilson Theatre box office (245 West 52nd Street, between Broadway and 8th Avenue). Group sales tickets available by calling (877) 5-Dodger / (877) 536-3437.

#          #          #

www.JerseyBoysBroadway.com

Follow JERSEY BOYS on Twitter: @JerseyBoysInfo or on Facebook.

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For the most up to date press releases visit our Blog.

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