upcoming shows
Spring awakening
Spring Awakening
(The Musical)
Via MTIshow.com:
The winner of eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, told by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater through what Entertainment Weekly called, "the most gorgeous Broadway score this decade," Spring Awakening explores the journey from adolescence to adulthood with a poignancy and passion that is illuminating and unforgettable. The landmark musical is an electrifying fusion of morality, sexuality and rock and roll that is exhilarating audiences across the nation like no other musical in years.
It is Germany, 1891, a world where the grown-ups hold all the cards. The beautiful young Wendla explores the mysteries of her body and wonders aloud where babies come from... until Mama tells her to shut it and put on a proper dress. Elsewhere, the brilliant and fearless young Melchior interrupts a mind-numbing Latin drill to defend his buddy, Moritz – a boy so traumatized by puberty that he can't concentrate on anything... not that the Headmaster cares.
This celebration of rebellion provides the perfect opportunity to feature performers of all types, as well as the creative flexibility with the use of costumes, set pieces and lighting. Featuring a pop rock score, this is an ideal show for talented vocalists with strong acting abilities. Join this group of late nineteenth century German students on their passage as the navigate teenage self-discovery and coming of age anxiety in a powerful celebration of youth and rebellion in the daring, remarkable Spring Awakening.
The Boys in the band
The Boys in the Band
One of the first plays that graced the American stage that took the gay experience as a rich reality instead of a freakshow, the power of Boys in the Band still resonates nearly 6 decades after its debut.
The play centers around a group of gay men who gather for a birthday party in New York City. When Michael’s “straight” friend from college comes to crash the party and the alcohol starts pouring, the energy of the nights goes through numerous peaks and valleys. Secrets, venomous games, lustful desires, and hard truths mingle through the house party while relationships are twisted and turned upside down.
While Crowley was pitching the script, early agents stayed away from the project. For the production, it proved "nearly impossible to find" actors willing to play gay characters. An old college friend of Crowley's, 33-year-old Laurence Luckinbill, agreed to play Hank despite warnings from his agent that it would end his career, even though the agent was herself a lesbian. It proved hard for Crowley to find producers and theater owners who were interested.
The play premiered Off-Broadway on April 14, 1968, at Theater Four, and closed on September 6, 1970, after 1,001 performances. Despite the success of the play, all the gay members of the original company stayed in the closet after the premiere. Between 1984 and 1993, five of the gay men in the original production (as well as director Robert Moore and producer Richard Barr) died in the ensuing AIDS epidemic.
In the aftermath of such destruction, one wonders what the whole point was. Is this gay liberation? Is this what we are fighting for? What’s missing? Ultimately, the script leaves us with more questions than answers. But it shines as one step closer to unveiling what the gay experience really looks like for us here in the United States.