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Exercise Your Mind And Body At The Brooklyn Lyceum

Break the bounds of Broadway with our coverage of the Brooklyn arts scene.

You've been going out all week, and you need a break. We can sense it. There's just as much to do at the Brooklyn Lyceum as at our other picks, but it's definitely more of a community venue, without the pressure of putting on eight pairs of leggings and the perfect T-shirt.

A former public bathhouse, the Brooklyn Lyceum now hosts movie screenings, dance concerts, exercise classes--basically anything that can take advantage of its wide open space. Like the borough it's in, it shows the incredible diversity of the people who use it... without sending out a press release.

This weekend: Get all spooked with Halloween movies and "Poe-riffic" stories tonight at 7:30; watch "The Marriage Of Figaro" for some genteel laughs Saturday night and chill out with a Sunday night jazz concert.

Related Stories:
· Brooklyn Lyceum [Official Site]
· Brooklyn Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: bettyblade]

Tags: Culture Travel / Theater / → All Tags

Iceland Cultural Travel: New York Edition

If you're considering taking advantage of Iceland's cash-starved economy with a jaunt there this fall, you can get a head start on the country's beyond-Bjork culture scene at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Through Saturday, BAM is staging Woyzeck, an otherworldly interpretation of the classic German drama, as conceived by hotshot Icelandic director Gísli Örn Gardarsson and his team of acrobatic actors and aerial ballerinas. The show comes complete with underwater scenes staged in a giant Plexiglass tank and an original score from cult rocker Nick Cave.

Tickets start at $20, which, as New York theater goes, is definitely recession-era pricing.

Related Stories:
· Woyzeck [Official Site]
· Iceland Invites You to Take Advantage of Its Economic Misfortune [Jaunted]
· Kaboom! Manhattan Project Opera Hits New York [Jaunted]

[Photo: BAM]

Tags: Theater / Festivals / Fall Festivals / Videos / → All Tags

Unlikely Mashups Travel: When Hip-Hop and Theater Collide

New York is always the world's hub of hip-hop, as well as its capital of theater, but once a year, the best of both worlds fuse together in an unlikely pairing: The Hip-Hop Theater Festival.

Running now through October 11, the HHTF presents spoken word, drama, dance, rapping, singing and other performances that embrace the hip-hop aesthetic. If you want theater to be just a little less snobby--or hip-hop to get a little bit more intellectual--this one's for you. The highlight of this year's festival is Taking Over: The All City Tour, a new play from festival founder Danny Hoch.

The festival is taking over venues throughout four boroughs (sorry, Staten Island!), and many performances are free. But that doesn't mean you can just show up--the free events are ticketed and usually "sold" out--check out the HHTF website to reserve seats.

Related Stories:
· Hip-Hop Theater Festival [Official Site]
· Theater coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: Museums / Culture Travel / William Shakespeare / Summer Travel / Theater / → All Tags

Old Stuff Travel: Rare Shakespeare Recovered in DC

A stolen copy of the First Folio, the first known collection of William Shakespeare's plays, turned up last week in DC when a rare-book enthusiast took it to the Folger Shakespeare Library. In a case of no good deed goes unpunished, the British man is being considered a suspect in the 1998 robbery of the document from Durham University in England.

While not as rare as the Holy Grail (or even Crystal Skulls!), First Folio copies are still relatively rare, and the Folger has the largest collection in the world, with 79 of the estimated 228 left in the world. (A thousand were supposedly printed.) In case you have one stashed under your mattress, it could be worth over $6 million at auction.

Dead tree media not your scene? See one of the First Folio plays, "Hamlet," for free at the Carter Barron Amphitheatre (16th St. and Colorado Ave. NW) this summer with the Shakespeare Theatre Company. Pick up your gratis tickets at the Washington Post office every weekday or at the theater on the day of the show. But leave kids under 10 at the nunnery, as this show contains "sexual content."

Related Stories:
· Stolen Shakespeare First Edition Found in Washington [AFP, via Yahoo]
· Winchester Mystery House Blogger Talks [Jaunted]
· Washington, DC coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: manfire]

Tags: Celeb Travel / Broadway Shows / Theater / Antonio Banderas / → All Tags

Broadway Travel: Banderas Contemplates Return to Stage

Antonio Banderas will always be Che in the big-screen "Evita" adaptation to us, but the voice of Puss and Boots has set his sights on bringing "Don Giovanni" to Broadway.

The actor received a Tony nomination for "Nine," the Fellini-inspired musical whose own movie is currently filming, but apparently he won't go home until he gets the gold for playing the classical doomed rake.

He's going to have a lot of competition for those tourist eyeballs: Daniel Radcliffe bows this fall with his revival of "Equus" that played in London last year (complete with nudity!) and Katie Holmes will be appearing in an all-star revival of Arthur Miller's "All My Sons" with John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest and Patrick Wilson.

Josh Hartnett isn't even trying New York; he'll be debuting in the stage version of "Rain Man" in the West End. (He's playing the Tom Cruise character, not the Dustin Hoffman character.)

Related Stories:
· Antonio Banderas Returning to Broadway [NYM]
· Can Shrek Sing? Broadway Finds Out This Fall [Jaunted]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo from the Broadway production of "Nine": Gibbs Cadiz]

Tags: Celeb Travel / Katie Holmes / TomKat / Broadway Shows / Theater / → All Tags

Broadway Travel: Katie Does Arthur Next Spring

It was threatened, and now it will probably come to pass: Katie Holmes is in talks to appear in Arthur Miller's play "All My Sons" next year on Broadway, meaning that next year's Tony Awards will all be about The Holmes (and the creepy, scenery-devouring shadow of The Cruise as well).

Holmes is rumored to be playing the role of Ann Deever, the play's beautiful young catalyst and the daughter of a man convicted of shipping defective airplane parts to the troops during World War II. Shouldn't she be easing into this Broadway thing? We hear "Chicago" has openings.

Related Stories:
· TomKat Adjusts to Married Life in Berlin [Jaunted]
· Katie Holmes Survived the New York Marathon [Jaunted]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Cele|bitchy]

Tags: Broadway Shows / Theater / Musicals / Daniel Radcliffe / Equus / → All Tags

Adventures of Link: Daniel Radcliffe's Wand of Destiny

Suddenly-super-hot Daniel Radcliffe will make his Broadway debut this fall, when he and the cast of "Equus" visit New York City. We assume you've already heard that the now-18-year-old star will appear naked on-stage for at least part of the production.

While we wouldn't call that the best reason to go see some theater, we can't deny it'll drive some ticket sales. Just know this: "Equus" isn't the kind of kid-friendly show you might expect from the "Harry Potter" actor. Previews at the Broadhurst Theatre start September 5; opening night is 9/25.

Related Stories:
· Equus, with Radcliffe and Griffiths, to Play the Broadhurst Theatre [Playbill]
· Equus Set for Sept. 5 Previews [NYO]
· The Sorcerer's Stones [Gawker]
· A Look at the New Times Square TKTS Booth [Curbed]
· Prudish Theatergoer Travel: Broadway Shows to Skip [Jaunted]

Tags: Broadway Shows / Theater / Musicals / Avenue Q / → All Tags

Prudish Theatergoer Travel: Broadway Shows to Skip

It's always baffled us that people will drop hundreds of dollars on Broadway shows without even knowing the plot of the musical they're gonna see. And we've heard more than a few stories that end with "Anyway, had I known those puppets were gonna have sex, I wouldn't have taken my parents."

Fortunately, The New York Times has gone and rounded up all the kid-friendly shows in the city, at least according to a mom of two tweens:

Many shows seem to beckon families with children but on closer inspection come with caveats, be it crude language, racy behavior or complex plot turns. If you're going to make the investment--which can run more than $400 for a family of four--what is worth the tab? What is appropriate?

Of course, if you like your theater on the racy side, just pick out the shows writer Robin Pogrebin suggests skipping. Among them are "Avenue Q" (featuring puppet sex and drinking games), "Spring Awakening" (center stage sex) and "Curtains" (lots of swearing).

If those aren't trashy enough for ya, you'll have to look Off Broadway. Scouting out the toilets at Central Park might be a good start.

Related Stories:
· Broadway for Big Kids, Beyond Spoonfuls of Sugar [NYT]
· Can Shrek Sing? [Jaunted]
· Broadway Shows coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Michael Schamis]

Tags: Broadway Shows / Theater / Dolly Parton / → All Tags

Broadway Travel: Dolly Parton's New, New Job

The question is, how has Dolly Parton not been on Broadway already? The singer with larger-than-life, er, hair has an image bigger than Patti LuPone's voice, so New York columnist Cindy Adams' news that Parton is prepping a "9 to 5" musical seems like a natural next step.

The show, based on the 1980 movie about a badly behaved boss, will feature a whole new Dolly score to go along with the title song.

The "9 to 5" musical is projected to open at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre LA's Ahmanson Theatre in September before transferring to Broadway in 2009, behind the "Shrek" musical but ahead of proposed adaptations of "Catch Me If You Can" and "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner." Truly, nothing new under the klieg lights.

Update: Cindy Adams slipped up and said Dolly'd be playing at the Old Globe. "9 to 5" will actually debut at LA's Ahmanson Theatre.

Related Stories:
· "9 to 5" Job to Try Out [NYP]
· Can Shrek Sing? [Jaunted]
· Broadway Shows coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: blogut.ca]

Tags: Super Bowl XLII / Theater / Sports Travel / → All Tags

Super Bowl Travel: Sing A Touchdown Song

Desperate to counter-program your Super Bowl XLII visit with some singing and dancing? Playing at two venues near Phoenix--Grimaldi's Pizzeria in Scottsdale and Arizona Broadway Theatre in Peoria--"Football: The Musical," combines two worlds you never thought would meet.

Creator Alexx Stuart, who has also written musicals about softball and a golf course called the Kilimanjaro Country Club, envisioned a team called the Arizona Wallabys whose owner has a suspicious boating accident right before the team heads to the Super Duper Bowl. All the songs are classic pop or rock songs with new lyrics, so you can almost sing along. For instance, if you know every football player named in the "We Didn't Start the Fire" parody, you should be all set.

We weren't able to get to Scottsdale for the show, but TheaterMaven.com described it as "raw, down to earth tomfoolery." We can totally get into that. Tickets are still available, and there are two performances before Super Bowl Sunday.

Related Stories:
· Football: The Musical [Official Site]
· Theater coverage [Jaunted]
· Super Bowl XLII coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Get Out AZ]

Tags: Broadway Shows / Movie Set Travel / Shrek / Theater / → All Tags

Can Shrek Sing? Broadway Finds Out This Fall

Theatergoers in New York can't seem to get enough of large-scale adaptations of children's movies like "Mary Poppins" and "The Lion King." Dreamworks' star franchise "Shrek" will get the Broadway treatment this year, with the director of saucy smash "Avenue Q" behind the wheel.

The plot of the musical will roughly follow the first (and best) "Shrek" movie. Casting hasn't begun yet, but the show will open first in Seattle (also the out-of-town launch pad for "Young Frankenstein" and "The Little Mermaid") in August, followed by an official Broadway bow in November.

We hear the Broadway Threatre, currently home to "The Color Purple," will be Shrek's new swampy lair... but that's just a rumor.

Related Stories:
· Musical "Shrek" to Debut in Seattle [Seattle Times]
· Broadway Shows coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: charleylhasa]

Tags: Celeb Travel / Broadway Shows / Theater / Clay Aiken / → All Tags

Don't Like Clay Aiken On Broadway? Just Wait, It'll Change

For the first time since his last album beloved by moms everywhere, "American Idol" runner-up Clay Aiken made headlines when his people announced he'd be joining the cast of "Spamalot" on Broadway. Less than three years after the original cast of Hank Azaria, David Hyde Pierce and Tim Curry bowed in the show's first year, "Spamalot" has succumbed to the ol' show-biz trick which delights tourists and causes critics to roll their eyes: Stunt casting! Even though Aiken told Newsweek the show was "the stupidest thing I'd ever seen in my entire life" when he first attended it, it didn't stop him from accepting the job.

Take it from this jaded New Yorker: We enjoyed "Spamalot" with none of the original actors in it, but stunt casting is silly. If you have no interest in seeing Aiken's potential for comedy, put your visit to "Spamalot" off for a few months; there will probably be a funnier star filling in.

Why, "Chicago" has weathered Usher, Vincent "Big Pussy" Pastore and (in London) Kelly Osborne... and the show's still doing well enough to pay its Great White Way rent.!Now that fellow "AI" refugee Fantasia Barrino has left "The Color Purple," you can now see Chaka Khan in the uplifting musical. The Chaka Khan! Don't worry, purists, the theatre will not die.

Related Stories:
· Hilton Partners with Telecharge for Broadway Ticket Packages [HotelChatter]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Faded Youth Blog]