*ONLINE TRYOUTS FOR SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD
Northeast Ohio’s Millennial Theatre Company has announced its upcoming virtual production of Jason Robert Brown’s 1995 Off-Broadway show Songs for a New World. This show will be rehearsed and recorded as a new, innovative online format throughout the months of July and August and will debut online sometime this fall.
Auditions for this cast of 15+ are open now for actor ages 16 and up. Email your musical video audition to millennialtheatrecompany@gmail.com.Select a song in the style of the show, paying particular attention to how you can sell the story of the song through your performance. All rehearsals will be online.
*CLEVELAND JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL PRESENTS JESS EISENBERG IN RESISTANCE
A Q&A with Jesse Eisenberg the star and director and cast and crew of the film Resistance will be held Wednesday, July 22 at 1 pm. Details can be found at https://mandeljcc.org/cleveland-jewish-filmfest/arts-culture/. To participate, please complete the RSVP form as only people who RSVP will receive the link for the Q&A.
*CLEVELANDERS DISAPPOINTED AS SHAW FESTIVAL CANCELS ALL AUGUST PERFORMANCES
Many Clevelanders travel to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada, each spring, summer and fall to attend the Shaw Festival nestled in the prettiest little city in Canada.
Unfortunately, The Shaw has released this message: “The Shaw Festival is forced to cancel all public events and performances scheduled in August due to the extension of the Province of Ontario’s Emergency Orders and the continuation of the State of Emergency in the Province and Niagara. In discussion with and under the guidance of The Shaw’s insurer, it has become clear that scheduled performances cannot proceed as originally planned.”
“While we are disappointed with these further cancellations, we are focusing our energy on planning for the future so that we can safely welcome audiences back to our theatres, hopefully in September – even if in a more limited way,” said Tim Jennings, Executive Director/CEO. “In the meantime, we continue to stay in touch with our patrons through a number of digital and other initiatives and thank you all for your support.”
*DOES HAMILTON GLORIFY SLAVERY?
[Source: ABC NEWS and other sources carried this discussion]
Hamilton, the critically acclaimed musical that collected 11 Tony Awards, is available for streaming now on Disney+. However, not everyone is excited about the news. Shortly after it was announced the stage production would be added to the catalog, critics hopped on social media claiming the musical, created by Lin-Manuel Miranda, glorifies slave owners.
From those intense discussions, the trending #CancelHamilton hashtag was born on Twitter. While there is no evidence that Alexander Hamilton himself owned slaves, critics say he was complicit with the slave trade by befriending slave owners and marrying a woman from a slave-owning family, Elizabeth Schuyler.
Eventually, Miranda weighed in on the discussion about whether or not the musical is problematic. The 40-year-old joined the debate after “Another Round” podcast co-host Tracy Clayton defended the production by calling it “a flawed play about flawed people written by an imperfect person.”
She argued that “Hamilton the play and the movie were given to us in two different worlds,” adding that the discussions demonstrate “a clear sign of change.”
Following Clayton’s remarks, Miranda responded to her sentiments but didn’t absolve his musical of all wrongdoings.
“All the criticisms are valid,” the In the Heights creator tweeted on Monday. “The sheer tonnage of complexities & failings of these people I couldn’t get. Or wrestled with but cut. I took 6 years and fit as much as I could in a 2.5-hour musical.”
Overall, he made it clear that he welcomes all forms of debate. “Did my best,” he concluded. “It’s all fair game.”
In a NPR interview last month, Miranda acknowledged Hamilton’s involvement with slavery.
“Hamilton — although he voiced anti-slavery beliefs — remained complicit in the system,” he told Terry Gross. “And other than calling out Jefferson on his hypocrisy with regards to slavery in Act 2, doesn’t really say much else over the course of Act 2. And I think that’s actually pretty honest. … He didn’t really do much about it after that.”
“None of them did. None of them did enough,” Miranda added. “And we say that, too, in the final moments of the song. So that hits differently now because we’re having a conversation, we’re having a real reckoning of how do you uproot an original sin.”
*LORRAINE HANSBERRY’S LES BLANCS IS STREAMING ON YOUTUBE
National Theatre’s 2016 production of Lorraine Hansberry’s Les Blancs, starring Danny Sapani, Gary Beadle and Tunji Kasim, streams as National Theatre at Home’s series of rebroadcasts continues. The play confronts the hope and tragedy of revolution when a family and a post-colonial African nation fall apart under the pressure to determine their own identity.
The stream is available on National Theatre’s YouTube. It will remain free to watch on demand through 2 PM ET July 29.
For information go to playbill.com/article/lorraine-hansberrys-les-blanc.