Rick elice lgbtq playwrights

Notable LGBTQ Playwrights

The breadth and profile of the group of LGBTQ playwrights around the world is superb. Many of these individuals are national heroes, cultural icons and literary giants. The wide diversity and popularity of LGBTQ playwrights reflects the community as a whole and attests to the universality and range of sexual orientations, both throughout history and today.

In the majority of cases, the subject matter of the written material reflects the LGBTQ community, its challenges and its successes. Activism is a dominant theme, and both the play and the stage is the medium through which many playwrights participate in protest. In some countries, this means that the playwright is politically marginalized or treated as an outcast by the ruling government despite their popular admiration and acceptance. The participate is used as a means to express beliefs and facts on issues such as feminism, discrimination, love, sexual identity, political repression, race, cultural individuality, and more.

Plays can reflect the issues within the LGBTQ community itself. The most prominent example of this is the AIDS epidemic - its impact on the theatre world and inclusion

Because musical book writing is so often misunderstood, these uncelebrated heroes are the first to be blamed, last to be praised - when mentioned at all. On this episode of "THEATER: All the Moving Parts", host Patrick Pacheco welcomes Rick Elice, one of Broadway's top musical book writers. The show premieres Friday, February 19th at 9:30PM on CUNY TV and streams at THEATER: All the Moving Parts starting February 22nd.

Elice co-wrote with Marshall Brickman the smash hit "Jersey Boys" for which they were Tony-nominated and which they followed up with "The Addams Family." Elice, who was also Tony nominated for "Peter and the Starcatcher," most recently wrote "The Cher Show," the biographical musical about rock icon, Cher. In a frank and funny interview, Elice recounts the trials of capturing the mercurial celestial body who remained unconvinced that musicals were designed to capture the essence, not the documentary correctness, of a experience. Elice also recalls that his partner, writer Peter Stone ("1776" "Titanic"), advised him that musicals were "talked into existence" and "negotiated through tantrum." Which has been authentic, he wryly observed, but added he thought they were supposed to be "my tantru

By Jenn McKee

Though I'd been looking forward to seeing the Tony Award-winning musical "Jersey Boys" – now making a national tour interrupt at the Fisher Theater – for several years now, when the sunlight finally arrived, I was a short-lived reluctant to go.
This was because the Newtown tragedy happened that identical morning, and it absorbed all of my attention for hours on conclude, making me notice scared and annoyed and vulnerable and heartbroken. Everyone in the sold out Fisher Theater (including the performers) likely felt the similar way.
I even wondered, at some point on Friday, whether they might cancel the production. But as the old cliche dictates, the show must go on – and with great reason, it turns out. For in numbing times of loss, theater invites and allows you to get out of your have head for a while and instead get lost in someone else's story, offering a much-needed respite.
As if to underscore this, Friday night's audience rushed to extend sustained, effusive applause after several of "Jersey Boys"' infectious numbers. Even the performers looked a bit taken aback by the enthusiasm and energy that greeted them. And I say all this not to wax poetic, but rather to clarify that my savage ent

Broadway Review: SMASH (Imperial Theatre)

A PLATE OF MASHED SMASH

Let me be clear. I never saw the television series Smash. I understand nothing about the series other than that it focused on a society theater working on a show about the animation of Marilyn Monroe. So I had no expectations when I arrived at the Imperial Theatre to see the new musical based on it. In other words I could judge the show on its own merits.

Robyn Hurder and the cast (Matthew Murphy)

Directed by Susan Stroman, Smash has a stellar cast, every one of whom can belt; some excellent if somewhat repetitive songs (music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Shaiman and Scott Wittman); and flashy but not very original choreography by Joshua Bergasse. Beowulf Borrit lives up to his reputation in his simple but effective sets. However, publication writers Bob Martin and Rick Elice’s attempts at farce depend mostly on stereotypical characters and insider jokes.

Krysta Rodriguez and John Behlmann (Matthew Murphy)

The genuine Marilyn Monroe is mostly lost in Smash. There are references to Monroe’s wind-blown dress, her singing “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” to John F. Kennedy and her marriage to Arthur Miller (alt

Therese Barbato, Ben Pelteson, & Paul Whitty in Peter and the Starcatcher.
Photo by Bill Brymer

Peter and the Starcatcher

By Rick Elice
Based on the novel by Dave Barry & Ridley Pearson
Music by Wayne Barker
Directed by Meredith McDonough

Review by Eli Keel

People often decry Hollywood, pointing to its obsession with sequels, remakes, reboots, pre-boots, and adaptations.

I generally ignore them, or quietly point to mythology, Shakespeare, the nascent days of the silver screen, or pretty much any other point in history that shows we’ve always wanted to understand more about our favorite stories. We’ve always wanted to tell them, over and over.

Actors Theatre’s performance of Peter and the Starcatcher follows that abundant history, and brings us a story about one of pop culture’s more enduring characters, Peter Pan.

When the audience enters the Pamela Brown Auditorium they are treated to a gorgeous wooden set, with great arching beams stretching out, hiding the proscenium arch, and transforming the stage. It seems to simultaneously invoke a ship, a tree house, an attic, and every place you e