AmericanTheaterWeb Original News & Reviews

How's this for innovative? Portland Center Stage is just about to open Apollo and for this multimedia experience, they are inviting critics to cover the opening night in realtime online. Here's some of what the invite says:

"Normally, Portland Center Stage has a strict no cell phone in the theater policy.

But we thought that the deconstructed, multi-media rich experience of our World Premiere production of Apollo would be the perfect opportunity for our first experiment in blog- and twitter-friendly performance. With that in mind...."

The invitation goes on to explain that the peformance will be "our first ever twitter and blog friendly performance of Apollo. We'll have the balcony reserved for authorized twitterers and bloggers..." The digiterati sitting in the balcony will be able to document their experience of the production live and in the moment.

The theater's really thinking ahead..."We'll have extra power outlets for you to plug into and access to our in house wireless."

Now for anyone who'd like to follow what's happening on opening night of Apollo at Portland Center Stage, you should drop by www.search.twitter.com by searching #apollo.

And until the opening rolls around, you can check out this new trailer for Apollo that samples some of the footage from the workshop productions:

For further information about the show, drop by www.pcs.org

It's interesting that two shows – both not long gone from Broadway – will enter theater fans' homes on February 3. That's the day that Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release RENT: Filmed Live on Broadway on Blu-ray Disc and DVD and Hybrid Recordings will release the two disc set, Liza's at the Palace….

The Rent release captures the final Broadway performance of Jonathan Larsen's multi-award-winning show. Filmed by Radical Media utilizing the latest in high-definition video and digital audio technology, director Michael Warren creates an enhanced journey through the music, lyrics, and images of this historic piece of live entertainment, allowing viewers to experience the show like never before, not only from the best seats in New York's famed Nederlander Theatre, but from the stage and wings, where cameras capture the raw emotion of the cast's performance.

RENT: Filmed Live on Broadway features Will Chase as Roger, Adam Kantor as Mark, Michael McElroy as Collins, Tracie Thoms as Joanne, Justin Johnston as Angel, Rene Elise Goldsberry as Mimi, Eden Espinosa as Maureen and original cast members Rodney Hicks, who steps into the role of Benny, and Gwen Stewart as the "Seasons of Love" soloist.

Both the DVD and Blu-Ray Special Features Include:

* "RENT: The Final Days on Broadway" – A retrospective documentary featuring cast and crew
* "The Final Curtain Call" – Past/present cast members sing "Seasons of Love" on stage one last time
* "The Wall" – A rare look at the famous backstage wall
* "The Final Lottery" – Hundreds of fans turn out hoping to be one of the lucky few fans chosen to sit in the front 2 rows for the very last show
* National Marfan Foundation PSA

Special Features Exclusive to Blu-ray Include:

* "Home" - A Behind-the-Scenes look at the theater that was transformed into the home for Rent
* "Casting" - Bernard Telsey talks about casting the show for the past 12 years
* Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation PSA
* BD-Live functionality

For further informtion about "RENT: Filmed Live on Broadway" visit: www.sonypictures.com

The Minnelli recording, from Hybrid Records, has been produced by Phil Ramone and features the legendary singer-actress performing with a twelve-man orchestra led by conductor/drummer Michael Berkowitz and pianist/musical supervisor Billy Stritch. On the discs, as in the show on Broadway, Minnelli, accompanied by Johnny Rodgers ,Cortes Alexander, Jim Caruso and Tiger Martina, sings many of her signature songs in addition to pay tribute to her godmother, Kay Thompson.

Below is the full track list for Liza's at the Palace…

Act I - Disc 1

Teach Me Tonight / Music by Gene DePaul, Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
I Would Never Leave You /Music by Billy Stritch, Johnny Rodgers and Brian Lane Green
If You Hadn't, But You Did / Music by Jule Styne, Lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green
What Makes a Man a Man? / Music and Lyrics by Charles Aznavour
My Own Best Friend / Music by John Kander, Lyrics by Fred Ebb
Maybe This Time / Music by John Kander, Lyrics by Fred Ebb
He's Funny That Way / Music by Neil Moret, Lyrics by Richard Whiting
Palace Medley / David Zippel, John Kander/ Roger Edens/ N. Bayes, J. Norworth, N. Graw S. Brooks/ M. Yvain, A. Willemetz, J. Charles/ H. Sutton, R. Grant, J. Lennox
Cabaret / Music by John Kander, Lyrics by Fred Ebb

Act II - Disc 2

But the World Goes 'Round / Music by John Kander, Lyrics by Fred Ebb
Hello, Hello / Music and Lyrics by Kay Thompson
Jubilee Time / Music and Lyrics by Kay Thompson
Basin Street Blues / Music and Lyrics by Spencer Williams w/ special verse by Kay Thompson
Clap Yo' Hands / Music by George Gershwin, Lyrics by Ira Gershwin
Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away) / Music by George Gershwin, Lyrics by Ira Gershwin/Gus Kahn
I Love a Violin / Music and Lyrics by Kay Thompson
Mammy / Music by Walter Donaldson, Lyrics by Sam M. Lewis and Joe Young
Theme from New York, New York / Music by John Kander, Lyrics by Fred Ebb

For further information on the CDs visit: www.lizasatthepalace.com

One of the things that's really most exciting about getting a package of CDs from Original Cast Records is not knowing what to expect. Recently the company sent over three of the newest discs that they've got in stock and what an intriguing assortment it is. (This doesn't include a fourth disc that was in the package – the most welcome Broadway Unplugged 4).

First off, OCR is distributing the London cast recording of Zorro (from First Night Records), the West End musical that features songs from The Gipsy Kings. For those familiar with the work of this renowned Latin pop group, it should come as no surprise that Zorro is an aural pleasure. The melodies throughout are infectious, particularly with the trio of guitarists strumming away with delicate passion in the band, and in some instances (the early women's chorus number "Libertad" for example) also quite rousing.

Matt Rawle makes for an engaging Diego (a.k.a Zorro). He delivers the show's power ballad "Hope" with gusto and shows a more sensitive side in "A Love We'll Never Live," a duet sung with Emma Williams late in the show. Williams plays Luisa, and this latter song makes it pretty obvious that she is Diego's love interest, but, for want of a synopsis in the booklet that accompanies the CD (the notes are dedicated to the history of the legend of Zorro and its various incarations over the year), it's difficult to say much more about this character, or others such as the seemingly fiery Inez, played by Leslie Margherita who marvelously delivers what might be most famous song from The Gipsy Kings, "Bamboleo." This tune, like many of the songs originally written and performed in Spanish, has been outfitted with some intriguing English lyrics by Stephen Clark. The words don't bear much of a resemblance to the original ones, but they do serve well here, where the song is used as an exuberant number for the show's ensemble.

The Zorro disc, I believe, will serve one of the purposes that most cast recordings should, giving those who have seen the musical a means by which they can relive their experience in the theater. Unfortunately, the absence of a plot outline in the liner notes means that the disc won't necessarily serve a cast recording's second purpose, which is to give those musical fans who've not seen the show a chance to experience it aurally. (Interestingly, even the musical's website is surprisingly light on plot description.) Ultimately, it doesn't matter, though, because Zorro is simply a musical treat, thanks to The Gipsy Kings tunes, which have been adapted and beautifully orchestrated by John Cameron.

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