- Turns out I'm not the only person fuming at the Drama Desk Awards over their decision to eliminate the Orchestrations category. Jason Robert Brown says what I said, only with Tony-winning clout. JasonRobertBrown.com
- But it's ok, because the Drama Desk Awards blinked and have agreed to nominate orchestrations this year. Congrats to Bill Elliot (Nice Work If You Can Get It), Larry Hocham (Death Takes a Holiday), Martin Lowe (Once), John McDaniel (Bonnie & Clyde), Michael Starobin (Queen of the Mist), and Danny Troob (Newsies). It was a strong year for orchestrations and the board of the Drama Desk Awards should be ashamed of themselves for eliminating the category over the weekend. These slots could have easily gone to Lysistrata Jones or any number of the many plays with original music this season, like Stick Fly. BroadwayWorld
And while we're at it, here's a video on what orchestrators actually do.
The real fun is when you have to reorchestrate on the fly because you have no access to an English horn or contrabassoon.
- Ehsan Khoshbakht takes a look at the signature style of Vincente Minelli films. MUBI
- Disney has asked the director of Coraline to adapt Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book into a film.
- Bit Rebels found a really fun and rudimentary automaton that you can build with cardstock. Bit Rebels
Finally, I tweeted about this earlier today, but I have to share it again. Someone uploaded a recording of the Broadway production of Marie Christine. It is a loose adaptation of Madea, set in 1890s New Orleans with Audra McDonald taking on the leading role. The score is magnificent even if the story as a whole is overwhelming. This is the playlist.
And this is my favorite song from the score.