Mondays are Dark

We had a seemingly rare weekend to ourselves, and we tried to spend it away from the internet.  It turns out this Monday isn't so dark; Outré Theatre is staging a concert version of tick...tick... BOOM, and GableStage is hosting a reading of Richard Janaro's new play, The Closet.

Oh, and the Hollywood City Commission is meeting to discuss the fate of The Hollywood Playhouse this evening.  Click through to see how to contact Commissioners so you can weigh in on the issue.

Now here's your slightly tardy Monday reading list:

One More Chance
The Drama Queen reports that the Arsht Center has added one performance to the otherwise sold-out Death and Harry Houdini.  Frankly, we expect that these tickets have already disappeared.

Winners
Gordon McConnell and Beverly Beckman Blanchette have each been honored with a Randolph A. Frank Prize for the Performing Arts.  Read about in The Shiny Sheet or Florida Theater On Stage.  I was honored to work with Gordon on his first theatre projects in South Florida, and I've known Beverly since she was the drama teacher at Santaluces High School.  They've both worked long and hard in the field, and both deserve the recognition.  Kudos!

Proof
BroadwayWorld fills us in on Proof, which opens at Palm Beach Dramaworks next week.

Bianca Behaving Badly
It turns out that bad manners is an audience problem on both sides of the Atlantic, according to Shenton's View. 

...at Friday’s performance, there were further trials brought about by the behaviour of the audience, and in particular, one person in the middle of the same row as me, who persistently took flash photographs throughout the performance. It was as blatant and unashamed as could be; she held up the camera and simply flashed away.

...no one materialised. So I confronted the offender myself, going into full Patti LuPone ‘who do you think you are?’ mode as I did so — and receiving a few cheers as the exiting audience babble died down enough for my declaration ‘You stupid woman’ to be heard by everyone around me.

It was only as I was exiting the theatre myself that someone told me exactly who the person thought she was: Bianca Jagger. Who, I was also told, had already been asked to stop by those around her. But clearly she was above it all.

Lion King
The Examiner reports that when The Lion King opens at the Arsht Center tomorrow night, two South Floridians will be among the cast:

Syndee Winters, who plays the loyal lioness “Nala”, is a Miami native and graduated from Miami Palmetto Senior High School. Prior to joining The Lion King North American Tour, Winters worked as a dancer/choreographer throughout Miami. Sharron Williams, an ensemble dancer, was born and raised in Miami and is a graduate of the New World School of the Arts.

The Miami Herald gives us back story on the national tour, which launched from the Broward Center back in 2002.

"The Lion King is the gold standard for us,” says Thomas Schumacher, the Disney Theatrical Group president who was running the company’s feature animation division when the smash Lion King movie came out in 1994.“It has had more productions than anything else, has reached the largest audience and is now the biggest money earner. It’s not tied to fashion or fad; it’s enduring … It’s an allegory, a story about our families and us.”

Growing Up, Not Older
The Miami Herald reports that The Playground Theatre is expanding its programming next season.

The rechristened Miami Theater Center will incorporate elements that have helped make PlayGround distinctive: an ongoing company of actors, the luxury of extended rehearsal time, a focus on world theater that speaks to multicultural Miami, a lengthy period of collaboration between Ansin and designer-playwright Fernando Calzadilla as the two develop new work. Ansin’s standards are high – and getting higher.

On Reviews
HowlRound examines the value of being reviewed, and the merits of reading the reviews.

On Coming Back
Butts In Seats tells us about a theatre re-opening following its closing due to bankruptcy, leading to a rumination about Massachusett's North Shore Music Theatre, and our own Coconut Grove Playhouse, among others.