‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro’ Broadway, not a holiday musical was playing, save Ruben & Clay. The tickets were bought at box offices galore, in hopes that audiences would soon beg for more. At least, this has been the case in more recent seasons concerning Broadway musicals focused on the holidays. Think about the catalog of Christmas shows alone that have graced Broadway stages in seasons past: A Christmas Story, Holiday Inn, Elf, How The Grinch Stole Christmas and Irving Berlin’s White Christmas. Now don’t get me wrong; I have nothing against American Idol magnates Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken coming together peacefully over the 2018 holiday season for a little AI reunion, but where are the tried and true Christmas Broadway musicals that we have held so dear in past seasons? The choice to bring back such musicals (all of which were also hit box office smashes in their own right) seems to be almost a no-brainer. So why the lack this year? In fairness, there are possibly two exceptions, neither of which is technically in a Broadway house however: Dr Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas (starring Tony Award-nominee Gavin Lee in the title role) at the HULU

"It's stock day; you need a stock day."

There are going to be problems and obstacles that come up in your life — issues that seem insurmountable, catastrophic or devastating. You're going to feel helpless. To you, this is the absolute worst thing that could ever happen, and it will change your life forever.

But to get through it, you need to take a breath and take stock of what's important.

The plan was to move to New York City, get into a Broadway show, and find a composer to finish my musical. No, not your plan, mine. Oh, it was yours too? Well, you'll appreciate this: only the first thing happened, and that remains true more than seven years on.

Years ago, then CEO of CBS Les Moonves told NY Post’s Michael Riedel that as long as he’s at CBS, so will the Tony Awards. This quote came at a time when the ratings were in the basement compared to other award shows. However, a statement like that from the guy who ran the network was certainly a sigh of relief.

But now Moonves is gone due to the many accusations of sexual misconduct. Which means that the Tony Awards’ biggest network champion is gone. And the ratings are still in the proverbial toilet.

So what does this mean for the future of the Tonys on CBS?

So while every show may not be our cup of tea, let's not display celebration at its demise. We don't have to mourn every show's closing, but we certainly don't have to stomp on its metaphorical grave. 

When people sit in a theater and watch a show, they usually do it for the entertainment or sometimes just to get away. It’s an escape for a lot of people. It could be a concert, musical, play or even a cabaret show. Regardless of what it is, it adds something that’s maybe missing in a person’s life. So, there is definitely that personal aspect to theatre that a lot of people might forget about. There is always reasoning behind our choices.

The two distinct types of productions that automatically come to mind for me are comedies and dramas, and people usually gravitate towards one or another, or sometimes both. They’re polar opposites, but I love that range between the two and think it’s amazing that theatre produces these two categories and provides that range. You can literally see shows based on what kind of mood you’re in and I think this is another reason people gravitate towards live theatre, similar to films.

Recently Newsies announced that its rights are open for community theaters to perform. What made this announcement even more special was the knowledge that part of the Newsies ensemble could include females. (Someone needs to give me a couple years to have my baby and get back into tapping shape so I can be in that ensemble but I digress.)  

In the community theater world, there’s always talk of gender swapping within shows and roles. This is the first major production I’ve heard of which explicitly allows for the inclusion of females into what has been traditionally a male ensemble. I want to look at some other shows and roles that might benefit from a male to female gender swap. Granted this is just a wishlist, knowing that doing anything like this would require permission first. 

Recently, it was brought to OnStage Blog's attention that, yet again, a foreign school has performed unauthorized material. This seems to be a common occurrence as in the past year we've seen schools perform productions of Hamilton, The Book of Mormon and ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Bombshell with music from the TV show Smash all without having obtained permission. 

What makes these occurrences even worse is that they are often supervised by teachers or adults who should know better. When this happens, they are failing their students and putting their schools at risk of ever obtaining permission for future productions. 

The latest example comes from the Polytechnic University of The Philippines(PUP) where their theatre organization, the Molave Theatre Guild, just wrapped production on their musical adaptation of the Pixar film, Coco. Here are some of their promotional materials of the show. 

I can name on one hand the amount of Broadway personalities that feel they belong on the pedestal fans put them on. Because most don't, that's what makes their interactions with their fans so genuine. So it's on the fans to understand and appreciate that(which most do) and not to be jerks. 

While scrolling through the glorious world of Facebook, I stumbled upon a new comedy short film which is produced by BBC Three and Rebel Park Productions. This short film featured Catherine Tate, Gemma Arterton, Anthony Welsh, Felicity Jones, Gemma Chan, Emelia Clark , Wunmi Mosaku, Stacy Martin, Katie Leung, Lena Headly, Tom Hiddleston, Florence Pugh and directed/written by Jessica Swale.

This film features actresses auditioning for a new role, and being coxed by the audition panel to be more sexy, more smiley, more white, wear make-up and basically radiate sex appeal for a part which doesn't need that. Watch the film below this article.

For everyone who is deeply involved in the theatre community – whether you’re an actor, a playwright, a director, a technician, a designer, etc. – I’m sure there’s been at least one time when you’ve questioned whether you were good enough, when you worried that you might not have a bright future in the arts, or when you wondered if maybe you should just give it all up. It’s something that even the best of us have always experienced, and if you haven’t already, there’s a chance you will, at one point or another.

Personally, I’ve had these feelings on many past occasions,  during my high school and college years. Frequently, I doubted to myself whether I had what it takes to make it to where I want to be in 5 or 10 years, and whether or not I should even bother to keep going. I still know some people today, who seem to be going through this phase of uncertainty right now, and I’m sure others who are reading this might be, as well.

Last year, Chicago Sun-Times theatre critic, Hedy Weiss, was rightfully criticized for her review of Mamma Mia where when mentioning the costume design, she said the following: 

"Theresa Ham’s character-defining costumes make the most of the many “real women” figures on stage, just as the gold and silver spandex outfits outline the perfect bodies of the terrific chorus dancers"

Obviously, the fact that Weiss made a point to emphasize "real women" figures as opposed to the "perfect bodies" of the dancer, was met with harsh backlash and accusations of body shaming.