While many within the Kent State University theatre community were excited about the possibility of performing the iconic West Side Story this fall, unfortunately, their hopes have been dashed. This past week it was announced that due to the backlash of casting non-Latinx performers in Latinx roles, theatre administrators decided to cancel the production and perform a different musical instead.

This isn’t click bait. I’m actually asking this question seriously. I’ve seen plenty of instances of children appearing in Broadway productions but I’ve never heard of a live baby being cast in a show, until now.

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?

Following the tragic passing of Marin Mazzie; it’s been announced that the “committee” at the Broadway League has decided to have only six theatres dim their lights in her honor.

Besides the fact that they announced the news in an incredibly cold press release, starting it off with the phrase “The Committee of Theatre Owners has decided to dim the lights” is the type of Broadway pretentiousness that makes my stomach turn.

Imperative.

Crucial.

Necessary.

These are words that I wrote down while thinking about and plotting out this write-up for THE HIDDEN ONES NYC. In my notes I had even underlined “Necessary.”

Just like many of its devoted fans, I had my hopes that if this summer's Off-Broadway run of Be More Chill was successful, we could be seeing a Broadway transfer sooner than later. 

Yesterday, our hopes were answered. Be More Chill opens on Broadway in March 2019. 

The Off-Broadway run which was met with positive reviews should be able to carry that momentum into their Broadway run. I don't expect them to change much between the productions. Which means that Be More Chill would definitely have to be considered a strong contender for this year's Tony Awards (Take a breath BMC fans), especially when you consider how the rest of the season looks on paper. 

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.