Theatre The Theatre Community Disdains (responses – part 2)
Here are a few more of the responses Howard got on his website from the article I printed two weeks ago.
MACTGuest Author
Here are a few more of the responses Howard got on his website from the article I printed two weeks ago.
LPint
Here are a few of the responses Howard got on his website from the article I printed last week.
Guest Author
I would like everyone to stop using “community theatre” as a punch line or punching bag.
Steven LaVigne
By Steven LaVigne There are over 500 film adaptations of Charles Dickens’ writing. At least 20 of these are based on his 1838 novel, Oliver Twist. Among them is a 1922 version starring Jackie Coogan as the title character opposite Lon Chaney, “the man of a thousand faces” as Fagin. Taking a look at this…
Steven LaVigne
By Steven LaVigne Films based on the work of L. Frank Baum have been made for over a century. The first Wizard of Oz film was made in 1910. The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914) was a film before it became a novel, The first feature length version was released in 1925 starring Dorothy Dwan…
Steven LaVigne
My Fair Lady is one of the theater’s most phenomenal musicals.
Steven LaVigne
by Steven LaVigne It was Martin Charnin’s idea to transform Harold Gray’s comic strip, Little Orphan Annie, into a musical. However, when he first suggested it to playwright Thomas Meehan and composer Charles Strouse their response was negative. They gradually came around to the project. At the time, the United States had survived the Nixon/Watergate…
Steven LaVigne
by Steven LaVigne Although it didn’t happen often enough, several movie musicals managed to capture the brilliance of their stage beginnings. This production of Show Boat, brought to the stage in 1927 by Florenz Ziegfeld and considered the first great musical of the Twentieth Century is a perfect example. Released by Universal, the 1936 version…
Guest Author

At Grand Rapids Players, we like to ‘play’ beyond the stage. Generating buzz and excitement for an upcoming production is a key marketing goal in striving for box office success.
Steven LaVigne

People often think that whatever Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) wrote was instant gold for the playwright. This isn’t the case.