Get ’em While you Can

It took a few weeks but the post-Tony summer depression is very much in play now, with a number of Broadway shows posting closing notices. Add to that the number of shows who, though successful, have just hit the end of their run and you’ve got a lot of turnover happening in the next few months.

Here’s a schedule of what’s closing when.

JULY 21st, 2019
The Secret Life of Bees (Off-Broadway)

JULY 28th, 2019
Frankie and Johnny in the Clare de Lune
A Strange Loop (Off-Broadway)

AUGUST 11th, 2019
The Prom
Be More Chill

AUGUST 18th, 2019
King Kong
Cher Show
Pretty Woman
Puffs: Or 7 Increasingly Eventful Years at a School of Magic and Magic (Off-Broadway)

AUGUST 24th, 2019
What the Constitution Means to Me

OCTOBER 27th, 2019
Beautiful

JANUARY 5th, 2020
Waitress

JANUARY 19th, 2020
Oklahoma!

The Sonnet Man and me

I took a few great workshops while speaking at the International Thespian Festival last month. One was with The Sonnet Man Devon Glover called Shakespeare x Hip Hop. I loved it. The musical poetry of Shakespeare with a beat. What could go wrong? (Hmm…)

One of the things we did was write our own sonnet. We could choose between modernizing one of Shakespeare’s iconic sonnets (My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun..) or write our own. We had about 10-15 minutes.

The following is what I wrote. Now I realize the scansion is probably off and it’s more a series of couplets but a) I had 10 minutes! and b) there was a beat playing in the background that made the rhyme scheme impossible to ignore.

Enough Apologies! 

I give you Theater Zen “Sonnet” #1. 

Oh My God! I have to write a sonnet
I want to impress them, make it pretty as a bonnet
I think it’s working out. Look, I’ve already started!
But I’m scared that when I share it, it’ll sound more like I farted.
Hold Up! Stop that, Mer, focus on your yoga
Breathe in, breathe out. Take a moment for a coda.
And just like that, the ideas, they start flowing
Be it good or bad, my artist’s soul is glowing.
The proof it seems might not be in the pudding.
Both the problem and the answer live largely in the doing.

And there you have it. (Man, that Shakespeare had some chops.)
#BlametheSonnetMan