Hair, There, and Everywhere

Christine Schneider and Matt Polson are two young local actors who have built impressive resumes over the last couple of years and who are heading out in the next few days to try their luck in the Big Apple. I wish them both the best of luck – to me, Matt will always be Gaston and Christine of course will always be Wendy. The way theater works around here, perhaps we will see them again down the road a piece.

In honor of their departure, here are a bunch of theatrical tidbits about stuff that isn’t happening (or didn’t happen) in Richmond:

For folks looking for a little more love thrown in the direction of sound designers, the latest American Theatre Wing podcast is an interview with Tony-award winning sound designer Tony Meola. It makes for some interesting listening.

In the movie theaters, Hamlet 2 just opened last weekend. Anyone seen it? Reviews have been mixed. Also, there’s a new book out called “Furious Improvisation” that’s getting a fair amount of press. It’s all about a national experiment in the 1930s to create a national theater company. Imagine such a thing today… In casting news, the recently little-seen former child star Haley Joel Osment is joining the cast of the revival of Mamet's "American Buffalo" that is opening around Halloween. I'm not a huge fan of the play but it's definitely got some intriguing folks in it now.

Finally, NPR had a great story about the current Public Theatre production of “Hair” that is prompting people to stand in line for hours and hours for free tickets. There’s a lesson in there somewhere – perhaps something about making a production as much an “event” as just a show. It’s something that’s probably impossible to manufacture artificially but it’s also the kind of thing that brings swarms back into the theater.