• The Royale  |  Essays

    First Preview: Actors and Appetites

    Brendan Lemon  |  Feb. 12, 2016

    The late Jessica Tandy – the original Blanche in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE and an Oscar winner for DRIVING MISS DAISY – explained to me years ago in an interview the difference between acting in rehearsal and acting for a paying audience.

  • The Royale  |  Essays

    What About the Set?

    Brendan Lemon  |  Feb. 8, 2016

    The term “spoiler alert” in a review applies customarily to details involving the plot. Sometimes, I wish it also involved the set.

  • "KING" Costumes: Who Does the Laundry?
    The King and I  |  Essays

    "KING" Costumes: Who Does the Laundry?

    Brendan Lemon  |  Feb. 5, 2016

    Your laundry pile is but a piffle compared to what awaits Patrick Bevilacqua and his backstage staff every week – every night! – at THE KING AND I.

  • A Night at the Schomberg
    The Royale  |  Essays

    A Night at the Schomberg

    Brendan Lemon  |  Jan. 28, 2016

    One night this week – when the temperatures edged back into the forties and the blizzard was almost a memory – three cast members from THE ROYALE gathered at the Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture, in Harlem.

  • The Royale  |  Essays

    Learning the Ropes

    Brendan Lemon  |  Jan. 26, 2016

    Vince Oddo, an expert in various methods of stage fighting, has been brought in to work with the actors of THE ROYALE on boxing.

  • Surviving the Weather
    The King and I  |  Essays

    Surviving the Weather

    Brendan Lemon  |  Jan. 25, 2016

    Joyous cries arose from several of the ensemble members and echoed through the backstage hallways. “Snow day! Snow day!”

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