The O's Portland Arts Watch has rocked me today with this news: Theater news: Center Stage, Artists Rep and OSF, in which it announces that PCS is doing some cannodling with its previously announced season, most notably doing away with "Joe Turner's Come and Gone." Whatup with that? The venerable Rose Riordan will see her "The Receptionist" in the mighty tower (will it have the same cast?) on account of 'Thurgood Marshall' may go on a Broadway Tour (preventing production regionally), and "The Best So Far" got yanked for "aesthetic sharpening and fundraising purposes." Whaaaa????
The best news is that "The Receptionist" is a damn fine show (Sharon Lee and Laura Faye Smith are pictured below in the Coho Production). The bad news is that Mead Hunter's carefully planned season legacy is being tampered with. My buddy Aaron Posner's adaptation of "The Chosen" will move to the mainstage and two news shows, "Ben Franklin Unplugged" (a one man show) and "Mike's Incredible Indian Adventure" (about doing Neil Simon in India) have been added.
In other news, OSF's "Twelfth Night" will be directed by The Old Globe's resident artistic director Darko Tresnjak with scenic design by hotshit of the hotshittest, David Zinn. Curiosity: piqued.
But back to Joe Turner. Gone already and not even come. Thoughts?