2019-2020 Plays, Part 1

Bottomless Broadway

We've used up our well of musicals, so we'll be play-ing it by ear for the next two episodes! Take a listen to our thoughts on Sea Wall/A Life, Slave Play, The Minutes, and Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune in this episode.

Some spoilers WILL occur, so if you'd like to avoid them, heed the timestamps below:
6:01-7:44 - spoilers for Sea Wall, none for A Life.
7:51-23:37 - spoilers for Slave Play, might also be some minor allusions to events that happen in the rest of our discussion.
27:05-36:14 - spoilers for The Minutes, may also be minor allusions as well.
Some discussion of the ending for Frankie and Johnny, but no major spoilers.

--

Sea Wall/A Life is now on Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Sea-Wall-A-Life-Audiobook/B0875MV37V)! But if you don't want to subscribe, you can also hear Jake Gyllenhaal doing a selection of A Life: https://youtu.be/PmTXgAkgCl8

The New York Times review that Cindy mentions about an alarm going off during Sea Wall: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/08/theater/sea-wall-a-life-review-broadway-gyllenhaal.html

If you want to hear more about the process for both Tom Sturridge and Jake Gyllenhaal in approaching the work, they did a fantastic talk at Google: https://youtu.be/cTCFhiNMKFI

Sam Sanders spoke to Jeremy O. Harris about writing Slave Play and some of the subsequent controversies, as well as his own experience of seeing Slave Play as part of an interracial couple: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/795198086

Jeremy O. Harris talking about some of his efforts in making his play more accessible to a diverse audience: https://youtu.be/wxg3semVaK0 as well as his Plus One initiative: https://twitter.com/jeremyoharris/status/1204245805361745920

Slave Play will be playing at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, dates TBA: https://www.playbill.com/article/slave-play-will-make-its-west-coast-debut-at-los-angeles-center-theatre-group

Tracy Letts on appearing in his own play after its original run: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/26/theater/tracy-letts-the-minutes.html

Both Slave Play and Frankie and Johnny utilized intimacy director Claire Warden to ensure all parties felt safe, a first for Broadway: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/26/theater/frankie-johnny-audra-mcdonald-michael-shannon.html

Work by Rihanna played a pivotal role in the development of Slave Play and the text itself.

Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy features in A Life as well as Frankie and Johnny.

--

Does anyone know the song we talk about in the intro? Let us know on Twitter or Instagram @BottomlessBway, or email us at [e-mail]